by Henry
I was a little surprised in the middle of the night that there was not condensation building up on my tent fly. But curses; at about 3 AM, it started raining, and it did not seem like it would let up. With the required early bag drop off, I surmised that I would be packing up in the rain. TDA staff had arranged us a buffet breakfast with the hotel at 6 AM, because the trucks would already be getting loaded onto the ferry, and could not stick around to prepare our usual breakfast.
During and after breakfast, there was a torrential downpour, and we had to ride the short 1.5 km to the ferry on a very slippery unpaved road with deep puddles, fast flowing rivulets, and wet sand pits with huge rolling resistance.
Today is mostly a transit day off the island to get us back to the mainland at Entebbe. The 1976 Entebbe Raid is in the collective memory of those who are old enough. Benjamin Netanyahu‘s older brother Yonatan was the sole Israeli killed in this raid.
TDA staff is masterful at maneuvering the trucks into position on a small ferry.
The 2 trucks were backed onto the ferry with only inches to spare between them.
The ferry is as tightly packed inside as it is outside. It was a 4 hour uncomfortable ride in wet clothes.
After landing in Entebbe, the roads were wet, but at least it was no longer raining. There was a chaotic market scene at the ferry landing.
It ws a short 7 km ride to our campground at Via Via Hotel. After the rains, many had decided to upgrade to rooms (not all however – we have some hardcore tent campers in the group). At Via Via, there were glamping options, but all the other rooms had been reserved previously by other non-TDA tourists. Linda and I had been able to book a room at nearby Jet Villas Entebbe Hotel while on the ferry. Tim and Jeff thought they had booked a room also, but somehow their reservation did not go through, and they were diverted to a nearby hotel.
After settling in, we decided to backtrack and walk through a giant open air Saturday market in the neighborhood that we had ridden through. The market sold everything and anything, like a Walmart turned inside out.
We walked a little further to Victoria Mall, and shopped for a few snacks at Carrefour’s. We ended up having dinner at Middle East Restaurant & Cafe just outside the mall, and there was a nice gelato selection there.
At the restaurant, I ran into our Finnish rider, who is a retired medic. He had been clipped by a motorbike 3 days ago (immediate aftermath above). His right leg continued to swell, and he was limping significantly. The TDA medics asked me to look at his leg yesterday. There was an area of maximal tenderness at his fibula. Although he thought it was not necessary, we all agreed that he should get an x-ray upon arrival in Entebbe, because the decision to ride further hinged upon whether this was a soft tissue contusion or something more serious.
The x-ray revealed a minimally displaced and very slightly commuted fibular shaft fracture. Fortunately, he won’t need surgery to heal this. With this diagnosis, it was clear that he would not be able to continue riding.
The TDA staff took good care of him by obtaining a walking boot and they even drove 35 km to the capital Kampala to get Xarelto (a blood thinner), as they could not find any pharmacies in Entebbe that stocked it. TDA is helping him with the insurance claim and making arrangements for him to fly back to Finland. He will need Xarelto to prevent blood clots on the flight. The rider is keeping his chin up. If he gets healed in six weeks, he’s considering flying back to join us again in Livingstone (Zambia) at Victoria Falls to complete the last two segments of this expedition.
We enjoyed an evening stroll in the cool night air back to our hotel, but the loss of one rider weighed heavily on our hearts and minds.
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