longada

‘There is a lot of stuff we don’t know. That does not make it nonexistent, it just makes us ignorant.’ My father used to tell me this, I guess rephrasing Socrates’ motto ‘all I know is that I know nothing’.
After four weeks in Uganda and Tanzania that is how I feel: there is a lot [...]

The Lonely Planet says about Kampala ‘like Rome, Kampala is built on seven hills, although that is where the comparisons begin and end.’ It seems to me obvious that the author of this has never been in Rome, otherwise he would find many other similarities.
Like Rome, traffic in Kampala is chaotic, one-way streets are a [...]

Elliot, the porter we hired at Buhoma to help us cross the impenetrable forest, has been quiet all day. He does not want any food or water. ‘Sure?’ He is sure.
We are seated in the forest waiting for something to happen; maybe a gorilla will show up, maybe a blue monkey, maybe nothing. I ask [...]

I am going to track some mountain gorillas. On Monday, I hope to have pictures at least as good as this one.

Have you ever thought that your reputation could depend on how well you polish your shoes? In fact, not only how well you polish them but how well you keep them shinning.

You might think that reputation would be easy to build but not in Uganda. In a country where most of the roads are not [...]

The tunnel. The legs you see belong to the nightstand, so you have an idea of scale

The little bugs rebuilding part of the destroyed tunnel
My room is under attack of wood ants, or at least that is what I think they are. Last weekend a brown tunnel started to grow under the nightstand, coming from [...]

The Winner! Nile Special
I believe I’m done with my research on Ugandan beer. After almost two weeks here, I have completed a thorough research and reached a conclusion. A cold Nile!

I excluded Guinness from my research since, although it is brewed in Uganda. It is no different from the original one and I am not [...]

Time is relative, and I’m not talking about Einstein’s general relativity. I’m talking about cultural relativity. One hour for me is not one hour for an American and it is not one hour for a Ugandan. It’s hard to understand this concept but it’s one of primary importance whenever you’re dealing cross-culturally.
Ugandans say that here [...]

In Mbarara, a town with 250,000 inhabitants, there is only one place to go out at night. It is called Vision Empire and every week it offers three nights of fun and drinks. Wednesday is ladies night, Thursday is reggae night and Friday is whatever night.
I went there on Friday with Pidson and a few [...]

Kalo on the left, Posho on the right

‘You can’t manage that’, was the waiter’s comment on my order at City Top, a restaurant in Mbarara. I just ordered Kalo, which according to the waiter was a millet paste. I thought it was worth trying. He insisted: ‘that is not food for white people. Not even [...]