Trip to Arua

So despite warning from both Ugandans and the Canadian government about areas that border the Congo and Sudan I was in Arua. It is as safe, if not safer than Kampala. I appreciate the potential for violence on a large scale is bigger but truly the warnings seem excessive.

The people I travelled up with told me to tell everyone – “I was shot at only twice, but it’s okay, because they missed both times!”

Even with the peace Arua has been, and in some cases still is, looked at as a violent place, which should be avoided. Assumptions are made that the Lord’s Resistance Army, which exists in some parts of northern Uganda, must also operate in Arua.

The LRA has never operated in Arua or anywhere in West Nile. However, in 1999, they began harassing travellers on the road between Karuma falls and the town of Pakwatch, hijacking cars, abducting people, and setting fire to what they couldn’t take. This campaign came to an end in 2002, and government soldiers have been posted at both of these Nile crossing sites.

Karuma Falls

So aside from chunks of road that are entirely made up of potholes, the drive is fine. A little long, at 8 hours, but beautiful as the newly fixed section of road winds through Murchison Falls park.