Bukittinggi and it’s famous mountain

Through jungle, mountains and over a winding road we left Pekanbaru and arrived six hours later in Bukittinggi near Sumatra’s west coast east of Lake Maninjau. Because of the altitude, approaching the Equator was relatively cool. Our Bukittinggi hotel was on a hill, but even higher was Mt Marapi not far away—smoke rising from its summit. This was Sumartra’s most active volcanic peak aptly named Mountain of Fire. The volcano had erupted more than one hundred times and was last active in 2020, but on our visit it merely signalled with a puff of smoke. 

Reality check back in Jinja

Photo courtesy: John Hanson – Creative Commons

My last night in Uganda was back in Jinja. I was heading into Kenya again. I stayed with an African family that night who made me realise how friendly Uganda was. I had got to know more locals than any other country in spite of only spending a couple of weeks there.