Lake Naivasha

First week in Kenya
A fifteen hour coach ride and we arrived in Nairobi at 1.00am. A very helpful coach driver made sure we were safe in a taxi before driving off. We met Joe at Nairobi airport the following morning and we were off to Lake Naivasha by Jolly Coach with a bible reading to set us on our way.
We arrived at a beautiful lakeside campsite, and next day had a trip across the lake to walk through a game park to walk amongst zebra, giraffes and other game. We were treated to the boatman calling for African Fish Eagles as he threw small fish into the water, to see them swoop down from the trees to claw the fish from the water. Amazing!
The next day we climbed Mount Longonot, a stunning volcanic mountain which has a very large crater below the summit. After some difficult scrambling to reach the peak we walked the rim of the crater. Exhausting but very good with great views over the Rift Valley.

Then a bike ride the next day to see flamingos and other game. It's surprising what a bike ride can do to your legs and bum if you haven't ridden for some years! The lake has a large population of hippos and at night they wander up onto the campsite. Fortunately there is an electrified fence to stop them reaching people, but it was pretty exciting watching them graze just a few feet away.
Couldn't cash our travellers cheques so back to Nairobi to sort it out. We found we lost quite a bit cashing them in. Won't use them again!
Nairobi hasn't been as much hassle as we had been led to believe. A couple of attempts to help us for money, but nothing a firm – no thank you – couldn't sort out. Nairobi is so much more developed than Kampala. More like a western city in some areas with proper shops, etc.

Reflections on leaving Uganda

There have been so many occasions over the last four weeks that we have sat by ourselves or with others commenting on how wonderful Uganda is - perhaps part of it is that we knew very little before we came but had some preconceptions that were way off the mark. We had not realised that much of the country is incredibly beautiful - the area to the west and southof Kampala is quite lush and fertile with forests as well as farmed land and the north has impressive savannah like plains. We had also no idea that the Nile was such an impressive river with amazing rapids and waterfalls. The natural beauty is enhanced because it is still very undeveloped in tourism terms. Although this makes things harder to negotiate in a practical sense, for example there are only a handful of tarmaced roads in the country and many of the places we stayed had no electicity the unspoilt physical environment more than compensated for this.

Equally important has been the amazing friendliness of the people. Other backbackers have said that it feels very unlike other neigbouring countries as people here have not started to haggle with the few tourists that there are and are so welcoming that you always get a full Uganda style greeting which says hello but also asks how you are before anything else. There is a lot of poverty in Uganda but not real starvation we have been told as very many people farm small holdings and because the land is fertile they can feed themselves even if there is not enough grown to earn much extra income. We felt very fortunate and privileged to spend 7 days with our guide Moses as he was an exceptional person who wanted to talk about people and ideas.The best time was the walking trek we did with him when we walked through many villages and he talked to us about life for the subsistance farmers. He himself was the 10th child of a subsistence farmer and there was no land left for him so he found his way to become a guide with an eco tourist company. We had many discussions about how Uganda needs to develop but how important it is to hang on to traditions, particularly the strong sense of commmunity. There are no easy solutions and lots of pitfalls ahead but he had an inspiring optimism and such strong values that had a strong impact on us. We hope to stay in touch although our worlds are so very different.

Another up-date

.Jinja & Bugagali Falls
We were off again on the local bus to Kampala. The area of Kampala we arrived in was so crowded and busy with pedestrians and road vehicles competing for every inch of space, yet completely without any aggressive or unpleasant behaviour, shouting or hooting. Amazing organised chaos.

After an over night stay in a less than luxurious hotel near the bus station, we caught a little local bus to Jinja. The bus station was unbelievably crowded with hundreds of small buses and minibus taxis and it took over an hour for our battered old seventies vehicle to finally pack itself to the gills and maneuver its way out of the mayhem. The first two thirds of the journey was very slow with horrendous traffic, but the activity along the road fascinated us with the myriad of roadside stalls and shops, the markets and houses, businesses and school.
Once in Jinja we walked to a small restaurant where lunch for two cost £1.50! We thought we would walk to our hotel and spurned taxi offers.. Walking with the heavy packs for what turned out too be about 2-3 kilometers in the blazing sun was a bit tough, but the stunning views over Lake Victoria soon made up for this. In the twilight of the evening, after walking to the source of the Nile, we sat on our veranda watching a mass of large fruit bats swooping around catching flies over Lake Victoria. It was one of those moments.


Sunday morning we visited the Victoria Baptist church nearby. We were made very welcome but after two hours we had both had enough and left before the service finished.
Next, Bujugali Falls, and a campsite that sat high on a cliff overlooking the rapids of the Nile. The view down onto the river, with monkeys running and swinging through the trees was nothing short of stunning.. It was camping like no other we have seen, en suite facilities with hot shower, and a large comfortable bed.



The area also has a large local project called Soft Power providing education and health services to the community, started by an amazing young English woman in 2000 who was passing through when working as an overland truck driver. What she has achieved is astounding. We were slobs. for another couple of days before returning to Kampala and Fort Portal.
Murchison Falls National Park
Back with our guide, Moses, we had a ten hour drive to the campsite in the National Park. Lots of warthogs wandering around the site. At nearly 4,000 sq.kms the park is the largest game reserve in Uganda. After a visit to the falls the next day, we took a four hour launch ride along the Nile, seeing hippos, crocodiles, elephant, baboons and other assorted wildlife. The falls were extraordinary; powerful and dramatic. A game drive early the next morning brought sitings of, amongst others, giraffe, impala, hartibeast, lions, water buffalo. We were particularly lucky to see the lions, a group of four lionesses towards the end of their hunting. Just as we thought it was all over a large group of elephants with a tiny baby crossed the road right in front of us. Very exciting seeing these animals in the wild, many of them up close. Next stop Masindi with a large sprawling market. Time to do some washing and recharge ourselves.