Uganda

Feeling toughened up by the Mount Kenya climb, we crossed the border into Uganda ready for the next bit of action- rafting the Nile. Having done some rafting before, we thought we knew what we were in for. It turns out we were wrong. Rafting on the source of the Nile involves 8 sets of rapids, some of which are a level 5 which is the ‘top’ of the rafting scale. This is not the type of trip where you work your way up to the tough stuff; the first rapid, aptly named 'The Waterfall', a level 5 rapid, gave us a taste of what was to come………a lot of time spent in the washing-machine like waters of the Nile! James came off worst on the first rapid, getting an absolute canning: trapped underneath the boat; spat out the side of the rapid; hurled into the churning water; and, eventually, pulled out by the safety kayakers. I showed that I had a monkey like grip and was able to cling to the safety rope even when it flipped (though I did relinquish the paddle) and was the first one back in the boat when it was righted. Girl power or the power of fear? I will let you decide!

 

Hang on!

Here we go....... again!

And so we continued, flipping, laughing and screaming our way down the river.The raft turned over on 6 of the 8 rapids. Looking at the pictures, I am convinced the guide was doing it deliberately! It was exhausting, exhilarating and thoroughly excellent. We emerged knackered, but smiling and possibly suffering from shock. And ready for a beer back at the campsite.



Made it!



Most of the tourism we had encountered so far on this trip had been pretty low key, and while it was a good set up (and was free with the rafting), the nights spent at NRE campsite gave us a glimpse of a whole different way of travelling: the overland truck. The relatively small camp site was rammed and had possibly the most polar opposite groups you could imagine: one truck was filled with an oldies group (one of the ladies I spoke to was in her 80s!) from New Zealand; another group was young and highly excitable American Christians; another was filled with Antipodean and European twenty somethings on tour. It was a pretty loud couple of nights. As if the sounds of evangelizing and drinking 'til 3 in the morning (yes, I am aware of the irony of me saying that!) wasn’t bad enough, the oldies decided to get their revenge after a couple of sleepless nights by giving the entire campsite a 5am wakeup call, blasting music from their truck and giggling loudly at their ‘revenge’. This obviously made the targets of the ‘revenge’ cross and then there was shouting and fighting. All before daylight. We were not amused and vowed in future to avoid any camp with even a whiff of an overland truck. I had to be physically restrained from getting out of the tent to give the oldies a lecture about maturity and that dignified behaviour was not about an eye for an eye. Oh for the peace and tranquility of wild camping on Mount Kenya.

It was then to Kampala to get our visas for South Sudan (managing to avoid any overland trucks even though we stayed at Red Chilli- phew) and then we headed towards Queen Elizabeth National Park. We were pretty shocked when we went to pay to enter the park to find that, alongside the park fees, it was a whopping 150 US dollars per day to bring a foreign registered vehicle into the park. Our initial plan needed reviewing. Luckily there is a public road that runs through part the park, and while there was not quite the wildlife you might get in the centre of the park, we still saw lots, including elephants, and fell asleep to the sounds of snorting and munching hippos.




Lone elephant

Hungry hippos!

We then headed the “Mountains of the Moon”, the Rwenzoris. We were not sure whether to do the week long hike into National Park and up to the peaks, but once we hit the area and camped and did some walking in the surrounding hill and forests, we realized that they really aren’t kidding when they say that the Rwenzoris have a reputation for being muddy……..it was an extremely wet place and we witnessed some absolutely bone shaking storms. The area had seen a real battering from the weather and we saw washed away bridges and homes, evidence of flash flooding just a few weeks ago. We decided to keep our walking to just one day!


Camping at the foot of the Rwenzoris

Chimpanzee tracking was next on the list, and although it is not quite as amazing as seeing the gorillas, I loved the excitement of the chase: stopping to listen to them swishing through the trees;  looking for knuckle prints in the mud; the battling through the forest to get closer when you see them. They do move very quickly though and stay high in the trees, but we did get a good look at them, but didn't really get any good pictures. We did our tracking in Toro Semeliki National Park where there is a small group of chimps who are only just being habituated (some researchers are working there habituating them and collecting the chimp’s poo!). Our guide had just transferred to Semeliki from Kibale (which has the biggest population of habituated chimps,) and he was very excited as we were the first tourists he had taken tracking and he was very chuffed that we was able to find the chimps. We were too!

 

A bit of R&R was in order, so we headed to the beautiful crater lakes area. We did some walking around the lakes and camped at a fantastic place on Lake Nkruba where, high up on the crater, you could look down into the trees and see the black and white colobus and red tailed monkeys play. They were absolutely hilarious and we spent hours watching them in this truly beautiful and peaceful place.

Monkey magic!

 

A beautiful crater lake

We weren’t done with wildlife watching so we headed to Murchinson Falls National Park where we camped at a lodge on the Nile. Incredibly, we had the entire place to ourselves, sitting in the gorgeous outside restaurant as the sun set over Nile. It was a nice touch that when we arrived back at the tent, they had lit us a fire. Perfect. Just as perfect was the encounters with the wildlife in the park and on the boat journey up to the falls There were a few alarming moments; we were driving in the park when we found ourselves right in the middle of a very large group of elephants. They were up ahead, behind and either side. Another amazing up-close encounter with nature.

Camping on the Nile in Muchision Falls National Park

 

Hello!

An antelope type thing....actually, James says it's a Jackson's Hartebeest!



Top of the falls



Sadly, there are no Rhinos left in any of the national parks in Uganda, so we headed to Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary where they are embarking on a breeding program and you can track the rhinos on foot. We had a fabulous couple of hours with a gentle guide, walking right up to the rhinos and hearing about the breeding there (loved that one of the rhino's names was Obama- the parents were a rhino from America and one from Kenya!). They have a group of adolescent rhinos who stay together and we watched them play fighting standing just meters away.


Up close and personal with the rhino

 

James: not too happy about having his back to the rhino for the pic!





Obama trying to eat the 150kg of grass they need each day!

So the African part of the journey is almost over, and we have crossed the border into South Sudan and the crazy plan that James dreamed up months ago of selling the car might actually work. We have loved travelling in Africa again, but already I am getting excited about new places, a  new mode of travel (our feet!), and the freedom of being able to go where ever we choose. The journey into South Sudan deserves its own post. A journey into the newest country in the world is like a trip into the wild west! More soon.