So Chris and I headed off for Uganda in May on an all night bus ride over the bumpiest roads imaginable (they really were, there were times when I rose about a metre out of my seat) and so no sleep was had. Eventually we crossed into Uganda and made our way to Jinja, the source of the Nile as it comes out of Lake Victoria. The water rushes out quite quickly. We stayed slightly north of Jinja near Bujagali Falls and went white water rafting.
The white water rafting seemed pretty tame at first and our guide would say thing like "oooh, I really don't know what's going to happen with this rapid, we could fall out" and then it would be tame. So when we arrived at the grade 5.5 rapid and he said that I was thinking it was a bit of a joke. Until we hit the rapid and the boat went on its side and all except for two people fell out (even the guide fell out!). One person's oar bent at a 90 degree angle. I fell out and the current kept me under for quite a while and when I finally did get to the surface I was under the boat so unable to surface. Then the current swept me under again!! Quite an adrenaline rush for me and I did start missing having scuba gear once again!! But then all the rest of the rapids were much more fun as there was that element of fear, especially when we went over a 2m high waterfall.
We stayed there a couple of nights then kicked on to Kampala which is a happening city with so much life. And if you wanted to clothes shop, it's the place to go! It was a great city to me and I don't like to clothes shop or being in the city, nor do I like such a density of people. Go figure. While in Uganda doing our normal supermarket shop, we stumbled across a $50 bottle of Dom Perignon which we just had to buy. We didn't drink it straight away and decided to save it for somewhere nice (preferably where we could chill it!). And so "Dom" joined us on our journey and became our foster child.
We next headed off on a full bus for Fort Portal in western Uganda, taking care with Dom to have him in the hand luggage, knowing how bumpy bus rides can be. The bus ride wasn't so bad and showed us beautiful western Uganda with its rolling hills and eucalyptus trees (made me a bit homesick) and Mountains of the Moon in the distance. From Fort Portal, we continued directly to a place called Nkuruba, an orphanage with attached accommodation which provided income to run the orphanage. It was in the tea growing district of Uganda and also by one of the many crater lakes in that district. It was lovely and the crater lake was beautiful for swimming. Not too cold at all. I was assured it was safe and I wouldn't get Bilharzia (although I didn't specify and they might have been thinking I was asking about crocs when I asked if it was safe to swim) so I went for the obligatory dip as I am wont to do.
We only stayed there one night with the next stop being Kabale National Park to see the chimpanzees. We took Boda Bodas (moped taxis) to Kabale through beautiful hilly countryside dotted with crater lakes among tea plantations. To my surprise, I was fine on the back of the moped and thoroughly enjoyed the wind in my face biking through all the back roads to Kabale National Park.
When we got to Kabale in the afternoon and found our accommodation. The place where we were staying had a treehouse situated 10 minutes walk into the rainforest. So naturally we chose to stay there. Not only was it deep in the rainforest and secluded and a treehouse, but there was the possibility of having migrating elephants visit below us as they spend the nights there often. For that reason we had to be back in our treehouse by 7pm after dinner to make sure we weren't in danger of coming across elephants while still on the ground. We stayed there two nights and were lucky to have elephants visit on the second night. We did not actually see them but could hear them crashing through the forest and trumpeting. It was fabulous. I think I was awake most of the night listening to them. We saw the chimps the day after our arrival. We only walked for about half an hour into the forest when our guide saw them high up in the branches of a tree. It was amazing the 70kg animals were sitting on these tiny branches. After watching them long enough that my head felt like it was going to fall off from looking up, they started to get down out of the trees. I don't know what they did behaviourally but our guide knew before they started to get down what they were about to do and we went to where we could see them climb down. They slid down the thin tree trunks like they were coming down the batpole. It was great. We followed them through the forest a ways. I was a bit worried they felt chased but they could have gone much faster, our guide said.
I loved Kabale, but we couldn't stay in the treehouse any longer because we did want to get to Rwanda and hoped to see the gorillas.
So after a very early morning boda boda ride to Fort Portal, we were on a very bumpy bus ride to the Rwandan border. The bus ride was nearly as bumpy as the ride from Arusha to Kampala but it was daylight and not as long, so bearable. But an extra degree of concern came with every bump when Chris turned to me with a distressed expression and said that Dom was in his bag. Not even enveloped in clothes, on the outside. And we knew that ours were the only two bags in the baggage compartment. And that the baggage compartment was over the back wheel, the bumpiest place. Every bump that threw us up half a metre bought grimaces with our fear for Dom. Amazingly after 7 hours of bumping around, Dom was fine; not cracked and had not blown his top. A credit to Dom Perignon.
Rwandan landscape is stunning, and certainly the most beautiful country of all the travels I did. We were in Kigali just before nightfall and had our first experience with language difficulties. French is the predominant language there and there is also a local language which is not like Swahili. In Uganda, most people spoke English and some spoke Swahili (Chris can speak it, not me) so there wasn't a problem; but in Rwanda, Chris was trying to remember French from high school and his travels to France and I was realised I knew no French except for certain types of food. So it was interesting sometimes. We got up early the next morning to try to buy permits to see the gorillas and were very lucky that thay had two for the next day available. So we booked a room up there and headed straight up to Kinigi near the entrance to Parc National des Volcans. The next morning, we met at the parks office at 7am and got put in groups and headed off to see the gorillas. After about an hour of trekking up a steep incline into the mist, we got to the group of 16 gorillas we had set out to meet. It was truly amazing. We were within reaching distance of these huge animals and yet they are so peaceful, they just sat there eating. And the juveniles are so curious about us. They showed such a caring nature with a lot of grooming and cuddling. And they were so laid back and not fussed about us at all. Then, at the end, a subadult male came to see us off and did a spin and banged his chest and then left. I kept finding it hard to believe I was actually there with them. The silverback was bigger than the others and was such a dominant figure, he emanated a feeling and look of superiority. He is so comfortable in his position which is that he is clearly the boss. Although it was funny when we first saw him. He strolled in amongst the group and they (and we) all stood back, and all the juveniles that had been up a sapling eating yummy flowers scattered, as evidently he decided that all those yummy flowers were for him. To watch a 200kg silverback on a mission for flowers climb a sapling and have it splinter and break at its base allowing tree and gorilla to fall to the ground was quite the funny sight. It was his plan to break the tree with his weight though: He landed smoothly and sat down for a good time to enjoy the yummy flowers.
So after an absolutely memorable time with the mountain gorillas, we returned to Kigali and found a lovely hotel where we planned to drink Dom the following night. The next morning we visited the genocide memorial which could be easily described as depressing, sad and also frightening. That evening, we made the day more enjoyable by drinking Dom on the balcony of our room and then going to dinner at the hôtel des Mille Collines, the hotel that gave refuge to Tutsis during the genocide. A great finish to our time in Rwanda.
Next part of the trip was back to Uganda for a visit to Murchison Falls. We went to Kampala. Then the next day, caught a bus to Masindi. I wanted to see Murchison Falls, but it was a toss up because I knew that we would then have to return to Arusha on the dreaded bus. But I suspect Chris wanted to return to Uganda more for the Rollex than the falls. Rollex were Chapati with omelette and absolutely delicious, even better with mishkaki. After finding accommodation, a rollex stand was the first thing we looked for, so that is where we had our meeting with our tour operator.
We left the next day at crazy o'clock in the morning and slept all the way in the 4WD on the way to the ferry at Paraa. The Nile flow at the ferry crossing is still very fast and there is a lot of froth on the Nile there from the torrent of Murchison Falls several kilometres upstream.
We crossed the Nile and went on a game drive and saw baboons, giraffes, lions, elephants, heartbeast, gazelles, buffalo and more. We enjoyed some lunch in a lovely setting and set off again, this time for a boat ride along the Nile. We saw buffalo, hippos and crocs and also a fish eagle. The boat took us to Murchison Falls and Chris an I were lucky because, although the boat was full of people, we were the only two getting off to do the walk to the top of the falls. So we took our leisurely time and enjoyed the walk. We got great views of the falls which are pretty spectacular to say the least. It is a section where the huge river that is the Victoria Nile goes through a gorge that is only 6m wide. So it is extremely fast and furious. There was a small offshoot created naturally over a hundred years ago due to the pressure of so much water going through such a small space. The offshoot created another waterfall called Uhuru Falls. Uhuru Falls is actually a beautiful waterfall in its own right but it is overshadowed by the spectacle that is Murchison Falls. We got to the top of Murchison Falls and sat right at the top to enjoy our packed lunch and melted Mars Bar and Dairy Milk and look at the white water only a couple of metres from us as it throws itself from side to side in the narrow gorge.
Eventually we had to leave as it was dusk and we had to get all the way back to Masindi. in the dark. Our ride home was disrupted slightly when we hit a cow while travelling at 60km/hr. Luckily cow and us were unharmed. But we had to try to sort out who was to pay for the damage to the vehicle with the local village head guy. So that took a bit of time. But soon enough it was sorted (not to our driver's favour) and we were home to Masindi shortly afterwards.
The next day we caught the bus back to Kampala. The trip was made interesting for me by the news from Australia that my best friend had given birth to a baby boy (weird for me because I hadn't even seen her pregnant) which was great and both mother and newborn son were healthy (and still are).
We had one last night in Kampala and then took my favourite bus ride back to Arusha, highlights being: the bumps, being stopped at a road block for 3 hours and not being able to get off the bus and me needing to go to the toilet for 8 hours. But then all was better after Nairobi and Chris and I were singing our way across the border back into Tanzania. So I got back to Arusha late morning and farewelled Chris so that he could enjoy another 9 hours on the bus until he reached Dar es salaam.
