After a rushed breakfast and brief farewells to Andrew at Breakfast, Naggib and I made our way to Kisumu Airport.
Chrispen who had been our ever reliable driver for this and every trip to Kenya was just ahead of time as usual. Checking in for a small airline like Air Kenya is a little different. Much more relaxed. Once the plane had landed from Entebbe we had a short wait to board with our luggage. It turned out that Naggib and I were the only passengers so the crew equalled the passenger numbers. The 45 minute trip to Entebbe in this single prop aircraft was very enjoyable and we had wonderful views over Lake Victoria.
Next was the road journey to Mbale! This meant driving around Kampala. Anyone who has driven in or around Kampala will simply tell you that you avoid it at all costs. The journey, normally about 5 to 6 hours took us 7. At one point we were overtaken by a police vehicle that parted the traffic and so our driver simply put on our hazard lights and followed the police car. This got through about 4 miles of traffic before it turned off our road.
We finally arrived at the hotel and after a quick shower adjourned to the bar to watch the Chelsea V Liverpool cup final… actually Naggib headed straight there and decided that it was more important to catch the early part of the match and be smelly than have a shower… no one else in the bar seemed in the least bit interested as they were all intent on the match.
It was a pleasant evening after a long Saturday travelling. Oh and I should mention that we got pulled over by the police… no reason really, but after being extremely polite and giving the policeman a bottle of water we were on our way. Welcome to Africa!
Geoff Coleman
CEO of Mildmay
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