Postcard from Uganda and Rwanda Oct-Nov 2006

I left London for darkest Africa on the evening of Thursday 26 October and had a comfortable enough flight, arriving to see a wonderful sunrise as I touched down in Entebbe. My guide from Volcanoes Safaris, Sam, met me and took me to the new Kampala Serena Hotel where I checked into a very comfortable room. After a light breakfast I spent the day lying by their beautiful pool in glorious sunshine watching marabou storks circling overhead! An early dinner and an early night meant I felt much better the next day; Sam took me to visit my friends at Volcanoes Safaris [my one-day-a-week job in the UK] and then I returned to the Serena to spend the afternoon by the pool and had another early dinner and early night!

Sam picked me up at 8.30 on Sunday morning and off we drove to the North of Uganda, through Luwero and Nakasongola. We had a good if bumpy journey as Sam did a marvellous job skirting around the billions of potholes which seemed to get worse rather than better the further north we went! We were getting close to our lunchtime stop at Masindi when the car decided to play up and would hardly go at all, but with lots of help from Sam we made it slowly into Masindi. Sam dropped me off at the Masindi Hotel for lunch and went to struggle with the car. The long and short of it was that the fuel pump had given up and the only replacement was sitting in Kampala. So we managed to find ourselves a young man called ‘Ramadan’ and his little jelopy who drove us to Paraa Lodge in Murchison National Park. In fact normally you take the ferry across the Nile to Paraa Lodge, but the ferry was broken [we are in Africa!] so we took a little speed boat, me with all my luggage and six men – we made it to the other side, and I got myself safely installed in a lovely room overlooking the Nile where I can watch the hippos emerge. Poor Sam had to make his way back to Masindi to try and mend the car overnight.

The next morning I went on an early morning game drive and was lucky enough to see lions, elephants, giraffe, buffalo, and loads of different bucks. In the afternoon I embarked on a cruise up the Nile to Murchison Falls – saw hippos, crocs, buffalo, elephants, lots of bucks and many birds! It was a bit rainy at the Falls but it was nonetheless a lovely afternoon. I met a delightful couple [Roger and Jeannie Wheater] on board and found we had many friends in common! Sam finally returned with mended car, and he organised a trip down the Nile the next morning towards Lake Albert – a lovely peaceful relaxing morning watching herons, crocs and hippos among many others! After an afternoon by the pool went on an evening game drive and saw herds of giraffe, buffalo and elephants but no other excitements!

Wednesday morning, Sam and I left Paraa Lodge at 8am and were ferried across the Nile to be reunited with Sam’s car. We drove to the top of Murchison Falls and walked right down to the top of the falls – a stunning sight which I remembered from 34 years ago! Then we drove on to a Rhino Sanctuary, where I tracked white rhino on foot! Quite scarey but very fascinating. After eating our picnic in the Sanctuary we drove on to Kampala and I checked back into the Serena to recover from my safari!

After a luxurious night in the Serena, Sam picked me and we set off for Fort Portal. We had a good journey and the road was much better for most of the journey. It never ceases to amaze me what you see on the roads, besides the potholes [or craters!] and heavy lorries with smelly exhausts, as you drive around Uganda – many people walking or bicycling along; ladies in colourful dresses with babies on their backs and ‘their world’ on their heads; bicycles with so much on the back – beds, firewood, suitcases, half a tree of bananas, all piled high, even ‘moving shops’ on bicyles; goats and pigs being pulled along on string leads; small motorcycles with children squashed between parents; toddlers carrying water bottles [sometimes on their heads] which are almost as big as themselves; school children all dressed alike in school uniform; tiny little bare-footed children, some with babies on their backs, who never run into the road and usually waving to you as you drive by.

Anyway we arrived in Ndali Lodge early afternoon after a brief stopover for lunch in Fort Portal where we drove through a horrendous storm – even got wet in the car! Ndali is a strange place, and to me it was disappointing after looking at their brilliant brochure. I had a small cottage with a bathroom – and a bath – but no electricity, which tests me a bit these days. On the first morning I was up very early to go chimp tracking in Kibale Forest. Kibale is full of primates and we first found some baboons playing in the forest. However, it was a long and tough track, but we did eventually find the chimps, on the ground. We had a wonderful view of them as they played around – some of them huge and some smaller ones too. By the end of four hours I was absolutely exhausted and fell over twice in the slippery mud, but the only thing to be hurt was my pride and I got some lovely muddy clothes! After a quiet afternoon of recovery I had dinner with the boss of Ndali and his girlfriend. The next day Sam took me to Bigodi Wetlands where I set off on a walk around the swamplands – saw many different monkeys and lots of birds, but after about two hours the heavens opened and we got very very wet! I was completely sodden right through and had to almost strip in the car for the journey back to the lodge! Once back it was a quiet afternoon relaxing!

On Sunday morning Sam and I left Ndali Lodge and drove via Kasese down to Queen Elizabeth Park. We spent an hour or so driving through the craters of the Park spotting game, and then on into the main park itself where we had our picnic lunch overlooking the Kazinga Channel watching birds, hippos and buffalo. We then had another game drive in the Park before driving on to Jacana Lodge – a strange place with little wooden cabins overlooking a lake – but I found I had two or three friends that I had met along the way also staying there which made for a nice evening.

The next morning Sam and I set off on a game safari at 7am and it was sadly a very quiet morning for game; we saw all the usual animals but the only excitement was a hyena! So after five hours of ‘looking’ we went to Mweya Lodge for a drink and watched elephants, hippos and buffalo over lunch after which I took a river cruise up the Kazinga Channel where you see everything in the river very close up – hippos, buffalo, crocs, and many different species of birds from large herons to tiny kingfishers. Then a short game drive and back to my lodge. On Tuesday Sam took me off on an even earlier game drive and this time we got lucky by seeing a pride of lions, albeit a little distant, but we were able to watch them through our binoculars for about an hour. After that I spent a few hours at the lodge to relax where I watched Colombus monkeys around my room. Late in the afternoon Sam and I decided to walk in the Maramagambo Forest – a guide took us through the forest to the bat cave, but half way along the heavens opened and we got absolutely soaked for an hour. It was a big endurance test as we weaved our way across many very fast moving rivers which the rains were causing in the forest and my guide and Sam had to give me a lot of help to cross them. A lovely walk was rather spoilt, although the bat cave wasn’t my idea of fun – millions of bats, very smelly and the cave even had pythons in there!

On Wednesday morning Sam and I set off on the road to Ishasha. The road was pretty awful after the heavy rains – thick mud, deep large puddles, and deep tyre marks of the lorries that go along that road to the Congo – a challenge for Sam’s wonderful driving. Completely different to other roads, there was hardly a soul to be seen, just the odd bicycle or ‘people’ lorry, the transport that carries people to markets etc, as well as a broken and upturned lorries and a little bit of game. Eventually we reached the Ishasha part of QE Park and we drove around for an hour or so looking for the tree climbing lions. No luck – so we went back to the entrance and had our picnic, and then started off for Bwindi. Our luck turned…. as we drove along the road, Sam spotted some lions just inside the Park which we were able to get to close to. There were four lions [two cubs] sleeping quietly in the tree but they woke up to greet us – just wonderful!

After that we made our way to Bwindi over bone-rattling roads – in this part of the world the word ‘tarmac’ doesn’t exist! We bumped and swerved our way across these dreadful roads for a couple of hours through little villages until we reached Volcanoes Bwindi Lodge and I settled into one of their wonderful new bandas overlooking Bwindi Forest [although I don’t like the eco-style loos and showers!]. After a good dinner by the fire I retired to my cot fairly early. The next morning was bright and sunny and I set off on a walk in the Bwindi Forest to the Myunga Waterfalls. At first it was an entrancing walk, seeing many different kinds of monkeys swinging about above me, but as we got nearer to the Falls the walk got tougher and I slipped and slithered and bruised my way upward along the muddy path with the help of my guide. We first visited the lower two falls and then eventually we got to the top of the falls. They were stunning and my guide helped me cross the river by stepping stones to get a better view. I then slipped and slithered and bruised my way back down hill again! It was a beautiful walk but quite a tough one too! On the way back we passed a bare-footed lady with some Nile beer bottles on her head; I commented that she had twelve bottles of Nile on her head, and my guide said ‘No, actually she has 25 bottles in that case and she is walking three miles to her village!’. Finally I got back to my Lodge almost four hours after leaving – exhausted, I had a drink and some lunch and relaxed for the afternoon and evening. The following morning I went on a three hour relatively easy walk around the Buhoma Community – visiting a local school, where the children sang to me, tea and coffee plantation, banana wine brewing site and finally I watched some dancing by the Batwa [pygmies] people. After lunch I took a wander down to the river at the Lodge and then relaxed for the rest of the day.

On Saturday morning Sam and I set off on our six hour drive from Bwindi over to Mgahinga. The first three hours were through Bwindi Impentrable Forest along dirt bone-rattling roads but often passing by colourful ladies and waving toddlers. I also spotted ‘moving trees’! - people carrying huge mounds of sweet potato plants, or similar, on their heads so that you cannot see their heads; and a people ambulance – a sick man in stretcher being carried high on the shoulders of four young men. We also saw many different types of monkeys and birds. Eventually we emerged from the Forest and travelled the last three hours to Mgahinga – the roads didn’t improve at all but the scenery did. Three Volcanoes were reasonably clear for us to see, and we stopped for our picnic lunch in Kanaba overlooking these Volcanoes. We eventually arrived in Volcanoes Mgahinga Lodge around 3.30pm and I settled into one of their little bandas.

On Sunday morning I went on a nature trail with Sam and a guide around Mgahinga Forest – a fairly exhausting 4 hour walk around the forest. We didn’t see much except for lots and lots of buffalo dung so I was a glad we had the army with us, plus gun, in case we came face to face with a buffalo. Had a quiet afternoon in the lodge. My guide, Sam, was not too well. Sounded like malaria, so he went off to the nearest clinic and spent some hours there getting injected, and luckily was much recovered by the next day. We had a quiet Monday morning in the Lodge and set off after lunch for Rwanda. It was a short drive to the border, and then half an hour from there we drove up another dreadful road to Virunga Lodge, high on a hill overlooking some of the ‘thousand hills’ of Rwanda, as well a couple of lakes and three volcanoes! I settled into my beautiful room [except for the awful eco-loos] with a stunning view, and joined other people for a cosy dinner in the lodge.

I was up at 5am on Tuesday morning and left the lodge by 6am! By 7.45am I was off on my first gorilla track of this trip. We started off across muddy fields before entering the forest, and we then tracked through bamboos and nettles and thick forest for about an hour before we found the Sabyinyo group of gorillas. There were eight of them, one was a little baby of about a year, who had recently been named ‘Big Ben’ by the British Ambassador [with whom I am staying next week]. We had a great hour with the gorillas, moving with them every now and then. The silverback ‘Guhonda’ just sat there for us for quite a long time. Then we had to track back through the forest and over a big wall back to the cars. We were very lucky in that the whole tracking only took three hours! The rest of the day was spent quietly at the Lodge – the sun came out and I was able to dry may hair on my balcony!

I was up at 5am again on Wednesday after a rather dodgy night – felt very sick. I couldn’t manage any breakfast except for a glass of fruit juice, and then left for my next tracking – this time the Golden Monkeys. It took an hour to get there, once again through the forest, and then I spent an hour watching them race around, jumping from tree to tree and having a wonderful time. It was fun, but I wasn’t feeling so good so I was glad to set off back – fortunately only three quarters of an hour - to Sam and the car. We came back to the Lodge where I could relax. In the late afternoon there was some warrior dancing at the lodge which was fun. I had an early night as still wasn’t feeling too good. Was up and down out of bed for a few hours, but eventually my stomach settled and I woke at 5am feeling a lot better. Then off to track gorillas again. This time I tracked the Hirwa group – after half an hour across the fields we fortunately only had a very short and easy track through the forest and were with the gorillas by 9am. We spent an hour with them, sometimes following them through the jungle. At one time the silverback got fed up with us and charged us, and then promptly sat right opposite me for about ten minutes – a bit unnerving. After an hour with the gorilla family we returned to our base, and I came back to the lodge for the afternoon to relax.

Although I had had another rough night with my tummy, I was well enough to hit the road with Sam and we drove to Gisenyi on Lake Kivu. However we had only got five minutes down the dreadful road out of the Lodge, when one of the shock absorbers went.! Sam had to doll his work outfit and get under the car and put things right. Needless to say we were surrounded by many children who appeared out of nowhere and just stared at us! Anyway Sam solved the problem and on we went. The Rwandan main roads are much better than the Ugandan ones – most having tarmac on – but there are many more people walking along them and once again you see colourfully dressed ladies, mostly with babies on their backs and with anything from umbrellas and handbags to sewing machines, terra cotta pots [up to 20 of them] and trees on their heads! The men all seemed to wear very colourful flipflops, and on their bicyles carry loads of dirty yellow cans all containing the local beer. You see many tiny children along the roadside, some running a hoop, or tyre, in front of them. Bicyles are also used as taxis these days with seats on the back and it is amazing what you see them carrying! Anyway once in Gisenyi Sam and I found ourselves a little outboard dingy and took to the waters of Lake Kivu. We were taken across the lake to see some amazing hotsprings where people come to cure themselves, but sadly it started to absolutely tip with rain as we arrived. Fortunately we had borrowed some suitable wet gear to protect ourselves against the torrential storm but we stilll got back feeling pretty damp. We then had a good lunch at the excellent Kivu Sun Hotel, a trip up to the Congo border in Gisenyi and a drive through the town before driving back to Virunga Lodge for a shower and a cosy dinner there.

On Saturday 18th I spent the morning quietly in the Lodge, packing up, reading and doing some emails, and after an early lunch Sam and I set off for Kigali. We had a good if wet journey and eventually got to Kigali at 3.30, and went to the British Ambassador’s residence, where I was staying. Jeremy [McAdie] is an old friend from my Foreign Office days. Within an hour I was in one of the best baths I have had for a long time, soaking off 16 days worth of safari grime! All dressed up I went down to a lovely glass of champers and then off to a Fashion Show and Dinner at the InterContinental with Jeremy. He had a table of ten, although one Minister and her husband failed to show up, so we were only eight. It was a good evening but very late…. bed at 1.30am! Got up late-ish the next morning and pottered around the Residence until 12.30 when 13 guests plus two babies arrived for lunch. A very good lunch that went on until almost 5pm! After that Jeremy and I sat and chatted and watched videos over a bottle or so of wine!

On Monday morning Sam picked me up at 7.30 and we set off on our long trek across Rwanda and Uganda to Mburu National Park – it took us six hours plus a time change so we arrived at Mantana Tented Camp for a very late lunch. After which I went on a boat trip around Lake Mburu – saw hippos, buffalos and plenty of birds; then a game drive with Sam when we saw quite a lot of wildlife – impala, waterbuck, zebra, topi, buffalo and a few eland. Saw leopard footprints but didn’t find it, sadly. Back to my tent – how I hate tents! – for a quick shower and on to supper and bed. Couldn’t wait for the morning to get away from the bugs and noises of a tent in the bush! So off at 7.30am for another game drive for a couple of hours before hitting the road to Kampala. After a short visit to Volcanoes office I went to the Kampala Serena Hotel and relaxed in its wonderful luxury. A rainy afternoon so time to catch up with myself!

Spent the last two days relaxing in the Kampala Serena. Couldn’t do very much as it was rainy, but it was just lovely to be back in civilisation again! Did a bit of shopping and had some good meals, and after 2400 miles around Uganda and Rwanda I flew home on the Friday day flight.