Shela – The Other Side of Lamu
Just around the island, yet a world away, lay Lamu Old Town’s upscale, ex-pat enclave neighbor, Shela. Shela town is also home to Lamu Island’s beaches–Coincidence? Me thinks not.
Highlights include urban explorations and insights from around Kampala, adventures in Lake Victoria, Murchison Falls, and Sipi Falls, making our way on assignment around Uganda with stops in Arusha, Gulu, and Mbale, and stays in Lake Bunyonyi and Jinja.
Highlights from Kenya include exploring Nairobi and the Kenyan Coast (Lamu Island and Malindi).
Just around the island, yet a world away, lay Lamu Old Town’s upscale, ex-pat enclave neighbor, Shela. Shela town is also home to Lamu Island’s beaches–Coincidence? Me thinks not.
There are only two ways to get to Lamu Town: take a boat or swim. It’s magical, it’s mysterious and it’s endangered. Here’s what to expect.
Beautiful Lake Bunyonyi serves as the final stop in a whirlwind 48-day journey around Uganda.
Pausing to climb out from under report-writing in Mbale, my research partner and I take a weekend trip to Sipi Falls — a real-life picture post card of the Garden of Eden — and bring back some unexpected souvenirs…
If you like real and surreal together, then by golly, Gulu is the place for you. It’s dusty and proud and friendly, but not overly so. It’s also two distinct towns on a collision course.
After 10 days spent in Kampala, we were itching to finally set out into the field to begin our interviews in earnest. Our journey takes from the capital city over the Nile and on to Gulu.
We left town for the lakeside village of Munyonyo, stopping at Cassia Lodge (proclaimed the best view in Kampala). A momentous occasion because it was our first trip out of the capital–and–Alexandra’s first-ever ride in a matatu.
Our first Saturday in Uganda was spent walking around Old Kampala, viewing the mammoth “Gadhafi” Mosque perched on top of Kampala Hill, and taking a private hire taxi out to the Baha’i Mother Temple of Africa.
We spend our first ten days in the the capital city, meeting contacts, getting a feel for Kampala, and preparing for the six weeks of field research ahead.
26 days after learning that I would be spending the summer in Uganda, our Ethiopian Airlines 767 touched down in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) for a layover en route to Entebbe (Uganda).
This summer I find myself in Uganda, of all places, traveling around the country looking for answers.