Month: February 2020

Our stay in Rwanda was short and sweet, and in the morning of our 23rd day we left Kigali at 6am as there was a very long day of driving ahead. The distance to Nyakanazi in Tanzania, our overnight stop, was only about 250km, and Google maps estimated the driving time to be about 6 hours, but in most cases in Africa it’s always better to double it, which proved to be correct, as the drive took 12 hours due to border crossing and very bad road conditions.

The road in Rwanda was really good and we were making good time, until at about half way to the border when we stopped at a Women’s Centre for toilets and snacks we discovered that we had a flat tire and it had to be changed. This only delayed us for about half an hour, but afterwards the people in the back sitting directly across the changed tyre complained that the spare tyre made the rest of the trip quite uncomfortable.

The border between Rwanda and Tanzania was the slowest one yet, and in total took a couple of hours to get through. There was a currency exchange and atm’s in the waiting room, and I was curious to find out what would be the difference if I took money out with my debit card rather than exchange dollars. The first atm I tried had no money in it, but I was succesful with the other one. I took 250 000 Tanzanian shillings, which in the exchange booth at that time would’ve cost me 101 euros. Not sure if it was the fluctuations in the exchange rate or otherwise, but my bank charged me 111 euros for the transaction (the atm also charged my card about 12000 shillings), so I guess in the future is better to change cash than draw money out of the atm!

Right after the border the road conditions changed drastically. We were no longer enjoying the smooth asphalt roads of Rwanda, but were instead on the bumpy dirt roads full of big potholes of Tanzania. Going was veeeery slow, many times pretty much walking speed. It was also very dusty, and when we finally arrived to our overnight stop in a small town called Nyakanazi, we just quickly dumped our things in our rooms, ate the dinner that the staff at the guesthouse prepared and went straight to bed. Many people complained that their rooms were dirty and full of spiders and cockroaches (one girl who’s scared of spiders slept in the truck), but I guess it was just the rooms that had en-suite bathrooms, as my room only had a bed and I found it very comfortable.

In the morning we continued our long drive towards Serengeti, but we still had a couple of overnight stops ahead as it was a long journey. On day 24 we drove to Mwanza, a town on the shore of Lake Victoria. To get there we had to cross part of the lake by ferry, which was a nice change to driving, although the crossing itself only took about 15 minutes.

In Mwanza we stopped for shopping at a supermarket. It was supposed to be a quick 45 minute stop, but as we had been sitting in the truck for two days straight we decided to explore the town a bit and headed to a nearby bakery, where we bought bagfuls of baked goods and enjoyed iced coffees and milkshakes, before returning to the truck almost an hour late…

The campsite was a really lovely place right on the beach. We pitched our tents, had dinner in the campsite restaurant and watched the sun setting behind Lake Victoria. In the morning it was lovely to wake up right on the beach, and I think most of us wouldn’t have minded spending a full day and another night there! Anyhow, we had to keep going. The next overnight stop was in Bunda. The campsite was located at the bottom of a rocky hill, and was a pleasant place with lots of lizards running around, and someone also saw a green snake hanging out at the bathroom sinks.

There was an option to go for a hike on the top of the hill, but it was a pretty hot day so I opted to nap at the sofas in the bar’s terrace. Also it was my group’s turn to cook, and I actually learned how to debone a whole chicken for the first time. Right after the sun had set I also managed to catch site of some bush babies passing through in the trees! That was a nice surprise as I hadn’t expected to see any, as they are nocturnal and quite shy!

The next day we finally arrived to Serengeti! Before entering the park we already saw some antilopes and giraffe, and also a herd of elephants, which later turned out to be the only ones we would see as surprisingly we didn’t see any in the park itself. We did the game drives in Serengeti in our own truck, which was actually great as we were up much higher than before. The park turned out to be surprisingly empty of game, we would only see the odd topi or impala but no massive herds of wildebeest or zebras or buffalo as I had expected. The Great Migration was supposed to be here at this time of the year, where were they?!

We drive and drive but very few animals are to be seen. We spot a few impalas, an odd topi, but mainly we see very long grass. A few hippos and a big crocodile habit the rivers. I’m starting to suspect that game is avoiding the park at this time because the grass is so long, and offers predators very good cover to stalk their pray. After a few hours we can see some very dark clouds in the distance, and in about half an hour the rain starts. At first it’s not too bad and we keep our windows open, have some exciting moments inside the truck when the path turns into knee-deep mud and the truck sways left and right as it wallows through. At one point we are fairly certain that we are stuck in the deep mud and will have to spend the night in the mud, but our driver Mugo is very skilled and our truck is strong and pulls out of the sticky mud with ease. This is why we have a truck, not a bus!

We see a group of giraffe near the path and stop to take some nice pictures of giraffe in the rsin with a rainbow in the background. As we continue on, it starts raining really heavily and we are forced to put down the tarps on the sides of the truck, and for the next half an hour or so we do our game drive in zero visibility.

Sometime earlier during the day I said that if we see 12+ cars somewhere close together, that’s where we should head as it’s the surest sign there is leopard around. And sure enough, we soon se a lot of cars gathered at a crossroads. After peering over other vehicles (we are high above others in our truck) we finally see what everyone is pointing their cameras at. There is indeed a leopard walking in the crass. The elusive predator continues to walk right next to and between the cars as if they’re not even there. I lended my telephoto lense to someone else that day so I don’t get a proper picture, but it was raining heavily and there was not much light so it wasn’t a great photo opportunity anyway. I do manage to get a picture of the leopard in the pouring rain right next to a ”Leopard Tours” truck.

We keep going and the sky starts clearing up as well. As we are heading towards our camp we again can see a group of trucks stopped next to a small hill on the left side of the road. As we inch forward as close as we can get, we see first one, then two, then three, then four cheetahs lounging in the evening sunshine. Finally cheetahs! We admire these four brothers known as the Serengeti Four before continuing our journey towards the campsite.

We are camping at a public campsite right in the middle of Serengeti. As we drive and the sun is setting I catch a glimpse of a large cat catching the warmth of the sun on a flat rock right next to the road. We stop the truck and reverse the truck, but the cat is nowhere to be seen. Turns out it was a caracal, a large feline resempling a cougar, and not very easy to spot, so I got very lucky! From the whole group only me, our guide Wawero and one other girl saw the cat. Right before arrival we see a couple of female lions just casually strolling down the road before disappearing into the long grass. Feeling only slightly uncomfortable about having lions only a few hundred meters from our unfenced campsite, we conclude that although this might not have been a great day for game, it was definitely a great day for spotting big cats!

It’s already getting dark as we arrive at camp. There are no fences around the campsite and the grass around is very long and we wonder if we can hold long enough during the night so that we won’t have to venture to the toilets and risk becoming dinner to a hungry lion. A small truck soon pulls into the camp and we are surprised to hear that another group might be staying here. However, as they exit the truck it turns out that they are supposed to be staying in a lodge nearby, but as the lodge had lost power they were brought here, but they are super uncomfortable with the idea of camping in the wilderness and want to leave. But as their drivers starts the car and tries to turn it, it turns out that the axel is broke and they are stuck with us for a while while they have to wait for another truck to come pick them up. We stand chatting outside the kitchen and there is a hilarious moment when a hare enters the camp from the darkness into the spotlight and there are a few ”eeeks!” and someone actually runs inside to safety. Meanwhile the little hare just sits there munching grass looking slightly confused.

The next morning a few members of our group leave for a hot air balloon safari, while the rest of us do another game drive in the park. We drive to a spot called ”Cheetah Point” close to where we saw the Serengeti Four yesterday, and indeed immediately spot the four brothers getting ready for a morning hunt. The four of them peer into the distance and spot a group of impalas on the left. One of the starts advancing to the left behind the impalas, while the other three go straight forward. It soon becomes clear that one of them is herding the impalas towards the other three that are waiting hidden in the grass. It would have been amazing to stay a little longer as we would have for certain got to witness a high-speed chase, but one member in our group is desperate for a toilet and we have to leave.

For the rest of the morning we drive around the park but only manage to spot some mangoose and marabou storks. We head to the meeting place to pick up the people that went on the balloon safari, and while we wait for them we watch the rock hyrax that are everywhere and very undisturbed by the presence of people. With unbelievable ease these creatures resembling a large guinea pig can climb anything and we joke that there aren’t only rock hyraxes present but also tree hyraxes and ceiling hyraxes. We start our drive towards the park exit, and spend the next few hours staring at empty plains of endless grass.

As we are getting close to the gate, the grass becomes shorter and we can finally see something in the distance. It’s a massive herd of zebras, thousands of them! We keep going and more and more animals appear. Massive herds of zebras and wildebeest, and at one point there are zebras left and right as far as the eye can see, on the road and just all over the place. Looks like we’ve finally caught up with the Great Migration!

We have a short lunch break at the gate, and after that we finally see the herds of wildebeest. There are thousands of them and there are great opportunities to make great videos of herds of wildebeest running towards through the cars, but our driver is keen to get on so I only manage to get a very shaky video while standing up in a moving truck.

We arrive in Ngorongoro as the sun is starting to set, and set up the camp at the edge of the crater at the altitude of somewhere over 2000 meters.

It is again a very basic campsite with an open lawn for tents and one building with toilets and showers and another one with a couple of kitchen. This is the busiest campsite yet, as there are already a few other groups there, and as they have already taken over the kitchens, we set up bush kitchen next to the truck. During dinner preparations I’m sitting inside the truck when someone comes in and says there are buffalo in the camp. We shine our flash lights into the lawn where our tents are, and sure enough, there is a herd of around 12 buffalo, including babies, greedily eating grass right in the middle of out tents! Suddenly the truck becomes a very popular place to hang out as we all climb up to watch them from the safety of the truck. Some of our group members meanwhile are stuck in the bathroom building, as there are cows with babies between them and us, and it would be too dangerous to walk past them.

After sometime they finally decide to move on and we can get on with our dinner. During the night it is quite cold and I sleep very lightly, and I can hear the buffalos coming back to the camp at least two more times. At one point there is one pulling grass right next to my head, so close that I can hear it breathing. I just lie there completely still too scared to in case it would hear me inside the tent. At one monent the buffalo stops pulling grass for a few seconds and while holding my breath I imagine him trying to listen for any sounds from the tent, before he starts pulling the grass again and I can continue breathing.

The next morning we get into three 4x4s for our game drive down in the crater. Just as we artive to the bottom of the crater our driver gets a call that there is a lion on the road, and we start going back up. Sure enough we soon meet a bunch of cars that are following a female lion just casually strolling down the road. She is so unconcerned about the cars that when we are backing up she walks behind our track and as we all yell ”DON’TGOBACKDON’TGOBACKDON’TGOBACK!!!” to our driver he stops the car just before crushing the lion between the car and the side of the road. We follow the lion for a few minutes and then continue back to the bottom of the crater.

The crater is absolutely teeming with animals. There are zebras, impalas and wildebeest absolutely everywhere, with herds of buffalo further back. We spot hyeenas, jackals are numerous. After some driving our driver points out a wildebeest that is about to give birth. We decide that we want to watch the calf being born, and stick around. Our driver tells us that this a young cow and the calf will be her first, so the birth will take maybe half an hour instead of the usual fifteen minutes. The mother seems to have considerable trouble getting the birth going, and walks around looking uncomfortable, lying down, walking again. When it finally stays in one place we start to get worried as she is clearly exhausted, and can barely muster enough energy to push the calf out. After nearly one hour she suddenly starts getting up, and the calf just pops out. It immediately starts trying to get up, and we stay a little while longer to watch him take his first wobbly steps.

We do a little more driving, see another newborn calf trying to get to his feet, and I spot another wildebeest just about to give birth as we are driving towards a lion sighting, and when we drive back about fifteen minutes later, the calf is already born. There is just new life coming to the world left and right! We then do a little more game driving before exiting the crater and meeting our truck in town.

We start driving towards Arusha to the campsite where we are supposed to meet some new people joining our group and also change trucks. We arrive as dinner preparations are already going on. One of the other two groups have had a chef on board, and he is making dinner for all of us. We meet some of our new joiners and curiously climb in our new truck.

It is a shock. The new truck is shorter and narrower than the old one, yet it has the same amount of seats. The first rows in the front have an adequate amount of leg space, but the last two rows are crammed so close together that we already know some of our bigger and taller group members won’t be able to sit there. The windows are much smaller and they have a bar running horizontally in the middle excactly at eye level blocking views. Also the lockers underneath the seats are so small that I’m struggling to fit my camera bag in there, and there is definately no soace left for my food items. We are basically in tears as it crystalises that we will be saying goodbye to our comfortable life in the old truck and spend the rest of the trip crammed into this tin of sardines. Massive downgrade!

We eat dinner and have a few drinks in the bar getting to know our new group members. We will be a full 28 until Zanzibar, so the next few days it would be tight in the truck. I sleep uneasy feeling very anxious about the new truck and all the other changes. This is our last night with our original guide as well, so to a lot of us it feels like we finished one trip and are now starting a new one, so this should be a good place to end this post, and come back in the next one when we start our new trip with new guide, new truck and new people!

I’ve been trying to post this blog for three days now, but the internet connections are terrible. Well, here goes…

Our time in Uganda had finally come to an end. I was pretty keen to move forward at this point, as during our ten days or so in Uganda we didn’t have a whole lot of included activities and the optional ones were quite expensive, so I spent a lot of time just waiting around not doing much at all. On the other hand, it was nice to just chill and relax, and in any case I still prefer to be bored in Africa than back home.

In the morning we packed our things from the guest house to the truck and headed for the border. We got a few more people on board that were doing a short trip from the gorillas in Uganda to Arusha, Tanzania, bringing the total number of people on the truck to 23. The border was near, but it took much longer to cross than the one between Kenya and Uganda. First we lined up to emigration. After the first few had gone through, the border official lost his network connection and we had to wait for almost half an hour before he could continue processing our passports. After the emigration there was another queue for a guy sitting in a tent and asking our name and occupation, no idea what that was for. Then we waited until our whole group had gone theough, before crossing the road to enter the Rwandan side. There we had a health check, where they took our temperature to make sure we didn’t have ebola. Then we queued to immigration, got our entry stamps to Rwanda and off we went towards our next stop.

Rwanda seemed very pretty indeed. I was surprised how modern it seemed compared to other countries we’d been to. The road was good, houses were decent and many of them had gardens. As we were driving through town I could see sport arenas, european style gardens and very modern buildings, and all the main streets had street lights. We stayed in a town called Nyakinama, in Red Rocks Cultural Centre, a local community centre that had a campsite, craft shop, restaurant, bar, music studio and that ran workshops in arts, traditional crafts and photography for locals and visitors. Very cool place indeed! After setting up our tents in the artsy campsite we chilled in the lounge bar and some of our group decided to sample the local delicacy, banana beer. After seeing everyone’s faces after taking a sip, I decided to trust other people’s judgemenr rather than trying it myself. Apparently it was quite vinegary, and was more like wine than beer. However, the alcohol content was 15%, and that encouraged the younger members of our group to down quite a few of those during the evening.

During our stay in the hostel in Kisoro we were not doing our own cooking, but instead were served dinner made by the hostel staff. The food there had nit been great, so we weren’t sure what to expect when we heard we would again be served dinner by the campsite staff. Boy were we in for a treat! The restaurant in the camp site had proper professional chefs, and the dinner was amazing! When they started bringing the food out I couldn’t believe how many different dishes were coming out of the kitchen. We had soup and fresh bread for starters, followed by a hot meal with meat, veg, beans, salads, avocado salad and more.

The next morning me and a couple of others went for a guided walk in the local village. Our guide was a young man who was actually from Kisoro, the town where we had been staying for the last three days in Uganda. He had come to Rwanda to do an apprenticeship in the Red Rocks Cultural Centre three years before, and had liked it so much he was now working there permanently. We walked through fields where different kinds of crops were grown, passed houses every now and then and were greeted with ”Amakuro!” everywhere we went. It means ”How are you?” and the reply to that is ”Nimasa!” Again our visit ended in a local school, this time filled with kids! We visited a few different classeooms, and in each the kids sang a song or two for us, both in English and in French, which is also an official language in Rwanda as it used to be a Belgian colony. It was very cute, and to top off all that cuteness we visited the school’s pigsty, which had one day old piglets.

Instead of walking all the way back to the camp site we got on an ”African limousine”, bicycles with a seat in the back. First part of the ride was a rather bumpy one on the village dirt road, but as we got on the main road it was downhill all the way and we were goung fast! I was half fearing for my life when our bikes speeded past other cyclist on the road, but we all made it back in one piece to the camp site, where other members of our group had been taking part in banana beer making, bee farming and basket weaving.

It was about a four hour drive to Kigale, the capital of Rwanda. We were crossing mountains again, and I noticed during the drive that there is very little pristine nature in Rwanda, all the forests have pretty much been cut down and replaced with farmlands, which stretch all the way up to the top of the hills. As we reached the top of the last mountain before Kigale, it got so cloudy that we could barely see where we were going as the top of the mountain was covered in clouds, including the road we were on. I was just glad it was still daylight, it would have been very scary to drive there in the dark! Halfway down the mountain the sky burst open and it started raining very heavily, and the rain followed us for the rest of the trip to Kigali. Driving through town it seemed like some of the smaller roads had turned into rivers, as Kigali is built on steep hillsides and flood management is not great. We later heard that people had died in flash floods that day when the water swept out their houses on the hills.

It was still raining down hard when we arrived at camp, which was actually a hotel on whose lawn we were camping in. This was the first time we had to put our tents up in the pouring rain, and quite a few people ended up upgrading to rooms instead. The price was supposed to be 40$ for a double, but I guess that because of the rain the price jumped up to 55$ instead… All the new people upgraded, while the rest of us knew our tents to be waterproof and decided to save our money and camp anyway. After getting drenched in the rain we sat in the bar waiting for dinner. Again we were not cooking ourselves, which was nice as it was quite wet and cold so it was good to eat inside the restaurant. I didn’t sleep very well that as the hotel had a gym which was very busy, with cars and people coming in and out and the music from the gym glasses blaring over the campsite. Also we were very close to a big road, so it didn’t really get quiet all night.

The next day we visited the Genocide Museum. Although this was a very sad part of our itinenary, at the same time I thought it was a very important place to visit. I saw the movie Hotel Rwanda years ago, and couldn’t comprehend what could lead to such horrific events. I rented an audio guide for 25$ and spent a good couple of hours going through the exhibit and learn about the comonial history and the events before, during and after the genocide. Very heartbreaking indeed. After the museum we drove to a shopping centre to do our shopping for the next few days, and I had a pizza (which was not great) and an iced latte for lunch. After lunch we decided to walk to the hotel featured in the movie Hotel Rwanda, and were surprised to find that it was right next door and the sign Hotel Millé Collines was actually visible from the shopping centre! It was a five minute walk, and we had a drink at the hotel terrace. We then crammed four people on the back of a taxi and drove to a local market close to our camp. We got harassed a lot, bought nothing and walked back to camp. Dinner was already being prepared as we got back. I wasn’t really hungry after eating a pizza for a late lunch, so decided to skip dinner and went early to bed to be ready for a 6am start and a long day in the truck.

At the end of the last post we were saying goodbye to Kenya and heading towards country number two, Uganda. As we were nearing the border, we passed miles and miles of trucks lined up to cross, but luckily as a passenger vehicle we could take the fast lane past them directly to the border. We parked next to the immigration office and were the only ones there, so the whole process was very quick and smooth. First we had to line up to the Kenyan side where our fingerprints were taken, and we got the exit stamps in our passports. Then we had to fill out a one-page form to state our identity and the reason and duration of our stay in Uganda, then line up to the Ugandan side to have our fingerprints taken again, and getting our entry stamps, and we were good to go. The whole process only took a few minutes per person. We then proceeded to change money at the exchange desk, and off to Jinja we were.

In Jinja we had a very nice campsite owned by a South African rafting entrepreneur. We were briefed about all the possible optional activities, which were plentiful, from rafting to quad biking to horse riding to sup-boarding to sunset cruises to village walks. Most of these were really expensive, so I decided to do only the sunset cruise and the village walk, and spend the rest of the three nights here relaxing, updating my blog, transferring and publishing pictures and getting my laundry done. The camp site had a nice bar with comfortable couches to lounge on, and an absolutely beautiful view over the White Nile. Not to mention a reasonably reliable, yet sometimes slow, wi-fi, which I’ve now come to realise is a rarity in this part of the world! The only downside was that they didn’t sell cider in the bar! I ordered a double rum with coke which cost nearly five dollars, so it became clear that this was going to be a very sober few days!

There was food available at the bar as well, but we had been told about shops selling rolexes just outside the gate and decided to check those out. This turned out to be a wise decision, as the rolexes cost about one fifth of the bar prices, and were delicious! A ”rolex” is short of ”rolled eggs”, which it essentially was. They would make an omelette with your choice of veg, chips or avocado and roll it in a chapati (a flat bread tortilla). There were also sweet chapatis available, and a chapati with banana and honey quickly became my favourite choice for breakfast.

The next morning and afternoon I spent drinking coffee and updating social media on the bar sofas. Later the afternoon it was time for the sunset cruise or ”booze cruise” as we preferred to call it. It was a nice two-hour cruise down the White Nile with an open bar and a snack plate consisting of chicken wings, spring rolls, avocado and tomato bruschettas and carrots and cucumber with dipping sauces.

The next morning me and a couple of others went for a guided walk in the local village. We started with visiting a house of a local family, which was a simple three-room cottage made of clay, where they had electricity but no running water. Then we were shown around the vegetable gardens, where they were growing bananas, potatoes, chili and other things. The local children were very curious about us and wanted to hold our hands while walking with us, and were delighted to see pictures of themselves in our cameras. We walked to a local privately funded school, but there were no students there as it was the school holidays. Back at the house we first visited we were served lunch, which was absolutely delicious and consisted of plantain, sweet potato, spinach, coleslaw and peanut sauce. All the ingredients had been harvested in the vegetable garden around us, it couldn’t get any more local and organic than this! In the evening me and a few others decided to take a taxi to town to try out a recommended Indian restaurant. I had a paneer butter masala and garlic nan, and it was one of the best Indian meals I’ve ever had. We also walked around Jinja a bit while waiting for our ride back home, streets were very busy and the town was pretty cool!

On our final night I woke up around 3.30am, which has now become a reoccurring thing, I think the Lariam might be to blame. It was raining and the power was out (pretty much a given everytime there is thunder), so there was no wi-fi, and I was pretty bored lying in my tent waiting for sunrise. When I got out in the dark to go to the toilet, I nearly bumped into an armed guard standing quietly in a dark corner, nearly gave me a heart attack! 😄 After breakfast it was time to leave Jinja behind and head north-west towards Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary. It was a pretty boring 7-hour drive, including a shopping stop in the busy Ugandan capital, Kampala, and after setting up camp we had a quick dinner and headed to bed. No wi-fi in this camp, and using gps was forbidden for the safety of the rhinos, as this is the only place in Uganda where rhinos can be seen in the wild, and they are vulnerable for poaching.

In the early hours of the morning I was again lying awake in my tent, when I heard a strange noise coming from outside. Too loud to be a bird, not constant enough for a generator. Nevermind, I proceeded to pack up my things when my tent partner Marie came in and said ”Hurry! There are rhinos sleeping next to the kitchen!” I got up, went out and found out what had been making that strange noise, it was a snoring rhino! There were four rhinos asleep right next to the fence surrounding the camp! It was a surreal moment watching these huge, rare creatures fast asleep so close to humans. About half an hour later as the sun was rising, they woke up and started eating grass before disappearing into the bushes. Rhinos have really been treating us on this trip! After breakfast we went for a guided rhino walk which we had paid 20$ for the previous day, seemed a bit of a waste now but it was nice anyway, we tracked two adult females and a baby for about an hour before returning back to camp.

We then drove back to Kampala, where we were staying at a pretty fancy camp site called Red Chilli’s, that had a bar, a pool and wi-fi. It would’ve been nice to stay another night as we arrived quite late and left early in the morning, so there was no time to explore Kampala, which seemed like a colourful, lively and modern town. We left the camp t 6am to get out before morning rush hour, and started our 10-hour drive to Kalinzu Forest Sanctuary. The camp site was the most basic we’ve had so far, with outside toilets, no hot water and no wi-fi. It was also riddled with baboons, as we noticed that the staff there were putting food scraps out for them, probably for our entertainment. I wasn’t too happy with this practice as I’m not a big fan of baboons, as they are big and scary. It was a rainy and pretty cold night, and the next morning was just sitting and waiting around for hours before leaving for the next place, because a part of the group went for a chimpanzee trek in surrounding forest. To me, the 50$ fee was a bit steep. I had a mild cold and had been up since 3.30am again, so it felt like the morning was just dragging on.

Our next stop was a couple of hours north, in Queen Elizabeth National Park. We did a game drive with the truck, but QE is no Masai Mara, and we barely saw any animals at all, apart from a family of elephants that had four tiny babies, one of them so small it couldn’t have been more than a few weeks old! We also did a hippo cruise, which started as a very nice experience as there were plenty of crocodiles, birds, monitor lizards and of course, hippos, but ended up leaving me quite unhappy as we were getting VERY close to the hippos, and they were visibly distressed, waking up from their sleep and ushering their babies in the middle of the pack to protect them, as we hung around them for fifteen minutes or more, getting closer and closer and revving the boat engine. We also woke up a mother with a small baby in deep sleep on the riverbank and then chased them down a few hundred meters before them entering the safety of the water. Not cool, not cool at all, viewing wildlife should never cause them anxiety and stress, and these hippos were clearly scared! Not to mention that these cruises are being operated every hour during the day, every day. I wouldn’t do it again.

We camped in a nearby village, and while looking for a place for our tent I discovered large piles of poop and inquired, which animal did it. Hippos, was the answer. What? This far from the lake? Yes, apparently a whole bunch of them came up to the camp every night to graze on the grass, and it was actually quite risky to get out of your tent after dark. It was a bit cold also, the showers were quite dirty and there was no hot water and I was desperate to get clean as I hadn’t showered in a few days, so when I heard that you could upgrade to a private cabin with double bed, ensuite toilet and hot shower for 20$, I jumped on the offer! About an hour later, clean after a nice shower I was sitting on my comfy king size bed with a stupid, happy grin on my face. That night I didn’t sleep very well as I still had the cold, and as I was lying in my bed listening to the sound of hippos pulling grass outside, I was really happy that I was safely indoors! Money well spent!

In the morning we got up early to do another game drive in the national park before a long drive to Kisoro. If you asked me, I would’ve preferred to skip the game drive and instead sleep in and drive straight to Kisoro, because with the game drive included we ended up sitting in truck for twelve hours. Our departure was also delayed because the camp site manager was claiming that one cabin had not been paid for even though we had all paid in cash the night before. In the end he was unable to say which cabin had allegedly not been paid for, so he let us go. Lesson learned, ALWAYS ask for a receipt!

The drive was pretty slow as we crossed mountains zigzagging up and down, but at least the scenery was incredible. Uganda is incredibly green and the hillsides and mountains are very pretty to look at. There’s not much pristine nature though, every inch of the landscape all the way to the top of the hills has been turned into farmland. Towards the end it started raining heavily, it seems that this is what happens pretty much every day here. Nice weather in the morning, thunderstorm in the afternoon. There was no campground here, so we were all staying in hostel dorms for the next three nights. There was an option to upgrade to a private room for 10$ per night, but after seeing the room I decided it was not worth it and went into a dorm with the others instead. The hostel is pretty basic, with comfy chairs in the reception and a slow and unreliable wi-fi. Another thing that is unreliable is the electricity, and power cuts are frequent. They do have a generator, but they don’t run it during thunderstorms.

The next day ten of our group went gorilla trecking, a few went to see the golden monkeys, I’m not doing either because these are very expensive activities, about 700$ for the first and 120$ for the second. Instead I went to visit a local organic coffee plantation, where we were shown the whole process from seedling to cup, and treated to a vegetarian lunch of plantain, rice, spinach, potato and avocados, again all organic and as local as it gets. Yummy! Then we drove down to the lake and canoed in traditional dug-out canoes for an hour. There was a small island in the middle which our guide told us is called Punishment Island, the name dating back to a time when if a woman got pregnant out of wedlock, she would be taken to the island and left there to starve. Her only hope was that someone would agree to marry her despite her being pregnant and bring her back to shore. Any man in the village could just row a boat to the island a and pick a woman they desired, and no dowry would need to be paid for marrying her.

We then could see a storm coming and got back in the car just as it was starting to rain. The rain kept getting harder, thunder was rumbling very loudly and there were loud crashes as the lightning was striking. After a few minutes drive we had to stop the car to the side of the road, as the rain was coming so hard ut was impossible to see ahead. Big junks of hail was coming down, and it was all pretty epic!

I had planned to go for a crater walk the next morning, but it rained all night so I decided to skip it as I wasn’t in the mood for wallowing through mud. Instead I went for a lunch in a nearby café called Coffee Pot, where we had pizzas and lattes. Back at the hostel the power was gone again, and no power means no internet and no hot water. I spent the day writing and hoping that at some point there would be a chance to post the blog and add pictures.