First Day in Kampala
It was shockingly easy to get through immigration - it took all of 15 minutes. Adam was kind enough to pick me up at the airport, so all I had to do was hop in the car and we were on our way. We spent the first day running errands - changing money, getting sim card, buying groceries. It was a great way to get a feel for the pace of Kampala and to get introduced to life here.
Adam explained a whole bunch of stuff to me, like Ugandan politics and such. But I'm afraid it was one ugly bird that captured my attention and kept my fascination for the rest of the trip (causing my frequent and sudden stops while we were walking - I had to take another picture!).
What's this in the sky? Dirt flecks on my camera?
Cue David Attenborough: the Marabou stork.
This picture is helpful for scale - the Marabou stork is what looks like a largish statue on the corner of the building - but not too helpful to show how disgusting the bird is. I'm afraid that I don't have a good close-up, despite having had several chances to take such pictures, what with sick or injured birds sitting on the pavement. Those times that I came across such a bird, I ran a safe semi-circle around the bird. So here's a nice big photo of the bird, courtesy of Dimijian Images:
(If you want to see it in action, google "Marabou stork." There are some cool/revolting youtube videos of this huge bird.)
Apparently the government tried to cull them at one point, but the city got overtaken by trash, and so they had to re-introduce these birds. Fitting that they eat trash! I must say that it's a very resilient bird - their giant nests and chicks rest on sickly trees in the middle of crazy traffic.
The other memorable sight from the first day was the matatu stop. I would later get a chance to ride in these (thank God for the Hong Kong MTR that rid me of any sense of entitlement to personal space), but weaving my way (just walking! Not on a boda-boda, like later on...) between the jam packed matatus gave me a deep awe of the driving skills of these taxi drivers. How do they get in? And how do they ever get out again? And who would know where to go to get the right matatu?
Yet amidst all this seeming chaos is a perfectly functional system. It made me chuckle to think about the Stanford Marguerite shuttles - buses triple the size of these vans, transporting a third as many people. The official capacity of these matatus is 14, but we often fit 16. However, if there are kids, there can be 18 or more people in the van. Now look at this fading ad for family planning, hanging above the matatu stop.
A terrific first day. Tomorrow we go on a safari (!!!!) and then it's teacher interviews on Monday!
Adam explained a whole bunch of stuff to me, like Ugandan politics and such. But I'm afraid it was one ugly bird that captured my attention and kept my fascination for the rest of the trip (causing my frequent and sudden stops while we were walking - I had to take another picture!).
What's this in the sky? Dirt flecks on my camera?
Cue David Attenborough: the Marabou stork.
This picture is helpful for scale - the Marabou stork is what looks like a largish statue on the corner of the building - but not too helpful to show how disgusting the bird is. I'm afraid that I don't have a good close-up, despite having had several chances to take such pictures, what with sick or injured birds sitting on the pavement. Those times that I came across such a bird, I ran a safe semi-circle around the bird. So here's a nice big photo of the bird, courtesy of Dimijian Images:
 |
| This is a relatively nice-looking Marabou stork |
(If you want to see it in action, google "Marabou stork." There are some cool/revolting youtube videos of this huge bird.)
Apparently the government tried to cull them at one point, but the city got overtaken by trash, and so they had to re-introduce these birds. Fitting that they eat trash! I must say that it's a very resilient bird - their giant nests and chicks rest on sickly trees in the middle of crazy traffic.
The other memorable sight from the first day was the matatu stop. I would later get a chance to ride in these (thank God for the Hong Kong MTR that rid me of any sense of entitlement to personal space), but weaving my way (just walking! Not on a boda-boda, like later on...) between the jam packed matatus gave me a deep awe of the driving skills of these taxi drivers. How do they get in? And how do they ever get out again? And who would know where to go to get the right matatu?
Yet amidst all this seeming chaos is a perfectly functional system. It made me chuckle to think about the Stanford Marguerite shuttles - buses triple the size of these vans, transporting a third as many people. The official capacity of these matatus is 14, but we often fit 16. However, if there are kids, there can be 18 or more people in the van. Now look at this fading ad for family planning, hanging above the matatu stop.
A terrific first day. Tomorrow we go on a safari (!!!!) and then it's teacher interviews on Monday!
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