Wakiso

 So… It’s mango season!

It’s December and I am not a fan of the massive urban rural exodus that happens around this time of the year. It’s like everyone on the road is intoxicated, in some sort of hurry to “catch up” with Christmas or perhaps showing off their new car. As a result, I avoid being on the road during the festive season.

However, there was a need that turned into an opportunity for us, so we took it. December also happens to be a popular holiday month for the “baSummers” [i.e. visiting family from outside Uganda especially the west]. We had one such visitor who needed a ride from the airport so Yiyi and I decided to turn it into our little adventure into Wakiso.

Since we had an extra passenger on our return leg, I decided to drive as opposed to using public transport as we had done in previous trips. I have gotten so accustomed to driving amongst the noise and chaos of Kampala that driving on the new airport highway was almost dreamlike. Yiyi fell as asleep as soon as we left the city and only resurrected when we’d reached our final stop. I might just come up with random excuses in the future just to drive up and down the highway. Add to that the fact that I could listen to my classical music in peace for hours without being told it’s boring and I was in heaven.

Our destination was Eco Resort Kasenyi. Mother, Yiyi’s Oma, was worried by the thought of us staying at a lodge near the Kasenyi landing site – landing sites and fishermen get a bad rep for being crude and loud. However, this is a beautiful property in a serene patch of land. I like that it is child-friendly with a fully equipped play area as well as volleyball and basketball courts. Yiyi’s recently been introduced to birds [read chicken] so he kept hopping about in the grass, chasing a little bluebird and her flock. When I did get him to settle down, he took my camera and actually captured a few awesome shots.

We’d shown up on a random Thursday so I didn’t expect much of a crowd. Nonetheless, the place was clean as a whistle [unlike many places I’ve been to that look abandoned during their off season]. In the morning – grateful for a hot shower and delicious katogo – we set off for the airport.

Yiyi’s got a very limited vocabulary at the moment, with “plane” being one of the first words he could say. I knew a trip to the airport was a win for him. When we arrived, I noticed that a tent had been set up for “Meeters and Greeters” outside the airport building. I thought that we might not be allowed in by the security personnel. So we pretended that we needed to use the loo [no one questions a mother and child who need the loo] and wandered about until we found the viewing deck. Surprisingly, even though it is at the end of a functioning restaurant – which should have been minting money in the hot Ugandan sun – there was almost no one there. Yiyi had plenty of space to climb the barriers and watch the planes take off and land.

  

“Plane! Plane!” was all we said for an hour until I noticed that our guest had arrived and we had to leave.

As soon as we reached Kampala, we were stuck in a 4 hour traffic jam! I was already looking forward to our next adventure away from the chaos.

Yours

Yiyi and Dada

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