Mbale is a medium sized city of around 100,000 in eastern Uganda, fifty kilometers or so from the base of Mt. Elgon. As far as African cities go it’s rather pleasant with wide, reasonably tidy streets, organized shops and businesses, and attractive green suburbs. It’s also a regional hub, so I was in and out of the town a couple of times over a week or so.

My first visit wasn’t all that auspicious. Apparently there was some sort of strike, or work stoppage on behalf of bus and taxi drivers so all transportation from out of town (I was coming from Jinja) was stopped by the police around 10 km from the centre. I started walking but quickly realized it was a bad idea as the sun was blazing hot and the humidity very high, so I flagged down a motorcycle taxi. Because of the strike, and because it was a Sunday the streets of Mbale were very quiet, so much so that I wondered (briefly) if anyone actually lived there.

I found excellent lodgings at The Visitor’s Inn where I got a spotless room, a firm mattress with crisply starched sheets, a mosquito net and a little writing table all for around eight dollars. There was no running water in the bathroom though, so I had to make do with a large bucket of water for washing and toilet flushing. There was an excellent bar across the street, busy but not crowded.

I ordered a beer and quickly fell into a long and interesting conversation with David, a local school principal. He asked intelligent questions about Canada and my travels, explained articulately the goings-on of the local district government, told jokes, and even bought me a beer! You can imagine my surprise, then, when I was later told by my waitress to stay away from David because he was “a very bad man. VERY bad…”. She shook her head and looked very grave indeed.

There are two sides to every story I suppose, and I wondered (from a distance) what sort of bad blood there was between the two. I enjoyed talking to David though, and as far as I can figure nothing bad has happened to me so far (not that he’s likely responsible for anyway).

On my second visit to Mbale (after spending time up in the coffee country) I met Frank, a traveler from London on a similar route around East Africa. Frank proved to be an excellent conversationalist, and we shared a lot of interests in travel and international politics and culture. We teamed up for a few days and enjoyed each other’s company and the chance to compare notes on our respective trips.

I found good coffee in Mbale! There are a few coffee cooperatives in town, places that buy organic coffee beans from the farmers in the Kapchorwa district and facilitare sales for them (see Uganda – into coffee country). One of the cooperatives had an attached cafe that served fresh ground coffee in large Styrofoam cups for less than twenty-five cents. Edwin was running the shop on the day I visited, and I enjoyed chatting with him about his family while he ground the beans and brewed me up a fresh cup of Joe. Edwin had studied agriculture at university and was working at the coffee shop while searching for more career-focused work.

Frank and I traveled together to Lira, 230 kilometers north-west in a jam-packed minivan full of all sorts and sizes of Ugandans. I had three kids on and around my lap the entire journey. Frank was sandwiched one seat behind me cradling his backpack. We were rewarded in Lira with very good rooms at the White House Lodge (the rooms had Wifi!) and a hot lunch of matoke and baked beans. A few beers in the evening and a “Rolex” (a sort of omelette rolled up inside a large chapati) did much to relieve the stress of the crowded, bone rattling journey to get there.

Lira is also very pleasant, though the streets are dusty and crowded and potholed. The scenery changed on the way from Mbale, the lush green slopes giving way to dry scrub and flatter cattle land. It was a hint of things to come as I continued north over the next days towards South Sudan and the vast dry, sun-baked lands all across the the top of the country.

Next, the long, DUSTY road to the far north, to Kotido, Kaabong and Karenga.

Stay tuned!