Safety is paramount

Monday, April 23

Hello morning!  

After being tired from the previous night, I had a very good sleep. So, we started to prepare to leave QENP…  

It felt like a farewell, as our “holiday” trip would come to an end soon.  Today we need to travel  from QENP to Kampala – a trip of 8 hours at least…  But not before we were able to say goodbye to, yes, you are right… elephants!  I know it might become boring, but again, we saw so many elephants.  And again, pictures pictures pictures.  We all realized: this will be the last time.  And having seen elephants 3 days in a row, it is something you should deserve 😊  (that is what I am telling myself – cannot find any other explanation).

We needed to make a stop in Kasese, as we had problems with the car…  Our brakes did not work very well anymore and you must agree: safety is paramount.  We left the car for service in a Ugandan open-air garage and immediately 4 persons started repairing it.  30 minutes and 30€ later, new brake pads were installed.

And that was the beginning of a long trip direction Kampala.  We needed to do some stops, sometimes for a “bush toilet” 😊  In Fort Portal we stopped for lunch.  And for the ladies: a little bit of shopping.  

In the afternoon it started to rain which made it not very easy on the road.  But with a driver as Ibs, we felt very safe.

We arrived in Kampala about 11 hours later – it was a very long drive.  Returning to Kampala, raised some memories of the crazy traffic.  Adriaan always says “busy” traffic, but man, I can guarantee: it is C-R-A-Z-Y.  I am sure that if when we are being dropped in a car on a roundabout in Kampala, one can come and get us hours later stuck on the same roundabout…  You need to have real guts to drive in Kampala. 

It was a relief to arrive at the hotel…  A very nice place to stay the rest of the week and to start with the final preparations for the summit.  It was very nice to see Ralph and Ahrabella again but also the Pepal girls with whom we worked together during the last months.  

Also Frances (my Oprah)  and other Janssen colleagues were already in the hotel.   But there was this 1 person that was not in the hotel…  I need to be patient for 1 extra day.  I really hope to see Moses tomorrow…

Bye for now…