No shower for at least the next 3 weeks!

I have arrived in Soroti and met with a young chap who was to show me where I will stay.

We kept driving further and further from the town centre across bumpy dusty unsurfaced roads, past small mud huts with no doors and windows, I had tried to keep my expectations very low, but I was now a little worried that I would be in one of these huts with no electricity, no doors and no windows!

Anyway we arrived at the place, a basic stone building with a seating area and some beer for sale at the front and a courtyard out the back with 4 rooms facing onto it.

2 of the rooms were not fully built and the courtyard is full of construction waste. The room I was shown too was however basic, but not bad. It has an ensuite bathroom.... which was just empty apart from a pile of tools and building materials.

The guy then told me there is no running water on site and the toilet was a hole in the ground is a small square brick building at the back. For showering, he brought me a jerry can of water and a bucket, then pointed out a small walled area with an open ceiling where I could use this (I would need to re-fill the jerry can from the tap by the street).

I have used the toilet a huge amount already, due to something I ate which didn't quite agree with my stomach, sharing it with huge cockroaches scurrying around. However I have been putting off using the 'shower', not looking forwards to walking across the construction site and throwing water over my head from a jerry can until now. I re-used a large water bottle and have punched 6 or 7 holes in the lid with my knife. Filling it woth water and squeezing it over my head works pretty good. Just gone through 3 bottles and I feel fantastic....

There is no mosquito net (luckily I brought one with me which just about stretched to cover the mattress - I would have been hit in the side of the head by a huge cockroach had I not had it last night), but at least the place has a power point in the room, the door has a lock and the guy who runs it tries to help out and always has a smile on his face!

Will be adding photos of my new home soon.

Will we leave for today?

Arrangements to leave the capital Kampala at 9am today were made, however things change and I received a phone call from the driver saying the car has broken down.

It is now in the garage being fixed and we are 3 hours behind schedule and will arrive after dark.

Welcome to Uganda!

Final Plans For Leaving Kampala

I have met with my friendly very laid back and so far seemingly safe driver Mr Robert Emmanuel (who unfortunately supports Manchester United) and his beaten up old Landrover.

I have met with someone in the Ministry of Tourism for Uganda today. A positive meeting with lots of input, ideas for development. The meeting really confirmed the huge amount of work that is needed.

Tomorrow we will head of to the North Eastern region of the country first staying in a town called Soroti. From there I will be head across to Lake Opeta conservation wetland to start getting an overview and meeting with project manager Charles.

The photo here is the street next to the place I am sleeping in Kampala. To say it is different here would be an understatement!

Arrived in Uganda...

... late last night and was met by a good friend. Little sleep, but was cooked a big breakfast and am off to the centre of Kampala city to discuss development strategies for the projects.

Today I will meet with Joseph Serungo (manager of the Chimpanze Conservation Project in Kibale) and later Robert Emmanuel (my local contact for TESO Education and Conservation Trust)

I will then meet tomorrow with Peter Elimu (with the Uganda Tourism board) on parliament street downtown Kampala.

The following day I should be heading off to Soroti region with Robert to start orientation with local project manager Charles Ichogor.

So far the heat is intense and the people just as I remember them, loud, happily carefree, inquisitive and very welcoming!

Solar Charging System For Africa

Trying to test a solar charging system with the lack of sun in the UK is proving to be very difficult....

I got a solar panel charging system and power storage device shipped direct to me form China as apparently there will be no power at all at the chimpanze conservation area where I will be working and living for a while.

Uganda Project Contract Starting Soon....

I have been offered a contract position to set up / run / evaluate projects in Uganda, Africa. I will be flying out there to start work on Feb 14th.

I will be photographing wildlife, documenting local communities, putting together educational material, working with and traing the park staff to cocontinue the work when I leave, building websites and evaluating other projects on what has been done and producing written reports on what can be further developed.

The project's inlude the following :-

1. Queen Elizabeth National PArk + Other Parks
2. Kibale community Chimpanzee project
3. L. Bisina/ Opeta wetland covering Soroti/ Katakwi and Kumi districts.
4. Bigodi Swamp - Kibale Association for Rural and Environmental protection

Keep checking back here on my blog to see progress updates!