What’s on the agenda this month: October 2026
Clear some of the island brash to make space for the first native tree planting. I want a jungle!Put up signs on the land showing what Nile Life is here to do to keep the community informed and positiveMeet the local council leader to build trust in plans for development that benefits the communityKeep the visa and residency route moving and sort a health care strategy as my travel health insurance expires this month!Continue the canvas-and-thatch design conversations with EA Canvas and Studio ConfluenceGet Kayongo and the Jinja Tour Guides Association down to Nile Life to hear their thoughts about nature and culture tourism done well
Journey, VLOG and Notes from the Island
Notes from the Island: 28th September 2026
Meeting Kayongo
Today I met Kayongo, an inspirational tour guide and the founder and President of the Jinja Tour Guides Association, JITOGA.
JITOGA is only two years old, but it has already trained a hundred guides and launched Explore SouthEast, a push to promote the wider region's nature, heritage and culture.
What struck me most, though, was Kayongo himself. He cares deeply about nature and culture tourism, and he wants it built with and for local communities. That combination is rarer than you'd think, and it's exactly what Nile Life is trying to be.
After seeing the struggling lodges on the other bank, it felt like the right conversation at the right time. I've got a lot to learn from Kayongo, and I hope we'll find ways to work together.
Notes from the Island: 24th September 2026
The View from the Other Bank
Today I crossed to the opposite side of the Nile to look at the lodges there. That bank has tarmac and much easier access to Kampala. On our side, the last stretch to the island is a rough dirt road and currently no accomodation.
Almost all the lodges were set up by people from outside Uganda, pioneers who had real courage to build here. But it was sobering to see how quiet they were. Only two were properly open. Some had clearly seen better days.
It's the low season, and I think this year's Ebola worries and the election earlier in the year have kept visitors away. Even so, you could see a pattern: a bold start, a period of thriving, then a surprisingly fast decline. Only a few seem to have made it through into a second life.
I'll be honest, it was concerning. It's making me think long and hard about the market, and about what will make Nile Life genuinely different.
More soon from this side of the river.
Notes from the Island
19th September 2026. A big step forward today in building the #NileLife development team. Meet land surveyors Saul and JB. It takes time to build the skills, credibility and trust needed for a successful project.
Notes from the Island
18th September 2026. A surprising day which started on the land measuring up for a temporary shelter, only to bump into one of the most impressive of local leaders. Abdullah Suuta is developing the very nearby Busowoko Rapids for tourism, but is being steered by a visionary desire for economic, social and environmental regeneration for the community. Already he is employing 60 orphans, school drop outs and single mothers transforming their lives and prospects. Certainly a worthy partner for NileLife. And just look at the power and beauty of the Nile here!
Notes from the Island
17th September 2026. First meeting with an immigration advisor today. It's sobering — this isn't a form you fill in and forget, it's a proper process, and not a cheap one either. Visas, work permits, residency routes: there's a right way to do this, and I want Nile Life built on that, not on shortcuts. So we start the paperwork ahead of the poles and thatch. Less glamorous than an island, more necessary than most people realise.
Notes from the Island
15th September 2026. Great call today from architect Sean in Kenya who has been working on my tent home thatched roof design. I like what he has done here. I don’t want a PVC roof, and certainly not a tin one as both are too hot and certainly not eco. What do you think?
Notes from the Island.
12th September 2026: Really good meeting today with my local MP Hon. Walyomu Moses Muwanika. We agreed to work together as neighbours on improving our shared access road. We also spoke of education and skills being the primary challenge in the farming and fishing community. Lot’s to do.
Chapter 8. Forgive a bit of reflection!
Five months on and this really is THE BIG MOVE!
Thirty years in Worcestershire — the farm, the animals, the glamping business, a life built and loved — comes to a quiet close in this one. Leaving it isn't just a house move; it's the symbolic full stop and the opening line of what comes next in Uganda.
Chapter 7. So now what?
Caught between an old life not yet closed and a new one not yet begun, this is the uncomfortable middle—uncertain, frustrating, and real.
A moment many face, but few speak about.
Chapter 6. The Morning After!
The morning after becoming the owner — or rather, custodian — of a small piece of the Nile. What does it actually mean to take responsibility for this extraordinary place, and what might Nile Life become from here?
Chapter 5. Is this an Omen?
Is it a sign you’re on the right path—or a warning you’ve got it wrong?
This is the uncomfortable space where doubt quietly starts to speak.
Chapter 4. This is getting serious
It’s one thing to dream it. Another to face what it actually takes.
This is where the reality starts to land—practical, uncertain, and very real. The moment the idea becomes something more.
Chapter 3. Limbo
Before the plans, before the pressure—just a moment of seeing, sensing, and beginning to imagine what might be possible here.
The very early feeling that something could grow from this place.
Chapter 2. Where there is a dream there is paperwork
Every dream sounds simple—until the paperwork begins.
This is where ideas meet process, and reality quietly starts to take shape. Not exciting, not glamorous… but absolutely where it all begins.
Chapter 1. At 59 this isn’t where I thought I’d be!