Masindi Hotel, Masindi
Well, if it’s good enough for Hemingway, Hepburn and Bogart, it’s good enough for us!
As you know we didn’t quite make it all the way to Murchison Falls but paused a while in Masindi getting the washing done and what a monster wash it was too. It came back all clean and ironed!! Imagine that, ironed! You may not think that too special, but believe you me, we do.
On the day we left, we watched an interesting situation unfold in the campsite when the staff wouldn’t open the gates for a busload of Italian tourists who’d camped over. It turns out that some of them claimed to have had a sleeping bag stolen by the hotel staff and were given a room for the night. The next morning, they were caught trying to leave with all the bedding from the room in the bus. Imagine that, where do these people come from!
We’d made ourselves at home at the hotel, using one of their rooms to shower and watch some of the Olympics, getting hot water from the kitchen for our tea and coffee breaks and despatching an askari to buy our mandazi (local doughnuts). It was a really good place to stay.
Murchison Falls
Murchison Falls was waiting so we packed up and off we went. We had our first little “incident” at the gate when the chap on duty sympathised with the fact that Rebecca was 5 and needed to be charged for and suggested we settle at half price for her. I was happy with that as long as he reflected it as such on the receipt which, for some very strange reason, he wasn’t happy to do. I politely told him to get knotted and paid the full whack. Dipstick!
Instead of making our way directly to the falls we found ourselves at the Red Chilli Camp where we had a drink and some lunch. Food pretty reasonable and the bar area was nice but we didn’t fancy the look of the campsite. We retraced our steps to the actual falls and the “top of the falls” campsite. Easy really, just follow the waypoint called “Parking” on the GPS. The actual sign was pretty overgrown so one just needs to look out for the Shell sign and then hang a right at that intersection. The falls themselves were pretty spectacular, the way the entire river just falls through a tiny crevice, plunges down 40 metres or so and then changes from an angry mass of water into a really peaceful river.
We had the campsite to ourselves and went to sleep to the sound of this roaring river and the grunting of some nearby hippo.
We then decided to take the ferry across the Nile River and camp wild at Delta point as recommended by Carl and Karen, some Capetonians we’d bumped into on the drive up from Fort Portal. They had even seen lion in their camp at night. The cost of the ferry was a bit steep but then Ugandan Wildlife are in a monopoly situation here. The terrain in the northern side was quite different as we skidded and slid along the road after quite a downpour. We eventually found the campsite, which is marked on the GPS, after enlisting the help of a ranger from a nearby outpost. We declined his offer of a ranger to keep the fire going. He insisted on giving us some dry firewood and said we needed to keep the fire going all night as there are lion, elephant and buffalo in the vicinity. Yeah, right, I was planning to sleep , not tend fires!
The campsite was deserted, just as we like it. We got the tent up and lit a fire to cook. I tried to make pumpkin fritters which were ok. It was Friday night and guess what? Yep, there was an almighty party in one of the villages on the other side of the river which continued until after 2:30 am! Talk about a peaceful night in the bush. As much as we would have loved to and were planning on spending 2 nights here, we couldn’t risk it so after a breakfast of chapattis and egg, we got packed up to go on a game drive and then head back to the “top of the falls” camp. At least the sound of the river there will block out all but the wildest of parties!
Delta Camp
It’s funny how things happen. We have had so many experiences this trip where we’ve changed our plans at the last minute only to find that we meet people we wouldn’t have if we’d left when we were going to, or experience things that otherwise we would have missed. This was no exception. We packed up early because of the disco fever over the river and drove straight into a “Big Cat Diary Moment”. Not 200 metres from the campsite, Rebecca and I got out the car and walked to a nearby pond to photograph some flowering water hyacinths. We drove a further 100 or so metres and saw a lioness walk down to the water’s edge. Scanning around we noticed a couple of sub-adults ripping something to shreds with all the growling and gnashing of teeth that goes with it. We pulled off the road slightly to watch the action when out of the corner of our eyes we saw the buffalo vanguard approaching at speed! These big boys came in and sent the lions running for cover, for the moment abandoning their breakfast. Imagine if all this had been going on while we were still pottering around in our campsite. We could have missed all the action. The buffalo-lion contest continued for some time. As soon as the lions (about 8 sub-adults and 1 lioness) thought it was safe to come out the thick grass, the buffalo disagreed and the sentries would have another go. The buffalo then turned their attention to us (they are probably Landrover fans) and gave us our fair share of a hairy eyeball. They didn’t seem to be too used to vehicles or that’s the impression I got. Finally the rest of the really big 100-200 plus buffalo herd moved through the area and the lion jogged back to reclaim their kill. Phew!
Top of the falls camp to Kampala
We caught the ferry back to the southern side of the Nile and headed back to the campsite. We had to share it this time. I took our solar shower off the roof where it had been sloshing around for 2 days and we enjoyed a warmish shower. The shower seems to lessen the itch of those pesky tsetse bites, thank goodness. Up and out fairly early as it is a longish push for us back to the big smoke of Kampala. We had our coffee stop at the gate as we couldn’t remember a nicer spot further on. We skirted Masindi and headed down to Hoima as this is the recommended route even though 40 kms longer than the direct Masindi-Kampala road. In Hoima we found some yummy things to have for lunch and got some cash. The road from Hoima was really good until about 40 kms out from Kampala when it got a bit potholed! Best road we’ve been on for ages. Funny that it wasn’t to be found on the GPS at all. It’s interesting that they paint the lines in the middle of the road yellow and the ones on the sides white. (Yep, it actually had painted lines on)
In Kampala, we stopped for some diesel as both tanks were very low and then made for the Red Chilli Hideaway on the eastern side of town. Nice place. Sunday night is BBQ night so we drank their drinks and scoffed their food. It also has free wireless internet so that is a great help to keep up to date.
Emin Pasha
Of course, the only reason we stayed at Red Chilli was because the Emin Pasha Hotel was fully booked!! In any event, we had, courtesy of an intro from Sheena, been invited to lunch there on Monday. So, in anticipation, we scrubbed up well in the morning. I had a shave, we practiced our knife-and-fork skills, and dug out decent shoes. We first went shopping, to Shoprite, nogal, at the Lugogo Mall. Of course, we had coffee too. Rwenzori, at the mall, makes a mean Americano.
The Emin Pasha is everything you’d expect from a boutique hotel. Marc Harris, the main man, was very welcoming and showed us around. He is from Durban, as is the chef. Lunch was amazing too. They had a fantastic menu and as it is a far cry from baked beans on toast, we were spoilt for choice. What a real treat. Thanks Marc!!
Tom Cruiser is having his 10 000 km service done in Kampala and once that is done and we have hopefully found some gas for the gas bottle, we are heading back to Kenya and on to Ethiopia.
You just have to love Kampala, where else can you find a city with Marabou storks circling, a campsite in the middle of it with goats, chickens, rooster and a hooded vulture perching on a lamp post!
19 August 2008
13 August 2008
True life in pictures
I never know how these end up on the blog, so the pics are of:
Intrepid chimp trackers crossing a possibly dwarf crocodile infested river
A shoebill flying:
Red colobus monkeys
Shoebill trackers
A shoebill not flying
Shoebills, chimps and chapattis
Toro-Semliki Wildlife Reserve
Before leaving Lake Nkuruba, we were visited by Red Colobus monkeys and the Palmnut Vulture. We then moved off to the southern most tip of Lake Albert to Toro-Semliki WR to see if we could track the elusive shoebill. This reserve is not to be confused with the Semuliki National Park which is further west and the home of the hot springs.
The drive there is stunning albeit a bit narrow and steep in places. Trucks also use this road as there is a ferry crossing Lake Albert to the DRC and we thought it would be deserted. Arrived at the first “Visitor’s Gate” only to be told by Johnson, the first of many really friendly Ugandan Wildlife Authority (UWA) rangers that it was an experiment but not wildly used and we should proceed past the Semliki Lodge to the campsite at Ntoroko right on the shores of the lake. As Semliki Lodge was the only waypoint on Tracks in this neck of the woods, off we went. As the lodge was a sister lodge to Clouds in the Nkuringo Forest (Dear Reader, please refer back to previous blogs), we felt entitled to a good nosey, so at the next entrance gate before the lodge we found Jonah, a tour guide associated with the lodge and “Ali moosa”, another UWA ranger. Here we found out that not only was T-S a great place for shoebills, it was also home to a 12 year old Chimp Research Centre who could organise for some chimp tracking! Marvellous, as we had wanted to do this but Rebecca missed the minimum age for that too. As these chimps were not so habituated, they would be happy to accommodate Rebecca too, so what a win! But that’s not all… Jonah got on the phone to Tim, the Centre Manager, to see if “Richard, Karen and a baby” could camp there the night as tracking started early in the morning and the official camp site was still a bumpy 28kms away. They deliberated and came back with “no problem, as long as they are self-sufficient” which we are.
We drove in doing the tsetse dance through all the long grass to the Research site. What a magic place to have one’s office, in spite of the biting, stinging ants and the pesky tsetse.
2 of the researchers (Charlotte & Phineas) were from Cambridge, and Tim from an American university, I forget which, but he’d also studied at Cambridge. They and the rest of the camp staff were really welcoming and we readied ourselves for an early start. We tracked with Justice, the UWA ranger, and left from the camp. Before going 50 metres our boots were clogged with mud. No wonder that all the staff have wellies for going into the forest. We heard the chimps call a couple of times and had a great time in the forest, balancing on logs over the Mugiri (spelling?) river or wading through its many meanderings. Finally we got a glimpse of some chimps sitting in a Ficus stripping its green fruits. Unfortunately the fruit wasn’t enough to keep them occupied so they climbed down and headed off. We then walked past a cold water spring and did some real trail-blazing trying to locate them again, but to no avail. They were bigger than I was expecting and it was a real thrill to see them in the wild. We headed back to camp, sweaty and muddy after a 7km walk through the forest. Rebecca had walked the whole way without any hassle and loved the balancing bits. What a star! We packed up and headed to the proper campsite at Lake Albert with shoebills on the menu, hopefully. We also got the ok to camp with the researchers the following night, mindful of our long trek up to Murchison Falls which lay ahead.
Ntoroko Campsite
This campsite, this road, this park hardly crack a mention in the guide books and don’t even exist on the GPS which is a real travesty because it is fabulous and ranks up there with the best of anywhere we’ve stayed or visited and, as you know; the bushcats do know the bush, dear!
This park was ravaged during the Amin era and the subsequent hassles with the neighbours and is only now bouncing back. There are loads of kob, some ellies, buffs and lions. We heard the lion calling when back at the research camp. It is also home to the Abyssinian Ground Hornbill which we saw on the way out.
Anyway, I digress!! The hire of the shoebill-spotting vessel was organised by Patrick the UWA ranger managing this spot. A fairly steep USh 140 000 for the boat and crew and a 90% success rating. Not bad odds. Deal done and with a kick-off time of 7:20am the next morning, we enjoyed our campsite right on the water’s edge and the deckchairs, table, firewood and warm shower water Patrick laid on. Where else do you get that kind of treatment?
Heard the hippo chorus as we drifted off to sleep. ASDIEA!!! Another Special Day In East Africa!!
Shoebill Spotting
A fishing boat arrived much to Rebecca’s disgust as it was a bit smelly! With our ranger, Patrick, in tow, we set off to find the shoebill. We headed west towards the Congo and after about 30 minutes motoring we arrived at a scene reminiscent of the Okavango. Reeds, water lilies, and loads of water birds, including pelicans. Patrick directed the boatman towards a channel and after about 10 minutes, he spotted a shoebill and we were off. We found it, slightly obscured by some reeds, about 20 metres away from the water’s edge, busy hunting. He flapped his wings, lunged forward with his bill and came out with a huge lungfish in his mouth. It wriggled a bit but was quickly swallowed. Mr. Shoebill had a drink of water and was motionless again. Wow!
We watched him for ages and then moved off to have a quick scan of the nearby channels when Patrick spotted another, and yet another shoebill. We moved in closer. These were much closer but flew off as we came too close. They were far bigger and more impressive than we had expected. It is amazing to see the shoebills in a supposed marine sanctuary surrounded by fishermen, laying out nets and traps. Not sure how much of a sanctuary it really is. It is apparently managed by the community and not UWA.
By 11 o’clock we were back in the campsite with a fantastic experience behind us. We pottered around after a breakfast of toast and coffee and then packed up and headed back to the Research Centre with the idea of an afternoon’s chimp tracking dependent on where the researchers had found them in the morning.
We saw some amazing red-throated bee-eaters from the boat and tried to see them again before we left but to no avail.
Chimps, more chimps and chapattis
Before we’d even reached the park gate en route to the research camp, Kaz spotted some chimps in a tree just on the fringe of the forest below the lodge. One scampered down the tree when I climbed on the bulbar for a better vantage point but the other one just sat there staring at us and us at him/her. A great spot and one that the researchers just shook their heads at as they aren’t generally seen there at all, what luck!!
Edson, the chef, conducted a masterclass for Rebecca and me to learn how to make chapattis. He is a wizard in the kitchen and makes them most days. So we had chapattis and guacamole for supper.
We got chatting to Tim, Phineas and Charlotte again. Rebecca went off to see a little terrapin Charlotte had found. We thought Charlotte really special and what a fantastic role model for Rebecca to emulate one day.
We lent them the Planet Earth DVDs to watch and had an early night as we had a monster drive the next day up to Murchison Falls.
Fort Portal to Masindi
We revised our route to stop for the night at Masindi, which was a good idea as the road was fairly ropey in places and the distance we covered was over 300 kms in any case. Including our customary coffee stop (in a tea plantation!) and lunch stop (on the side of the road with our customary audience), we’d been in the saddle for about 10 hours, enough already!
We are camped in the grounds of the Masindi Hotel, very nice and a real little oasis. Tom Cruiser is booked in for a service in Kampala on Tuesday so we are cooling our heels here until tomorrow when we will head towards theMurchison Falls.
Before leaving Lake Nkuruba, we were visited by Red Colobus monkeys and the Palmnut Vulture. We then moved off to the southern most tip of Lake Albert to Toro-Semliki WR to see if we could track the elusive shoebill. This reserve is not to be confused with the Semuliki National Park which is further west and the home of the hot springs.
The drive there is stunning albeit a bit narrow and steep in places. Trucks also use this road as there is a ferry crossing Lake Albert to the DRC and we thought it would be deserted. Arrived at the first “Visitor’s Gate” only to be told by Johnson, the first of many really friendly Ugandan Wildlife Authority (UWA) rangers that it was an experiment but not wildly used and we should proceed past the Semliki Lodge to the campsite at Ntoroko right on the shores of the lake. As Semliki Lodge was the only waypoint on Tracks in this neck of the woods, off we went. As the lodge was a sister lodge to Clouds in the Nkuringo Forest (Dear Reader, please refer back to previous blogs), we felt entitled to a good nosey, so at the next entrance gate before the lodge we found Jonah, a tour guide associated with the lodge and “Ali moosa”, another UWA ranger. Here we found out that not only was T-S a great place for shoebills, it was also home to a 12 year old Chimp Research Centre who could organise for some chimp tracking! Marvellous, as we had wanted to do this but Rebecca missed the minimum age for that too. As these chimps were not so habituated, they would be happy to accommodate Rebecca too, so what a win! But that’s not all… Jonah got on the phone to Tim, the Centre Manager, to see if “Richard, Karen and a baby” could camp there the night as tracking started early in the morning and the official camp site was still a bumpy 28kms away. They deliberated and came back with “no problem, as long as they are self-sufficient” which we are.
We drove in doing the tsetse dance through all the long grass to the Research site. What a magic place to have one’s office, in spite of the biting, stinging ants and the pesky tsetse.
2 of the researchers (Charlotte & Phineas) were from Cambridge, and Tim from an American university, I forget which, but he’d also studied at Cambridge. They and the rest of the camp staff were really welcoming and we readied ourselves for an early start. We tracked with Justice, the UWA ranger, and left from the camp. Before going 50 metres our boots were clogged with mud. No wonder that all the staff have wellies for going into the forest. We heard the chimps call a couple of times and had a great time in the forest, balancing on logs over the Mugiri (spelling?) river or wading through its many meanderings. Finally we got a glimpse of some chimps sitting in a Ficus stripping its green fruits. Unfortunately the fruit wasn’t enough to keep them occupied so they climbed down and headed off. We then walked past a cold water spring and did some real trail-blazing trying to locate them again, but to no avail. They were bigger than I was expecting and it was a real thrill to see them in the wild. We headed back to camp, sweaty and muddy after a 7km walk through the forest. Rebecca had walked the whole way without any hassle and loved the balancing bits. What a star! We packed up and headed to the proper campsite at Lake Albert with shoebills on the menu, hopefully. We also got the ok to camp with the researchers the following night, mindful of our long trek up to Murchison Falls which lay ahead.
Ntoroko Campsite
This campsite, this road, this park hardly crack a mention in the guide books and don’t even exist on the GPS which is a real travesty because it is fabulous and ranks up there with the best of anywhere we’ve stayed or visited and, as you know; the bushcats do know the bush, dear!
This park was ravaged during the Amin era and the subsequent hassles with the neighbours and is only now bouncing back. There are loads of kob, some ellies, buffs and lions. We heard the lion calling when back at the research camp. It is also home to the Abyssinian Ground Hornbill which we saw on the way out.
Anyway, I digress!! The hire of the shoebill-spotting vessel was organised by Patrick the UWA ranger managing this spot. A fairly steep USh 140 000 for the boat and crew and a 90% success rating. Not bad odds. Deal done and with a kick-off time of 7:20am the next morning, we enjoyed our campsite right on the water’s edge and the deckchairs, table, firewood and warm shower water Patrick laid on. Where else do you get that kind of treatment?
Heard the hippo chorus as we drifted off to sleep. ASDIEA!!! Another Special Day In East Africa!!
Shoebill Spotting
A fishing boat arrived much to Rebecca’s disgust as it was a bit smelly! With our ranger, Patrick, in tow, we set off to find the shoebill. We headed west towards the Congo and after about 30 minutes motoring we arrived at a scene reminiscent of the Okavango. Reeds, water lilies, and loads of water birds, including pelicans. Patrick directed the boatman towards a channel and after about 10 minutes, he spotted a shoebill and we were off. We found it, slightly obscured by some reeds, about 20 metres away from the water’s edge, busy hunting. He flapped his wings, lunged forward with his bill and came out with a huge lungfish in his mouth. It wriggled a bit but was quickly swallowed. Mr. Shoebill had a drink of water and was motionless again. Wow!
We watched him for ages and then moved off to have a quick scan of the nearby channels when Patrick spotted another, and yet another shoebill. We moved in closer. These were much closer but flew off as we came too close. They were far bigger and more impressive than we had expected. It is amazing to see the shoebills in a supposed marine sanctuary surrounded by fishermen, laying out nets and traps. Not sure how much of a sanctuary it really is. It is apparently managed by the community and not UWA.
By 11 o’clock we were back in the campsite with a fantastic experience behind us. We pottered around after a breakfast of toast and coffee and then packed up and headed back to the Research Centre with the idea of an afternoon’s chimp tracking dependent on where the researchers had found them in the morning.
We saw some amazing red-throated bee-eaters from the boat and tried to see them again before we left but to no avail.
Chimps, more chimps and chapattis
Before we’d even reached the park gate en route to the research camp, Kaz spotted some chimps in a tree just on the fringe of the forest below the lodge. One scampered down the tree when I climbed on the bulbar for a better vantage point but the other one just sat there staring at us and us at him/her. A great spot and one that the researchers just shook their heads at as they aren’t generally seen there at all, what luck!!
Edson, the chef, conducted a masterclass for Rebecca and me to learn how to make chapattis. He is a wizard in the kitchen and makes them most days. So we had chapattis and guacamole for supper.
We got chatting to Tim, Phineas and Charlotte again. Rebecca went off to see a little terrapin Charlotte had found. We thought Charlotte really special and what a fantastic role model for Rebecca to emulate one day.
We lent them the Planet Earth DVDs to watch and had an early night as we had a monster drive the next day up to Murchison Falls.
Fort Portal to Masindi
We revised our route to stop for the night at Masindi, which was a good idea as the road was fairly ropey in places and the distance we covered was over 300 kms in any case. Including our customary coffee stop (in a tea plantation!) and lunch stop (on the side of the road with our customary audience), we’d been in the saddle for about 10 hours, enough already!
We are camped in the grounds of the Masindi Hotel, very nice and a real little oasis. Tom Cruiser is booked in for a service in Kampala on Tuesday so we are cooling our heels here until tomorrow when we will head towards theMurchison Falls.
11 August 2008
Twitchers take note
Not satisfied with the chimps in the forest yesterday, we commandeered a local fishing boat on the southern shore of lake albert in search of the elusive shoebill. We found one hunting and then catching a lungfish. We then saw 2 others who promptly flew off. All this before breakfast! What a tough way to spend a monday morning. Aish!
09 August 2008
Uganda - Take 2
Missed Mgahinga… Found Forest
The border was only 20 kms or so from Ruhengeri so before we knew it, we’d bought some massive fresh mandazi for morning coffee and were sorting out the border formalities. Very pleasant both sides. Entered Uganda a bit lighter in the pocket after shelling out for visas and a foreign vehicle permit. At least we’d got away without the permit when we entered the first time.
Drove through the first big town called Kisoro. Wanted to draw money but the Stanbic ATM queue was too long so we kept on going. Luckily we missed the turning for Mgahahinga National Park, which was the continuation of the Parc Nacional de Volcans from Rwanda, and made our way to the Nkuringo Forest which lies at the southern end of Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. As it turns out, it is also home to a family of 18 gorillas. The drive in was amazing, winding between 2 lakes and climbing all the time. Also saw a flock of at least 30 crowned cranes. Special, as they are Uganda’s national bird. Nkuringo Gorilla Campsite was well located but a bit pricey at $10 each per night. We had the place to ourselves. We all took a walk to the park visitor’s centre which was a very fancy name for a scruffy two-roomed office and then to check out a brand new hotel (open all of 3 days when we arrived) called Clouds, part of the Ugandan Safari Company. It is run by Gary, a South African and Michael, another South African is the general manager of all their lodges. They were very hospitable and invited us for drinks the following evening. Prospero Bailey had been one of their first guests, stopping over while flying his new plane home from Ireland. Quite a challenge building and operating here, as there is no power and no ground water. The logistics were incredible but it shows it can be done. A stunning hotel in a stunning location and with exclusive rights to 6 gorilla permits per day. They are sure to do well.
Oh well, they aren’t called rain forests for nothing, it poured in the night and in fact we haven’t seen a lot of the sun since then.
Bum Buhoma
The plan was to drive from Nkuringo Gate to Buhoma Gate, as the crow flies a distance of 12 kms. It took us all day. The drive was magic. Stopped for coffee on the north-western shore of Lake Bunyoni at Muko Campsite and saw otters. Was too early to camp and even though the setting was appealing we needed to move on. Contrary to the advice of the resident guide at Muko, we took the scenic road that skirts and eventually goes through Bwindi Impenetrable Forest and are so glad we did. Rebecca got to see gorillas!! They were on the side of the road outside the park . Not hugely photogenic but they were climbing trees, pulling down creepers and calling to each other. We hope that this is an experience she’ll remember.
Arrived at the Buhoma Community Campsite which is just inside the park gate. Very busy place as it is the main gorilla tracking spot in Uganda. The visitor’s centre didn’t look as good as the one in Rwanda but at least the Ugandan Wildlife Authority does transport you to see the gorillas instead of the other way round! We had just fired up the jiko when the heaven’s opened. Cooked spaghetti under a tiny shelter with my feet in the mud, aargh! We then retreated to the roof top tent to watch Planet Earth. What an end to the day when Rebecca saw her gorillas.
It turned inot a noisy night for Kaz as she heard people singing at the tops of their voices; cars parking next to us in the night as well as the rain. (We were camped in the car park, Rebecca and I slept)
At least in the morning, we were able to pack up a wet tent in the dry, get it? Good.
Queen Elizabeth National Park
This park is intersected by 2 main roads, which was great because we were planning to do our game viewing from them to avoid paying the park fees. The road was pretty good in parts and pretty muddy in others. We saw Ugandan kob, Ugandan elephants, Ugandan buffalo, Ugandan waterbuck and Ugandan warthogs. Stopped at the Ishasha Gate for lunch and my charm offensive on Johnson was wasted as he wouldn’t let us camp there without paying the park fees which were toppish. Same story at the next gate but we were told about Kingfisher Lodge on the escarpment which offered camping. Even though it meant backtracking south for 20 or so kms we knew we wouldn’t get anything before or in Kasese, the next town.
Kingfisher had a million dollar bird’s eye view of the park and the Lakes, George and Edward. We took over their garden and were again camped in the car park. It is quite surreal to sit, in an hotel’s grounds, under a thatch shelter, cooking tuna ala king on a jiko when the hotel guests are tucking into a buffet on the next table. Would any SA hotels entertain this? I’m not so sure. It gets better because you then wind between the diners in the restaurant with your toothbrush to brush your teeth before bed.
While sitting out after dinner , we saw a pennant-winged nightjar fly over. ..a new spot, a new spot!
Fort Portal
After drawing money at a Stanbic ATM (about time as we were shilling-less) and chatting to some of the staff in Kasese, we filled up with diesel for the first time since leaving Kabale to go to Rwanda, doing about 1300 kms on 100 litres, not too shabby. I had a heart stopping moment while they were filling the main tank as one of the Shell guys alerted me to diesel pouring out from under the engine. Luckily it was just out of the breather pipe, yikes!
We bought some fresh banana muffins and sausage rolls from Titi’s Bread in Margharita Street. Worth looking for, but check what’s fresh.
We ended up having these for lunch about 20 kms before Fort Portal, on a flat spot with only cows for company. Now that makes a change!
Fort Portal looks like a fairly nice town of some substance. We shopped at Andrew’s Supermarket before setting off for Lake Nkuruba, one of a group of crater lakes to be founds 20kms south of the town. It started raining again… we are starting to rust. We found the first community camp site on the lake and drove in to find Lockie (an Aussie we’d last seen in Kinigi, Rwanda). He has been cycling for over 4 years and has cycled over 83 000 kms through 66 countries. It was nice to catch up with him and later with Andy & Connie, a Swiss couple who’d we’d also last seen there, who arrived later. We also met an Italian couple who were really nice and who we ended up sharing food with one evening.
The sun is shining so we are staying put to do some washing. We also have the place to ourselves as everyone has moved on. Saw vervets, black and white colobus and some others which could be red colobus but we're not convinced without leaving the campsite.
The campsite is also the practice spot for the Lake Nkuruba Community Entertainment troupe so we've been drummed and sang to, again...and again. Nice to hear though
The border was only 20 kms or so from Ruhengeri so before we knew it, we’d bought some massive fresh mandazi for morning coffee and were sorting out the border formalities. Very pleasant both sides. Entered Uganda a bit lighter in the pocket after shelling out for visas and a foreign vehicle permit. At least we’d got away without the permit when we entered the first time.
Drove through the first big town called Kisoro. Wanted to draw money but the Stanbic ATM queue was too long so we kept on going. Luckily we missed the turning for Mgahahinga National Park, which was the continuation of the Parc Nacional de Volcans from Rwanda, and made our way to the Nkuringo Forest which lies at the southern end of Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. As it turns out, it is also home to a family of 18 gorillas. The drive in was amazing, winding between 2 lakes and climbing all the time. Also saw a flock of at least 30 crowned cranes. Special, as they are Uganda’s national bird. Nkuringo Gorilla Campsite was well located but a bit pricey at $10 each per night. We had the place to ourselves. We all took a walk to the park visitor’s centre which was a very fancy name for a scruffy two-roomed office and then to check out a brand new hotel (open all of 3 days when we arrived) called Clouds, part of the Ugandan Safari Company. It is run by Gary, a South African and Michael, another South African is the general manager of all their lodges. They were very hospitable and invited us for drinks the following evening. Prospero Bailey had been one of their first guests, stopping over while flying his new plane home from Ireland. Quite a challenge building and operating here, as there is no power and no ground water. The logistics were incredible but it shows it can be done. A stunning hotel in a stunning location and with exclusive rights to 6 gorilla permits per day. They are sure to do well.
Oh well, they aren’t called rain forests for nothing, it poured in the night and in fact we haven’t seen a lot of the sun since then.
Bum Buhoma
The plan was to drive from Nkuringo Gate to Buhoma Gate, as the crow flies a distance of 12 kms. It took us all day. The drive was magic. Stopped for coffee on the north-western shore of Lake Bunyoni at Muko Campsite and saw otters. Was too early to camp and even though the setting was appealing we needed to move on. Contrary to the advice of the resident guide at Muko, we took the scenic road that skirts and eventually goes through Bwindi Impenetrable Forest and are so glad we did. Rebecca got to see gorillas!! They were on the side of the road outside the park . Not hugely photogenic but they were climbing trees, pulling down creepers and calling to each other. We hope that this is an experience she’ll remember.
Arrived at the Buhoma Community Campsite which is just inside the park gate. Very busy place as it is the main gorilla tracking spot in Uganda. The visitor’s centre didn’t look as good as the one in Rwanda but at least the Ugandan Wildlife Authority does transport you to see the gorillas instead of the other way round! We had just fired up the jiko when the heaven’s opened. Cooked spaghetti under a tiny shelter with my feet in the mud, aargh! We then retreated to the roof top tent to watch Planet Earth. What an end to the day when Rebecca saw her gorillas.
It turned inot a noisy night for Kaz as she heard people singing at the tops of their voices; cars parking next to us in the night as well as the rain. (We were camped in the car park, Rebecca and I slept)
At least in the morning, we were able to pack up a wet tent in the dry, get it? Good.
Queen Elizabeth National Park
This park is intersected by 2 main roads, which was great because we were planning to do our game viewing from them to avoid paying the park fees. The road was pretty good in parts and pretty muddy in others. We saw Ugandan kob, Ugandan elephants, Ugandan buffalo, Ugandan waterbuck and Ugandan warthogs. Stopped at the Ishasha Gate for lunch and my charm offensive on Johnson was wasted as he wouldn’t let us camp there without paying the park fees which were toppish. Same story at the next gate but we were told about Kingfisher Lodge on the escarpment which offered camping. Even though it meant backtracking south for 20 or so kms we knew we wouldn’t get anything before or in Kasese, the next town.
Kingfisher had a million dollar bird’s eye view of the park and the Lakes, George and Edward. We took over their garden and were again camped in the car park. It is quite surreal to sit, in an hotel’s grounds, under a thatch shelter, cooking tuna ala king on a jiko when the hotel guests are tucking into a buffet on the next table. Would any SA hotels entertain this? I’m not so sure. It gets better because you then wind between the diners in the restaurant with your toothbrush to brush your teeth before bed.
While sitting out after dinner , we saw a pennant-winged nightjar fly over. ..a new spot, a new spot!
Fort Portal
After drawing money at a Stanbic ATM (about time as we were shilling-less) and chatting to some of the staff in Kasese, we filled up with diesel for the first time since leaving Kabale to go to Rwanda, doing about 1300 kms on 100 litres, not too shabby. I had a heart stopping moment while they were filling the main tank as one of the Shell guys alerted me to diesel pouring out from under the engine. Luckily it was just out of the breather pipe, yikes!
We bought some fresh banana muffins and sausage rolls from Titi’s Bread in Margharita Street. Worth looking for, but check what’s fresh.
We ended up having these for lunch about 20 kms before Fort Portal, on a flat spot with only cows for company. Now that makes a change!
Fort Portal looks like a fairly nice town of some substance. We shopped at Andrew’s Supermarket before setting off for Lake Nkuruba, one of a group of crater lakes to be founds 20kms south of the town. It started raining again… we are starting to rust. We found the first community camp site on the lake and drove in to find Lockie (an Aussie we’d last seen in Kinigi, Rwanda). He has been cycling for over 4 years and has cycled over 83 000 kms through 66 countries. It was nice to catch up with him and later with Andy & Connie, a Swiss couple who’d we’d also last seen there, who arrived later. We also met an Italian couple who were really nice and who we ended up sharing food with one evening.
The sun is shining so we are staying put to do some washing. We also have the place to ourselves as everyone has moved on. Saw vervets, black and white colobus and some others which could be red colobus but we're not convinced without leaving the campsite.
The campsite is also the practice spot for the Lake Nkuruba Community Entertainment troupe so we've been drummed and sang to, again...and again. Nice to hear though
G for Gorillas
Klean Kigali
After we had no luck at the ORTPN offices with gorilla permits and had done our emailing courtesy of the Bourbon Cafe, we plotted a course for the Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre and made our way there down the hills and around the roundabouts. This city is pretty relaxed as far as African cities go, especially the taxi drivers. It’s also pretty clean.
The Centre is really harrowing and this kind of stuff just beggars belief. Not only do they deal with the Rwandan genocide, but also those involving Herero, Jews, Armenian and Serbs. It also houses the mass graves of over 250 000 unidentified victims in the grounds. The UN, Belgium and France have joined the crocodiles as “James’s persona non grata”.
We got there late-ish on Monday and not having any joy finding campsites, we’d decided to camp in the car park. (We’d heard from an overland driver at Lake Bunyoni that it is do-able) Probably the safest place in the city as the Centre is guarded around the clock.
We were sat in the car park plotting our route for the next couple of days when we exchanged pleasantries with a Canadian guy who worked in the Centre and chatted to the driver of an overland truck. Next minute, our Canadian came back and offered us a room in his house for the night. Took about a second to decide and we were on our way to his house. Turns out that Morley and his wife, Johane were coming to the end of a year-long volunteering stint in Rwanda, so our timing was perfect!
Spent an interesting evening with them finding out what they had been doing. I am really impressed with the volunteering culture of the north Americans, it certainly isn’t a South African trait that I’m aware of. Johane had decided to do it as she reached her half century, fantastic! It seemed like just the right time to crack our bottle of Chilean red wine we’d been keeping for a special occasion. Rebecca drew a picture for them and their night watchman, Adam, with zero prompting, washed Tom Cruiser and that was not a mean feat, he was filthy.
The next morning we had breakfast with them. Morley and Adam walked off to the VSO offices and we gave Johane a lift to work en route to the market. Seven days later they leave Africa behind them to take up their “normal” lives again. What a fantastic experience for them.
How many of us would open our homes to complete strangers? Morley and Johane, thank you so much for your hospitality.
Gorilla Permit Tracking
We then set off for Ruhengeri (now renamed Musanze) to try our luck with the gorilla permits closer to the action. The drive was amazing, the road was windy and we just seemed to climb and climb. Our coffee stop with a brilliant view was again characterized by a quickly formed group of interested onlookers. We checked in with the local ORTPN office in Ruhengeri which is through the gates with the gorillas on top on the main road but then it is hidden away on the first floor of the building behind the one facing the road. The giveaway is the gorilla poster in the window. This was pretty much a waste of time as all this office seems to do is deliver a fax of the permit holders for the following day to Park HQ. We headed for and camped at a brilliant place just 200m from the Park HQ called Kinigi Guest House. It is a perfect place to stopover for those with gorilla permits and there is a rapid turnover of people, also for people like us with no permits and who need to walk to the HQ every morning to hope for no-shows. It’s run by a Women’s Association in collaboration with the park. We bumped into 3 guys in a UK-registered Defender we’d last seen at Jungle Junction, Nairobi. They had got really lucky as a tour operator had had 2 spare permits for one day and one for the next day. We were up early the next morning and waiting at Park HQ to see if any spare permits turned up. There are 7 gorilla groups visited by 8 tourists each and sometimes another group is taken to a “research” group. Unfortunately no spare spots were to be had and the 3 of us headed back to the campsite for an egg and bacon breakfast. The plan was that I would go first, Kaz would look after Rebecca and then we’d reverse roles on another day.
We’d also chatted to an American who’d organised a last minute permit through Greg at Amahoro Tours (+250 08687448). Greg is based in Musanze and so we thought we’d pay him a visit. As the roof top tent was up, I decided to catch a motor taxi, which is a motorbike, into the town only 12 kms away. Anna, Rebecca’s new friend, who ran the curio shop had a brother, John, in the car park with one of these bikes so, after some negotiation re price, off we went. It turns out that John is a school boy with no licence, so instead of him handing the bike to the real taxi driver, he hears I have a licence, he gets the spare helmet and off we go: Mzungu Richard at the business end! Riding in hiking boots nogal!
About 5 minutes after setting off, we ran out of petrol. As petrol is more expensive in Kinigi village than Musanze, John reckons we can freewheel the remaining 9 or so kms to town, through 3 sets of policemen as it turns out. Needless to say, the sight of a mzungu at the helm of one of these taxis is not the norm so the cry of “mzungu” reverberated through the countryside for the rest of the trip. Luckily except for three stretches, it was downhill so we didn’t really have to push much. The one intersection under the eyes of the Rwandan cops was the worst, but they didn’t seem very worried.
Eventually found Greg and set him to permit hunting for us. July and August are 2 of the busiest months and he wasn’t hugely optimistic. Bought some bread and oil and off we went, the motorbike now filled with 2 litres of petrol!
Trip back was fairly uneventful except the bike did suffer from some fuel blockage which meant that we’d lose power and then speed up again.
Took a walk towards the park boundary in the afternoon hoping to catch a glimpse of the gorillas which sometimes come out the park to eat potatoes! Of course we attracted a retinue of hangers-on who attached themselves for the duration of the walk. No such thing as a quiet, peaceful walk in the fresh air. No self respecting gorilla would show himself with this noisy bunch of boys around.
Had sundowners in the lounge with a fire going in the grate. The weather has been overcast since we arrived and we had a few glimpses of the top of the Sabyinyo Volcano but none of the others that surround us. I had a Primus beer, which is one of the local Rwandan beers that is served in a 720ml bottle!
Next morning was a repeat of day one. I’m dressed for tracking gorillas, Kaz and Rebecca come along to see if we are successful or not. The cars start streaming in and I am again looking for operators who may have a spare permit, chatting to Alphonse in the office and the Chief Park Warden making sure they remember me from the previous day. The waiting drags on as people come in late. It is really nerve wracking because even though we have the luxury of being able to hang around here for weeks, it would be nice for our luck to turn. Eventually it looks like there may be a space in one of the groups. No, it turns out there are two spare spaces in the same group! Rebecca, luckily, is very happy to stay with Anna and the ladies from the lodge so she and Kaz sprint off to change and get tracking clothes on. I am happily handing Alphonse $1000 for the privilege of tracking gorillas. We can’t believe that another item on our life’s wish list is about to be ticked off. We’d missed the initial briefing but who cares.
Kaz returns, we climb into a combi, which had brought two other group members to track the gorillas, and off we go to find the Hirwa group of primates. Interesting that even though you’ve paid a king’s ransom for the permit, you still need to organise your own transport to the parking points from where you hike to the gorilla areas and transport for your guide.
Luckily these were “our” gorillas which live on the closest volcano and ironically not far from where we’d walked the previous day. Our sighting was perfect. They were relaxing in a clearing and we were all able to watch them play, grunt, groom and just sleep. The silverback was some distance away from the first group we watched so we moved down to see him, but he was quite pointedly keeping his back to us. The hour we spent with them was really special.
Tips for getting permits or “What would we do differently in trying to get a last minute permit?”
Visit the Kigali ORTPN more often on the days that you are in Kigali, even every couple of hours. Kelly, who we met in Kinigi, had been in the office about 4 hours after us and got a permit.
Don’t bother with their waiting list. Fact is, they would rather deal with someone face-to-face than try to phone around to the names on their list, especially in peak season like now.
Don’t bother with visiting the Ruhengeri/Musanze ORTPN office, they will refer you back to Kigali
Contact Greg at Amahoro Tours in advance if possible and get him to phone around
Be persistent, patient and flexible. Make sure that Alphonse knows that you will be around as long as it takes to get a permit.
Hope that you are in a group with their own transport so you can hitch a lift.
Lake Kivu
Packed up finally from Kinigi and headed towards Gisenyi on Lake Kivu for a day or two. This is an area that Tracks4Africa (“Tracks”) has very scanty info on, i.e. nothing. We had to head towards Goma, shown on Tracks as being in Rwanda not DRC. The road is under construction but a pleasant drive none the less.
There is nothing exciting in Gisenyi, especially when the weather is overcast. The Boulangerie de Gisenyi did have yummy doughnuts though. Found our way to the border with the DRC but decided we’d give it a miss this trip!
We headed to the Paradis de Malahide Motel which is 8kms from town just past the Primus brewery. Very nice location and good birding.
They didn’t have camping and the manager Fidel was not around to ask so we decided to head back to familiar territory. Yep, you guessed it; Kinigi Guest House!
The entry in Lonely Planet on Gisenyi was obviously written when the author was under the influence of something a bit stronger than the local Primus!
Rain en route back and Uganda, here we come again!.
Did we like Rwanda? Oh no, we loved it!!
After we had no luck at the ORTPN offices with gorilla permits and had done our emailing courtesy of the Bourbon Cafe, we plotted a course for the Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre and made our way there down the hills and around the roundabouts. This city is pretty relaxed as far as African cities go, especially the taxi drivers. It’s also pretty clean.
The Centre is really harrowing and this kind of stuff just beggars belief. Not only do they deal with the Rwandan genocide, but also those involving Herero, Jews, Armenian and Serbs. It also houses the mass graves of over 250 000 unidentified victims in the grounds. The UN, Belgium and France have joined the crocodiles as “James’s persona non grata”.
We got there late-ish on Monday and not having any joy finding campsites, we’d decided to camp in the car park. (We’d heard from an overland driver at Lake Bunyoni that it is do-able) Probably the safest place in the city as the Centre is guarded around the clock.
We were sat in the car park plotting our route for the next couple of days when we exchanged pleasantries with a Canadian guy who worked in the Centre and chatted to the driver of an overland truck. Next minute, our Canadian came back and offered us a room in his house for the night. Took about a second to decide and we were on our way to his house. Turns out that Morley and his wife, Johane were coming to the end of a year-long volunteering stint in Rwanda, so our timing was perfect!
Spent an interesting evening with them finding out what they had been doing. I am really impressed with the volunteering culture of the north Americans, it certainly isn’t a South African trait that I’m aware of. Johane had decided to do it as she reached her half century, fantastic! It seemed like just the right time to crack our bottle of Chilean red wine we’d been keeping for a special occasion. Rebecca drew a picture for them and their night watchman, Adam, with zero prompting, washed Tom Cruiser and that was not a mean feat, he was filthy.
The next morning we had breakfast with them. Morley and Adam walked off to the VSO offices and we gave Johane a lift to work en route to the market. Seven days later they leave Africa behind them to take up their “normal” lives again. What a fantastic experience for them.
How many of us would open our homes to complete strangers? Morley and Johane, thank you so much for your hospitality.
Gorilla Permit Tracking
We then set off for Ruhengeri (now renamed Musanze) to try our luck with the gorilla permits closer to the action. The drive was amazing, the road was windy and we just seemed to climb and climb. Our coffee stop with a brilliant view was again characterized by a quickly formed group of interested onlookers. We checked in with the local ORTPN office in Ruhengeri which is through the gates with the gorillas on top on the main road but then it is hidden away on the first floor of the building behind the one facing the road. The giveaway is the gorilla poster in the window. This was pretty much a waste of time as all this office seems to do is deliver a fax of the permit holders for the following day to Park HQ. We headed for and camped at a brilliant place just 200m from the Park HQ called Kinigi Guest House. It is a perfect place to stopover for those with gorilla permits and there is a rapid turnover of people, also for people like us with no permits and who need to walk to the HQ every morning to hope for no-shows. It’s run by a Women’s Association in collaboration with the park. We bumped into 3 guys in a UK-registered Defender we’d last seen at Jungle Junction, Nairobi. They had got really lucky as a tour operator had had 2 spare permits for one day and one for the next day. We were up early the next morning and waiting at Park HQ to see if any spare permits turned up. There are 7 gorilla groups visited by 8 tourists each and sometimes another group is taken to a “research” group. Unfortunately no spare spots were to be had and the 3 of us headed back to the campsite for an egg and bacon breakfast. The plan was that I would go first, Kaz would look after Rebecca and then we’d reverse roles on another day.
We’d also chatted to an American who’d organised a last minute permit through Greg at Amahoro Tours (+250 08687448). Greg is based in Musanze and so we thought we’d pay him a visit. As the roof top tent was up, I decided to catch a motor taxi, which is a motorbike, into the town only 12 kms away. Anna, Rebecca’s new friend, who ran the curio shop had a brother, John, in the car park with one of these bikes so, after some negotiation re price, off we went. It turns out that John is a school boy with no licence, so instead of him handing the bike to the real taxi driver, he hears I have a licence, he gets the spare helmet and off we go: Mzungu Richard at the business end! Riding in hiking boots nogal!
About 5 minutes after setting off, we ran out of petrol. As petrol is more expensive in Kinigi village than Musanze, John reckons we can freewheel the remaining 9 or so kms to town, through 3 sets of policemen as it turns out. Needless to say, the sight of a mzungu at the helm of one of these taxis is not the norm so the cry of “mzungu” reverberated through the countryside for the rest of the trip. Luckily except for three stretches, it was downhill so we didn’t really have to push much. The one intersection under the eyes of the Rwandan cops was the worst, but they didn’t seem very worried.
Eventually found Greg and set him to permit hunting for us. July and August are 2 of the busiest months and he wasn’t hugely optimistic. Bought some bread and oil and off we went, the motorbike now filled with 2 litres of petrol!
Trip back was fairly uneventful except the bike did suffer from some fuel blockage which meant that we’d lose power and then speed up again.
Took a walk towards the park boundary in the afternoon hoping to catch a glimpse of the gorillas which sometimes come out the park to eat potatoes! Of course we attracted a retinue of hangers-on who attached themselves for the duration of the walk. No such thing as a quiet, peaceful walk in the fresh air. No self respecting gorilla would show himself with this noisy bunch of boys around.
Had sundowners in the lounge with a fire going in the grate. The weather has been overcast since we arrived and we had a few glimpses of the top of the Sabyinyo Volcano but none of the others that surround us. I had a Primus beer, which is one of the local Rwandan beers that is served in a 720ml bottle!
Next morning was a repeat of day one. I’m dressed for tracking gorillas, Kaz and Rebecca come along to see if we are successful or not. The cars start streaming in and I am again looking for operators who may have a spare permit, chatting to Alphonse in the office and the Chief Park Warden making sure they remember me from the previous day. The waiting drags on as people come in late. It is really nerve wracking because even though we have the luxury of being able to hang around here for weeks, it would be nice for our luck to turn. Eventually it looks like there may be a space in one of the groups. No, it turns out there are two spare spaces in the same group! Rebecca, luckily, is very happy to stay with Anna and the ladies from the lodge so she and Kaz sprint off to change and get tracking clothes on. I am happily handing Alphonse $1000 for the privilege of tracking gorillas. We can’t believe that another item on our life’s wish list is about to be ticked off. We’d missed the initial briefing but who cares.
Kaz returns, we climb into a combi, which had brought two other group members to track the gorillas, and off we go to find the Hirwa group of primates. Interesting that even though you’ve paid a king’s ransom for the permit, you still need to organise your own transport to the parking points from where you hike to the gorilla areas and transport for your guide.
Luckily these were “our” gorillas which live on the closest volcano and ironically not far from where we’d walked the previous day. Our sighting was perfect. They were relaxing in a clearing and we were all able to watch them play, grunt, groom and just sleep. The silverback was some distance away from the first group we watched so we moved down to see him, but he was quite pointedly keeping his back to us. The hour we spent with them was really special.
Tips for getting permits or “What would we do differently in trying to get a last minute permit?”
Visit the Kigali ORTPN more often on the days that you are in Kigali, even every couple of hours. Kelly, who we met in Kinigi, had been in the office about 4 hours after us and got a permit.
Don’t bother with their waiting list. Fact is, they would rather deal with someone face-to-face than try to phone around to the names on their list, especially in peak season like now.
Don’t bother with visiting the Ruhengeri/Musanze ORTPN office, they will refer you back to Kigali
Contact Greg at Amahoro Tours in advance if possible and get him to phone around
Be persistent, patient and flexible. Make sure that Alphonse knows that you will be around as long as it takes to get a permit.
Hope that you are in a group with their own transport so you can hitch a lift.
Lake Kivu
Packed up finally from Kinigi and headed towards Gisenyi on Lake Kivu for a day or two. This is an area that Tracks4Africa (“Tracks”) has very scanty info on, i.e. nothing. We had to head towards Goma, shown on Tracks as being in Rwanda not DRC. The road is under construction but a pleasant drive none the less.
There is nothing exciting in Gisenyi, especially when the weather is overcast. The Boulangerie de Gisenyi did have yummy doughnuts though. Found our way to the border with the DRC but decided we’d give it a miss this trip!
We headed to the Paradis de Malahide Motel which is 8kms from town just past the Primus brewery. Very nice location and good birding.
They didn’t have camping and the manager Fidel was not around to ask so we decided to head back to familiar territory. Yep, you guessed it; Kinigi Guest House!
The entry in Lonely Planet on Gisenyi was obviously written when the author was under the influence of something a bit stronger than the local Primus!
Rain en route back and Uganda, here we come again!.
Did we like Rwanda? Oh no, we loved it!!
05 August 2008
Stop press 2
James jnr has joined the ranks of the gorilla spotters en route to bwindi. They were eating on the side of the road. Babies were playing, silverback was snoozing.
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