Flashback to Uganda!
A flashback! I promised you a story about Uganda a few months ago, here it is!! Sorry for the delay, but you know what they say about African time....
Wow, not bad to be a travelling plant. You get to places ordinary plants have no chance of visiting. What about Lake Victoria, the largest fresh water lake in Africa. 67 thousand square kilometres is quite stretch of water; Netherlands and Belgium together would fit in and sink to its 65 meter deep bottom. So I flew to its northern shores on the 27th December 2006, to Kampala to be precise. Kampala is the capital of Uganda, and for a plastic plant I have some serious competition here from my organic brothers and sisters. Even the treated telephone poles are sprouting leaves here. The whole place is green and teeming with trees, bushes, grass, weeds, flowers, and unfortunately bugs. But that’s another story. So those of you who still believe that Africa is one brown dustbowl, come to Uganda and be surprised. Pretty busy place as well. Uganda has a population of 27 million people, and a capital of 1.5 million. And a bit chaotic to my western taste. If I were less polite I would call it a crazy city where cars, motorbikes, pedestrians, chickens, cows and bugs (but that’s another story) all seem to apply their own set of traffic rules. But also with some amazing tranquil places. What about me looking out over Lake Victoria from Kauku, one of the lake shore suburbs of Kampala. Not bad eh. I would not mind retiring here, but first I have to go up-country, as they call travelling outside the capital here.
Chao!
Wow, not bad to be a travelling plant. You get to places ordinary plants have no chance of visiting. What about Lake Victoria, the largest fresh water lake in Africa. 67 thousand square kilometres is quite stretch of water; Netherlands and Belgium together would fit in and sink to its 65 meter deep bottom. So I flew to its northern shores on the 27th December 2006, to Kampala to be precise. Kampala is the capital of Uganda, and for a plastic plant I have some serious competition here from my organic brothers and sisters. Even the treated telephone poles are sprouting leaves here. The whole place is green and teeming with trees, bushes, grass, weeds, flowers, and unfortunately bugs. But that’s another story. So those of you who still believe that Africa is one brown dustbowl, come to Uganda and be surprised. Pretty busy place as well. Uganda has a population of 27 million people, and a capital of 1.5 million. And a bit chaotic to my western taste. If I were less polite I would call it a crazy city where cars, motorbikes, pedestrians, chickens, cows and bugs (but that’s another story) all seem to apply their own set of traffic rules. But also with some amazing tranquil places. What about me looking out over Lake Victoria from Kauku, one of the lake shore suburbs of Kampala. Not bad eh. I would not mind retiring here, but first I have to go up-country, as they call travelling outside the capital here.
Okay, so I set out in a 4 x 4 Pajero to the west, and travelled for 75 km on a reasonable tarmac road through villages and plantain grooves, wetlands and forest to the equator. As I said before, this country is green!
At the equator, small boys approached us with a wash basin with a drain on a stand to show the impact of the Coriolis effect. Amazing! On the Northern hemisphere the water drains counter clockwise from the basin and 5 meters to the South across the equator it drains clockwise. We paid the guy 5,000 shillings (2 €) and reported this astonishing fact to Wikipedia, which retorted that this was indeed 5,000 shillings down the drain. The Coriolis effect is so small in comparison to other random influences, for instance the shape of the bowl, or the angle at which the water enters the basin, that it has no noticeable influence on the direction of the flow of water through a drain. So, to all of you travellers all over the world who pass the equator, don’t be fooled by the equatorian Coriolis boys and girls.
At the equator, small boys approached us with a wash basin with a drain on a stand to show the impact of the Coriolis effect. Amazing! On the Northern hemisphere the water drains counter clockwise from the basin and 5 meters to the South across the equator it drains clockwise. We paid the guy 5,000 shillings (2 €) and reported this astonishing fact to Wikipedia, which retorted that this was indeed 5,000 shillings down the drain. The Coriolis effect is so small in comparison to other random influences, for instance the shape of the bowl, or the angle at which the water enters the basin, that it has no noticeable influence on the direction of the flow of water through a drain. So, to all of you travellers all over the world who pass the equator, don’t be fooled by the equatorian Coriolis boys and girls.
Chao!
posted by Sofie at 7:00 PM
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