Visitors
to ITFC are advised to bring the following for a comfortable stay:
-
Warm
clothes (sometimes temperature drops to 5 degrees C in the night):
even consider bringing a woolly hat and gloves! In the wet season,
clothes do not dry quickly, so bring several shirts, trousers and
socks
-
Hiking shoes or gum boots with good profile; slopes are steep
-
Rain gear
-
Flash light
-
First Aid kit
-
Any
special medication (only basic ones are available locally)
-
Insect repellent
-
Water bottle
-
Mobile phone (reception of Airtel, MTN, ORANGE and WARID networks, but patchy)
Students, interns and volunteers may want to bring in addition:
-
your
own sleeping bag and towels (ITFC provides bed sheets, pillows and blankets).
-
your
own daypack
-
your
own essential field equipment, as ITFC has a limited supply; discuss
this well in advance.
-
if
you own a laptop, please bring it to make sure you always have
access to a computer (the institute has a limited number). NOTE:
students can only access the internet through an ITFC laptop
specially made available in the library.
-
entertainment: music, DVDs, games, books (some 200 novels left
behind by earlier students are also available), table tennis badge
and balls (there is a table in the student dorm).
-
radio; several local stations reach Ruhija, as well as BBC-on-FM and
on shortwave
-
more
than one SIM card, as Airtel, ORANGE, MTN and WARID networks are present, but patchy
-
(esp. for foreign students) you are advised to bring your own tent
and sleeping mat
Food:
Food
items that are usually available in the nearby village Ruhija are posho,
potatoes, flour, sugar, tea leaves, eggs, sodas and beers and a
seasonally varying
selection of vegetables (onions, tomatoes, "dodo", avocadoes, cabbage).
Basic
fieldwork food can be supplied by ITFC (count on about 5,300 UGX per
person per day).
Other
food items are available in the nearest town, Kabale. The Royal
supermarket has a wide range, including coffee, breakfast cereals,
cheese, butter, rice, canned vegetables, jam/honey and snacks. But
transport to Kabale is erratic.
Money:
In most
larger Ugandan towns you can draw money from ATMs with a credit card. If
you bring cash (as well), beware that denominations under 50 U$ are not
accepted, nor are any notes from before 2003.
From
ITFC, the
nearest banks and ATMs (Barclay's, Stanbic) are in Kabale, some 2 hours
away from the station. Long term visitors and researchers may request to
make payments to ITFC by transfer, in U$ or UGX.
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