Travel diary: Uganda

Mountains, Valleys and Lakes. From the madness of Kampala traffic, to raging waterfalls and rapids, very slippery and muddy roads and finally the serenity of watching mountain gorillas, Uganda delivered many wonderful surprises.

In contrast to our smooth and easy entry into Kenya, the exit from Kenya and entry into Uganda was once again the usual African border crossing chaos even though the Malaba border post is meant to be a one-stop one. As we have become accustomed too, the ATM’s weren’t working which meant having to change USD for Ugandan Shillings to pay for road tax and insurance although at least there was a bureau de change open. In East Africa a real pain in the proverbial …. has been 3rd party insurance which you are legally required to get but for which there is no clear process or pricing, while ignoring our self-appointed border tout we shopped around and thought we had got a good deal only to find out a few days later that we had in fact over payed once again. That combined with the USD 50pp visa fee for Uganda made for an expensive day.

Despite being constantly overtaken by the local drivers who seem to have no regard for the road rules when Stuart was stopped for speeding in a poorly marked village zone it felt like were once again back in Tanzania, especially as given the demeanor of the various officers it did not appear to be an official stop. A quick hideaway of what little money we had left from the border crossing and it was time for the “games” to begin. There is no script for how the games will go but in our experience the key thing is to appear to have all the time in the world. When they finally come to accept that we had no money due to the expensive border crossing and after turning down there offer to leave Tania with them while Stuart took another officer 15km down the road to the nearest ATM and instead offering that he was welcome to ride along on the back floor we were eventually let off with a warning.

We spent our first night and the subsequent nine at the very appropriately named campsite “The Haven” which is perched above a set of rapids on the Nile river just down from its theoretical source as it exits Lake Victoria. Part of the reason for our lengthy stay was that The Haven campsite was just too good to risk going elsewhere for Christmas.

We did venture out from the campsite a couple of times for day trips, first into Jinja for some shopping and to have a rare bite to eat out and then for a fairly lengthy day into Kampala in order to book our Gorilla trekking permits. While we have complained at length this trip about the high park fees in East Africa, this has been one must-do bucket list item we had for the whole trip and so we each happily shelled out USD600 for the permit. Despite being 2 days before Christmas, or perhaps because of this, the whole process took 3 hours but all the staff were super friendly and apologetic. Just as we had received our permits the office had a surprise visit from the Ugandan Wildlife Authority Executive Director and his entourage (bearing cake and Pepsi’s) who had come to wish everyone a Happy Christmas, so we enjoyed a small snack and drink before heading out into the crazy Kampala traffic.

Next on the to-do list was meat shopping but Stuart missed the turning for a fancy mall, much to the co-drivers disgust and instead ended up at super dirty and busy strip mall (2 days before Xmas) which ultimately ended in a rather failed shopping trip. Leaving the mall we then followed the GPS instead of our gut’s (which said too reverse the way we come in) and ended up stuck in a huge traffic jam.

Christmas on the road will always be a low key affair but thanks to modern technology we spent the best part of the morning catching up via WhatsApp video call with all the various family members no matter where in the world they may be. When leaving SA we had packed a roll of pork in the freezer with the intention of roasting it on Christmas Day but as the Haven was putting on a buffet complete with Turkey we decided to leave the roast for another day and rounded off a lovely day with dinner out and listening to a local musician.

For part of our time at the Haven we had a lovely Ugandan family, (Paul, Anna and their 2 kids) camped next to us and when they left we realised something we have struggled to put a finger on for a while: we have missed being able to interact and discuss life with local people from each country who have a similar middle class outlook as ourselves. While we have met some travellers and had interesting conversations with them it is not the same as chatting with people who are actual citizens of that country and live and breath that country each day but at the sometime have a worldly outlook and also travel abroad.

On Boxing Day it was time to hit the road and we headed to Sipi Falls and Mount Elgon, this meant backtracking a bit towards Kenya and going past the “speeding” incident area but thankfully we had no further incidents. After the Haven, Sipi falls was a bit of a shock to the system with very basic camping options and instantly being hassled by tourist “guides” who wanted to accompany us to the waterfalls for the miserly sum of USD15 per person! Eventually we settled on a spot that at least had a flush toilet but no real shower and settled in for the afternoon. As an added bonus, we had a fairly decent view of one of the 3 falls that comprise Sipi.

Hoping to perhaps do some short walks we moved the next day to Mount Elgon Forest Exploration camp which is on the lower slopes of Mount Elgon. The campsite is an idyllic little clearing in the forest but it quickly become apparent that we would not be walking as you need to take a guide and pay national park fees which as everyone will know by now are pricey in East Africa.

We have got very used to rain the last 1,5 months but the overnight storm was particularly heavy. After some early morning photos we started the descent back to Sipi, on the way in the road had been rough but going out was “interesting”. The rain had turned sections into a very muddy skating rink which had Mr Jones crabbing along sideways on more than one occasion despite having the diff lock engaged and in low range doing 10km/h only. Sadly we have no pictures or video from that part of the drive as the co-driver had white knuckles and her eyes closed…

On the drive up to Sipi we had seen a magnificent waterfall plunging off the escarpment and when later studying iOverlander saw that there was in fact a new addition for a campsite located close to it, so having survived the descent from Mount Elgon but with the the co-driver still a little green we decided to head there. A new place like this is usually not on Tracks 4 Africa and so we have to rely on either Google maps or maps.me for navigation, both of which have the interesting habit of taking the road less travelled. Having declined the first two suggestions for a road there we eventually found our way to Sisiyi Falls. It turned out to be a wonderful find and although basic was a pleasure to camp there. As an added bonus, a 10 minute walk through a lovely enchanted forest got you right to the base of the falls and you could do it by yourself and for free.

Short video clip from just below the Sisiya falls

With New Years approaching we headed back to the Nile river but a new campsite called Kalagala Falls. It is relatively new and has been setup with the large overland trucks (20 people per truck) in mind which means each parking/camp spot has a large Banda providing a covered area for cooking and cleaning, we took full advantage of this and spread ourselves out like we were living in a large mansion.

Interestingly on New Years Eve 25 years ago Stuart was just finishing a very different kind of adventure, climbing the Ice Window route on Mount Kenya. Being young & naive he and a friend had attempted to climb the route in under 12 hours and so had departed base camp with only climbing gear, some water and tuck biscuits. How wrong they were as they only summited at 11pm, spent the night just below the summit and abseiled off the next morning. After 30 hours they finally returned to base camp, slightly less naive!

We finally enjoyed our roast pork and mini ice cream tubs on New Years Eve and then joined the eclectic mix of overland truck passengers together with their drivers and crew for what turned into a wonderful end to 2019. Needless to say we were a little tender the following morning and had to delay our departure by one more day.

Leaving Kalagala Falls our intention was to try and briefly stop in Kampala for some restocking and then to overnight near Entebbe, however the gas filling depot need to keep our cylinder overnight so a change of plans was required. Having braved the Kampala traffic to cross town to a backpackers we were disappointed by the condition it was in and decided to try another one, but before doing that we stopped at a car wash to give Mr Jones a well deserved clean. While observing proceedings Stuart spent a humbling 45min chatting to the one employee who was deaf but so interested in Mr Jones and our travels. Using an “old school” cellphone were you need to press the “GHI” key 3 times quickly to just say “I” certainly brings home to you the challenges of people with disabilities in emerging countries.

The second backpackers, while a bit difficult to find, was a significant improvement and so we moved out of Mr Jones for only the 4th time in 5 months. After picking up our gas bottle the next morning we moved on to Nkima Forest camp. The lodge itself is idealic with a great outlook over the Mabamba Swamps on Lake Victoria and we easily lazed away a few afternoons beside the pool reading and birdwatching. While we aren’t big twitchers we do enjoy spotting birds and got a few new ones, African Pygmy Kingfisher, Ross’s Turaco & The Great Blue Turaco. The campsite however felt like a bit of an afterthought being a 10 minute walk away and hidden at the bottom of the hill together with the staff quarters.

When on night two we nearly got carried away by mosquitos we hastily changed plans to go Shoebill spotting the next day and instead moved over to Fort Portal near the Ruwenzori mountains. Initially we had thought of spending one night at a backpackers in town before moving out to Kluges Guest farm which is 20km away but upon arriving late Sunday afternoon nothing particularly looked appealing and in fact we quickly nicknamed it Fort Pothole rather than Portal so after filling up with fuel we head out to Kluges Guest farm.

In East Africa the little 100cc motorbikes (known as Boda Bodas) are everywhere and we have seen them transporting everything from 3 adult passengers with the driver sitting on fuel tank, to 3 beer crates piled high behind the driver, to beds, to construction material and so forth… But one carrying a coffin was a first for us and we couldn’t help but snap a pic as we passed.

Kluges turned out to be a real gem with flat grass camping, clean ablutions with delightfully hot water and swimming pool around which we could laze. In addition we could take walks through the forest and didn’t have to pay a guide for that pleasure! In 5 months we have not booked anything in advance so it felt a bit strange having to think 10 days ahead in terms of our rough route as the gorilla trekking is booked for the 15th and so we needed a rough itinerary for the days between. Initially we had intended to stay only 2 nights but as it was so peaceful and the next few stops didn’t look that great we ended up extended our say and enjoying the luxury for 5 nights.

Fort Portal and Kluges border on the area known as the Crater Lakes region which is a very scenic area of old volcanic craters now filled with water and surrounded by beautiful grassy and forested hills. Our plan had been to drive around the lakes then stay over in the area but after the luxury of Kluges none of the options grabbed us and so as the next planned stop was only 2 hours away we decided to push on. The backroads out of the area were very scenic and narrow and after our recent experiences with mapping software we often doubted if we were heading in the right direction but ultimately we popped out onto the main tar road. Stuart had spent some of the time at Kluges figuring out how to import the iOverlander database into the Garmin so now we can use the iOverlander POI’s together with Tracks4Africa and not be as reliant on maps.me which has a nasty habit of seeing footpaths as good dirt roads and wanting to lead us down them.

Our planned overnight stop just before the Kazinga Channel and on the outskirts of Queen Elizabeth National park turned out to be rather disappointing but fortunately there was a marginally better option next door. After a simple stir fry for supper we were in bed quite early, only to be awoken at 2am by a trumpeting elephant and the sounds of automatic gunfire. It turned out that a herd of elephants had wandered from the park into the campground and the security personnel were trying to herd them back out, when one of the Ellie’s got a bit agitated they had fired a few shots into the air with their AK47’s to try and encourage him to move in the right direction. Over the next hour or so we sat in our bed peering out the window watching large grey shapes slip through the night followed by men with torches and the occasional gunshot. Eventually it all quietened down and as we were drifting back to sleep Tania heard a slight eating sound and there going ever so quietly through the trees right next to Mr Jones was a lone young elephant, it seems he/she had evaded the attention of the “herders”.

As we had now skipped a couple of planned overnight stops we once again needed to kill some time until our gorilla trekking date, the peace and quite of Nyore Hillside retreat was perfect for that and 3 nights slipped by. When looking at the routing from there to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest and the gorillas we had noted on iOverlander a “corrupt police spot” where a number of people have been pulled over for “speeding” offences in the past. Not wanting to go through that whole process again we made sure to have the spot programmed into the GPS, of course when passing it there were no police but lo and behold at the very next village there they were which Stuart had anticipated and so was only doing 40 in the 50km/h zone. This did not deter them from pulling us over and after the usual introductions the officer proceeded with “do you know you are in a 50 zone” to which Stuarts reply of “yes and I was doing 40” flummoxed him briefly until we received the reply of “actually you were being a very good driver and we zapped you at 41, you may proceed”, Mmmm.

If we count it as an attempt, albeit a weak one, to extract money from us then that puts us 5 – 0 up on the game with dodgy traffic cops since leaving Mozambique. Interestingly everyone always has a fear of the Mozambique cops and yet in all the years we have never had an issue with them.

Having thought we had solved our mapping issues while at Kluges by combining iOverlander with Tracks4Africa on the Garmin, it was rather annoying when we still got routed on the scenic route past Lake Bunyoni on our way to Biwindi Impenetrable forest and the mountain gorillas. We even stopped before taking it to check the gps screen and couldn’t really see anything too much wrong but that soon changed when we landed up on a very narrow road along which the locals were quarrying away the sides and in some places there were sheer drops down to the lake, being scared of heights Tania was not a happy camper! As we discovered later, upon joining it, there was a tar road option which while longer would definitely have been quicker (and yes we do have the correct setup on the GPS to take the quicker route not shorter one).

15 January was the day we had been waiting for for so long and the one bucket list item that had to be ticked, tracking the mountain gorillas in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. The family we got allocated was Mucunguzi, this involved a 30 minute drive from the park gates over some pretty hectic 4×4 tracks (so Mr Jones got to partake too and Tania got to be scared again) up to an altitude of 2300m and then after that a very steep and muddy hike from there. After about 90 minutes walking we reached the trackers who had located the gorillas. For the next 60 minutes or so we scrambled and bashed our way through thick bush on a very steep slope following the family as they moved. The trackers cut a path with their machetes for you as you go. Given the terrain and vegetation taking pictures was a challenge so often we just sat, watched and admired these gentle giants. It was confirmed that Stuart, in cohorts with Mr Jones, remains the only one who can scare Tania when the silverback stood, bared his teeth and mock charged her – she didn’t even flinch…

Our last night just short of the Rwanda border was the perfect send-off to a wonderful month spent in Uganda. The road to the camping spot was often no more than a path and we again doubted the mapping software and existence of a camping spot next to Lake Chahafi but when we got there the staff were so welcoming and helpful. They even collected our dirty hiking boots when they saw them lying next to Mr Jones and returned them the next morning looking better than new and we got a complimentary breakfast together with awesome Ugandan coffee. We have got so used to paying high prices for next to nothing and we got all that for USD25 😁