Category: Travel Posts

Leaving Uganda behind us, we crossed the border into Kenya, en route to one of the highlights of Gerrit’s and our trip: Lake Turkana, the Jade Sea.

Our first stop along the way was at a wonderful place just outside Eldoret town, called Naiberi. Situated at almost 2000m, the altitude adds to the beautiful surroundings of riverine forest. We spent two nights here, enjoying the spectacular birding, the great food and the lush tranquility surrounding us.

The next day we left the good roads far behind us and the further we traveled, the worse the corrugation and dust got. We did have a slight reprieve driving along the edge of the Kerio Rift Valley though. At the Kenyan athlete’s high altitude training centre, the (thankfully!) tarred road descended a thousand meters down the escarpment.

The slalom road with the hairpin bends and overfilled trucks and buses presented a new problem to us. Our brand new brake pads were overheating. Having stopped at a spectacular view point, we were quickly forced to jump back into our cars and keep going, as our smoking brakes could only be cooled with air flowing over them. We spent the rest of the drive down the escarpment trying not to use our brakes… Hair raising to say the least. Very relieved, we reached the dry scrubland and savannah of the Kerio Rift, before ascending out again on a thankfully less steep escarpment.

Soon after we got our first sight of Lake Baringo and settled into a lovely lakeside campsite. For reasons unknown, the water level of the lake had risen so drastically, that the campsite ablution blocks were only accessible to the hippos and the crocodiles! While enjoying the view over the lake, we managed to get back into our bush rhythm and ended up watching both the sunset and the following morning’s sunrise. After chasing the monkeys away from our breakfast we started off on the next leg of our trip. We were very happy when we found that they had tarred a section of road. We were cruising along at 80 km/h when Chris’ spider senses kicked in. We pulled over, checked the GPS and the maps and sure enough, we were going in the wrong direction. This tar road was not for us. Terribly disappointed, we backtracked and discovered that the road to Maralal gave us more of the same. Dust and terrible corrugation.

Slowly bumping along the road, we came across the first real evidence of coming close to northern Africa. Camels! Driving along the road where we would usually expect to see Zebra, there now appear Somali Ostriches and Camels. Very cool!

Maralal was our last reliable refueling opportunity before the remote loop of Lake Turkana, so we made sure we got every last drop into all available tanks and containers. Filled to the brim, we camped at Yade Camel Camp, where the annual camel derby is held. We had prepared some T-Bone steaks for dinner, which turned out more interesting than expected, as a thunder shower overtook us. We found some interesting methods of preventing our very meager fire from going out and ruining our dinner!

Although we successfully rescued the steaks, they turned out to be extremely tough. Oh well!

The following morning was quite chilly and we quickly made ourselves some hot coffee before getting back onto the road. Gerrit had discovered our next stop; The End of the World. Although we had only found a single reference to this viewpoint, we were adamant to find it. After trusting in Gerrit’s GPS we drove down a lonely two track, with no signs or indications that we were heading in the right direction when we approached a rather intimidating archway in the middle of a field. Having passed through it, we really were presented with the World’s End. This is the single highest drop along the entire length of the Rift Valley. 2000 meters straight down. Wow!

Beyond this drop the foreboding and unknown area of Lake Turkana began.

Driving along one of the worst stretches of road so far and a mild concussion later, we arrived at our next destination. Mount Elgon and the Sipi Falls.

Beautiful views, dodgy nightcaps and steep hiking trails are the order of the day…  

When we met up with Gerrit in Kampala a few weeks ago, one of our goals for traveling together was that we would go and see the Kidepo National Park. Because of its remote location on the South Sudanese border, very few people know about it and its awesome beauty.

When we arrived at Fuglys in Kitgum, Patrick made sure that we would be staying at his Wilderness Camp Nga’Moru. Leaving Fuglys that morning, we found the brand new road between Kitgum and Kidepo to be extremely good, showing that this area is slowly opening up and that it will soon not be as remote any more.

When we crested the last few hills and saw the open plains of the Narus Valley in Kidepo in front of us, we knew it would be spectacular!

As Nga’Moru is a Wilderness Camp, all animals can roam freely between the unfenced park and the camp. At night we heard the alternate calls of hyenas and lions, paid close attention whether we could hear the elephant’s footsteps and avidly tracked whatever footprints were left in the mud the next morning.

Because of the freedom of the Wilderness Camp, we only felt it necessary to drive into Kidepo itself for one day. We are very glad we did though, as it was another spectacular game drive. With the uniquely beautiful scenery as a backdrop, even the most mundane becomes beautiful.

On our day into the park we travelled along the Narus Valley up to the South Sudanese border, here we stopped for lunch and a truly memorable selfie!

Over the time that we spent at Nga’Moru we got into the fantastic habit of watching the sunrise, sunset or both with either John or Patrick. We would watch the sun rise/drop over the mountains and marvel at the colours displayed and the wonderful sight of the entire valley in front of slowly changing appearance.

Kidepo is currently still very unknown and remote. During our stay we found out that Protea Hotels (a large hotel chain) is interested in building an establishment within the park boundaries. Once this happens, the isolation disappears and the fear is that we are left with another touristy and overcrowded park. Our hope is that the park management will be able to balance the necessary progress with caution, so that that which makes Kidepo special remains for many, many generations to come.

Our heartfelt thanks to Patrick for being an exceptional person and allowing us the freedom of invading your camp and to John for the sunrise and sunset company, as well as the fascinating stories!

www.ngamoru.com

After an easy mornings travel we found ourselves driving through the most beautiful, thick canopied forest. This was the Royal Mile, a section of dense forest belonging to the king and thus protected. It is not a national park, there are no entrance fees and no wardens or rangers. No trees are allowed to be cut down and no hunting is allowed within its perimeters, creating a “real” ecosystem surviving on its own.

Next to this forest we found a campsite for the night. Unfortunately the campsite was very run down and nothing was working, but the forest was so beautiful, that we decided to stay the night.

After setting up camp we set off down a trail into the forest, and as so often is the case, we wanted to look for birds. However, the forest is extremely dense blocking out sunlight and sound equally effectively, making it very difficult to find and identify any birds at all. We were still fascinated though, as there are 389 different species of butterfly to be found. All we did was follow one beautiful butterfly after the next, leading us ever deeper into the forest. We had to make sure to remember the right path back though, as all paths look the same in the little light that filters through the canopy.

Here we also spotted our first Blue Monkeys, as well as the Red Tailed Guenon Monkey. Although this was not the first time we saw them, the Black and White Colobus were very vocal and prevalent, almost seeming to shadow us through the forest. There is also a very large family of Chimpanzees that can be tracked, but we saw no sign of them.

We enjoyed our walk through the forest so much, that only the rain forced us to return to camp. Here we huddled under a small shelter waiting for the rain to stop.

During the night the noises of the forest kept us awake for some time. Most notably we heard a primal scream. Sometimes increasing in volume, then dying off, then starting all over again. Considering the forest we were in, we weren’t sure what could cause this shrieking. In the morning we learned that the noise was created by the Tree Hyraxes, with the pitch of the scream changing when the hyrax either climbs up or down the tree.

Fascinating and beautiful as the forest was, our goal was Murchison Falls National Park. So after a fascinating day and an interesting night we set off once again.

Leaving Queen Elizabeth National Park behind us, we came across the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary on the Masindi – Kampala road.

Circumstance had led us to the Sanctuary and we were very surprised to find ourselves going on a guided rhino tour. Admittedly, the idea of a joining a group of foreign tourists and tracking rhino was (to say the least) strange, but still we did it.

Despite it being very touristy, we really enjoyed ourselves. The experience of watching a very large and fearsome white rhino dozing in the shade, while her calf plays around her in the bushes, is quite spectacular.

Shortly after, we found ourselves back at the headquarters, where we discovered that the Sanctuary also offers Shoebill tracking. Having failed so miserably in Ishasha, we decided to give these prehistoric looking birds another chance.

One unanimous decision later, we found ourselves camping in the Rhino Sanctuary, with a bonfire to keep us warm, delicious dessert to maintain our high spirits and endless discussion on whether we would or would not see the Shoebill the next day.

Knowing we would be tracking through the swamps at an ungodly hour of the morning, we made sure to get up early enough to get some hot tea and breakfast first. This sounds OK in theory, if you don’t consider the fact that when the alarm went at 5 in the morning it was cold, dark and raining. If anyone has ever camped in the rain, then you understand the reluctance to leave the warm, cozy and especially dry interior of your tent for the miserable world outside of it.

However, we were doing it for a good cause and so we got up, grumbled a bit, had our coffee and breakfast and went off to track a bird.

All of us packed into the car, we were driven along the muddy and extremely slippery roads to the swamp. Taking the first few steps in our borrowed gumboots we felt quite good about the whole experience. The rain had stopped, it looked like the clouds were thinning and the swamp didn’t look too bad.

Unfortunately our hopes weren’t too last. We soon found out that the Shoebill is so difficult to find because it spends it time catching it’s food in the nastiest section of the swamps and thus, if we wanted to see it, we had to go into these nasty areas as well.

Pretty soon we realized that the gumboots were only there to make us feel better and not for any practical purpose. By stepping onto what we thought was a patch of dry grass, we soon sank to below the knees into some very unsavoury looking (and feeling) water. Then, thanks to our gumboots, we had no way of getting rid of said unsavoury water… Oh well.

Luckily for us, Annemarie soon spotted our reason for being in the swamp. Our first Shoebill was sighted!

Our first glimpse was quite far away, so deciding to get closer, we ”crept” (i.e. sloshed) our way to a clump of bushes and soon had a great view of what turned out to be a particularly evil-looking bird.

A shoebill has a wicked hook at the end of its large beak; bright, beady yellow eyes; an overall rather scruffy and dirty appearance and to top it all, a set of eyebrows that give it a permanently scowling expression.

We didn’t care though. To be able to view in its own environment one of Africa’s most enigmatic, elusive and above all, rare birds was something that made up for any amount of hardship or discomfort.

Bubbling over with the experience we were on our way back to the car, when Annemarie again proved to have the sharpest eyesight.

We had almost missed a second Shoebill quietly sitting off on the far side of the papyrus. Again we crept closer to the bird and hunkered down in the floating vegetation to attempt to get a few good shots.

Now completely over the moon with our double success, we really did head back to the car, keeping an eye or two open in case there was another Shoebill lurking in the bushes.

After a wonderful time in the southern section of the Queen Elizabeth National Park we drove north to the Kazinga Channel.

With only limited time, we decided to take an afternoon cruise along the Kazinga Channel into Lake Edward. We had seen all the big game we wanted and thus asked the skipper to concentrate on the bird life on the embankments.

We hadn’t expected much beyond a few cormorants and the usual plovers, but the boat ride proved to be spectacular and way beyond our expectations.

Gliding along the calm waters we had an absolute blast identifying birds, taking photos and watching the spectacular scenery flow by.

Our next stop was the southern Ishasha section of the Queen Elizabeth National Park (QENP). With clear skies all the way we made our way through the twisting and winding tracks of the mountains, over the escarpment and into the blazing heat of the open plains.

Our home for the next few days was the Ishasha River Camp situated on the banks of the Ishasha River, which also forms the border to the DRC about 30 meters away. As in Bwindi, our campsite was protected by the Tourism Police and their AK47’s for the duration of our visit. A rather unnerving experience, not from a security point of view, but simply because these guards spent their entire day watching us. Whether we were reading, cooking, eating, drinking or playing cards, there was always someone watching you.

The campsite itself was lovely though. Within the first half an hour we had spotted a family of the Abyssinian Black and White Colobus monkeys happily sitting in the tree canopy, the hippos were playing in the water in front of us and the dense forest surrounding us constantly presented us with flashes of flying colours that had to be observed with binoculars, discussed and identified. It was a wonderful spot to truly enjoy the bush life surrounding us.

Having taken our time to settle in comfortably, we had our first game drive later that afternoon. We had heard quite a bit about the tree climbing abilities of the local lion population and soon decided that their preferred hang-out (sorry, I couldn’t resist :-)) should be our first stop. The guidebooks and maps had a few fig trees marked as possible locations to spot the lions in the trees, however there was no guarantee that we’d actually see them.

Driving through this area, looking at all possible fig trees, we drove past the same fig tree we’d driven past 10 minutes before. Coming from a different direction, we suddenly spotted three lions hanging in the branches, their extremely fat bellies propped between the branches. We hadn’t seen them before as they were lying as still as possible in the densest patch of shade they could find.

Wow! Although we had obviously hoped to find them in the trees, none of us had actually expected it and to see three of them so nonchalantly resting was absolutely fantastic.

Two of the three lions were happily dozing, at most opening an eye to peek at us, or letting forth a spectacular yawn, but the last one couldn’t quite find the perfect position. For the 30 minutes we spent watching them, he was constantly shifting, moving his paws or belly into a better position, getting up, pacing from branch to branch, flopping down in a new position, only to get up again and find the next spot. It was comical to watch. We got the distinct impression that the uncomfortable lion’s two siblings were occupying the best spots and he was left to make do with what was left over. 🙂

As the afternoon came to a close, we slowly had to head back to camp. A few hundred meters further along the track we drove past another fig tree and spotted another two lions quietly sleeping in the shade and not interested in the least in us or anything else.

Elated with the day so far, we almost missed the Verreaux’s (Giant) Eagle-Owl peering at us through the shrubland…

Waking up to a rainy day the next morning we decided to try to reach the swamps on the edge of Lake Edward to track down the ever elusive Shoebill. We had heard reports that they could be sighted along this stretch of the Lake, but that the access road was pretty much impassable. Not ones to shy away from a worthy challenge, we piled ourselves into the rented Prado and finally found the access road.

Tracking ahead of the car, Chris had the dubious honour of checking each mudhole and  bog before deciding the best route for the car through the obstacle. Soon he was too dirty to be let back into the car, so he spent the time between obstacles hanging onto the roof rack and being scraped by any bushes and thorn trees along the way. His cleanliness was also reduced by each puddle we drove through, as we had to have sufficient speed so as not to get stuck in the mud.

All too soon we had to turn back though. According to the map, we had only managed a small section of the road and it was only going to get worse. Scouting ahead on foot, the unanimous decision was to abandon the shoebill hunt, turn around and take a more comfortable and relaxing route back to camp and easier bird targets.

Before we started our trip in November Chris’ dad gave us a huge surprise. He had organized that when we reached Uganda he and the family would join us and all of us would go to see the increasingly rare Mountain Gorillas of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.

Armed with high spirits we all left Johannesburg and headed to the mountains of Uganda. A very long and twisty road later we arrived at our lodgings. Chameleon Lodge boasts a literally breathtaking view over Lake Mutanda all the way to the DRC and a total of six volcanoes that can be seen from the deck. Travel weary and dusty we had hot showers and went to bed early, knowing that we’d be getting up before dawn the next morning.

Traveling from the lodge to the gorilla tracking proved to be more complicated than we thought, as there were tracks crisscrossing our path all the way. Only through good luck and asking for directions from every person we met did we make it to the ranger station on time.

Here we tightened our boots, hitched our backpacks and were briefed on how to behave ourselves around the gorillas. And off we went. Our group consisted of eight tourists, two guides leading the way as well as two policemen armed with AK47s. We were assured that the armed policemen were there to ensure that we weren’t attacked by any wild animals and the fact that the DRC with its troubles was only a hop, skip and a jump away seemed to have no influence.

The Bwindi Impenetrable National Park is aptly named. Standing on top of the hill looking over the vastness of the forest we were wondering how many hours of hacking through the undergrowth it would take to find the gorillas. Luckily for us (or unlucky, depending on your viewpoint) we found the family of gorillas sunbathing in a clearing just inside the leading edge of the forest.

This allowed us to get within three meters of them and the Silverback of the family even walked right past Chris. He could have stretched out his hand and stroked his back! We spent an hour with the family, watching the two babies being cradled by their mothers, watching the adolescents bickering and the adults picking their noses. It was a strange experience to say the least. They are incredibly gentle creatures and to see them lovingly play and interact with each other was extraordinary. The whole time we were with them, the Silverback made sure that he was always in between us and his family. With his back to us, he dozed in the sun, occasionally scratching his bum or tasting a leaf or two.

Unfortunately our time was up all to soon and we slowly headed back up the mountain. The rangers explained to us that the set of circumstances on our visit were incredibly rare. We had sun; the gorillas were close; the family was extremely relaxed; they weren’t off in the trees foraging, but happily snoozing in the sun and we had a close and intimate viewing which few other people can claim.

What an experience!

With the experience fresh in our minds, the grueling hike back up the steep mountainside in the midday sun went if not unnoticed, then at least was happily tackled and conquered.

Discussing the day’s events over dinner that evening we thought it couldn’t get any better. Not so. Charles, our wonderful barman mentioned in passing that if we watched carefully, that we could see a live volcano erupting. What!?

It turns out that the last of the six volcanoes that can be seen from the Chameleons deck is active, very active. As of 9 PM you can literally see the eruption. Although very far away, you can see the sky glowing and the smoke from the volcano backlit by the flowing lava. An incredible sight and a fitting end to an unforgettable day!

For the first time on this trip Chris and I had a deadline that we could not miss: a flight back home to South Africa. The reason for this was very important, as we wanted to surprise our very close friends Oliver and Claudia with our attendance at their wedding.

Unfortunately for us this meant that we suddenly had a very strict schedule to maintain, as we had to be in Kampala with enough time to spare to ensure everything was organised.

So, off we went. We left the beautiful Islands behind us and put foot on the highway. Reaching Kampala we were immediately swallowed by its notorious traffic. And what traffic! You might think that you’ve had a traffic jam or two worth mentioning, but I promise that it’s nothing compared to Kampala. And it’s not even the cars. It’s the boda-bodas. In an area of roughly 10 square meters there will be 50 boda-bodas all driving in any direction they want to, irrelevant of which lane or side of the road they’re on. Any car caught in between this chaos moves very slowly if at all.

Eventually we found our way to our destination and started stripping and cleaning the car. We would be leaving our Rock Rabbit behind for three weeks and we wanted to make sure that there wouldn’t be any surprises for us when we came back. So everything was removed, cleaned and repacked.

During this time we also met up with Olivia who, without even thinking about it twice, embraced us into her family and made us feel incredibly welcome and at home. Thanks to her we had a safe place to park the Rock Rabbit and also someone to turn to for help in the vastness that is Kampala.

Finally packed and ready to go we were on our way to the airport when we heard a bump at the back of the car. Thinking that someone had crashed into the boot, we got out to inspect the damage. No such luck. Some b*****d had gotten into the boot and run off with the first thing they could reach. Chris and my laptop bag. Our world crashed. In this bag had been not only the laptop, but also the hard drive with the accumulated pictures of the entire 5 month trip. With both gone we had nothing left of the thousands of photos we had taken. Only the photos on this blog and what we had sent to a few friends along the way remained.

Shocked and crying we made it to the airport and flew home bemused and dazed.

On our arrival in Johannesburg we had calmed down, but we were far less enthusiastic than we had planned. We let the family know we had arrived safely and much to our surprise found out that the police in Kampala had already started searching for our property. In the short time that we had been on the plane they had already found some of the items that had been in the laptop bag. (Thank you Eric!) However, they had found no sign of either the laptop or the hard drive.

We made our way home from the airport and although slightly depressed we soon realized that although we had lost the photographs, we still had our memories of all the wonderful people we had met and places we had seen. Chris and I decided not to dwell on the bad, but to enjoy the fact that we were home again with our loved ones.

The next morning Chris left early to spring our surprise on the groom-to-be. He was off to the bachelor’s party for a weekend of fun with friends, rafting, shooting, drinking and eating.

As Oliver and Claudia’s big day got closer, our excitement also grew. We had decided to do everything we can to attend their wedding as we were hiking Mount Mulanje in southern Malawi a few months previously. We were sitting in front of a fire after a hard days hike and were discussing how much fun we would have with our nearest and dearest there with us, when we realized that there was no way that we wouldn’t try our hardest to make it home to be there for Ollie and Claudia.

Finally the Saturday dawned clear and bright and Oliver and Claudia had an incredible wedding that was truly spectacular. We partied late, fell into ditches, twisted ankles on the dance floor and had an incredible time seeing all our friends back together again. Truly epic! 🙂

Here are some of the pics that Kate McLuckie took at their wedding – beautiful!

What a strange sensation to be back though. We had spent so much time by ourselves traveling and seeing new places that our home town seemed completely foreign at first. It took a few days, but old habits die hard and soon we were cruising around town finding all our favourite shortcuts, visiting friends and family and enjoying life back at home.

We had decided to extend our stay to include the Easter weekend and thank goodness we did! We had such a great time with the family cooking, eating and drinking that before we knew it, Chris and I had been completely integrated in the home life again. The two of us hadn’t been home for Easter in the last eight years and to be in Jo’Burg with the Cosmos flowering all over and to spend the last few days of summer with friends and family was spectacular!

Having crossed the border from Tanzania into Uganda our first stop was going to be Masaka for lunch. Reaching the outskirts of Masaka we were introduced to the most popular form of public transport in Uganda. The boda-boda motorcycles are literally everywhere you look. Neither the drivers or passengers have helmets; the drivers don’t follow any rules of the road nor do they even have a license or know in which direction you should drive around a traffic circle…

Unfortunately for us, we found out about all of this at first hand. We were indicating to turn to the right, waiting for the oncoming traffic to pass, when a boda-boda driver decided to overtake us from the right. He calculated a bit too finely though and he ended up clipping the bull-bar of our Rock Rabbit. The driver and the passenger slid from the bike into the ditch next to the road, but were not hurt beyond a few scrapes.

Chris and I got the fright of our lives, not having even seen the motorbike. We immediately pulled off the road, Chris grabbed his medic pack and made sure that both driver and passenger were not seriously injured and treated the scrapes and bruises that they did receive.

In the meantime I tried to figure out what was going on in the background. We had already drawn quite a crowd and about 15 other boda-boda drivers were trying to convince the policeman on sight that it had been our fault. Luckily for us the accident occurred right in front of the High Court of Masaka and the policeman on duty at the gate witnessed the accident and refused to be influenced negatively towards us. We were incredibly relieved, as we had expected to be accused of causing the accident or at least to have to pay a “fine” to make the troubles go away.

As we had to head to the police station around the corner to make our statements, Chris suggested that the limping driver of the boda-boda get into the passenger seat of our car and I drive us to the police station while the passenger and he walk there. We were about to head off when the Chief of Police arrived to find out what had happened. Chris and the police on duty explained the situation again, while the driver and I waited in the car. It was an extremely hot day and the shocked driver got out to sit in the shade.

When the Chief of Police walked up to the car to interview the driver we discovered that he had disappeared, along with his motorbike and all other boda-boda drivers. The Chief of Police just laughed and said: “He knows his mistake and ran away”.

So we headed to the station where we made our statements. The last sentence on my statement was that the boda-boda driver had “escaped” 🙂

Throughout the entire time the police were extremely efficient, honest, helpful and friendly. We were never once asked to “make the problem go away” or any of the expected difficulties.

Totally exhausted, we ended the day with a few cold beers and a Cheeseburger or two at Masaka Backpackers; pleasantly surprised at the outcome of our first accident on our trip. What a day!