I am spending a couple of days in Eastern Uganda and I want to document the entire journey and expenses that led up to the trip, this is a one way review and will make another one for the return journey.
I wanted this to be a road trip type of thing like I see on Youtube but sadly I don’t have so many pictures to show for it. Maybe next time :)
Departure
I asked the mechanic to do a safari check and fuel the car a couple of days prior. I usually do this before a long journey such that I can just wake up, get into the car and just drive.
I set off at around 8.30am although I had initially planned to leave at around 7.30am, I needed a couple of tools for the car so I had to wait for the shops to open.
This was the first time taking Nadia on such a long trip after a couple of hideous fixes so I was a bit skeptical.
I took the Kyaliwajjala - sonde then Seeta route onto mukono and then made a stop at namawojjolo for chicken
Stopovers
We only made two stopovers, one at namawojjolo and the other at rubis for a bathroom break and to somewhat wash off the scorching heat and then we were on our way
I made only one stop at the traffic stop where I was asked to present my driving permit and I was off on my way
that was around 9.05am, it took about an hour to get to Jinja
I had planned to make another stopover in Jinja for a brief sight seeing but I decided to skip and just proceed with the journey.
The next stop was at rubis where we had a bathroom break as I prepared for the long 100Km stretch to mbale one of my favorite roads to drive on
Arrival
I was in Mbale at 1.30 but I think I should have made it 30 minutes ealrier but we spent a really long time behind a truck that wasn’t about to shift but nonetheless we reached safe.
This place is such a beauty, about 10Km before you reach mbale you can see the beautiful hills and the great Elgon mountains.
I want to get into hiking soon and this on will be on my list.
Expenses
Some of these expenses are not really related but without them I wouldn’t have made the trip.
I am driving a twenty five year old Toyota that still somehow manages to move obviously not without frequent treks to the garage
After my recent trip to Tororo, I realized that I had an oil leakage and I had to change cascade among other things and also service the car. I also decided to add a seal to the oil pump which seems to have temporarily fixed that issue. This cost me a total of about 400K
I also had to replace my fuel nosels which cost a whopping 400K
Sadly my engine ended up over heating, something I would have avoided if I had replaced my old rusted radiator cup a couple of months ago but well here we are the entire process cost me a whopping 517K I also managed to replace plugs which apparently will improve my fuel consumption but atm it still feels the same
on top of that I had to fix an oil leakage and service the car which was also quite pricy and now I’m worried break fluid may also be leaking but that’s a problem for another day but also that’s the cost of having an old car
Fueling, I expect to use about 60L
988 KM Kla
Conclusion
Perks
A road trip is somewhat like therapy, you reach a moment and it’s just you and the machine and nothing else matters
Quarks
It’s a long ride, this is somewhat the third time I’m making the trip so It doesn’t hurt like the first time but it’s undeniably tiring
I have always wanted to write one of these, I’m too to enjoy the next cooped of days in this town and possibly Erie another review once I’m back. Cheers!