So I know I’ve not updated in ages, but I’ve been really busy since I got back from Africa. Such is real-life I guess. Anyway, this is one really long trip report, so I’m going to split it up into parts. Part 1 will be about Uganda. Part 2 will be about Kenya-Tanzania. I’m intentionally skipping out the stuff on South Africa right at the end of the trip.
And so forward!
Day 1-2: Australia to Uganda
So it hasn’t been a great start. Not an especially complicated route to get from Australia to Uganda – just time consuming. Had to fly through Perth to get to Johannesburg and there was screw-up after screw-up at the airport. Half the check-in staff were off sick or something, and then the ticket scanners at the gate weren’t working, meaning they had to process everyone manually. Took ages to get everyone processed and on the plane. And then South African Airways stuffed up my meals. I explicitly put on my passenger booking that I am lactose intolerant and would therefore require a special meal. Shocker, they didn’t have any suitable ones loaded. I could have theoretically eaten a vegan meal, but they didn’t have any spare. And all 4 of the meal options they did have on board either full of cream or cheese. And then since I had to eat something in order to take my meds, I was forced to eat a meal that had stuff coming out both ends about 30 minutes later. NOT IMPRESSED SAA!
Landed and got through immigration in Jo’burg pretty quickly – though they are really going to struggle in a week or so when most of the World Cup tourists show up. Go to check in for the next flight (on Kenya Airways) and yeah, can’t do that either. Checkin doesn’t open till 9pm. That’s more than 4 hours stuffing around with my bags. And I can’t get into an airline lounge because they’re all airside. The food options landside aren’t great, but I have no other options really. Will find something to eat shortly, lest I starve! Anyway, I’m tired and want to nap. Gonna find some chairs and lay down for a while. More updating when I get to Nairobi/Kampala in the morning.
Oh, and next time I have the genius idea to save a few hundred dollars on flights which have shit connection times, someone please kick my ass. There’s a direct flight from Jo’burg to Entebbe on South African with more sane flight times, if I ever make it back to Uganda, I’m doing that.
Onwards, made it to Kampala alive. You know, after being propositioned by a guy in an airport security uniform in Jo’burg to “carry a parcel” to Nairobi. How about hell NO! Christ, brings back memories of Schapelle Corby! South Africa’s trying to convince the world that it’s safe and they’ve cleaned up their act? And security is actively trying to use tourists to smuggle drugs? ROFL. Right. But anyway, the flight to Nairobi was the last of the night, so by the time I’d cleared immigration and security, most of the shops were shutting up (or already closed). Not to worry, have the chance to buy souvenirs and whatnot on the way home to Oz in a few weeks (saw a few things I really want which if I don’t find on my holiday, I’m buying at the airport). The Kenya Airways flight to Nairobi was totally uneventful, for which I am eternally grateful. No comments, I think I napped for most of the 3.5 hours. Then had a couple of hours in Nairobi airport waiting for the flight to Entebbe. Boring. Oh, I remember now! I got in trouble for taking photos! Yup, there was this totally brilliant sunrise with planes in the background, so I got my camera out to take a couple of photos. Then I get told off for it and forced to delete them. Ok, oops on my part…Only not. Local black guy does the exact same thing and the woman who told me off is sitting there chatting to this guy while he’s snapping away with his camera. Gotta love those double standards! Flight to Entebbe was full, but only 45 minutes. Boring. Boring on flights can be a good thing though, trust me!
After landing in Entebbe, clearing immigration was simple enough. Give the guy your passport, the blue immigration form everyone had to fill out on the plane, and US$50 and you’re set (obviously the whole visa on arrival thing works for some nationalities like Australia, and not others, please check for your specific passport!). Bags were a bit slow to come out, but not the worst in the world by a long shot. Then went out and was met by a guy from Churchill Safaris (who my gorilla trekking trip has been booked with). He’ll be the one taking me out to Bwindi to do the gorilla trekking in a couple of days. Nice guy! So then it was about a 1 hour drive to Kampala – we have an older model Landcruiser, late 90s I think, but seems to run ok. Stopped off at a Forex bureau to exchange some USD (end of May rate was US$1=2150 Shillings). Then to the Metropole Hotel.
The hotel is nice, reasonably new by the looks of it, and clean. Not many facilities (no pool or anything), but bed, hot water, flushing toilet, a couple of restaurants – I’m good! And really, on that note, I’m passing out for the afternoon/night!\
Day 3: Jetlag recovery in Kampala
I’d originally thought that I might head to Jinja today to go white water rafting or something, but yeah, didn’t happen. Woke up around 8 and got breakfast. Pretty decent. Mostly western style: cereals, toast, baked beans, sausages etc. but they also had plantain (sp?) and a couple of what looked like local dishes. Plantain was nice with a bit of golden syrup over the top. Then went back to bed for a while and read. Tried to get lunch – what a hassle. There’s apparently some conference on at the hotel, and trying to get food if you’re not a conference delegate seems like a problem. Eventually managed to find someone who could actually make a decision as to whether I could be fed in the hotel or not. Had to do room service in the end because all the restaurants are being used for the conference. Wish I’d have been told about this yesterday when I checked in. Not to worry. Ordered a satay chicken dish with rice – not bad! This place is supposed to have the best Thai in Kampala, so figured it’d be safe. By this stage it’d started pissing down with rain. And the power went out. Fun times! I think they have a backup generator though, as I can hear something and the power was only gone for 10 minutes before I heard the noise and it came back on. Pretty efficient setup! Oh, and they also have wi-fi! Genius! A bit difficult to get a signal strong enough to work, but it’s there, and I can get on for about 10 minutes or so to check my emails before it drops out, so that’s all I really want it for! Funny though, hotel has wi-fi and my stupid mobile phone doesn’t work. There’s half a dozen carriers that it detects, but it won’t connect to any of them for roaming. Not the end of the world, just difficult trying to tell my parents I arrived safely (they’re not much into email or facebook), but got around that by sending my brother an email telling him to call the folks. Where there’s a will, there’s a way! Anyway, spent the afternoon reading and napping. Electricity kept going out. It’s funny how I take it for granted. Obviously out bush, I don’t expect electricity, but in the city, I do. Never really thought much about it, but now I realise just how much I take it for granted.\
Have to be up at 5.30am or so in the morning for the drive to Bwindi – leaving at 6.30am.
Day 4: Off to Bwindi
Had to be up at 5.30am to be ready by 6.30 for the drive to Bwindi NP. Breakfast isn’t technically until 6.30 though, but they had cereal and toast stuff out at 6 so I managed something. The drive was very green and if I didn’t know any better, I’d swear we were driving through the Tully/Atherton Tablelands/Mosman Gorge area of North Queensland. No joke! The trees, flowers, landscape…Almost identical! You can definitely tell Australia and Africa were connected at some point in the past. Anybody who tries to deny plate tectonics after seeing the similarities between the two is a fool.
Stopped for lunch at a small hotel/rest stop type place and got a burger and coke (the curry on the menu scared me – not that game with another 5 hours driving ahead of us!). Ether, the woman from Churchill who I made all the bookings with rang and wanted to have a chat to see how it was all going. Certainly can’t fault their customer service! About an hour later I wasn’t feeling so good though, but thankfully we had to stop for fuel anyway. Have to get used to squat toilets again I guess. Joy.
Onwards, and epicness! Saw eles!!! And Ugandan Kobs! And water buffalo! And that cool looking crane that’s on the Uganda coat of arms! And monkeys and baboons! And holy crap, not even been gorilla tracking yet! Love it! This morning when my guide said “the roads are bad” I was expecting the worst. 10 hours in and I was wondering wtf he was talking about! The roads were no worse than any mine site road in Australia – perfectly fine in a 4wd. Then the last 2 hours happened. Evilness. I know I bitched about the roads in Brazil during the floods, but this was worse. Anyway, we got to Lake Kitandara Tented Camp just before 7pm. The place seems nice enough. Big 12 person type tents with 2 double beds in each. Semi-enclosed outdoor bathroom – has hot water that takes around 5-10 minutes to come through and a flush toilet (yay!). They supply towels, but no toiletries. Not a complaint, just pointing it out! A guy brought around some hot tea and coffee before dinner. Dinner (and brekky) is held in a dining room at the top of the hill. Note to self and others: take a torch or headlamp after dark, the path isn’t lit, easy to fall down the slippery stairs. Dinner was ok, but to be honest, I wasn’t very hungry and I left half my main and skipped dessert. I just wanted to sleep. Yes, I hate being in this part of the world and wasting food…But hopefully this won’t be a recurring issue. Got back to my room (tent) and someone had put hot water bottles in my bed! Love it! It really can be the little things that impress me sometimes. Anyway, mozzie nets are on and tent is zipped up. Just about to set my alarm and nod off. Because tomorrow is GORILLA DAY!!!
Oh, and a PS: I know being called “mzungu” isn’t meant as a derogatory term by most little kids. They’re cute and excitable and make me laugh that they’re so happy to see a white chick. But the way some of the older kids kind of spat it at me, it really did make me feel uncomfortable. It is what it is of course, but this has been my experience and my feelings on it.
Day 5: ZOMG! ‘Rillas!!!
So up at 6.30am and found a fist sized spider in my tent. Not quite sure how it got in since it was all zipped up and stuff. Breakfast at 7. A bit average, but today, I really couldn’t have cared less. Went down to the UWA office just before 8 and got our briefing on what/what not to do on our tracking day. Things like “stay 7m away from the gorillas” and “if they charge at you, crouch down “ etc. Not a big list, but I’m not going to list all the rules here. If you ever go, you too shall hear the list from the rangers and trackers. Anyway, I was set to track the “R” group. Since I wanted to focus on my photography, I hired a porter (US$15) to carry my backpack/water for me. It turned out the porter was entirely unnecessary since we managed to find our group of gorillas in about 10 minutes! Thus began our 1 hour viewing time (that goes all too quickly).
And ZOMG! So cute! And baby ‘rillas!!! They like to go tumbling down the hill “roly poly” style. And they act so much like humans it’s scary! The different body language and stuff. Anybody who denies humans and gorillas are related is a delusional dumbfuck (but ya’ll already knew my thoughts on such people already I’m sure), especially after seeing how they act in the wild. They also seem to make a game out of falling out of trees. Also very cute! Sadly our hour had to end and we walked back down to the office to get certificates.
We were back by 10.30am and had the rest of the day to veg out or do another “walk”. I chose to do the “waterfall” walk ($10) because my guide and tracker this morning said “you’ll get to see some other primates and birds” – I figured brilliant! Yeah, no. Didn’t see a single primate and only 2-3 birds. It’s obviously called wildlife for a reason. Can’t guarantee anything. The waterfall was nice I guess, but not why I went. Not the end of the world though, since I already saw THE primates today. Anyhow, early night since I have to be up early to be ready for the drive back to Kampala at 6.30am.
Day 6: Back to Kampala
Tired. Left at 7am and gave a lift to a couple of UWA vets who were heading to another national park to check on some animals. Along the way they helped with my improvised “game drive” and helped keep a lookout for eles and stuff. Saw a few and some cool looking birds. Dropped them off somewhere in Queen Elizabeth NP and continued our drive back to Kampala. Was long and boring. Stopped in Mbarara for lunch, apparently that’s where President Museveni is from. Food was good, but seriously, wtf is up with people in this country not understanding the meaning of “no milk/cream/cheese”? If I order a BLT, I amazingly enough, do NOT expect it to come with melted cheese on it (meaning I can’t pick it out)! I didn’t send it back like I would have at home, but I still have a stomach ache. It’s like they think if it’s not on its own (like a glass of milk) then it’s ok for you to eat (like using milk in a sauce). I’ve been good about it so far, but after putting up with it for 4 days now, my stomach is really rebelling and I really don’t feel so good. I’m hoping when I get to Kenya it’ll be a bit easier. Anyhow, then kept driving to Kampala and didn’t end up getting to town until after 7. I wanted to buy a book on Ugandan wildlife, so we went for a quick drive around town to see if we could find one, but everything was shut. Kind of expected it given the time, so I’m really hoping to find something at the airport tomorrow, because as it stands, I haven’t bought any souvenirs yet. The wooden gorilla carvings in Bwindi weren’t really what I wanted. And looking at the wood, I’d be surprised if I got one back past AQIS back in Oz anyway. There’s apparently some shops at the airport, so I’ll try my luck. Got back to the Metropole hotel around 8 and had a much awaited shower. So good! And electricity! This new room I’m in can’t find the wi-fi though which sucks. Maybe at breakfast in the morning. Have to be up early as we have to drive back to Entebbe at 7 for the flight at 10. I wanted to leave a bit earlier, but my guide insists that’s enough time *shrug*. Anyway, gonna head to sleep now.
