After a 6am start and a long day’s drive we crossed the border from Kenya into Uganda and now we’re at Jinja (sounds like ‘ginger’), an adventure sports town on the Nile. Everything’s green and lush, we’re at the hotel bar overlooking the river and the bungee jumping platform (which is also visible from the toilets, apparently). The showers are hot, the drinks are cold, my hair has been washed and everything is right with the world!

I thought I’d do a few posts with some impressions of Africa – things that have surprised us, good and bad.

To begin with I’ll share a secret about East African men that I would never have suspected – or even believed had I not been here to experience it myself. I’ll ask you, in fact, to take a moment to ask yourselves a question.

What sort of music do you think African men would like?

Think about it. I bet you’re thinking maybe hip hop, rap. Possibly reggae.

Wrong.

Soul? Something world-music-y perhaps. Maybe even Paul Simon, surely?

Wrong.

I’ll tell you what they like.

Venga Boys. Celine Dion. Kenny Rogers. In fact tonight our cook, Mash, is working to the dulcet tones of Cher. And it’s not a joke that they play on foreigners, either. Our driver in the Maasai Mara had Celine Dion as his ring tone.

Yep, I’m disappointed too.