Still in Uganda. On the whole the circumstances here are such as whenever you plan yourself a kind of administration , then at least half of the day is filled with it. And so for several days. The application of Rwanda visa was a good example. The country is so far advanced , that the visa application can be submitted over the internet. You fill the required application, , add annexes to the documents - either invitation or hotel reservation and in a few days you should receive the response. It was said that it was not possible to get a visa at the the border standing in a queue. ( It is generally, real life shows that without any preliminary application it has been received at the border as well.).
But since the Rwandian Embassy was situated next to the Uganda Museum, then it seemed better to get the visa from the Embassy. Besides - there was nobody to give me an invitation and not the slightest idea to make a hotel reservation. And if you go to the Embassy and ask properly , then it happens, that you do get it. The proper asking means that you don`t ask for a visa but you ask how soon you will get the visa and if it is possible to have it the same day. Internet and Lonely Planet gave different information about the time of receiving visas. But it was not a great surprise , the main thing was that the address of the Embassy was the same on both - Kampala paper map and GPS maps.
The first day was the following - I thought that I would reach the place in two – three hours and ignored the basic rules of movement - use only the main streets. And so I spent two hours in such a traffic jam that the visit to the Embassy was over for that day. Completely my own fault – do not trust blindly the GPS route, as this time it went through the local taxi park in the centre of Kampala. Kampala taxi or Matatu is not a car but a Toyota mini-bus. Those who have been to Kampala know about the speed one can move between the other cars. The next day I reached the Embassy in time, the questionnaire was relatively normal and probably one photo was needed. You fill it out, hand it over and ask if perhaps you could get it by the evening already. In respone a paper on the wall is pointed out. It says that applications for visa will be reviewed within 72 hours. So back on the second day.
The Uganda Museum was a few hundred metres away.
The exhibition was from the Stone age to the Present Day. Some periods were not reflected.
Various local musical instruments.
The Olympics Corner.
Salt package.
Spears.
The first printing press in Uganda.
And classic black Ford T, a gift to Uganda Museum from „Uganda Company“ in 1962.
A museum of really very decent prices, the visit was 3000 Ugandan schillings (0,80 EUR) and photographing 5000 UGS (1,3 EUR).
A few more pictures of the streets of Kampala.
Topic – how can one drive in the truck. Usually - no success in taking pictures of this kind of scenes. The cars either drive to the opposite direction or I myself am very busy with driving. And anyway – while taking pictures during driving one must be careful not to ram anything. So this way time is spent more interestingly and exitingly.
Overland truck . African fashion, from the top it is comfortable to watch town traffic, village life and Natural parks.
Trading in the street.
Secondary road near Fort Portal after overnight rain. When we look at the photo we can see only a little bit of mud, but this mud turned this a little slopy road into a solid mountain of slide . And as much as I know there are no courses of „driving - in - winter „ in this country - so the result was a school-bus stuck in the mud.
A lot of local assistance around, making efforts to push this big bus out. Only the bus didn`t move either forward or back, only the rear wheels went around at the spot. As it had not been polite to pass here without making a stop , then after an observation and survey I found out my accessories ( aluminium plates , called „sand-plates“ in English. ) and thanks to them , after a few hours activity , the bus was moving again.
Meanwhile it really seemed that it is wiser to wait until some drier days , but moving at last it was.
In a rainforest.
And crater lakes.
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