Day 12

There is a Jewish proverb along the lines of: men make plans, and God laughs.  You could easily rearrange it: people make plans, and Africa laughs.

We find ourselves at a riverside restaurant in Jinja, the city where you can raft the Nile.  We discovered the place despite the staggering incompetence of the lonely planet guidebook.  I was with friends who wanted to go to Zanzibar the next day, and so this would be our last meal as a group.  We were able to take a banana boat ride that reminded everyone of the Jungle Cruise, and set off into the mouth of the Nile, and Lake Victoria beyond, with the Australian restaurant manager at the helm.  This guy had been living in Zanzibar for the last 3 years, so it was a big topic of conversation.  After the boat ride on the Nile, we sat at the restaurant to wait out some light rain.  The rain got heavier.  We were trapped.  The rain got heavier, so we ordered dinner.  The rain didn't let up, totally dashing our plans to get back to Kampala.  Finally, after hearing all about Zanzibar, I decided to hell with it, let's all go.  That night, after the rain let up just enough for us to make it to a hostel, I used the world's worst internet connection to book a cheap internal flight to Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, the last mainland waypoint to the white sand island just offshore: Zanzibar.