Uganda which one calls the pearl of Africa. Difficult to escape from such a pink prison. Pleasure of living and second birth in my trip, I am learning again to smile to people and to feel safe !

Here I am in Uganda, this country is called the pearl of Africa and indeed, it is a rare pearl. Hardly passed the border that I'm already noticing the difference. Everything is wilder, the vegetation is much more present and especially people smile much more and are nice with the muzungu (the White man in Swahili). The road crosses the plantations of corn, of bananas, sugar canes and before reaching Jinja, I am crossing a tropical forest. Lots of baboons are waiting for me there. They are especially waiting for the cars or the trucks whose drivers give them food through their windows. A truck is stopping and the guy is starting to throw bananas. Suddenly I am finding myself in the middle of baboons completely mad which are fighting for bananas. I am trying to make me very small and I am waiting... 2 large males are fighting at one meter of me and my bicycle...
When I'm arriving in Jinja, Gisa, a German lay who traveled a lot, is offering to accomodate me. I intended to spend only one day in Jinja, I will spend 9 in all... The three first nights are for the discovery of the city, of the sources of the Nile and the night life. Finally I can get out during the night without running the risk to be attacked, as it was the case in Kenya.
I must also speak about the sources of the Nile. The Nile, my fidel companion from Egypt. He lulled me so many nights with his music, he me inspired me so many times with his pure and wild beauty of his water, he brings colors and life on his way while allowing trees, vegetables and fruits to grow on his banks. In Ethiopia, I saw the sources of the Blue Nile until the lake Tana and this time this is the sources of the White Nile.

Unfortunately it is time to say good bye to him. Here we go, more than 6000 kilometres in his company but it's time now. Before leaving him, Gisa is bringing  me to the Bujugali waterfalls. I will remain 6 days there finally ... One is offering me a splendid bungalow and each morning when I open the eyes, I see the Nile from my bed. How to leave such a splendid place? During my farewell night, full of alcohol, Tom, the person in charge for the bungy jumping, is offering me a free jump on the river. Only condition for the jump: I came by bicycle from Switzerland, therefore I jump... with my bicycle! The morning, I'm waking up (slowly...) and I'm wondering what I did again.... I must wait nearly 2 hours at the top of the tower for my turn but it is only when I am finding myself on my bicycle, ready to jump in the void, that I'm realizing what I'm doing. That will remain as one of the largest rises of adrenalin than I ever had in my life, for sure! The first seconds are very strange, it is definitely the first time since I left that I am finding myself in this position on my bicycle... in free fall...
Towards the Bujugali waterfalls, local people are jumping in the river in fury with a jerry can full with air for some bread crumbs. The tourists in general pay them less than 1. - chf (0,65 Euro) to do that. Pure madness when you know that this part of the river is considered as one of the most wild water of the world, whose rafting is one of the main attractions.
A little further, a group of sorcerers are coming from the jungle and are stopping towards the banks of the Nile, probably a special place for them. All the day, they are smoking the hallucinogen grass and the locals are coming and explaining their problems, their dreams, their wishes. Against a little money the sorcerers are fulfilling their wishes. The guru is seated against a hut, he is looking like a sadu that one meets in India. He has a large beard and is smoking his pipe without stopping. Suddenly, a fat woman is going into a trance, is singing lyrics coming from heart, perhaps the language of her tribe or a mystical language, her eyes are illuminated and under the influence of drug the revelations are coming. After that what must be known is said, she is breaking down and other women are trying to retain her in her fall. A powerful, mystical, unforgettable experience...
I am managing to escape Jinja (I would have stayed there a few weeks more but my legs are itching me to go and a voice interior is telling me that I have to carry on my trip, something is waiting for me) and I am going to Kampala. On the way, while I am resting under a tree, I am sharing a some food with a child. He is going to Kampala as well but his family does not have money. Still 40 kilometres to walk and he thought of doing it with the belly empty! It must be very studious at school, because thanks to him I am learning lots of things on his country, he is telling me the history and the problems of the tribes in Uganda it is definitely a true African problem, nobody really recognizes the countries and their borders because they are all part of tribes which are in general also in the closest countries) and he is also talking about the problems of demography. It's amazing to have this kind of conversations with a child of hardly 12 years old!

In Kampala, I am enjoying life, I am camping in a backpacker and the monkeys are waking me every morning. Civilization, chaos, poverty, modernization, trendy people, intellectuals, artists or politicians, Kampala is definitely one of the lungs of Africa. A colorful city, a night life very lively, and the streets are continuously black of people (and for once it is not a metaphor....). At the political level too, all the problems of the African countries are dealt here, sometimes publicly, sometimes secretly. But I don't like large cities, then I am leaving. I do not know where to go, so I trow a coin to decide and I am ending up in Entebbe. And I am camping... in the zoo. The camp-site costs half price of a normal entree, so I'm camping and I have a total access to the zoo. That's  Africa, sometimes you'd better not ask too many questions, all is not logical, but in that case, that's good for me! At night, I have the zoo for me all alone, I am lying in the  grass next to the lion (other side of the cage of course) and I am looking at stars. The lion is roaring and its breath is making move my hair.... For once that I can enjoy the company of a lion without having to fear him, I will make the most of it !! I know that his cousins will be giving me a hard time again in the bush. The following day I am deciding to try to go by the islands, which one calls the Caribbean African. No boat for the main island, where I know I will find a road which should lead me to a ferry which makes connection island-continent. I'm taking another boat and I am finding myself in a kind of island for hippies. I am meeting there people I met before. I am staying 2 days there and suddenly, a little before midnight, a fisherman boat is stopping. I am embarking my bicycle and my stuff and the boat is bringing me to the island of Kalangala. I am getting off in the night, on a beach. I do not know how, but I am finding myself in a bed a little later in a village where everyone seems to have drunk lots of local alcohol. Everyone wants to give me some strange beverages but I am refusing politely and I am falling in my bed. The morning I am crossing the 40 kilometres of the island under the amazed glance of people who can't believe that a White man is on their island with a bicycle like mine.... The ferry hit against a sand bank and they have to repair it but another fisherman boat will make it and I am finally finding myself on solid ground.

I am going through the west of Uganda, the mountains. The rain is coming with me through the banana plantations. Everywhere bananas, bananas and bananas again, it is one of the traditional dishes. The kilometres from Kabale to Kisoro are unforgettable. One calls Kabale, Switzerland of Uganda, another comparison with Switzerland. This is because we are in the mountains... The main road to Rwanda is not going there but the customs is open in Kisoro and one told me the place is beautiful. Indeed the place is extraordinary and on the way I am seeing 2 pigmes who are standing on the side of the road and are greeting me with large signs and a big smile on the face. The last pigmes in the world, someone told me about that but I had completely forgotten. In the beginning, I thought that 2 children were greeting me but no, they were adult... For the lunch break, I am arriving in a village where I'm eating and I am looking for water. No water nowhere. I am then asking people what they drink (because the human being must drink to survive!) and they are answering me that what they drink, it is alcohol. Enough! I am realizing that everyone is under the effect of alcohol.... Fortunately an African mama is arriving, she has a little water and is giving me a good cup of tea. She is also not follwowing the local habit and is continuing to drink tea and not alcohol... In way, the road is not paved, the climb is difficult, the little traffic which is there is entirely covering me with dust but this section will remain one of the most beautiful one I have seen so far. One is telling me that the border is close, just a few kilometers. I'm driving in a unreal landscape, all is perfect, splendid, paradise on earth. Mountains everywhere, in front of me volcanos culminating at 4000 meters and everywhere people dressed with thousand colors, they are working in the fields and are greeting me, laughing or making me large smiles when I am passing. Suddenly I am seeing a barrier, I believe that they is the railroad or a kind of enclosure, I am taking a run and am quickly passing the barrier... A hundred meters further I am finding myself in front of the immigration office of Rwanda. Oops, I am looking back and I am seeing 4 Ugandanese soldiers, panic-stricken, who are running in my direction..... It was indeed the border that I crossed at full speed....