Awesome Uganda

• Saturday, 9^th of August, Kisumu in Kenya to Jinja in Uganda

Pretty much a driving day with a lengthy Ugandan border crossing in Busia. We have lunch at Ozzie’s in Jinja, stop at an internet café and then head 15 km northwest to so far one of the most (from overlanders) recommended spot: The Haven. It truly is an amazing spot, chalets or camping on manicured lawns overlooking rapids of the Nile River, sparkling clean facilities with flush toilets and hot showers, amazing food and all that run eco friendly by using solar energy and water captured on two of the buildings’ roofs, designed by the (German) owner Rainer himself. Since it is through overlanding Rainer found this place, he is even offering a great overlander special: $25 per person per day, camping, full board (Breakfast, lunch, dinner)!

• Sunday, 10^th until 12^th of August, Jinja

The next few days we spend writing diary, relaxing and enjoying the Haven! On Tuesday, Kirsty goes horse riding and I take on the great rapids rafting the Nile River! An amazing and at times scary experience!

• Wednesday, 13^th of August, Jinja to Entebbe

We have breakfast at a coffee shop in Jinja and hop onto the internet for a while before heading to Kampala and further on to Entebbe. Kirsty had read in one of the overlanding couple’s blogs that they had a great time at an animal orphanage there with a real enthusiastic keeper called Jimmy showing them around, so we are keen to go check it out! As it turns out the orphanage is actually a zoo, Jimmy is not around today and instead there are crowds and crowds of school kids around because of school holidays! So we walk around in the zoo watching animals behind bars some of which we have seen a lot closer in the wild a few days ago– a real weird and a bit comical experience….!...which got even more comical when we drove right through the zoo in our Landy to camp next to their bandas on the other side of the park! Kirsty’s tonsils are giving her grief, so we heat up some soup and have an early night.

• Thursday, 14^th of August Entebbe to Queen Elizabeth NP

Somehow we can’t find the turn off to Mpigi so we almost head all the way back to Kampala to then head southwest again. We cross the Equator (second time)! The roads are tiring, strewn with potholes and crazy truck drivers, torrential rain showers. Not sure how the German cyclist we just met survives! It’s a long haul to the Queen Elizabeth NP and Kirsty’s tonsillitis has gotten worse. We finally get there around 17:30 and after paying for our campsite at the visitor’s center close to Mweya Lodge, we pitch our tent at the beautiful ‘Camp Site No. 2’ overlooking the channel between Lake George and Lake Edward.

• Friday, 15^th of August, Queen Elizabeth NP

Apart from some intruding game drive vehicles looking for leopard (our campsite is right on the leopard loop) we have a chilled day which gives me time to catch up with my diary while Kirsty tries to sleep off her tonsillitis.

• Saturday, 16^th of August, Queen Elizabeth NP

Kirsty’s tonsillitis is still giving her a lot of pain, so we stay put at the campsite in the morning which gives me a chance to some car stuff and grease the universal joints. In the afternoon we go for a game drive in the northern section of the park, but aren’t very lucky with sightings there, apart from some kob, warthogs and waterbuck. Going back towards the campsite, we get onto the ‘crater drive’ which turns out to be a real spectacular drive. One huge forested crater follows another, some of them with crater lakes at the bottom some hundred meters below. The rocky track follows the rims of the craters and offers dramatic, forever changing views.

Back at the campsite we meet Karen and Karl, a South African couple who traveled with their two sons from Cape Town to Ethiopia and are now on their way back home.

• Sunday, 17^th of August, Ishasha, Queen Elizabeth NP

After a not so rewarding game drive and a quick internet session at the Equator gate we head down the tar road with the intention of exploring the Kyambura Gorge in the eastern section of the NP, but we get hindered by a bushfire that spread along the road. Kirsty, coming from a bushfire-troubled country has rightfully huge respect of fires and we drive up the escarpment to figure out what to do. We hang around for a while and when we eventually see a couple of cars coming through and even some dudes on a motorbike, we head down the escarpment again, leave the Kyambura Gorge behind and rather turn off to Ishasha, the southwestern part of Queen Elizabeth NP known for its tree climbing lions. We stay next to Karen, Karl and their kids, whose brother’s family joins them later in the evening, on the pretty crowded campsite next to the bandas.

• Monday, 18^th of August, Ishasha, Queen Elizabeth NP

We leave for a game drive in the morning and are lucky to spot three male lions next to the road (though sitting in the grass) just a few kilometers outside the camp on the northern circuit. There are big herds of buffalo in the park and heaps of kob, a very common antelope species here. We do both, northern and southern circuit twice, unfortunately without sighting any lions up on trees.

We ask the park warden if we can’t camp on the beautiful sites next to the Ishasha River, but they won’t allow us because of recent rebel incidents from the DRC just on the opposite river bank. As an alternative we get offered to camp about two kilometers away from the park offices at a picnic site, which has just been cleared for us by a tractor with a big lawn mower. Luckily there is a thatched roof boma, because it starts pouring just after we start preparing our dinner. We meet three young Germans who also seek shelter there and join them at the campfire. They give us some helpful advice about the routes down south and about gorilla tracking. At night we hear noises of an animal in distress but are not sure if it was a hippo or maybe a buffalo.

• Tuesday, 19^th of August, Ishasha to Kabale, Lake Bunyonyi Overland Campsite

As we are about to leave camp, Karen, Karl and their sons drive past to say hello, all keen and ready for the final attempt in finding the tree climbing lions! We head off soon after, driving through the southern circuit for a last time unfortunately without spotting a single lion – not even on the ground! A bit disheartened we head south to fill up diesel in Kihihi where we have planned to meet up with Karen and Karl.

Then we get a phone call from Karen – they have spotted a lion in a tree not far from where the dirt road forks off to Kihihi! Being only 9 km away, Kirsty and I decide to grab the opportunity, turn around and drive back to have a look! Even though we get more detailed ‘spotting instructions’ by Karen and Karl who are on their way to Kihihi, it takes us a while to notice that buggar snoozing up in a fig tree about 100 meters from the road! Well spotted Karl! Tick!

We make our way to Kabale via Rukungiri and Ntungamo, hoping to hit the tar road soon and thereby avoiding a broken bridge detour on the route due south, but we end up driving more than 2 hours until reaching the relieving tarmac. In Kabale we enquire about gorilla tracking at the National Parks Information Office and the pretty efficient clerk sorts us out in no time. As permits seem to be unavailable in the common tracking areas of Bwindi NP Nkuringo and Mgahinga, we make a booking to track the newly habituated Nshongi group on Thursday starting from Rushaga Tracking Camp at the southernmost tip of Bwindi NP, close to Rubuguri. This group has been habituated for one year and has unofficially been accessible to the public for one month now. The group will only be marketed and officially opened to the public in the near future.

We drive up past some quarries where locals chip rocks by hand (!) to make gravel and then down the other side to the shores of Lake Bunyonyi which lies beautifully tucked away between surrounding hills. We check in at the Overland Campsite but first have yummy pizzas right on the lake at the rustic Calabash Campsite next door before we pitch our tent again next to Karen, Karl and Karl’s brother Philip and his wife Judy who are also traveling with their two kids.

• Wednesday, 20^th of August, Lake Bunyonyi to Rubuguri Cultural Center

After receiving very useful waypoints from Karl for my route north into Ethiopia we bid Karl, Karen, Philip, Judy and their kids farewell and stop at the internet café in Kabale before heading to Rubuguri. The rocky road which snakes around endless bends to the north of the lake is breathtaking and pretty epic to drive!

The locals are very friendly here but far too often their waving turns into a begging hand greeting us with ‘Give me money!’ or just ‘Money!’. In contrast to that it’s always refreshing to see some kids jumping, screaming and dancing wildly at the sight of us ‘mzungus’! Some smaller kids are more fearful though, waving from far and then as we approach they get scared running away to hide, two of them disappeared altogether in a concrete drainpipe next to the road!

It takes us about 2 ½ hours from Kabale to Kisoro where we pay for our gorilla tracking receive the permits. From there we drive another 70 km to the small village Rubuguri where one can camp at the ‘Rubuguri Cultural Center’. On our arrival, there are crowds of people gathered everywhere, who had met to vote for a new head of the community as we find out later. We park Anse on a spot just outside the center, a wooden structure on stilts with a porch at treetop height and a makeshift wooden gate gets put up quickly to give us a bit more privacy from the village. We park off at the porch for drinks and wait for the food we ordered while being interrogated by some local teacher. We ordered a whole roasted chicken and chips, but when Kirsty went to the lady’s (a long drop), she still saw the chicken next to the kitchen alive with its feet tied together! So it took maybe 3 hours …but when we finally get the roasted chicken around 9 pm we for sure know - at least it has been freshly prepared!!! By that time and along with still having the picture of the life chicken in her mind, Kirsty doesn’t feel like eating it anymore, so I am left with chomping away the whole chicken all by myself!

• Thursday, 21^st of August, Rubuguri to Muko Campsite on Lake Bunyoni

We leave early to be on time at 8 am at the gorilla tracking site at Rushaga, only to be left waiting another 1 ½ hours for another two visitors who never arrive because they eventually cancel! Anyway, despite the delay we are happy to have the gorillas just for ourselves! By our guide we get kitted with gum boots and walking sticks (both definitely the most useful gear for the terrain as we experienced later!) and get told about the do’s and don’ts when being with the gorillas. One group of trackers has already left before us and until we hear the first sounds of the gorillas it takes us roughly 2 ½ hours walk through the most amazing and impenetrable jungle I have so far experienced, through streams, undergrowth, mud and deep water filled elephant footprints with tadpoles swimming in them! We get rewarded with sighting about 10 gorillas, two of which are impressive and rather intimidating silverbacks. After a few mock attacks the group feels more relaxed, even though the silverbacks make themselves pretty scarce. Instead we get to see a whole acrobatics performance by a cute little baby gorilla, performing for us on a single branch a few meters away and later on two young brothers put up a show in another bush right in front of us. What an awesome experience to see these amazing creatures! After spending the maximum time of an hour with them, it’s unfortunately time again to head back, this time at a faster pace as the heavens open their gates!

We change into dry clothes and head off quickly to get to Lake Bunyonyi before dark. In the first village we pass after the tracking camp, we get waved down by a bunch of local guys selling wooden gorilla statues and since they are really well made we buy a whole lot of them. As we pay the local boy, he says that his community would like to dance for us. We react a bit reluctantly, as we still have to tackle the drive to the lake in this rainy weather and it’s already late. Before we know it, all the kids of the village are on their feet, clapping, stomping in the beat of the drum and making the wet ground tremble, singing welcoming songs and dancing in well rehearsed formations. Kirsty and I get out of the car and just stand there in awe, overwhelmed by the dancers’ compassion, rhythm and joy.

Invigorated by this truly moving experience, we drive on to the northern part of Lake Bunyonyi where we pitch tent and have dinner at Muko Camp.

• Friday, 22^nd of August, Muko Campsite to Lake Bunyonyi Overland Campsite

After some chapattis and a Spanish omelet for breakfast we head back to the Lake Bunyonyi Overland Campsite and spend the rest of the day at the camp with errands and chilling. Strangely enough, being parked at an elephant statue right at the tip of the shoreline, we find our ‘privacy’ constantly invaded by visitors admiring the statue right in front of our car (the elephant’s butt facing us!) and taking photos of it. We figure, the management must insist on people checking out the elephant attraction as part of their marketing!

We finally manage to feed Priscilla (our GPS) with updated software that should stop her from freezing and upload the latest version of t4a maps.

• Saturday, 23^rd of August, Lake Bunyonyi

We hire a local mukoro (dugout canoe) and enjoy the tranquility of Lake Bunyonyi paddling to a nearby island. We got our hands full steering it especially in the oncoming wind, but luckily we get spared from too many so called ‘mzungu corkscrews’ and manage to get there without etching too many loops into the lake. That paddling definitely helped to work up and appetite and we walk to the friendly (definitely friendlier staff than at our camp, but the camp unfortunately doesn’t have car access to the lake shore to pitch our tent) Calabash Camp where we once again have two of their yummy pizzas, though not before enjoying a swim in the lake to pass the long wait.