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.