Uganda

We decided this autumn to go for a break in Uganda.

The first couple of days we spent at lake Bunyonyi. This lake is just across the border, just two hours drive from Kigali. The first day we visited Kabale, just a small town with a main road which is too small for two cars and bicycles on either side. We relaxed with a beer at the lake side. We were the only ones in the hotel/lodge because it is low season (occaisional rains).



Part of the steep road towards the lake. If you enlarge the photo you see somewhere in the middle a sign 'humps'. It is nice of them to tell you that after several humps.

The second day we went for a drive. See if we could find the market at the south side of the lake. It turned out a bit longer than we planned. One wrong turn got us on a muddy track, this kind of mud clung to the tires, which makes it impossible to steer. We nearly got stuck in a mudpool because of lack of traction. We ended up doing a full circle around the lake with the occasional view over the lake. Nice lake with islands dotted in it.



After that we proceeded to Queen Elizabeth national park. We prebooked a new lodge at the edge of the park with discount. It was lovely; the park is basically a vast plain surrounded by mountains/hills. Our lodge was on a hill overlooking the whole park; brilliant!



The next morning we went for a bushwalk in a forest reserve just before the park, in this forest you can also go for chimp tracking, but we opted for just a walk. We didn't see any monkeys, just until the end next to the road. But the forest was nice, though humid. We also wanted to go on a boat trip in the park from one of the lodges. As it was low season this could only be done in the afternoon. We decided not to hang around for a day (which would have been fine) but to do it that afternoon. We didn't realise that we had to pay park fees to go there, which made the 15 dollars each suddenly 120 USD (total), slight advantage is that we had a 10 USD discount for living in the East African Union.

As we were driving towards the lodge we saw some elephants on the road. Even a bigger surprise was the hippo crossing the road right in front of us. So in stead of doing a long safari we now saw the main animals of the park, while driving at 60 km/h in order to make the boat.



The boat trip was nice, completely different experience from driving safaris. More relaxing. We saw many buffaloes, birds, hippos, the odd eagle and even three elephants on the river bank. We were sharing the boat with a group of dutchies, who we would encounter later in Kabale again. What is the saying: You can't avoid death, taxes and the Dutch.



One happy looking hippo.

The following day we followed our path northwards towards Fort Portal. This is a road that goes straight through the park. As we paid our 24 hour fee, we went off a side road twice, the first time we didn't see anything noteworthy the second time we went through a gate with a 'coffee shop / internet cafe'. The coffee was the most expensive and worst coffee I had in a long time. The route took us past some mini craters, some with forest, some with lake, rather beautiful. Onwards towards Fort Portal, sometimes 120 k/h and sometimes hard braking for speed bumps. Our theory is that the amount of bumps is related to how much backhanders you have paid to an official and is some sort of status. Sometimes three houses have 5 bumps, sometimes a whole village has none. Sometimes they are indicated, sometimes none. It keeps you alert.

In Fort Portal we staid in a guest house run by a English man and Dutch lady. Nice couple, looked like they live there a long time already, which also has an effect on the upbringing of their teenage son I think. As we were their while a friend of them returned we could join the small party they gave. They invited some Dutch people, some mixed couples and the other guests from the guesthouse where two english medical students and a danish girl. A nice mix. There were some children who felt the need to give a small show, basically they did a dance to three 'kinderen voor kinderen' song. (children for children is a group of children singing to raise funds for poor children). We had a good laugh. The english girl and boy seemed to have a totally different experience from us, they stay in a place without electricity, sometimes no water and 7 hours away from a big city, without a car. Makes you realise that we do have a lot of luxury.

We decided not to stay another day but to had towards lake Bunyonyi again. The B road we took was fine, until we went of it to see some crater lakes. We ended up doing a circle and took the same road again from Fort Portal. The road went through another national park, this was forest with a.o. a lot of bamboo, had a nice feel to it.



The Kabale area is probably the cabbage area of Uganda, we came across several big piles of cabbage.

We arrived back in Kabale and slept in Kabale, not at the lake this time. The White Horse Inn was a reasonable choice, but yet again africans are not good at the details in service. It took a man an hour to come by, look at the light bulb, disappear for a while and put a new lightbulb in. We did tell him, if you shake the bulb, you can hear it is broken.

Monday we went to explore more unknown territory. The road to Kisoro was being remade, the surface was good, but there were several stops because of working man or one-lane tracks. The approach to Kisoro town was brilliant, some nice valleys with a volcano on the background, the pictures don't do it justice, you have to be there.



The town itself seemed a nice hub for locals, a big market and a lot of different kind of shops. The border crossing was like any border crossing: unclear where you have to go, but we managed. As an extra surprise they added the fact that we had to write in a big book who the owner of the vehicle was, where we came from and where we were going, this on both side of the border. I think Mr. Zomer left Uganda, but Mr. Lonako entered Rwanda, I wonder if they will find out this inconsistency.

As a welcome it started to rain on the Rwanda side, a shame. After a good lunch at the hotel of a colleague of mine in Musanze (Ruhengeri) we took the best road in Rwanda. The road is rather new and every village, no matter the size, seems to have sign. The road remains dangerous because of all the pedestrians using the road, it is not really wide enough for that.

We arrived reasonably early in Gisenyi so we had a drive around. It is a shame nobody does anything with those nice old colonial buildings. It does appear to be the policy to tear some down, it is not clear what will rise on those spots.

Instead of going straight back we took the scenic route, via Kibuye. It is a nice road in terms of views, but the road was rather jiggly. I don't know if that is a proper word, but I will describe. The road was made a while ago in layers, first layer being stones, over which sand is compressed. The sand is now partly gone which leaves a road of rocky surface. You can compare it by driving over cobblestones (kinderkopjes). This is not too bad as roads go, but after over three hours our bodies where quiet pleased to see the tarmac.



Somewhere between Gisenyi en Kibuye.

After lunch at Bethanies (Sambousa and fish brochette) back the bendy road to Gitarama and home.

Clarisse was surprised to see us a day earlier than planned and hurried to finish all sort of things (which didn't need to be done in our opinion).