Hemingway Adventure
Masindi, Uganda
The road to Butiaba. Rough going on the marram grass roots through the bush.
'You must walk faster! You must walk more slowly!' The pitted mud road tips and sways us on between fields of maize and sweet potato, trees crowded with black kites, and Manhattan-like termite mounds over ten feet high.
The town of Masindi, where we arrive mid-morning, is the administrative centre for the region and its dusty pot-holed streets are lively. The buildings are single-storey and some are laid out with steps and shaded arcades which bear the names of the Asian shopkeepers who built them and who were later ordered out of Uganda by Idi Amin. The current President, Museveni, is encouraging them back.
Masindi offers a rich variety of products and services. One shop advertises the 'Mandela' Human Love Charm, another, 'Good Morning' Lung Tonic. There are businesses like The Honest Brothers - Dealers In Essential Commodities, 'In God We Trust' Electrical Suppliers and Wiring, and the alarmingly candid New Fracture Driving School.
Lured by the sign outside the Bamugisa Barber Shop, which 'Cares To Make You Smat', I go inside for a trim.
So pleased is Fredrick Magembe with the job he does that he insists I have my portrait painted so he can add it to the display board outside the shop. I am greatly honoured to be chosen to represent style Number 8 at the Bamugisa Barber Shop in Masindi.
We spend the night at the old railway hotel. It is basic. Inside, a narrow bed, with no mosquito net and lots of mosquitoes, bare bulbs and dodgy wiring. Outside, a long verandah and a spreading jacaranda with copious blue blossom. We're sitting out here at the end of the day, trying to find the cool breeze, when a group of curious and very polite schoolchildren come by. One of them, who cannot be more than ten, regards me for a moment and says, solemnly:
'We are here to make friends.'
Boy making his bed in Masindi.
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PALIN'S GUIDES
- Series: Hemingway Adventure
- Chapter: Masindi, Uganda
- Country/sea: Uganda
- Place: Masindi
- Book page no: 188
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