Been There, Done That (Uganda VIII)

There are some things in life, which you just cannot get enough of. There is no such thing as owning enough shoes, you can never have enough time off work, adoring Hugh Jackman as Wolverine certainly never gets boring and you can most definitely never have too much ice cream! On the other hand, some things you really don’t ever need more of: rainy days, deadlines, stains on your favourite jumper or mushrooms, avocados and Brussels sprouts.

But can you ever get enough of a continent? Can so many different cultures and traditions, sceneries and landscapes, flowers and wildlife, specialties of food and sounds of music ever actually bore you?

Unfortunately I think the answer is yes.

But before you roll your eyes and turn away completely outraged by this statement, let me try to explain what I mean!

When travelling through Uganda I was overwhelmed by the beauty of the country: the mountains were incredibly spectacular; the lakes so quiet, calming and peaceful; everything was totally un-spoilt and there was something really charming about it.
Even though I was really enjoying my trip, half way through it I had to admit to myself that this might quite possibly be my last holiday in developing Africa and that’s because despite all its beauty and hidden treasures, many developing countries in Africa seem to be very much the same:

There are these amazing markets where vendors sell fruits neatly piled up in little pyramids, beans and rice in open linen bags and spices that no one has ever smelt before. Even better are the markets for fresh fish and meat – chicken sitting in cages right next to the grill where their fellows are being grilled, mongers who cut you a fish fillet out of the whole fish right in front of you and butchers who have the cow’s head and trotters lying on a dirty table while the rest of the cow is hanging on a hook above the stall (blood dripping – yum :)).



There are the little kids with torn princess dresses and runny noses running through the streets, pushing a bike wheel with a stick – something you never thought happened apart from in bad fund raising adverts. There are the five year old girls looking after their naked two year old brothers and there’s always one little boy who can speak a few words of broken English because he’s visiting the local school.



Roads are always in terrible conditions all over the country, but worst in the little villages where they narrow down to a frayed strip of “used-to-be-street” with more potholes than tarmac leftover. The houses on the main street are painted in bright colours because paint is sponsored by a Telkom’s company with a pink, yellow or bright orange logo and every house has a little shop in the front room selling everything from refreshments to plastic containers, clothes, spare car parts or anything that the villagers found, collected and are now hoping to turn into cash.




Finally there’s always the local food sold from dirty little stalls and wrapped in old newspapers that looks so different and interesting. But when you get to taste it, it always ends up disappointing you because Africans put ten spoons of sugar in every coffee, but not a pinch of salt on their food.

When you visit Africa for the first time, the markets are captivating, the kids adorable, the food intriguing and the roads an adventure … but once you’ve been to a few developing countries, they eventually lose their appeal. After visiting the tenth developing country and seeing the same scenes wherever you go, the markets become an effort, the kids dirty, the food blunt and the a roads painful experience. This is the moment when you realise that you’ve see it all before and while I don’t want to deny that there is something unique, special and outstanding about every country, the appeal of the “in-between-highlights” part does wear off.

So as I was bumping through Uganda, observing life in the villages and adoring the beautiful countryside, I got the hugely satisfying feeling that it all seemed strangely familiar … that I had seen it all before… that I was done with traveling in developing country Africa! I have reached a stage where I can comfortably lean back, be happy with what I have seen of Africa and no longer feel the urgent need to go out and explore more of it. Maybe it is time to move on to new kinds of holidays and destinations…. maybe I will organise some hiking holidays, finally do a diving course or maybe it is time to save up a bit of money and invest in that long-dreamed off ticket to Latin America… Either way, I have reached satiation with Africa and am finding it incredibly satisfying!