As The Crow's Fly!

We have been blessed to have just had a fabulous time with the Crow Seniors. Herein is our account of their time with us: 

After ignoring some days of dutiful nagging from his wife, Timmo finally called up the (fairly ropey) guesthouse that we normally stay at if we need to spend the night in Entebbe pre-/post-collecting visitors, to discover that it was fully booked.  Although initially annoyed, Sarah quickly realised that this procrastination meant that they needed to stay somewhere nicer – yet another silver lining, and proof for Timmo once again that what some (i.e. his wife) would call a ‘very annoying trait”, can in fact be very useful! 

Al and Lil were touched, of course, that crowds of people had come to line the streets to celebrate their arrival, complete with frantic drumming, Ugandan booty shaking and high pitched warbling. The fact that the King of Buganda (The Kabaka) also passed by we feel was a mere coincidence and that  in fact someone must have informed him to come at once, because the wise and powerful Crows had decided to grace his Kingdom with their presence!

Of course no trip in Uganda is without challenges, and our trip to Fort Portal with Al and Lil was no exception!  Within 15km of leaving Masaka, an over-zealous driver over-took our car at break-neck speed, carelessly flicking a perfectly targeted pebble at our car’s driver’s window, and smashing the whole pane of glass so that it fell like a waterfall.  In a country where patience is not just a virtue but an essential survival tool, we had prepared ourselves for a long delay to get it fixed, but our mechanic fitted a new window within the hour – beat that Quikfit!!  The whole episode is a good example of the protection we have been given here – ok: it’s annoying that the window smashed, but had the window been down, Tim would currently have a little pebble embedded in his brain.  Would that make him more or less peculiar?  Discuss. 

So, you’re off on the open road to see new sights and wonders, animals and birds of intrigue and mystery.  What’s the one thing you should not forget?  Yes, that’s right, a camera.  Due to our recent robbery, some dirty teef is enjoying photographing his new stash of electrical goods (obviously whilst running a high quality medical service for his fellow thieves with Sarah’s stolen medical equipment), but not to worry,  Al had packed his camera....but no charger!  Titties!  Luckily we found an alternative way to charge the camera, enabling us to capture monkeys playing within a metre of us in Fort Portal, and this time Tim definitely DID see his lion in QENP, 3 in fact, enjoying a late afternoon nap after feasting on some unlucky victim.

All in all, a very good trip.  One of the many “high-lights” was a visit to the amazing Kyaninga Lodge, where we posed and pranced, and pretended to be some of their upper class guests.  At prices nearing 300 pounds a night for a room, naturally we soon had to slink off to our accommodation elsewhere i.e.  a dodgy road-side hotel: complete with noisy generator, missing toilet seats/shower curtain, and rowdy football fans into the early hours.  But for 6 pounds a night for a double room, I guess you get what you pay for!