You’ll recall last week I left Karamoja in the back of a small pickup on my way to Gulu. Well, I made it. I stopped in Kitgum for a night, tired and dusty from the trip from Karenga. Kitgum is a fairly pleasant town, not particularly exciting or noteworthy but calm and comfortable. It was hard hit during the civil war, and many of the residents were moved to displaced persons camps leaving the town undeveloped and stagnant. To make matters worse, a huge hepatitis epidemic broke out in 2008 when the townspeople finally started to return, further administering the town a good slap in the face.

The town was nothing special but I did have the best meal I’d had in ages at the Acholi Pride Guesthouse, liver and chips. The liver was, I think, chicken (though I didn’t bother to ask) and was beautifully cooked and came with a huge pile of delicious, crispy French fries and a sort of coleslaw. It was really good, though when I returned the next day to have it again for lunch it wasn’t available and instead I got “pasted” meat, chewy beef mixed up in a lukewarm peanut sauce. Like many things in Africa the liver and chips proved to be fleeting and temporary.

The three hour trip to Gulu was uneventful, though the state of the roads was atrocious. I had a sweet little girl on my lap the whole way, her mother having deposited her there when she got in with another toddler and baby (this is very common in Uganda, people looking after other people’s children on buses. I can’t count the number of times I’ve had little kids in my lap. They never seem to mind and usually just go to sleep like kids do the world over).

Gulu had changed! I was there on my first trip back in 1993. At that time it hadn’t been open long and in fact was still on the “don’t go there” list with the Canadian, British and a number of other government foreign office advisories. The town was poor and scattered, with a large unorganized market at one end of town and not much commerce or retail anywhere. Today the town is noticeably vibrant with a new covered and (sort of) well organized market, plenty of retail activity (mostly mobile phone shops it seemed) and some reasonably smart, well maintained restaurants and businesses. If you’re from a more developed country and had never left your home town you might not think Gulu was up to much, but for that part of the world it was bustling, and doing very well.

I got an excellent room at the Lexus Guesthouse on one of the main drags. There were a few lazy cockroaches in the bathroom, but otherwise the room was clean and comfortable. And there was Wi-Fi in the lobby!

I spent a few days walking in the area, one day on a dirt road towards Baker’s Fort to the north and another day east into pretty rolling farm country. People were very friendly and looked much more prosperous and turned-out than people in Karamoja.

From Gulu I made a clockwise loop to Pakwach, Arua, Moyo, Adjumani and back to Gulu. I did this over five days; I thought about taking longer, but the distance wasn’t all that great and there isn’t really anything to see or do along the route, other than enjoy the scenery and feeling of being well off the beaten path.

Whereas Gulu had changed, Pakwach hadn’t. I was there in 1993 as well, and to my eyes the place looked exactly the same; a few more cars on the road, a few shops selling mobile phones but otherwise it’s essentially a one-road place with a few secondary streets jutting off to either side.

It has a fantastic setting though, perched on an embankment above the White Nile River. Queen Elizabeth National Park is just south of the river, and I went for a walk out of town one day south over the river and along the (quiet) highway and saw hippo and elephant on the other side.

I also enjoyed an interesting lunch with Pett Rwothumio, whom I met over a plate of fish and “Irish” potatoes at the All Saints Restaurant on the main drag (Irish potatoes are just normal potatoes; the Ugandans call them Irish for some reason). Pett was very interesting and we had a long discussion about Uganda, my travels, his work and family and life in Pakwach. We exchanged email and have kept in touch since, swapping news.

The next stop on the route was Arua. Back in ’93 I made a mad dash to Arua one day to change currency; there was no place in Pakwach to do it and I was out of money, so I made a day trip to the bank in Arua. None of the route was familiar to me as I traveled it this time, and Arua was bustling and full of NGO workers so it was completely unrecognizable. I was sick for a few days there with a low grade fever and cold, so took it easy reading, snoozing and wandering a few doors down from my hotel to get meals and beer (I got two separate blood tests for malaria on two consecutive days from two different clinics in Arua. Both negative).

Then a very interesting night in Moyo, at the very top (northern most part) of the circuit. Moyo is only 20 km from the border with South Sudan and consequently there were a lot of South Sudanese in town, a number of whom I chatted with. The town was very lively at night, plenty of little bars and stalls. I shared a few beers and had a great conversation with a group of local businessmen sitting in plastic chairs under the stars outside a small grocery.

The next day I walked about 20 km out of town along pretty roads until around 10:15 a.m. when I put my thumb out and got a lift from a government employee all the way to Adjumani. There’s a huge refugee camp on the outskirts of town visible as you enter, mainly full of South Sudanese and people from Darfur, I was told.

Then back to Gulu and my old room at the Lexus. It was an excellent trip along the northern circuit, and I was treated to yet another chance to see the real Uganda. You need to make an effort, but in my experience it’s always been worth it.

Next week I move south, slowly making my way to the high altitude lush green hills of southern Uganda and the Rwanda border.

Stay tuned!