Connor's Uganda Blog

Berbera, Diving, and Somali Milk...

WOW! Lots to write as ever. Since last time I've been all over Somaliland!

So, on Friday 7th May I organised with some of the teachers from Abaarso (Kiette, Ode, Daniel, and Jenya) to visit Berbera, a town on the coast of Somaliland that constitutes its port. We left early, since we wanted to get the full day on the beach, so up for 5 in the morning. Arrived around 8 and after quickly dropping everything off at our hotel we went straight to the Mansoor Hotel to get ice cream, coffee, and Sprite... There was no ice cream...

Then I met 'Scuba Steve' most of the teachers had already met him and done some scuba, but me and Jenya hadn't so we discussed and he offered to do a morning of learning to dive for $50 each.

Later, we experienced the Somali beach experience, which involved a large number of young men crowding around the spot we were at to see women in bikinis. This was so bad that we had to make a run for it, as what seemed like the whole of Berbera came out to watch! Also... and this was very odd for me... the water was WARM!!!

Next day we did the dive, which was amazing! We both took to it quite easily, and after a bit of walking up and down the beach we managed to go down to 25ft... This was very exciting for me, but no one else I've told has shared my excitement and just ask how many fish we saw... and, unfortunately, we didn't actually get to see that many, the visibility wasn't great, and we were just in shallow water.

After the dive we came back, and I spent a couple of days staying at Abaarso (where they had lots of young adult books that I probably should have read three or four years ago, but ended up ploughing through them).

After staying at Abaarso for a couple of nights and being introduced to the joys of the animé series Avatar, enjoying fajitas Somali style and being asked if we had Mexican food in Britain (not by a Somali) as well as apparently watching a Naruto movie, I moved back into Hargeisa for a final few days.

This is when Said took me to see his family in the bush. This was a really brilliant experience and I wasn't nearly thankful enough at the time. Unfortunately my camera ran out of batteries so I got no pictures!! Basically, the Somalis live in tents, which as well as being bigger on the inside than they seem, they're built from wood and dried grass. I also learnt the words for all the different parts of the tent, and I can now remember none!

Berbera beach looking boring...

Classic Beach JCB shot

Before I finish (since this is pretty much where Somaliland ends and Ethiopia begins) I would like to say a massive thankyou to all the people who have helped me in Somaliland, my trip would have been utterly utterly dull without you.

Specifically, Hamish (Whose was a total and unimaginable large fount of knowledge on pretty much anything I could ever want to know about Somaliland or Somali people), Mowlid, Khalif, Said and Ahmed (Who all looked after me really well once I'd arrived), Zamzam and Amhran (who also looked after me really kindly... and bought me chocolate and fish!) Kiette, Ode, Colin, Anthony, Daniel, Jenya (who very kindly let me stay with them and eat their food and were really friendly) and finally Abdirashid (for getting me a brilliant tour of Hargeisa and giving me the nicest Somali tea I've ever had!).

Disclaimer: I apologise in advance if I have misspelled anyone's names!

Turtles, Camels and other livestock

On Tuesday I visited Abaarso Tech School, a secondary school situated outside of Hargeisa that was set up to encourage Somalilander achievement by taking the best and brightest kids from all over the country and giving them opportunities that might not normally be available to them.

It was a really amazing school, the staff were all incredible, very friendly and really enthusiastic. Unfortunately its currently school holidays so I didn't get to meet any of the students, but the facilities were fantastic. What was most impressive though was not the teaching facilities specifically, but the whole rounded approach they are taking. They are setting up the largest wind turbine in Somalia and Somaliland to generate their electricity, as well as planting to make the land more fertile. I also got to play Frisbee, which was really what topped off the whole day!

On the way back, as we sped down one of Somalilands only tarmac roads I happened to spot a small green shell. I quickly asked Hassan the driver to stop so I could take a picture and was amazed to find the biggest turtle EVER!

This is my severely badly photoshopped picture of it

The next day I met a man Abdirashid that I'd been put in contact with. He runs a company called Dahabshiil that offers money transfer services for Somalians (or indeed anyone in the world) wanting to move money internationally. He very kindly gave me some of the best traditional Somali tea I've had. Although its supposed to contain spices I get the impression that most Somali's don't like them, so instead Somali tea just contains huge amounts of sugar.

After the brilliantly creamy tea I was whisked away for a tour of Hargeisa. First stop was the Livestock market where I saw Camels...

These were much more exciting for me than they were for anyone else

These (With black heads) are Somali Sheep which, I very stupidly pointed out "Don't have any fluff" the reason of course being that in Somalia its a lot hotter than England!

After the livestock market I visited Hargeisa university, Somalilands oldest University, I was actually quite impressed by it! To start with, any University that has turtles as a natural inhabitant is doing well. I also learnt about a tree (The name of which escapes me) which is "The most important tree in the World..... well Somalia". It grows everywhere in Somalia and can be used to make rope, houses, medicine, fences and cream! I'm not sure what the cream is for...

The multi-faceted tree

A turtle loose upon the campus of Hargeisa University!

Hargeisa and all that

I have arrived in Somaliland! I actually arrived on Saturday 1st May, at Hargeisa airport, although its a little generous to call it an airport, more like a building on its own in what is really a desert.
Upon arrival at the airport I handed over the letter I got in Nairobi explaining that I'd come from Nairobi and would need them to issue me a Visa. The man stared at me for a second and then asked for my visa. I explained that I didn't have one and that I needed him to issue me one, he asked again. Eventually, after repeating this several times another man explained the situation in Somali and I got my visa and was on my way.

I was given a ride to my hotel (Maansoor hotel) by a taxi driver that a soldier had found for me called Yusuf, the soldier joined me on the journey and both of them chewed qaat (a mild narcotic) all the way.

Once I got to the hotel I explored outside. Unfortunately the hotel is really far out of town, so I couldn't make it into town without a car, and a taxi cost $15, so instead I explored the 'hood.

Lots of people were living in these tents that were just outside the hotel. I'm not sure how they manage it, but the tents are surrounded by sticks that look like they've grown out of the ground especially to surround them.

Evidence of Somaliland interest in football and graffiti. Not sure what the numbers mean!

Local transport isn't just cars it seems!

After exploring outside for five minutes and deciding that I definitely needed to find somewhere closer to town to stay tomorrow I went back to the hotel and discovered I could go onto the roof and take pictures... So... I did.

This is just to give an idea of the way everything is arranged, the houses just go on and on to the horizon, and its all really sandy!

This is the same... but its prettier because of the sunset.

This is at the back of the hotel where there's a little "Garden"

I got a bit bored of taking pictures of the landscape and noticed that when I took a picture that camera made a shutter noise that made me feel a little bit like a spy... So I took lots of pictures of people oblivious to my super spy skills!

After taking hundreds of silly photos I met up with a woman I'd been put in contact with called Zamzam. She runs an NGO, one of the oldest in Somaliland, called CCS. They do work with HIV and AIDS patients as well as women's rights. She also introduced me to her friend Amran (I really haven't got a clue how to spell it) who put me in contact with a school that I might be able to see outside Hargaisa.

Later on, after a traditional Somaliland supper of beef burger I snuggled up in my double bed and fell asleep watching awful american action movies including Money Train and Scream 2.

Day two was spent getting to a different hotel, I'd been reccomended the Imperial Hotel and Oriental Hotel, for some reason I decided that since it was closer to town the Oriental would be better, I realised when I woke up the next morning at six o'clock that this was poorly thought through.

Once I got to the Hotel I had an explore of central Hargeisa had some interesting experiences including a man holding my arm next to his, pointing at each of them and saying "White... black" over and over while his friend chipped in "White is best". I was also offered a black dress with lovely red roses on, I politely declined. I spoke french to a man from Djibouti who said 'poo' instead of 'peut'. I also discovered that, unlike other East Africans, Somalis know where Bristol is!

Today, after being rudely awoken by a driver who decided to continually honk his horn outside my window I had my breakfast. I opted for French Toast, which they took more literally than I was expecting and made it with thick slices of baggette.

I then went out for a bit more exploration of Hargeisa, this time I met a man called Mohammad who gave me a basic tour of the place as well as teaching me some Somali (Most of which I've already forgotten).

This the the MiG jet which, as far as I can tell is the only tourist attraction Hargeisa has and its stood on a pedestal. Apparently it was captured during the war, and nw they've kept it as a reminder.

This is Mohammad who showed me round and sat me down for some Somali tea.

Mohammad very kindly helped me negotiate a price for two T-Shirts I found, a "Star Wash" and a bright orange Easyjet one I found at a stall nearby. After enjoying Somali tea which was more sugar than tea, I went back to the hotel to take some more pictures off the roof.

This is a street just outside the Hotel that was filled with market stalls.

Nairobi, ironing and dancing

Travelling has begun! St James' is on school holiday so I have been given a month to travel wherever I please! I've decided on Kenya then Somaliland, followed by Ethiopia, and possibly rounded up with Djibouti. At the moment I'm on the first leg of my trip, which is generously called "Kenya" when I've not even departed Nairobi!

Nairobi however is pretty interesting. Much much more metropolitan than Jinja or Kampala, also a lot more tall buildings and very nice places to stay! I arrived on Tuesday in the morning after an interesting 12 hour bus journey from Jinja when I spent an hour crossing the border to Kenya, and at 3 in the morning was awoken to the realisation that the coach broke down. I'm currently staying in a place called Milimani Backpackers, a really nice hostel costing 600KSH (£6) a night filled with friendly staff and friendly people!

To be honest, I haven't really come to Nairobi as a tourist, but more as a stop on the way, since being in Nairobi I've had three main tasks. 1) Book and pay for a flight to Hargeisa (Capital of Somaliland) 2) Find a Visa to allow me to enter Somaliland 3) Buy a new camera since my old camera broke, and I can't go travelling without one!

Number one was easiest, after walking around town for about 8 hours on Tuesday and visiting three different cafes I stumbled upon "Four Ways Tower" which contains "Safeway Travel", a travel agent that organises flights directly to Hargeisa.

Day two was not so successful, in fact, I achieved nothing, except visiting a particularly expensive Italian restaurant and confirming what I had already suspected about Kenyan prices being huge by comparison to Ugandan prices.

Thursday was spent on task three, this is when I discovered the joys of Nairobi shopping centres, I found a real sweet shop!! That sold Sherbert Fountains, Starburst, Milkybar Buttons and Quavers! After spending half an hour like a literal kid in a candy shop I left to sample Nairobi's Wimpy Burger. I was disappointed. And after all of that I didn't even buy a camera!

Friday came, and I checked off number 2 in the morning in a really posh hotel, and then spent an hour looking for a bus to go back to the shopping centre so that I could buy my camera, eventually I found a lovely little cramped bus blaring out Michael Jackson at top volume non stop on repeat! Finally got to the shopping centre, bought my camera, a few more sweets and came home!

Annual Busoga Trust Beach Games

No blog for a long time now… All the better reason to bombard you with an epic now!

Easter weekend was spent on the Cessi islands, some small islands located in Lake Victoria. You can catch a boat from Entebbe (about a four hour drive from Jinja) to the Cessi islands, although there is only one, so very little space for the three hour boat ride!

P1030026

This is before the boat ride, a really nice bar is behind me, but on the unpainted stone wall is a really nice and very expensive plasma TV showing the football!!

Luckily the long boat journey did let me take lots of silly arty pictures of people looking thoughtful and windswept.

Sophie was a massive fan of the cheesy pics

You can’t really see it, but basically, that faint ring around the sun is a rainbow that is a full circle!!! I’m sure this has its own name… but in the meantime I’m suggesting the ‘Ramsay Ring’.

It really was a very long boat ride, I just couldn’t stop taking silly photos (Nile Special is the best local beer by far)

The boys struggled to keep there tops on for long

When we arrived we were greeted by hundreds of people on the dock inviting us to stay at there various hotels, luckily we’d already booked a place called Hornbill Campsite, they had dorms for seven of us, and the other three had to camp.

It was an interesting campsite, run by two utterly insane Germans who smoked a lot and told us the first night that they had slaughtered a pork (Accompanied with slaughtering hand gesture and noise) and we could come to the buffet later that night. While devouring the brilliant pork we discovered that their taste in music didn’t really range much beyond hardcore German rock!

The night camping wasn’t exactly the best… I’m very very pleased with the maiden night of my Vango Banshee 300, although African rains and a rushed construction didn’t make it the best nights sleep, its next outing was far far more successful!

I felt it only appropriate to take picture of it on its first outing

After the tent was set up and everyone was settled we went to the beach for the sunset. Technically its best not to swim in the water because of Bilharzia but I wasn’t going to let that stop me, so I went for a very quick swim before getting too scared of the threat of crocodiles!

After that I just took loads and loads and loads of sunset pictures…

The next morning I got up and went into town for breakfast of plain chapatti! Somehow I ended up being ditched by everyone else and exploring the island on my own. I managed to see a random pig sat in the middle of some trees and had a group of monkeys attack me with fruit!

When everyone got back to the campsite it was beach games time! Initiated by Joe, the first round was “Midget sumo wrestling”

Ollie lost

Tom won, even despite the lack of the use of his hands!

Next was wheelbarrow racing, and after that was crossing the river of sand! In the end, my team (Team Victorias – pronounced Victorious) lost to Team Nelson.

The evening was spent around the campfire, with a fairly early bed since we had to get up early to catch the boat back.

In the morning we got up at 6.30 to get on the boat by 7. As we left the campsite at 7 it started to rain, this rain didn’t stop until about two hours into the extremely cramped boat journey and has left several people with broken phones and cameras!

It was a brilliant weekend and I would definitely recommend it as a place to relax in Uganda, although there was basically nothing to do!

1… 2… 3… BUNGEE!!

Apologies for the completely barren blog, I’ve been very lazy recently, but had a big day yesterday, so lots to write about!

The day started with an Secondary 1 lesson at St James’ where I was teaching all about relative density. For those of you not aware, relative density (Sometimes abbreviated to R.D) is equal to the density of a substance divided by the density of water! Its a way of calculating density more accurately without loss of accuracy due to volume measurements.

Afterwards I headed back to the guesthouse to prepare myself for what I’d agreed to last week. A bungee jump over the Nile. The main reason for doing it this Wednesday was that it was Joe’s birthday, and the very beginning of the celebrations.

We pulled names out of the hat to decide who jumped in what order and was pulled last, which meant I was assigned official photographer for everyone else’s jump…