SI MONTHLY NEWS September 2008 Travellers Tales - Uganda to UK Part 4
From SI Exco News
Moses Kigozi continues his tale:
After staying at Ann and David’s home for five nights, they tried to make arrangements for me to visit other Servas hosts in Britain. When I told them I had never seen the Sea, Ann made several calls to different hosts who lived near the sea. Rachel and Steve, (a couple) in Lancashire accepted me to stay with them for a couple of nights. On Thursday 9th Ann drove me to Leeds train station where I was to take a train to Silverdale.
I enjoyed so much traveling by train because we do not have passenger trains in Uganda. While traveling, I enjoyed the nature, I saw the sea for the first time. When I reached Silverdale, Rachel and Steve were waiting for me at the station. They drove me to their home in a small car which I later learnt was a very economical car. When we reached home it was a beautiful large house with a nice compound, in an area of outstanding natural beauty, in a quiet place away from city noise. After showing me around the house, I was later served with a drink. I was asked if I was not very tired to go and do bird watching, and see the red deer. I replied, I wanted to see the deer for the first time. Before going, we had a walk in the village and along the sea shore. I again noticed that also houses in this area were also constructed using stones including finishing. Its rare to see this in Uganda since we use blocks.
I was very lucky to meet Steve, a field studies leader and Rachel an Ex-academic. This gave me a chance to get practical experience in many real things I was taught at school in geography 13 years ago. We had a walk to Silverdale shore and he explained to me the history and gave a geology lesson about the area. There was no sea as we had our walk on the shore, Steve explained to me more about tides, “a regular rise and fall in the level of the sea caused by the pull of the sun and moon”. This was a great opportunity for me to experience in reality, what I was taught at school 13 years ago. After we went back home to pick Rachel so that we could go and see the birds and the deer.
When we reached the scene, guides briefly told us about the place and how best we could see the deer and birds.
“Making a lot of noise drives away deer”, the guide told us that in the past many people missed the seeing deer. I was lucky I saw the deer and different kinds of bird species. Some birds come and go according to the season and others stay throughout the year.
We went back home and had a delicious dinner with mutton. While eating we planned about where to go the following day. St. Bees was the place chosen. Steve had been briefly Kenya (Africa) he told us about the Masai tribe, who believe that cattle in this world belong to them alone. I also told him about the Karamojong tribe in northern Uganda who believe like the Masai. It was really a nice time to talk about political, economic and social issues in England and Africa. After dinner these friends were so kind to drive me back to Silverdale sea shore to see the tide coming in. It was a great experience!
The next day I was taken to St. Bees by train, I saw the Irish sea. While on a rocky shore, I was able to view Scotland in the distance, and Sellafield nuclear power station. Steve taught me another geology lesson. At the beach, I failed to swim since the water was cold. I tried to put my feet in the Irish Sea. Some people were swimming, Rachel told us they had swimwear which brought warmth.
We had our lunch at the restaurant near the beach, I tried chicken Muyone. People here live a different life style. I wondered about the caravan park at St Bees. It is a kind of small village where people stay in caravans, instead of houses. When I was above the beach, It was interesting to see the surf in St. Bees bay. In the evening we had to take train back to Silverdale. I was used to timetables unlike in Uganda were taxis do not move on a schedule.
To be continued next month, Moses Kigozi
uploaded by Amelia
