After a day or two, we made our way up to Gulu in the north of Uganda. Gulu is most known for the place where numerous refugees fled to from surrounding areas when the Lord’s Resistance Army began terrorising the local populace. The army base and hospital there gave people shelter from the terror of the rebels.
To get to Gulu, you need to take a five hour journey along what passes as a national highway. Built by the NGOs I am told (probably the UN), it is tarred, but is far from the roads that we have here. There are a number of potholes. Your best bet is to take the Postbus. After a scan by a security guard, 16 000 Shillings, and a quick prayer by the driver, you are well on your way to a place that until recently was one of the most dangerous places on earth. Now it is filled with NGOs and UN vehicles busily doing humanitarian things.
This trip can be done in about two hours in your own 4×4 but then you might miss out on some of the interesting people that you might meet, some of whom have tales about Uganda’s past that make your blood freeze. People don’t like to speak about the country’s past and when you find someone that will, you will know why.
But it’s not all nightmares and hot flushes as the drivers of these buses play chicken with each other, Bodas and the odd bicycle, veering away at the last second and seldom breaking for the looming collision. A number of times I had Saskia, once again, tearing at my arm for fear of death. There are some added benefits from travelling in these buses that look like they were made in the 80’s and have yet to see a mechanic in their lives, and that is the scenery which is nice to look at and very different from home. Something that may also be of interest are the hordes of venders that make their way to the windows of the bus to sell you tasty edibles like corn, meat on a stick (not sure which kind), fruit, soft drinks, water (we each drank about 5 litres a day) and every now and then, if you are lucky, char-grilled cane rat. I never had the good fortune of seeing one of these but my colleagues both informed me it looks about as edible as”¦well”¦a char-grilled cane rat. These are no mere dormice either. Cane rats grow about as large as a poodle and would probably tear one apart. My advice: despite the locals insisting that it is a delicacy here, stay away.
Once you arrive in Gulu, have a look around the town. A Google search will turn up only one hotel here, but a brief walk around the centre of the town and it is obvious that no one here has really bothered, or had to. There are at least twenty places to stay here, and of those about ten won’t need to be fumigated before you lay your head down to rest. These places all have beds and mosquito nets and some even en-suite flushing toilets and showers. Others have communal bathrooms but these are well maintained. Showers are found in the bathrooms, about 1m from the toilet. Yup, there are no shower doors and if you have hot water, then you are paying for it. And a lot. A room with an en-suite (they call it self-contained or maybe that’s just me) hot water shower will set you back at least 35 000 Shillings per night. Most of the accommodation here caters for the NGO or backpacker type. There are however comforts like beer that these places regularly sell and is refreshingly cheap. If your hotel doesn’t have a bar (doubtful since I don’t think there are liquor licenses here), then walk down the road 50 paces and you will find one. A 450ml bottle will cost you about 2500 Shillings (roughly R8). If you get your own from the supermarket, good luck on finding a fridge to put them in. But at least you will have the comfort of knowing that you saved 600 Shillings (R2) a beer.
My personal recommendation: If you can afford about 30 000 Shillings a night, the Acoli-Ber Hotel is great and bookings can be done over the net. Make sure you print out your reservation since they have no internet there and can’t check their reservations. We nearly had to pay an extra night as a result. It is a little warmer in the top rooms of the hotel but the view from the balcony is well worth it as the sun sets over this frontier-style town.
For the slightly poorer traveller (me, for example) the Tropikana Inn can be found on Labwor Road. This is a nicely kept place, with comfortable beds, mosquito nets, a communal bathroom and a hospitable manager. At 16 000 Shillings a night, this place is well worth it. I didn’t have a chance to test the security there but it had locks on the doors and two keys seems too much effort for most places here so you are likely to have the only copy. Like anywhere else here, getting around is easy and if you are up for the walk you should leave early so as to avoid the mid-day sun. But otherwise, grab a boda. Most distances should cost you between one and two thousand Shillings, and a trip to Lacor, a dusty 7km away, between three and four. Haggle as usual, there are a lot of wealthy foreigners here who often don’t bother, which drives the price up.
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