Here is an update of short notes and impressions since we left Kagondo on the 27th Dec, two and an half weeks ago.
We had an easy drive of about four hours from Bukoba to Masaka crossing the border with little problem.
Masaka:
Brigitte and Bruce Daley, a Canadian couple, have in the last 5 years have created a clinic, farm to teach horticulture and to supply tourist hotels, a primary school and a womens craft group in a destitute Ugandan Village outside Masaka. It is a self sustaining project, whereby the people have to work for the services provided, and it works really well. We were so impressed with their hard work and achievement. They are now in the process of disengaging. Visit their website: www.ugandavillge.orgLake Mburu:
This national park is a quiet little treasure tucked away in the south. However, despite being given local advice to avoid the back tracks on the plains to see animals, we ignored it all, so we slipped and slithered in the deep mud and had a hairy moment or two. Rupert managed valiantly, skidding vehicle and swerving into the meter high elephant grass at the last moment to avoid acacia bushes and deep deep mud holes! So we then decided not to go on as the tracks seemed endlessly flooded and we had to get back somehow! And somehow we made it, muddy but defiant!
The early morning game walk was special, we walked through a herd of Impala, moving and talking normally, they showed no alarm, only curiosity. We also came close to waterbuck -- it was all very special.
Lake Bunyoni:
Set high in the mountains, with dramatic scenery on the drive up (1,800m--as high as some ski resorts) was the beautiful lake dotted with islands, mostly inhabited, fringed with palms and flowering acacias and other trees. Also roses, dahlias, and tropical plants. We experimented paddling in a dug-out canoe, which Rupert mastered after a couple of 360' turns! (Not the same as ours on the Tamar!) Masses of birdlife.
Kigali, Rwanda:
Modern, thriving, sophisticated city, good restaurants and leafy suburbs all built on hills. However, the poverty of the country came right up to the city boundary...we felt it was poorer than we had seen so far. Croissant and cappuccino on New Years Day for breakfast, followed by a dip in the pool and lunch at the Mille Collines Hotel ("Hotel Rwanda"), making the experience even more surreal.
The genocide Museum was supremely moving. I don’t have the words to say how we felt reading and seeing the history of 800,000 slaughtered in 3 months. We visited the Virunga Mountains on the way out: the scenery is absolutely stunning--ancient volcanoes, where the gorillas live.
Uganda again, South:
A switchback drive through the steeply rising mountains of Southern Uganda: heavily farmed in small patches, and little houses perched on precipitous ledges. (How did they get water??) The whole country is full. There appears to be no more room for the following generation. Uganda is destined to double its population again in the next 25years.
We took the "scenic" route, inadvertently! Found ourselves on miles and miles of narrow track that went through forests, over fords and ditches, very rough and we met one other vehicle...we were viewed with amazement byt he villagers. Luckily gave a lift to a very well mannered girl who showed us the way we were meant to go!
Queen Elizabeth National Park, Ishasha:
Great: Elephants,buffalo, kobs and topi. Later, saw 2 lion lying asleep in a tree. Then on to
QENP, Mweya:
many many elephant, including babies, a very pregnant mother, twins a few weeks old and a drunk adolescent who was picking fights with his older brother, crashing through the bush, walking all over the place trumpeting and generally making an idiot of himself!
Spent a couple of hours after a sudden hailstorm trying to rescue a bus full of a Ugandan family, which had skidded into the ditch in the treacherous mud. Luckily the rangers eventually turned up (some drunk!) to come to the rescue, but they didn’t get back to the camp till midnight.
Fort Portal:
Stayed in a BnB with delightful Professor Edward and Mrs Foibe. He was a professor of Environment and Ecology, and ex First High Commissioner to South Africa...lots of stories.
Semiliki National Park:
on border of DRC (Congo) behind the Rwenzori Mountains. Again fantastic scenery...would have been better without the heat haze!
Murchison Falls:
We pressed on to here on a horrid road...rewarded by the sight of the Falls which are magnificent and well worth the trip. The huge Nile is channelled through a 10m cleft, coming crashing, tumbling, spraying down, turbulent, white, noisy (we could feel the vibrations under our feet) and falls 40meters. Amazing.
Lovely game drives, even saw another lion hunting. Beautiful graceful Giraffe, and the tiny delicate Oribi. Masses of birds again.
Jinja:
Where the Nile leaves Lake Victoria. Just had a cold beer watching the sunset over the river, and the birds flying home in formation. They were followed by zillions of bats off for a nights hunting in the lights of the town. (?collective noun for bats??)
