Katie's in Africa: From jungle to the Nile in Uganda

The border crossing from Kenya into Uganda was our fastest yet, leading Sean to believe I may have exaggerated the lengthy delays at previous ones. We were also pleasantly surprised at the availability of samosas and cold drinks at this crossing – not quite what you’d expect going into Uganda but it seems there is a large Indian population there.

We spent most of the first day driving to Kampala where we stayed the night in what was a very western campsite, complete with hot water, pizza and internet. While the roads in Uganda are better than in its wealthier neighbor, Kenya, our truck doesn’t move particularly fast.

Kampala is an interesting city. Unfortunately we didn’t get to see much of it as we only had half a day, but Sean and I went into the city centre, which is basically one giant market, with an even bigger depot for mini-buses smack in the middle of it. Despite having billboards, high-rises and decent enough cars on its roads, Kampala still has a way to go before it can be considered metropolitan.

From Kampala we had another long drive to Lake Bunyoni, where we based ourselves for three nights so people could go off to do the gorilla trekking in the Impenetrable Mountains. The lake itself is very beautiful but we found ourselves having to share the limited space with about four other overland trucks. It was quite amusing watching other groups, which do short tours of 2-4 weeks, interacting with each other and exclaiming at the terrible conditions of the campsite. We considered it quite luxurious compared to some of the places we’ve stayed.

The gorilla trekking itself was a fabulous experience but one I think I’m happy to only do once. At US$650 it’s not cheap, but to get to the mountains you have to drive about two hours from the lake along dirt roads, and then it’s a case of trekking until you find the gorillas. Guides take eight people in each group though a bureaucratic bungle (or a bribe by another tour guide needing 16 tickets together) resulted in us being split into five groups. On the Ugandan side of the mountains there are 350 gorillas remaining and several different families that trackers follow around the jungle. Two people from our group had gone trekking the day before us and within an hour their groups had found the gorillas. We weren’t quite so lucky, having to slip, slide and climb our way through thick jungle up and down the mountains for closer to three hours before our trackers spotted the family of gorillas we were searching for. At one point the leader hit a bees nest with his machete as he tried to clear a path for us and Sean and I were both stung. But it was worth it – there three silverbacks, several babies and about five other gorillas, all playing in an open area where we could easily watch and photograph them for the allocated hour. While you aren’t supposed to get too close to the gorillas in case they lunge at you and so they don’t become too comfortable around humans this all went out the window when a massive silverback walked up to inspect us. At times we were within an arms length of these huge animals, though not once did they appear agitated or annoyed.

From Lake Bunyoni we drove back to Kampala for a night and then through to Jinga for some relaxation time. We were staying at a campsite that sits above the Nile, near its source, Lake Victoria. It had a little beach and the view was incredible – particularly from the outdoor showers they have rigged up. We also saw more monkeys with blue balls, though for some reason Sean didn't share my excitement.

Our first night there was spent on a booze cruise along the Nile and the following day Sean and I took motorbike taxis into town. That night we had a lovely dinner in the fancy resort next door to our campsite and then went whitewater rafting with others from the group. I didn’t exactly raft – instead chose to sit in the safety boat, which didn’t go over the rough parts of the rapids as they ranged from grade 6 to grade 2. The very first one we all had to go over was a grade 5! I did jump out and swim occasionally, as we covered about 25km of the river in the whole day with only 8 rapids throughout, and the water was surprisingly warm.

From Jinga we headed back into Kenya, stopping again at Eldoret for a night en route to Nairobi. This time we were only in Kenya for two nights and we didn’t actually see Nairobi as we stayed in Karen, on the outskirts, named after Karen Blixen, whom the film ‘Out of Africa’ was based on. Sean and I went to the original homestead, which is now a museum, and the grounds and cottage are absolutely lovely. That night a group of us went to Carnivore, an all-you-can-eat game buffet. Once upon a time they used to serve up zebra, giraffe and other exotic animals but these days the out-there dishes extend to chicken gizzard and liver, sheep testicles, ostrich, crocodile and antelope along with chicken, turkey, lamb, beef and pork. It was an experience, to say the least!