There is no better thing than taking advantage of the various festivities to book a trip to discover new cultures and ethnicities.

This time I chose Uganda as destination: land of chimpanzees, wild greenery and home of the famous Nile.

 

My journey starts from the capital, Kampala.

Landing at the airport in the city of Entebbe, I can easily change money with no need to show my passport and, with an hour of taxi I arrive in Kampala.

The beauty of the capital lies in its spontaneous and natural way of living; completely immersed in green hills, with bougainvillea adorning its streets, the capital city hosts a big amount of people at every corner: someone sits on the (few) sidewalks, someone lies on the grass under the shade of a tree, while others sell fresh eggs with a bucket on their shoulders.

But what actually attracts me the most are the so called boda boda: these local motorcycle drivers are really everywhere, you can find them at anytime during the day or night. Sometimes they even sprout suddenly like mushrooms and you only hear a voice from nothing asking you “where do you want to go?”. Helmet is just an optional.

 

My first stop over that I absolutely didn’t want to miss in the city center is the Taxi Park: mini bus station. Hundreds of buses all stuck together, waiting to pick up passengers on board and leave.

“Wow”: the first thing I exclaimed seeing all that mass of people and minibuses in a single square. Voices and shouts about the various destinations of the buses as if we were at the market: “Entebbe!”, “Jinja”, “Kigali”, etc. But everything worked so perfectly that I was shocked. Hats off!

 

As a lover of local markets and the colors and smells they represent, I couldn’t help but feel the atmosphere of the Nakasero Market, where I literally walk between fruit, vegetable and huge, green bananas! I have never seen so many bananas at the same time in my life: I then discovered that Uganda is the first African country to produce them and that the banana plant is used to make fruit juices, beers, wine, flour and, also, cosmetics.

 

 

Not far from there, there is the Owino Market: perhaps the largest market I’ve ever visited, where I easily lose myself among the stalls, ending up discovering the world behind the processing of dried fruit and legumes. I was so fascinated by the tons and tons of peanuts that were being prepared on a single day.

 

 

 

On Sunday I move a little farther north, specifically to Jinja: a village with an exotic name and home to one of the most famous rivers, the Nile.

 

 

Immersed in an infinite green valley, in fact, it lies the source of the second longest river in the world.

My days in Jinja are colored by long walks in the middle of nature, between the magical singing of the blue birds and the funny looks of monkeys, which seem to listen to you when you try to talk to them.

The connection with the uncontaminated nature, the animals and the spontaneity of the people give me so much tranquility and completeness that make me feel home. Not surprisingly, I also give names to monkeys. I swear I never wanted to leave!

 

The point of arrival of my journey is the town of Entebbe.

Entebbe is located right on Lake Victoria, of which I was able to experience the crossing the next day from the hotel where I resided to the airport, aboard a fisherman’s boat. Simply unique! Not a touristic ride: it’s just you and the nature around you. Perfect.

As for Entebbe itself, well, I did not see much of it: having booked a small hotel far from the center, in the middle of local villages and directly on the lake, I preferred to give space to what Uganda was offering me better: the art for me more exciting, the nature itself.

I had no need to visit the botanical garden, since what I had around was simply the best I could ask for: children jumping from one place to another with the Tarzan style rope, women cooking eggs in the middle of the road and men sleeping in the shade of a baobab accompanied by the gentle rustling of trees in the wind.

I believe that the best part when travelling is meeting locals. Probably this is one of the first time I feel people are so genuine, with big smiles and shining eyes. There are not many tourists, therefore, authenticity is still one of their big advantage.

 

A big invitation to visit the authentic Uganda