We enter Uganda by land on a bus bound for Kampala. We're getting off well before then however, at the town of Kabale near Lake Bunyonyi. Entering a country by land is so much more gritty and real than landing at an anodyne airport. Borders, like ports, seem to attract some of life's less agreeable and less fortunate creatures, especially during the long walk between border posts where you've left one country but still haven't been allowed in the next. We made it safely through however, exchanged our remaining Rwandan Francs for Ugandan Shillings (at a terrible rate), paid our $50 visa fees and jumped back on the bus.
Lake Bunyonyi lies in the south west corner of Uganda and we are staying on one of the islands at a place called Byoona Amagara. We first make a brief stop in Kabale to stock up on cash and grab some lunch. I decide to try one of the local delicacies called a rolex. No, I'm not trying to 'watch' what I eat; a Ugandan rolex is basically an omelette with some chopped tomato and onion, rolled up in a chapati. I tell you what, you don't need dessert after one of these!
A rainshower briefly delays our boat trip out to the island where we book in to our geodome. This is a small, round, thatched roof dwelling that is open to the elements, facing out to the lake. A bit like a man-made cave. So, nature has an open invitation but tucked up inside our mosquito net it makes for a very pleasant night's sleep. Before retiring I test out just how cold the cold showers are. Now, we don't mind cold showers subject to two conditions: a) the weather is warm and b) the water isn't at freezing point. This place fails on both counts so we postpone our showers until the morning. Hot showers here require an hour's notice as water is heated above an open fire, carried down to the showers, poured into a bucket suspended above the cubicle and mixed with cold until the requisite temperature is reached. Quite a process but worth the wait.
After two days of doing little other than admiring the views, strolling round the island and playing on the swings, we head back to Kabale and book ourselves onto the Post bus for the next morning. This is literally the bus that carries the post but with passenger seats above the cargo hold. These are relatively reliable and safe and hence quite popular. In response to a request from the conductor, a passenger offers a short prayer to bless our journey, then we're off. The bus is heading to Kampala but we're getting off at Mbarara to catch a matatu up the West of Uganda past Queen Elizabeth Park and through Kasese to Fort Portal (or Port Fortal as Jo keeps calling it). The whole journey is only 360k but it takes us 11 hours, including two brief stops for refreshments and myriad stops for who knows what.
We've come to Fort Portal mainly to visit Kibale (pronounced Chee-bally) national park to track chimps. We've got 5 days up here though so we decide to have a night or two by one of the crater lakes before heading to the park. The place we've chosen to stay is run by a pastor who, ostensibly, uses the money to fund an orphanage nearby. We choose the 'honeymoon suite' mostly because it's less smelly than the normal bandas. Lunch, ordered 90 minutes in advance, still comes 90 minutes late. By now we've met the only other folk staying here; four very friendly Dutch girls. They tell us that: their banda was so dirty they had to clean it themselves, the food is always a couple of hours late, the orphanage is a complete mess and the pastor is definitely a bit weird. None of that was on Trip Advisor! We make our excuses, order a taxi and hotfoot it out of there to a lovely place on the edge of Kibale forest called Chimps Nest. The girls follow.
We have yet to procure tracking permits for our visit to the chimps but decide to just rock up to the park gates early the next morning and see if we can rustle a couple up. Getting there is best achieved by hiring a boda-boda (motorbike taxi). Unlike Rwanda, these do not come with helmet included but, having bargained him down from 20k to 12k (£3) we both get on, hold tight and bump our way over the unmade roads to the park. His name is Moses so we shouldn't have a problem with any water hazards. So, why 'boda-boda'? These began life as a means to transport people between border posts. Border to border. Boda boda.
We obtain our permits no problem from a serious looking official who swiftly pockets my 724,000 Ugandan Shillings without even counting it. There are only 8 chimp-loving tourists in total and we're split into two groups. We're with two English blokes and our guide is called Geoffrey, which he pronounces 'Joffrey'. After two hours walking the only chimps we've seen were about 100m away at the top of a very tall tree. Soon after however Joffrey gets a call on his radio and we're off. 'Rush, rush' he calls as he careers through the forest ahead of us. I'm leading the chasing group, trying to keep up as we're whacked by branches, stung by nettles and scratched by thorns. Every few minutes Joffrey stops and points at a barely visible hairy black shape before it scampers off again. Eventually the small group of 4 chimps decide they've had enough fun with the humans and settle down in a clearing. This allows us to watch them for an hour grooming, stretching and playing. There's an infant who won't sit still and tumbles over his mum while she tries to grab a nap. Lovely. We learn later that the other group (of humans) returned home without success.
We leave Chimps Nest, return to Fort Portal and board a bus headed for Kampala. This time we're going all the way. Kampala is a mix of some fairly pleasant areas and the usual chaos typical of African capitals. We argue with several taxi drivers over the fare to our hotel and, in disgust, end up walking it with our packs. Marabou storks abound in Kampala, congregating in disheveled groups with their hunched shoulders and manky feathers, in trees and on buildings, scavenging the rubbish. The next day we explore Kampala before heading out to Red Chilli Hideaway where we will begin our 3 day trip to Murchison Park.
There are 9 of us packed into the minibus the next morning for our journey north-west to Murchison where we will view the famous falls close to where the Victoria Nile meets the Albert Nile. (Had these been named a couple of centuries later I guess they may have been the William Nile and the Kate Nile.) We are comforted to learn that there are 4 doctors on board (2 couples) including 2 Scots - the first we've met this trip. Our numbers are made up by a mother and son of Maori descent and a bloke from Puerto Rico called Norbert. Having viewed the magnificent falls from above, the next afternoon we take a boat trip up the Nile to see them from below, meeting plenty hippos and crocs on the way. There's something deeply satisfying and relaxing about cruising down the (White) Nile and imagining its journey North, meeting the Blue Nile at Khartoum before continuing to its Mediterranean destination.
The next day we make the long trip back to Kampala and Red Chilli where it seems every night is pizza night. Our next destination is Sipi falls in the foothills of Mount Elgon, not far from the Kenyan border. We head off in the morning, quickly reaching Jinja where we grab a bus to Mbale. This journey should take 2 hours but we make a grave error and get on a shambling old wreck of a bus populated by a colourful array of shambling old Ugandans. It can't go very fast, stops continually and even gets pulled over by the police. It's filled with so many hawkers I begin to wonder if it's not so much a bus as a mobile shopping centre. After nearly 3 hours we've only gone 60k and it's clearly not moving anywhere until it fills up again. Despair sets in.
We decide to jump ship, foresake our 20k Shilling fare and take our chances flagging down a matatu on the main road. On our way there a well dressed Muslim gent beckons us to follow him. He takes us to the road, parks us in the shade, gets us a matatu and refunds half our fares, giving me 10k out of his pocket! We're almost too dumbstruck to thank him but gratefully climb on board and before long we've hit Mbale and bartered a taxi to our destination, a place called Crow's Nest.
The Sipi river makes its descent over three waterfalls, one of which we can see from our veranda. Despite the falls being quite low at this time of year, the scenery in this area is probably the most beautiful I've seen on our whole trip. To make the most of it we hire a guide and take a hike around all the falls, across farms, through villages and up hills. Stunning. We sit by a stream a watch a young man tether his cow and clean its udder (keeping the thirsty calf at bay) before milking it while it munches on a pile of plantain stalks. The little houses here are neat and pretty and fit well with a landscape that reminds me of scenes from Little House on the Prairie. We come across millet yeast drying in the sun that will be used to make the local brew. This is drunk from a large pot by 5 or 6 men arranged uniformly around it, sat on chairs sucking on 6 foot straws. It resembles a giant hookah with multiple pipes and appears a very sociable pastime!
We return to our cabin which is excellent value at $14 a night for a private room, hot showers and free tea. The meals are pretty tasty too and also super cheap. We have the tomato curry with side veg and chapatis, all for $2 each. The next morning we can't resist taking another walk with our guide Joseph, this time to the forest at the base of Mount Elgon. I'm already planning a return trip to climb the mountain one day - a 5 day round hike to reach the 4321m summit.
Seeing Africa close up, a pattern strikes me in the activities I observe. Children play, women toil and men idle. A gross generalisation of course but with a fair dose of truth too. The women also carry the burden of children, with the average family producing about eight of the little darlings. Yes, 'average' of 8. Joseph tells us he has 9 brothers and 7 sisters but he had to count up first. Of course this is made possible by the practice of solvent men being able to afford polygamous relationships. In one part of Uganda, when a man marries, his brothers swear that upon his death, one of them will marry his widow. You don't see too many old people here but plenty children, many of whom demand 'pen, sweet, money' as we pass. There's a national campaign presently to reduce family size to prevent hunger and improve education but a large family is an indication of social position so change will come slowly.
We return to Jinja where we stay two nights and enjoy an excellent curry and a lovely pizza. I will definitely have to get back to running when we're home. We use the time to catch up with some practicalities and plan our last few days in Uganda. I also decide to nip out for my final African haircut. I am looked after by a young lad who is less a barber than a precision engineer and he sculpts rather than cuts my hair. He views the result with pride and tells me that I'm even more handsome now than when I arrived. All for $4, flattery included.
We decide to head up to a place called Hairy Lemon (named after a Dublin pub) set on a tiny island in the middle of the Nile at the end of the world-famous rapids. There's pretty much nothing to do here unless you're a competent kayaker so we read, play Scrabble and admire the two proud cockerels strutting around their territory. The night is clear and the sky full of stars as we stare up at Venus and Jupiter hanging out together, watched over closely by the orange glow of Mars. We listen to the frog and insect orchestra's throbbing symphony from our cottage patio before retiring and drifting off to sleep. Sometimes just being is so much better than doing.
Our final stop is Entebbe, 40k south of Kampala, where we will stay for one night and a full day before catching our late, late flight home at 40 minutes after midnight on the early, early morning of St. Patrick's day. We've been in Africa for just over 5 months, visited 5 countries, seen countless animals, traveled on all manner of local transport, met some lovely people and only been robbed twice. We've slept on the banks of a river, in tents, on a train, in the jungle, at a small mansion, several mud huts, a geodome and an island on the Nile. Africa can, at times, can get you down - the flies, heat and dust combined with hard traveling and haggling. However, there is nowhere on earth more colourful - the people, the wildlife, the scenery. Africa does get under your skin - even when you don't like it, you can't help but love it!
If I had to sum up why this trip has been so wonderful in one word, it would be 'animals'. The lemurs in Madagascar, the big game in Kenya, the birds in Tanzania, gorillas in Rwanda and chimps in Uganda. Madagascar is the most unique of these countries, Rwanda the most developed and Uganda the most beautiful. Tanzania wins the prize for sun, sand and snorkeling while Kenya has tremendous diversity. I think we've 'done' Madagascar and Kenya having spent 8 weeks in each but I would return to the others, especially Uganda. Kenya, I'm afraid, gets the wooden spoon as the least friendly, most corrupt place we've been and with elections due later this year I fear for its immediate future. The friendliest people we met were the Ugandans. I've never in my life exchanged so many pleasantries!
We're excited about going home but deeply grateful for the privilege of having been able to have these experiences. I'm grateful also to each of you for taking the time to read my ramblings. Thank you. We have survived Africa, thrived on Africa and loved Africa. It's time to go home.....until the next adventure; happy travels!
Robert
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