Top Tourist Attractions In Kampala, and Uganda

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    The Uganda Railway was built-in an age of Empire. Built using imported cheap labour from India along with local workers, the train line was driven through inhospitable country. Most of the labourers died from disease and if they survived that there was always the danger from man eating lions and accidents. The train line was completed in 1892 and helped to start the inside of the united states providing a conduit for the products of a developing economy.  KIU

    The train line gained it's unfortunate nickname early in it's life when the cost of the undertaking was weighed from the potential benefits. However the line has survived despite decades of negligence and the corruption of local Governments. Now it's hoped that new owners will give the railway an invigorated lease of life. In November a consortium from South African bought the line and plan to invest £150 million to show the line into an efficient operation.

    But the job ahead of them isn't small. I took my trip just before the buy out and what I experienced would daunt even the most experienced traveller. In the beginning glance the train still shows a number of it's former elegance. A really 1930s style that will do justice to a whodunit novel. However on close inspection it is clear that hardly any has been done to maintain the rolling stock and the interiors are extremely shabby. The light in my own cabin does not work but the steward assures me this really is normal. The majority of the carriages do not have electricity. The waiters in the restaurant car dress in white jackets but again these only look great well away as a deeper inspection reveals the stains that inadequate laundering has been unable to remove. A trip to the lavatory unveils just one more shortcoming!

    It's not only the engineering that can cause you hassle. Stories abound of thieves clambering onto the train to commit opportunistic robberies and we are advised not to leave valuables on view. I sleep with my wallet and watch under my pillow. Evening reveals still another hazard since the insects which were sheltering from the warmth of the afternoon emerge to play. You lie at nighttime listening to the buzzing and scratchings because the stowaways utilize the darkness to search for a meal.

    Occasional glimpses of the neighborhood fauna one of the trees elicit gasps from initially travellers as they fumble for cameras and binoculars. Even a few of the unscheduled stops may have their charm. Local children take the chance to produce friends with the passengers while we wait to go on. Once on the road again we marvel at the landscape of the Great Rift valley. Our stop start odyssey continues and before long the charms starts to disappear. The brochure said 13 hours city to city but as our journey reaches the 20th all we might like to do is get off. Not everyone is as patient as me and several passengers use the stops to commandeer local taxis or to hitch rides on trucks in an endeavor to beat the train. However even the longest journey must arrive at a finish and we finally draw into Mombassa just 10 hours late. I wish the newest owners well and hope they can make a go of it but this is one lunatic who won't be taking a second trip with this train!

    Publishing pro and established author/filmmaker Barry Sheppard has written and published many books with a huge selection of reviews in newspapers, TV and radio and has written over 140 articles on train travel. He's now concentrating on writing eBooks/articles on writing, video, publishing and starting his own television station.