Tony at The source of River Nile uganda
Tony had never been to Africa, his parents are from Ravello on the Amalfi cost in Italy but he grew up in London
Amalfi Coast Italy
Nigel and I love that part of Italy and have had a few holidays there but had never met anyone from there
7.5 hours later on a BA filgt and were in Uganda . the best part of this is the landing over lake victoria one the largest in land lakes.
We were met by Ethnic Supplies Staff and having sorted out the itinerary we headed East to a town called Mbale. On the we stopped off at the source of the River Nile
Source of the river Nile Uganda
This is the home of Bugisu Arabica coffee; where we visited the Bugisu Cooperative Union.
This is what is called a Secondary cooperative because it buys coffee from primary societies as well as farmers, it has processing, grading and roasting facilities.
The facilities have great capacity but have fallen on bad times, meaning that the equipment is old, the facility is not as clean as it should be, part of the facility has been closed, reducing capacity. Poor business and investment decisions were made leading to near bankruptcy until the government bailed them out.
The director was understandably nervous about our intentions. He would however welcome some form of partnership working. He hopes that the Union can return to its former glory and be in a position to export a fully processed product from here. I hope so too for his sake!
We also visited the Mbale Importers and exporters- Under the leadership of Stephen M Wekomba they describe themselves as coffee exporters and processors. There was not much to learn from this group and on the day we arrived we observed women sorting coffee beans by hand
women sorting coffee beans
Hassan (our guide) Stephen and Tony
children at Mmbale exporters
After this stop we headed further east to a village called Sipi and spent the night at Sipi River Lodge
a home from home.
This place is located on the foot hills of Mt elgon and the weather is changeable from hour to hour. When we arrived it was sunny half an hour alter, it rained so heavily we couldn't believe it!
sipi river falls, view from my bedroom window
cottage at Sipi River Lodge
