1 August 2022

Greetings from Kampala, Uganda and Mulago Guest House. The flight arrived late last night around 11:30pm and so I planned to stay in Entebbe at the Airport Guest House. I’ve been a guest here many times and arriving here is a comfort after an extremely long journey (31 hours total with about 17 hours in the air). It is a lovely place with beautiful gardens and a yummy breakfast of fresh made passion fruit juice, sweet pineapple and watermelon along with toast and a Spanish omelet.

My regular driver, Haji, picked me up this morning and brought me into Kampala. I was so happy to hear that Haji and his family are safe and didn’t get hit hard from COVID. I’m now checked in to my home away from home for the next 11 nights- Mulago Guest House. The rooms are nice, as I remembered, but it is under new ownership and there are many changes. I guess that’s to be expected. It has been 11 years since I first stayed here. It is very busy now as they have a conference center. There is even a child bouncy house set up so I think they are having a party. The road, a hill, up to the guest house is amazingly fixed! It has been full of ruts and potholes for years. They are doing a lot of construction around here and it seems like everything has bounced back from the COVID shutdowns. Tourism is definitely back here and was apparent throughout my travels. Planes were full and airports were crowded. I will have a slow day and to bed early tonight. I hope the jet lag is very short this trip —I have a lot to do in a very short time. My faculty colleague and friend, Winnie, will be over to see me later and I’m eager to catch up.

I have a treat for you. I was in touch with my wonderful tour guide and friend, Arthur of Econestim Tours and Travel Uganda, this morning and he was at Mabamba Swamp and sent me these photographs of the rare Shoebill bird. This prehistoric looking bird eats mostly fish with its large beak although it occasionally eats rodents. I’ve seen them in Murchison Falls National Park here in Uganda. Arthur told me I could share his pics. Thanks Arthur!