Uganda

After our gorilla adventures, had a great few days in Lake Bunyoni, going for swims in the cold water of Uganda's deepest lake, chilling on the loungers, eating crayfish for lunch, catching up on washing while listening to some African music from a conference nearby... was really peaceful and could definitely have stayed for longer. Had a few long travel days back through the lush Ugandan countryside passing through the equator and watching the water go down the plug hole different ways (for your info it goes straight down on the actual equator line!). Even when the roads are rough, dusty and long, travelling on the truck is pretty good with time to read, listen to music, chat with people and hang out the sides watching the villages and countryside whisk by (not good for any type of hairdo other than windswept look though!!). The truck has an open air 'beach' at the front where you can go up and actually spread out on the cushions, sunbathe and get a really good view of passing scenery.

Made it to Kampala the capital of Uganda and looked around the town and markets. Experienced a very important cultural highlight of having a stylish pedicure in the markets for less than a cost of a beer!! Was the envy of all the girls and set a dangerous precedent for spa treatments on the road. Took my posh feet out on the town that night, as Gabi had a friend living in Kampala to show us the renowned nightlife. We started at the mzungu hangout of Bubbles O'Leary (you guessed right from the name that it is an Irish pub!), then we bopped on down to the Sheraton Hotel and onwards to a club called Rouge which had a good local flavour. Really enjoyed the night and spent all the next day doing cultural wasteland activities of nothing much at all - reading, watching movies and to catch up on diary entries.

Drove from Kampala back to Kenya and into the Nakuru national park for a night of bush camping where we were set upon by baboons. Seriously have to have everything tied down otherwise they will steal it with surprising speed and aggression. This applies even to yourself as saw baboons make off with a girls shower bag and empty half the contents!! Using a bush toilet option also comes with its own dangers when mooning the baboons is not a good idea. The park was great, really enjoyed the soda lake with the millions of flamingos on shore. Got to see rhino, buffalo, antelope, zebras, giraffes, elephants, dik dik and luckily a leopard lazing under a tree. Quite amazing to see the animals so close and mostly they are completely oblivious to passing noisy yellow truck with 24 cameras clicking frantically.

After the park, a great Indian lunch in Nakuru town in a spot we had discovered the day before. Unfortunately by taking up our recommendation several people then got food poisoning... luckily we escaped that fate! Took the opportunity to buy a few souvenirs and bargain hard, as they always start with outrageous tourist prices. Tagged along with Phil trying to get a charger for her mobile.. Shopping here is crazy as if you ask for something in a shop that they don't stock then they will often tell you to wait and go off in search of it themselves! This applies to restaurants as well - you can never be entirely sure if your food is cooked in the kitchen there, next door or somewhere down the road.

Headed back to Nairobi and having already spent a few days exploring the Kenyan capital on arrival, used the few days to relax. Most excitement was going into Karen town (suburb on the outskirts of Nairobi) for food, internet, leg wax and a bit of shopping! We lost 6 of our people in Nairobi and picked up another 7 heading out. Travelling on the truck is comparable to living in a big brother house and the changeover of fellow like minded travellers in Nairobi, was a little like big brother eviction/invasion. While we all missed the ones who had left, the newbies have all settled in well. Now down to 10 nationalities, 6 couples, 2 new couples (courtesy of night out in Kampala!) and the rest of us singletons making up the balance. In fact there has been so much tent changing for various reasons, think that my diet coke obsessed tent buddy and I are the only ones still in original pair!! Nevertheless everyone gets on surprisingly well and when the opportunity arises to do our own thing, we mostly stick together.

From Jinja we headed to Lake Bunyoni where we spent the night. Another great campsite with views over the lake and a relaxed atmosphere. My tent buddy, Phillipa (from Scotland) and I have gotten pretty good at putting the tent up and down and already settled into routine like an old married couple with own sides of the tent and all!!

Had a swim in the lake just as a thunder and lightning storm hit which was hysterical and very wet as the rain was bouncing off the water into our faces. Early start the next day to head to Kisoro in the south-western corner of Uganda near the border of Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The road was outrageously bad and nobody really enjoyed the 5 hour trip. Nothing much to say about Kisoro, it is a dusty border town and the campsite pretty average (but good hot shower!), however everyone was pretty hyped up as it meant being close to seeing the gorillas. Another early start and we did our border processing and through into DRC. Laughed at the border security – an old tire on the Ugandan side and two bamboo sticks on the DRC side, all aided by a tired looking guard with an ancient gun. Had to walk the no mans land in between.. must say it was the most unique border crossing I’ve ever done!!

As soon as you got into DRC could see that it was much poorer, and funnily enough the Congolese people also looked different, a bit shorter with rounder faces. We crammed into 4WD drive vehicles (9 to a car) and if we thought the roads the previous day were bad, we revised our opinion, as these were potholed beyond belief and we sashayed and side-winded all over the road with complete abandon. While we didn’t feel too safe it was the unfortunate people walking along the road that were really in danger as our driver seemed to completely disregard the fact that they had leapt to safety on the verges… in fact we did actually hit one person with the wing mirror and then we also crashed into a fence post when heading into the national park… not very inspiring!! The worst part was that we had to travel for 3 hours like this… each way… banged my head who knows how many times!! It was definitely a Grade 5 road! Almost forgot that we were in a country with a travel warning out and very fragile peace until we passed 3 UN vehicles, the last of which was carrying a massive gun mounted on the top…

Finally we arrived at Parc National des Virungas and were introduced to our guides and then off up the hill. Voted to go in the medium level group instead of trying to be a mountain goat with the fast and fit among us. In groups of 8 we headed over farmland then into the jungle, where they slashed way through to find the gorilla families. The one our group saw was the biggest with 31 gorillas, including some babies and a giant silverback watching over it all. Got amazingly close and they were very curious and if not for the guides ah-hemming their communication am sure they would have touched us. Quite a humbling experience. Only allowed one hour with them as they are sensitive to human disease and also they don’t like to stress the animals either – the time really flew by and then it was down the jungle path again to the waiting vehicles. Hideous trip back (hit head numerous times again!) and was relieved to get back over the border before dark. Then too late I realized that I had left my Nordic walking poles in the 4WD in the Congo… I was certain that I was going to be singularly responsible for starting the trend of Nordic Walking in the Congo but amazingly I actually got them back as after a huge stuff up two of our group didn’t get to see the gorillas that day and had to go back again the next day, so they rescued them for me.

From Kenya we headed into Uganda and straight to Jinja which is the source of the Nile and one of the best places in the world to go white water rafting. The campsite at Bujagali Falls was great with the best view out over the river. So all keyed up, off we went to get wet and wild on the Nile. Day started innocently enough with instructions on how to paddle and how to swim through the rapids. The first couple of rapids were great – got though a Grade 4 and 5 no problems and then flipped on a Grade 3 called 50/50 (your chances of staying in the boat!). Then we hit a rapid called Total Ganga (madness) and we really lost the plot, flipping right at the start, paddles and people flying and hit the worst area of rapid, affectionately known as the G-Spot, at a good swim drinking a good portion of Nile with it. Was actually really scary and got picked up by one of the safety kayakers a bit further downstream. Must say that most of us were a little subdued after that!! There were quite a few long calm stretches where you almost forgot that you had to do it all again… then the distant roar of the water would fill your ears and your heart with trepidation! However we made it through all the next rapids okay, though the next one only 3 of us managed to stay on the boat which we thought was awesome, as the temptation to pike on the whole adventure was still quite high!! The last rapid you have to walk around a Grade 6 waterfall and then paddle through ‘The Bad Place’ – a lot of people voted not to get back on and walk to the waiting truck, but put on a brave face and did it – holding on very tight I can tell you!! Quite a few people got some bad bumps and bruises from rocks, rafts and paddles but all I had to show for my efforts was a broken fingernail which was almost a little disappointing!! On return to the camp discovered showers had no water hot or cold, so had a bath in Nile (checking for crocs first!) which was fantastic – felt very Africa!! Afterwards had a bbq and all you can drink nite – messy.

Next day we did a volunteer day for an organization called Soft Power Education which helps paint and develop schools throughout the district. Visited a pre-school first where we were literally overwhelmed by children running at us, holding our hands and climbing all over us. So cute - yes, this is from the person who doesn’t really like kids but there is something about the kids here, they really are just so cute you can’t help but like them. They sang us a song and we were required to sing one back – ended up an embarrassingly bad rendition of E-I-E-I-O!! Then we bundled off to the school, greeted by a wave of blue uniforms and proceeded to paint a classroom inside and out. They have no textbooks so they paint maps and textbook stuff on the walls and use that instead. Also the classes have up to 100 children in each – hard to believe. In the afternoon we had the option to go to an opening of a deaf unit at another primary school where the kids would do some entertainment – what a bad idea that was!! The most long-winded speeches whose only interesting feature was the translation of English and Swahili into sign and almost no entertainment from the kids – they got shooed off in favour of more long winded speeches… three hours later… anyway, it was an experience and the unit great idea as children with disabilities here are very often neglected and locked away, seen as useless by society.

Uganda seems a friendlier place somehow than Kenya and all the way, whether by car, foot (actually anywhere, anytime) we are always greeted with cries of mzungu, mzungu (white person) and at times a hand out but mostly friendly waves. The kids get so excited and run after the truck down the road – it is a little like being a celebrity at times. The people in both Kenya and Uganda are really beautiful, in their colourful clothes and graceful movements – quite how they manage to balance stuff (and how much) on their head I will never know. The people here also seem to have a natural dust repellent as always look so clean and well dressed, while we get grubby in about 5 seconds flat.

One of the girls on the truck, Lou had developed a blood clot from the plane so she was resting in Jinja but after several doctors visits it didn’t get any better so she had to go to Kampala and eventually get a flight home – very disappointing as seeing the gorillas was her childhood dream.