Days 129 & 130 – 11/12th February 2010 (Njero, Kenya – Jinja, Uganda)
It seems like a long time ago since we crossed a proper border so the team were actually looking forward to the Kenyan/Ugandan border crossing although the road to the border gave the Omo Valley roads a run for their money in terms of the worst road of the trip so far. As we arrived at the border, we were mobbed by fixers offering to do our paperwork – feeling rather lazy and very hot, we negotiated a good rate and off our fixer went … less than an hour later we were out of Kenya and driving along the glorious non-riveted tarmac roads of Uganda … three hours later, we were setting up our tent on the shore of Lake Victoria, drinking beer overlooking grade 5 rapids and having a three course meal included in the price of camping … ok, so camping was quite expensive but it was still pretty cool!
Miles travelled: 286 miles (total 13,851 miles)
Highlight of the days: Full board camping … genius
Comment of the day: Border fixers’ helper (obviously looking for a
tip over and above what we’d agreed with the fixer) “Soooo, thank-you for visiting my country, Kenya …. er [all smiles],
I would like a cup of tea”; Ness “Sorry, I don’t have any tea on me” [this
was actually a blatant lie as we have a whole box of Duchy Original Earl Grey
tea in the back of the car, complete with its own wooden tea box - nothing but
the best for these cats]
Days 131-133 – 13-15th February 2010 (Jinja-Kampala, Uganda)
Uganda is an amazingly lush country, it has a completely different feel to any country we’ve been to before, more how I’d imagine central or western Africa to be … if a country in central Africa had Karaoke bars (complete with the worst Karaoke singers in the world), a bowling alley called “Alley-gators” (genius) and a casino (James swiftly doubled his money and even had other punters just betting on him), oh and the smelliest people in the world … ok, maybe a few countries can compete on the last one.
Miles travelled: 60 miles (13,911 miles)
Highlight of the days: missing the Ugandan National Theatre … shame
Comment of the day: James “I’m
too old for this” … there’s a lot if backpackers on Kampala
Day 134 – 16th February 2010 (Kampala-Fort Portal, Uganda)
Today, we decided against the walking with orphaned chimps experience when we discovered it cost $850pp and you had to be injected with an African Swine Flu vaccine (even Ness begrudgingly agreed this probably wasn’t the best idea in the world) and the team headed south again. Frustratingly, it took us 3 hours to travel 35 miles out of Kampala … is it really necessary to have speed bumps every 100 metres during roadworks? Apparently so
Miles travelled: 225 miles (total 14,136 miles) – luckily the speed bumps stopped after 35 miles!
Comment of the day: Arriving at a recommended campsite in the dark,
Dr Girl No. 1 (Oli picked up two in Kampala) “Do you have any rooms?”; Campsite Guy “you mean like this [pointing to rooms inside the main building]?”; Dr Girl No.1 “yes,
that would be perfect”; Campsite Guy “no,
we don’t have”… shortly after Dr Girls No 1 & 2 got a taxi back into
town … then, feeling a bit guilty, we left the weird campsite and stayed on a
tea plantation instead
Sightings the day: 3 x black Labradors, proper ones with shiny coats!
Day 135 & 136 –17/18th February 2010 (Fort Portal – Queen Elizabeth NP, Uganda)
Uganda is not renowned for its game, apart from Mountain Gorillas, and now we understand why. QENP is Uganda’s premier game park famous for tree climbing lions and chimpanzees … unfortunately, we did not see either. Although we were able to camp in the middle of the park surrounded by hippos (which we could hear but never actually see which was a bit worrying) and got mock charged by a bull elephant … raised the heart beats a bit!
Miles travelled: 250 miles (total 14,386 miles)
Highlight of the days: All you can eat buffet breakfast at the Mweya Lodge (nicest lodge in QENP) – Oli had two full English breakfasts and didn’t need to eat again for 32 hours
Comment of the day: Ness “the
Queen Elizabeth National Park has five distinct areas, we could spend a week
here” … never believe the Bradt guide, we left within 24 hours
Day 137 –19th February 2010 (Ishasha-Lake Bunyoni)
Having spent the morning watching Oli and a very helpful random Canadian fixing the Surf (we decided to stay out of the way as Ness’ idea of helping the previous night just resulted in breaking stuff), we headed south on a road that cut through part of Bwindi National Park, famous for its Mountain Gorillas. We hoped a group might just helpfully cross our path whilst we were there, saving us the US$500pp tracking fee… unfortunately we’re just not that lucky and we exited the park having seen approx. 50 dancing children (one who, rather disturbingly, seemed to be humping an invisible object) and one colobus monkey.
Still, the scenery was stunning and we eventually arrived at possibly the most scenic campsite so far. We positioned the Land Rover in a beautiful spot on a pristine lawn on the shore of Lake Bunyoni with rolling tea hills in the background and headed to the equally scenic bar … only to find, to our horror, that the English chav has discovered Africa ... full size bottle of vodka in hand together with a four pack of red bull, sporting an exaggerated chav “swagger” that any Mountain Gorilla would be really quite jealous of, coupled with the classic chav uniform of white trainers and stripy tracksuit bottoms (his friend actually out-chavved him with a lovely pair of Burberry shorts) and, to top it off, at 2am in the morning he had a fight which culminated in prolific use of the ‘c’ word and a girl throwing a table at him … nice.
Miles travelled: TBC
Highlight of the day: Surviving a rather scary rear wheel mud skid on the descent from Bwindi National Park
Comment of the day: “Oh my God, the chav has discovered Africa”
Day 138 – 20th February 2010 (Lake Bunyoni, Uganda)
For all those that are jealous of our travels, today it rained … and rained and rained and rained
Miles travelled: 0 miles
Highlight of the day: there’s really not that much to do here in the rain
Comment of the day: Oli watching the football on TV “that’s depressing, it actually looks like better weather at home”
Tune of the day: “All the single ladies” by Beyonce – not so great after the third time