While I was on my “overland safari” in Africa I would go for a walk in the evenings if it wasn’t my evening to cook dinner. Sometimes our camps were out in the country (the bush) other times we were in town. One afternoon in Uganda I set out for a walk, our camp was on the bank of the Nile about 10 KM (6 miles) from town. As usual on these walks I have no destination planned, I just start walking and see where I end up. I worked my way up to the highway and crossed the bridge and kept walking. Eventually I got to the edge of town where I decided to stop in a shop and get a bottle of water. The shop keeper scowled at me as I bought my water, this was enough of a reminder that I was still in Uganda. Uganda was my seventh country in Africa on this trip and it was the first one in which most of the people were not friendly. In the other countries as we road along the highway in the back of the truck, (a cross between a school bus and a truck) men, women and children would smile and wave at us. In Uganda we had only two women and a few children wave, not a single man did. To make it worse we had had many of them flip us the finger and a few had made jesters of cutting our throats or shooting us.
I stepped out on the front porch to drink my water and look around before heading back. As I stood there a man saw me from a few shops down, he quickly walked over towards me. As he approached he smiled and offered his hand. He introduced himself in good English, also rare in Uganda outside of people working with tourist. He quickly asked me to follow him. We walked a few shops down and then between two of them there was a high wood fence with one plank missing. He slid between them and motioned for me to follow. Red flags of warning went off in my head, this didn’t seem like a good ideal, it appeared dark in there as the buildings were only 3 meters apart and there was a roof over the area. In a second of bravery I decide take a chance and I slid through. Immediately I saw about six or seven guys in there. Yes again that voice in my head said danger!
One of the other men looked up and said welcome. They were all taxi drivers, and this was their hang out when they weren’t working. Only the two of them spoke more than just a few words of English. All were very friendly and someone bought a large bottle of beer to pass around. After it was gone another one appeared and then I bought one. Also during this time they were chewing on a type of leaf that was some kind (mild) drug, I declined on that when it was offered. They all were interested in hearing about my travel, the USA and my opinion of Uganda. After probably about two hours I said I needed to leave as it was almost sunset and I had a long ways to go. They asked if I would come back and I said I would as we would be at our camp for several days. They asked if I wanted to take a taxi but I declined. My plan was that I would walk a third to half way back and then flag down a motorcycle before it got completely dark.
Okay, I said it was my plan. Again my love of adventure took over; as it kept getting darker and darker I kept walking and didn’t try to stop a bike. By the time I got to where I turn off the highway it was already completely dark. I still had about three kilometers to go and this was my last chance to try to stop a bike. Again, this isn’t so bad, it’s a beautiful evening and soon there will be very few people around as I head away from the highway. I turned the corner and kept walking. After a very short distance there are no lights except for a few buildings the rest of the way back and also very little traffic.
I have learned in walking around in developing countries to always beware of what is going on around me. Paying attention to the people around me, showing no fear and never look lost; I always make a decision on which way I will go before I get to an intersection, so I don’t look lost trying to decide where I will go. About half way down this section of road I could sense someone catching up to me from behind. Now in other parts of the world it wouldn’t be unheard of for someone to pass me, but in almost two months in Africa I had not once seen an African walking faster than me! For the second time in a few hours DANGER flashes through my head! I quickly decide how to handle this, don’t change my walking at all, don’t turn around, don’t be afraid, but be completely focused on his approach and ready to take some action in a nano second if need be.
Out of the corner of my eye I could see him starting to pass me. Then he said hello. He had walked fast so he could catch up to me. He said I was walking so confidently that he thought I was a soldier doing training at the fort down the road. He was on his way home from work. We walked and talked until he turned off on a side trail.
When I got back to camp the other people on the safari were relieved to see me as they had figured I was dead. They had made me a little tombstone and picked some flowers to put by it. The driver knew I was fine and told them, it’s Doug doing his thing.
More and More I understand and agree with FDR when he said “we have nothing to fear but fear itself”. Three times in a few hours I had overcome potential fear; I had gone through the fence, I had walked at night and I hadn’t panicked when someone was gaining on me on a dark road. It allowed me to meet some wonderful people and to see that Uganda, like every other country has some very friendly people.
Two nights later I went back, letting my fellow travelers know that I would be late. I again stayed for several hours. It was after dark when I left this time and this time I let them arrange a motorcycle ride back for me, cheaper than if I had set it up myself.