I'm stuck in a tornado traveling at top speed, it doesn't want to slow down, round and round i go, I'm along for the ride, well at least that's what it feels like. today we leave the village off to the Switzerland of Uganda to see the green greens of Kabale's terraces and rich fertile lands, this is another long drive with yet another brother, the scenery is breath taking. It was a shame to leave the village behind but we had such a great time and saw things and people I would never have dreamt up, on our way we pass the site of a mass murder that unfortunately put the Kanugu district on the map. in a cult like act akin to the Jonestown massacre, a man burnt thousands alive inside a church in a mad belief that the world was going to end, a bad man who conned and ruled with thugs and fear, a dramatic story, everyone in the village knew or was related to someone affected, Lawrence had cousins killed.
The country side here is nothing on the dry hot Savannah's of Queen Elizabeth, here it is cool with large, rolling hills, New Zealand, Switzerland and Peru all mixed in together, a vast array of green hills with terraced plateaus and rustic roads and houses, red dust, green ferns, grass of all shades, paddocks colouring the area in squares of contrast, different types of green, yellow, brown up and down hills, more green, very green! stock and birds grazing away, the peace of it all is what I think about, just watching it gradually go by is very relaxing, enjoying fresh mountain air, it is the closest to home Ive felt since being in Africa, my mind takes off home to friends, family and next year, through pristine forests and large luscious farm lands, we stop for photo's, stories told of the great farmers out here who play reggae and classical music to their cows to maximise milk production. We stop for petrol and again experience highly inflated prices, far more expensive than NZ, petrol is approximately $3 a litre or more, just like Tanzania the petrol companies dictate round here, acting in cartels they ensure prices remain high even in times where OPEC are cutting production rates as the rest of the world experiences a glut. Corruption pervades all parts of life over here, there is a joke that if a man has a moustache in Africa he is corrupt, its quite a good one when you see just how quickly an African can grow a mo and just how many have them, a perpetual movember!
I cannot emphasise the beauty of this area, every corner brings exclamations from within the car, for Lawrence and brother this is business as usual, but Me and Jim are just in awe., the plateaus are so amazing. The roads however are very dangerous, they are slippery, sandy and very narrow winding round blind corners where the horn has to be used as an alerting mechanism in case of oncoming traffic. We took one corner at about 50km without sounding the horn to find a pick up carrying a packed load of passengers in the car and on the back coming straight at us. Lawrence's bro had little option, it was either hit the steep cliff on the left side and potentially kill passengers or run into the other vehicle. breaking violently he slid, smack bang into the side of the pick up propelling it up a bank, inches away from a perilous drop where we could have witnessed a horrible end to many. the vehicle was still teetering on the edge, two tires off, everyone was quick to get out and survey the damage. Our car sustained heavy damage to the front right and was going to need definite repairs, the other car was hit in the side in a fairly strong area so luckily only denting occurred, no-one was hurt, we gathered in a group prayer. Eventually after heated negotiations and wanting to avoid the corrupt police, we paid the other driver out a large sum and kept going.. the roads are just so dangerous, it began pouring down as we made our way to the closest town to baton down for the night, survive the shock and repair the car, plans were understandably put on hold, as again I thanked my guardian angel for bringing me thus far safely.
The country side here is nothing on the dry hot Savannah's of Queen Elizabeth, here it is cool with large, rolling hills, New Zealand, Switzerland and Peru all mixed in together, a vast array of green hills with terraced plateaus and rustic roads and houses, red dust, green ferns, grass of all shades, paddocks colouring the area in squares of contrast, different types of green, yellow, brown up and down hills, more green, very green! stock and birds grazing away, the peace of it all is what I think about, just watching it gradually go by is very relaxing, enjoying fresh mountain air, it is the closest to home Ive felt since being in Africa, my mind takes off home to friends, family and next year, through pristine forests and large luscious farm lands, we stop for photo's, stories told of the great farmers out here who play reggae and classical music to their cows to maximise milk production. We stop for petrol and again experience highly inflated prices, far more expensive than NZ, petrol is approximately $3 a litre or more, just like Tanzania the petrol companies dictate round here, acting in cartels they ensure prices remain high even in times where OPEC are cutting production rates as the rest of the world experiences a glut. Corruption pervades all parts of life over here, there is a joke that if a man has a moustache in Africa he is corrupt, its quite a good one when you see just how quickly an African can grow a mo and just how many have them, a perpetual movember!
I cannot emphasise the beauty of this area, every corner brings exclamations from within the car, for Lawrence and brother this is business as usual, but Me and Jim are just in awe., the plateaus are so amazing. The roads however are very dangerous, they are slippery, sandy and very narrow winding round blind corners where the horn has to be used as an alerting mechanism in case of oncoming traffic. We took one corner at about 50km without sounding the horn to find a pick up carrying a packed load of passengers in the car and on the back coming straight at us. Lawrence's bro had little option, it was either hit the steep cliff on the left side and potentially kill passengers or run into the other vehicle. breaking violently he slid, smack bang into the side of the pick up propelling it up a bank, inches away from a perilous drop where we could have witnessed a horrible end to many. the vehicle was still teetering on the edge, two tires off, everyone was quick to get out and survey the damage. Our car sustained heavy damage to the front right and was going to need definite repairs, the other car was hit in the side in a fairly strong area so luckily only denting occurred, no-one was hurt, we gathered in a group prayer. Eventually after heated negotiations and wanting to avoid the corrupt police, we paid the other driver out a large sum and kept going.. the roads are just so dangerous, it began pouring down as we made our way to the closest town to baton down for the night, survive the shock and repair the car, plans were understandably put on hold, as again I thanked my guardian angel for bringing me thus far safely.
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