Last day

The last day of the trip. Today we will reach our final destination, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.

To get there in reasonable time we have to start early, in the crack of dawn as usual.

Today we are just driving, so we have to pack our lunch at breakfast to eat while driving. We just do a few quick stops for bush-toilet. 

After approx six o hours driving our driver stops at the side of the road and Morrison won't start again. They have to get to the engine and do something and after a few minutes he is ready to go again. 

We are now pretty close to the border, but it still feels like we are driving forever before we finally get there. The border procedure goes pretty smooth and we get in to Zim. They give us a quick tour of town before we go to the activity centre and confirm our activities before we check in to our hotel.

Suddenly the group is splitted without us even realising it. 

Myself, roomie and the four Americans are going on a sunset cruise on Zambezi river and I manage to just have one of the best shower in four weeks before departure.

The cruise was nice. All drinks and snacks were included, so this was our happy hour of the day. We saw not only a beautiful sunset, but hippos, a crocodile and some elephants.

We managed to get dropped of at the restaurant, Mama Africa, where we had reservations for tonight. The dinner was great and we had such a great time.

After walking back to the hotel we needed a night cap in the hotel bar, even if eyes and bodies were tired now.

Tonight I have no roomie, a strange feeling to be on my own again.

Christmas Eve

Waking up on Christmas Eve, the sun is shining and the frogs has sang for us all night. 

This was to be a bit of a different Christmas Eve since I had to spend most of it in Morrison going to Lusaka, the capital of Zambia. 

We drove along mountain roads and a green landscape was passing by outside our windows. It was very forest looking. Every now and then there was a little village or a farm, but mainly vegetation for most of the route.

We stopped at a local market along the road. They sold baskets on the one side of the road and fish on the other, with some different stalls in between.

I tried something they deep fried and turned out to be a piece of dough. It was like a savoury doughnut. 

We got to Lusaka and had to drive straight through town, which took a long time due to traffic. On the other side we stopped at a shopping mall. We where told they had wifi so that we could contact our friends and families for Christmas, but it wasn't working.

At our campsite we were met by a small herd of zebras walking around the chalets. Pretty cool!

Due to getting upgraded and installed I never got to see them really up close. Anyway, we set up for our last Happy Hour and because it is Christmas we had bubbles.

Dinner tonight was really different from other nights. Lots of food. It was a nice last meal together. We even got ice cream for pudding that was specially delivered to the camp. 

The evening ended with a few drinks in the bar. Great night!

However it was time to go to bed. The trip is not yet finished and we have a long days drive ahead of us tomorrow.  

South Luangwa NP, Zambia

Even tonight it was raining. For every night I'm more convinced we are doing the right thing by upgrading.

Our lost soldiers was brought back and the group was complete again, ready for new adventures.

Today we are leaving Malawi to cross the border into Zambia. Just before the border, at a road block, a police officer decides we don't have all our papers in place and we are kept there by the side of the road for quite a while until it is all sorted and we can proceed. 

Border passing goes rather quick this time. 

Welcome to Zambia!

We stop at the first town and a supermarket to stock up and then just outside town we stop for lunch at a nice camp site. 

The last part of today's journey goes through a green bushy landscape. Not as much farmland anymore. Unfortunately we are passing through quite a bit of rain, but rather while driving, than when we reach our destination. 

Our destination today was South Luangwa NP. The camp was beautifully placed on the river bank. 

Tonight me and my roomie upgraded to a great permanent tent. We had our own bathroom and a beautiful view, comfortable beds and I was a happy puppy.

Together with our neighbours we had our Happy Hour as the sun set, overlooking the river and its hippos, elephants etc... 

Life can be hard sometimes! :)

Tonight I will go to sleep listening to hippos and that is such a lovely experience.

Six of us were up in the crack of dawn to go on a game drive. It turned out to be such a beautiful and successful morning. We saw lots of animals including a big group of wild dogs, about ten hyenas, all full and tired after a big meal at the look of them. We also saw giraffes, impalas, zebras, elephants etc. But unfortunately no cats.

On return back to the camp we got a nice second breakfast and then joined the others by and in the pool. It was a lovely sunny day. 

After lunch three of us went for a little walk. We were told about a lagoon but when trying to find it we passed some chalets and there we saw acme elephants wandering around, it turned out to be six of them. We got a little bit too close for our own good and a guy from the lodge came running telling us to get in the one building. It was an open bar area from where we had full view of the elephants. They walked around looking for fruits to feed on and they were right up by the building. If we were allowed to we could have reached out a hand and touched them. What an experience!

However, we now had a problem. One of the big bulls didn't want to leave the property and we had to be back at camp for a sunset game drive. Then a second bull came back. When they both went behind the on chalet the guy escorted us out of there.

The sunset drive wasn't as successful as the morning. However the sunset was amazing!

A late Braai waited for us on arrival. Lovely day!

Another early morning. We packed up and left the camp in two safari vehicles. Morrison will meet up a little later. 

First we visited a village and was shown around and told how the people lived. At the end of the tour they sang and danced. A very good visit.

Lots of kids here too, but better behaved than in other places we've been.

After a stop at a textile workshop, that was closed in December and only the shop was open, Morison came to pick us up.

A found a new friend in that shop, a tall man, and I'm taking him home. But the thing is a think he is a her.

We drove back to Chipati where we stopped at the same supermarket as two days ago before we continued to Petauke where we will stop for the night.

We got some heavy rain and there was nowhere to sit inside for dinner, why we all stood outside the truck and the ablution block. Even our happy hour before dinner had to move due to the rain and became a picnic on the floor of one of the cabins.

Yip, sleeping in a bed tonight too...

History lesson

Today started with a guided tour around the local village, Ngala. We passed the fishermen who had been out fishing during the night and was now cleaning nets and letting the fish dry. Along the beach was lots of women dong washing. 

We continued into the village where we was told about how they get land, build houses, what they grow etc.

They took us to the local school. It is a primary school standard 1-8. They have 1400 learners and 9 teachers. A class is often just over 200 learners.

Schooling is free and most families in the village send their kids to school. They might not finish the eight standards and few move up to secondary school and further. 

We visited the health clinic. Two doctors, three nurses and the rest of the in total 26 staff look after around 220 patients a day. In average 3 babies are born here every day.

The most common illness and reason to come to the clinic is Malaria. 

They also have hiv testing and family planning on top of the medical help.

The last stop for our walk was the little local market where people tried to earn some money on their crops and to buy things they don't have or grow themselves.

It was an interesting and very hot morning. Back at the resort most of us spent the time around and in the pool. A lovely relaxed afternoon. Before dinner was served our little group of course met up for our "Happy hour". Coming to the dinner we were met by a set table and candles. We got served a very nice dinner of fish. 

Me and my roomie went to pay our bill and got stuck there sorting that out and chatting to the owners of the resort. Very nice people. Due to this we missed a dance performance by some local kids. Not a big miss for me, I'm sure we hade a much better time chatting in the bar.

The next morning we left early going to the capital, Lilongwe. On the way we stopped in Nkhotakota, a village with a lot of history, from both former country leaders and Dr. Livingstone. In the village was also some runs of a mosque that used to belong to the village Bonga, a village nowadays under water.

At our lunch stop along the road we got to eat with an audience, a group of children stood a few meters away watching us carefully. It felt a bit uncomfortable I must admit. 

When we reached our camp there was a bit of a problem. The rooms for the accommodated travellers had been given away to another Nomad truck arriving just before us. So after happy hour and dinner our friends got moved to a different accommodation. But, for me and my roomie there was a room available. A room they normally don't rent out as their accommodation, but there were two beds, toilet and a shower and we even got towels. What more can you ask for for a few bucks?

Going to Malawi

I slept so good in that thing we found, surrounded with only fresh air.

We started our journey before sunrise, and depending on the border control we may reach our destination after sun set. We were of course hoping for the best!

We only stopped for bush toilets for the passengers or diesel fill up for Morrison. We even had lunch in the truck while driving.

As we reached the border, the check out on the Tanzanian side was pretty smooth and easy. We just for some reason had to fill in entry forms - on our way out! Anyway.

We drove the 500 meters across no-mans-land to the Malawian border. This took a bit longer. We hade to fill in two forms, pay the money for our visas, hand in the passports and just wait.

It took us approx 1h30min, so it wasn't too bad.

I was the last one to get my passport back with a stamped visa, I was officially in Malawi, a big highlight for me on this trip.

As soon as we crossed the border the scenery changed. It was so different to Tanzania. Even though a lot of the houses are more primitive it all looks much nicer and "cleaner" in a way. That doesn't mean clear and clean from rubbish, because that is not the case at all, it is very dirty that way. No another feeling of clean, as for mor organised and structured when it comes to how the houses and the land is organised.

Also the vegetation is different. We came from rolling green hills and now it is flat and yellowish. Very pretty.

Our first home in the new country is right on the beach of Lake Malawi. Me and my roomie try to find out if it is possible to sleep outside, but they don't recommend it. However, someone mentions upgrade and cheap in the same sentence. That being heard we check it out and yip, for a few dollars we have our on en suite room. Only one bed and one sheet, but we are both ok with that, so we are happily moving in.

In the middle of the night we got to be very happy and thankful for our decision, a huge thunderstorm was right over us. The rain was heavy, and boy was I lucky I took the upgrade.

Three tents got really wet, one even flooded. Three people ended up sleeping in the bar.

When we got up in the early morning the sun was up and it was difficult to find tracks of the rain except for the wet people and tents. 

Our journey continued down south, we climbed up the mountain roads. The scenery changed again to fresh greens and the views were amazing. Every now and then we got a glimpse of the lake.

We stopped at a small craft market where I bought some small things, mainly to support the locals with a few bucks.

The resort we arrived to was lovely. Of course me and my roomie decided to upgrade to accommodated. We had to pay quite a bit more here than last night, however we got loads more for our money too... 

I think I have given up camping now. Let's see if it works out as well for the rest of the trip.

Morning game drive

I was the only one of the campers to go for the game drive this morning so I tried to sneak out as quiet as I could.

We got served breakfast in the sunrise before leaving.

I think I can say that more or less for every game drive the Impala is the first animal seen. So even for us this morning.

However, what waited around the corner is probably not very common and was not expected. There are always wishes when you go for a game drive, but they hardly ever happened.

About three minutes drive from the gate, just by the little dirt road lay ten, TEN lions. Three males and five females. 

How awesome was that?? 

One couple stayed a little bit away from the other eight. We approached them first, which didn't seem to bother them too much, the continued their business and in three months time there might be some cubs being born. :)

What a brilliant start of this glorious morning. The luck continued the coming hours, we got to see lots and lots of animals. First group of giraffes we bumped into, also next to the road, were 18. All in all we must have seen hundred giraffes and the same or more elephants. This together with herds of Impala, buffaloes, some hippos, a couple of jackals, warthog and more, made our early morning well worth both money and the early start.

When we got back to camp an early lunch was served and then it was time to hit the road. We only have 200km to go, but in our truck and on this roads that means a six hour drive. We climbed two mountain passes and stopped in a baobab forest. 

When we finally got to our destination and it was time to set up camp three of us decided to not put tents up and instead sleep in a thatched gazebo type of building. 

Tonight's dinner was a traditional Masai dinner served in an old Masai ruin that now is preserved under a new roof. Peanut butter soup and beef with ogali and vegetables all from the farm we were staying at. It was a great meal.

A treat for today was that this place had hot water. The water is heated with a constant fire. The only problem with that was that after a while the water got far too hot! Not being used to hot water makes it even hotter.

I crawled into my sleeping bag and felt that this was going to be a good night out in the fresh air. The only not so nice thing was the alarm, set for 04.25!

Well, tomorrow is another day!

Long day on the road

Got woken up by raindrops coming through my tent windows landing on my sweaty body. It took a few seconds to react. I checked the time, 02.30. Hmmm...

Crawled out to put the rain cover on the tent, only to find there wasn't one by my tent. Strange since I did put it in the bag when I packed it up in Bagamoyo. Anyway. I helped some of the others to get theirs on and I closed my windows and door and hoped for the best.

The rain wasn't too heavy and it disappeared rather, just to come back a bit heavier shortly after. Together with some thunder.

I struggled to get back to sleep and was constantly checking that my tent didn't leak. 

Not until a few hours later I got back to a deeper sleep, but at 05.30 it was time to get the day started. I was still dry from the rain.

By 7 o'clock we were packed up and on the road again. We had to go back towards Dar Es Salaam and go round the way we "short cutted" yesterday by taking the small ferry. 

Shortly after we departures we met some rain, and then more rain, some thunder and lightning. The roads were flooded at times and traffic very slow. 

After six hours driving we stopped for lunch and had only got 100 km out of our 280 for today.

I had set my mind from the beginning today, that it was to be a pretty long day sitting and bouncing around in our Morrison so the last part went ok after all. 

I'm trying to take in as much as I can from the environment and surroundings as it passes by outside my window.

We did a shopping stop at a "real" mall, the first one I've seen since this adventure started. The pantry and fridge got stocked up and so did we passengers. 

The last 50 km to our camp went through a National Park, so we could spend it looking for animals. We were not allowed to stop but we got to see a few while driving.

As we got to camp me and my newly arrived roomie put up our tent and moved in for the night. 

A lovely dinner was served and a great, but little too hot for the area, bonfire was lit for the evening. Some of us spent time there, while others fought for the wifi.

I signed up for a game drive in the morning so a shower and sleep was next on my agenda. The shower was a bit so so. About twenty different kind of bugs and very very many of each kind had decided that our bathrooms was a great place for the night. I don't freak out by bugs, but having a shower in these masses was, how should I say it, not pleasant! 

But hey, as we say: "It's part of the adventure!" :)

Back to mainland

Our holiday weekend has come to an end. It is now time to return to adventure. It's been a lovely few day, but now I'm looking forward to continue the journey.

We drive back to Stone Town and get there in perfect time for the ferry. Almost so perfect there shouldn't be enough time to enjoy the very fancy lounge. Well comfy furniture and air con was the fancy part, but since that is rare these days you try to get the most out of it. Quickly it turned out there should be enough time to enjoy. Our ferry had some problems and couldn't leave for Dar Es Salaam. We were to wait for another one to depart two hours later. Suddenly everyone disappeared to walk around and have a last look at Stone Town, and I was left looking after our luggage. Our guide that volunteered to do that, also disappeared. It was no problem tho, more than I started to get hungry. 

One of my fellow passengers came back and took my place and let me go have lunch. When I met up with the rest of the group at Mercury Restaurant they were still waiting for their food. There was no time for me to order, and one of the girls kindly offered to share hers with me, if she'd ever get it.

After putting a bit of pressure on the staff we finally got the food, got to eat it and pay as we saw the ferry coming to dock.

The ferry was smaller than the one coming here and the number of passengers many more. When it was full, there was still hordes of people getting onboard. There were people everywhere, on floors, in stairs, sitting, standing, laying. I hade a guys head on my foot.

Not so sure of the safety of that trip, but we did make t safely to the mainland.

The systems of boarding and disembarking was a bit chaotic and different, and when we finally got the group together we had to walk 1-1,5 km to a new ferry. Here the system was if possible even worse. And the same thing, it was probably very overloaded.

It only took a few minutes to cross the water this time and on the other side a minibus was waiting for us to take us the last short trip to the camp.

Since we arrived later than expected due to the ferry problems it was even nicer to find all our tents up and the dinner already on its way.

I asked our "Captain"  who put our tents up if I should take it personally since five tents were placed in a group to the right and my tent was standing all alone to the left!? :)

I choose to believe it was special to be there. Hahahaha!

We gathered in the bar for a drink after a long days travelling before dinner was ready. 

Today one family member is leaving us and three new are added. So the family has grown to 18 + our 2 guides/cook/driver.

After dinner and a briefing we went back to the bar for a farewell drink to our friend leaving.

Then it was time for a shower to try and refresh and then crawl in to what felt like another hot night.

Zanzibar

After the first night in Stone Town we moved up north to Nungwi, on the very top of the island. A drive of about one and a half hour in total.

However on the way we stopped at a spice farm and those who wanted went on a tour to learn more about spices. I of course did.

It was so great to see our common spices that we always see in a glass jar or a bag being real plants and to learn how they grow and look as fresh plants.

During the tour we had to watch a guy climbing a palm tree and sing for us. Then he served us coconut, first we drank the water in it, then we ate the flesh inside.

Last stop was a fruit tasting.

Just after lunch we arrived at our resort, that would be our home for the coming two nights. What a beautiful place. Having a roo.m facing the swimming pool and with air con wasn't too shabby either.

Of course I had to have a dip in the ocean. The water was bathtub warm, turquoise and very very clear. It was just lovely.

After the dip in the ocean I moved into the pool. Only when I was really pruned out I got out of there. But what actually took us out was the "Cocktail Happy Hour" at the bar.

Two cocktails later we went for dinner and then it was bedtime. This heat makes you sleepy.

Since we wasn't going anywhere next morning was a sleep in. However most people were up early when it was still I pleasant temperature.

After breakfast I went with my US friends around the village where we stay.

It got very warm and the staff tried to monitor my room to see that it didn't get too warm.

The rest of the day was spent in the ocean and in and around the pool. 

What a lovely day.

And the lovely day ended with a great dinner at the next door hotel. We sat on the ocean kind of, with the best view. Just as we finished our meal the wind picked up and some drizzle of rain. 

I planned to spend the evening in the room reading etc, but turned out I was far too tired for doing anything.

Heading south

We left Arusha early in the morning to drive to Bagamoyo north of Dar Es Salaam on the coast. It was a very long drive, 11 hours we spent in our truck Morrison. It was bumpy and hot but everyone was in a good mood.

We arrived to Bagamoyo to be able to see the build camp and to cook dinner before the darkness arrived.

That night was so hot I didn't know where to turn in my tent. The only thing that kept me from going out to spend the night under the stars was the mosquitos.

In the morning we headed to Dar Es Salaam that I now learned is not the capital of Tanzania. From there we took a ferry to Unguya, which is the real name of the island we normally call Zanzibar. 

Zanzibar actually means "many islands" and includes the two big islands Unguya and Pemba together with about 50 small islands.

First night we stayed in Stone Town. I attended a great and very interesting guided city tour. The most interesting and also most scaring part of the tour was the history of the slaves. Zanzibar was a huge slave port for 400 years. About two million slaves passed through here.

We got to see the actual chambers the were kept in waiting for the auctions.

It was horrible. Where the auction place was, the built a church only short after the end of slavery. The banned slavery in Zanzibar 6 June 1873, but it didn't finish until as late as 1907.

In the church you find a circular mark by the altar, this marks out where the whipping pole was placed,on the square for auction.

We also visited som beautiful old buildings and finally the house where Freddy  Murcery was born.

It was a great tour.

Fallen tree

Fell asleep rather early last night, which is probably the reason to me waking up early today. Breakfast was sat to 08.00 and I was awake long before. 

Due to yesterday's disaster with the fallen tree we had no hot water. Starting to get use to this cold showers. It is not as pleasant, but it is ok. At least the one this morning was not ice cold.

Before breakfast I had a look at the disaster with the fallen tree. Already lots of people were there working on getting it sorted. One guy was busy with his axe  and I felt so sorry for him, it would take him days to chop up that big tree. Because it was a big thing, a massive "Yellow Fever tree" and it had taken half another tree it its fall.

Three out of five tents were still standing, two were flattened under the tree.

After I had my breakfast I couldn't just stand there watching them. At least a guy with a chain saw had arrived, which made it much smoother. 

I went to fetch my gloves that I was recommended to bring for the Gorilla tracking, and offered my help.

In the next two hours I was carrying branches in different sizes from the camp site, cross the lawn, through the gate, up the road and around the corner to where it was dumped, a,trip of about 100meters or so. And I did it many times. Some branches were much heavier than others. There were 3-5 of us dong that while the rest where clearing bigger pieces of the tree and clearing up.

Finally the last branch was taken away. I now left the cleaning up to do to the other ladies.

All the guys were very thankful and rather impressed about what a big strong white woman can do! 

For the second time today I went under the cold shower. 

As a thank you for helping them I get my clothes washed and I got a half bottle of wine that I sat sipping and enjoying in half sun/half shade.

I've seen worse days!

Now we are waiting for the electricity to get fixed. Poles and wires are all ripped down by the tree. Not so sure that will happen today. It will probably be another evening in the dark.

Surprise! They came and fixed the electricity before dark. It was very interesting to see them work and how they sorted the the broken wires out. 

New trip, new group

As mentioned, my Uganda time was now over and it was time to catch up with the other trip I'm doing. They actually left Nairobi on the 5th, but since the first four days is an optional excursion in Serengeti I decided to skip that and just go with them for the rest of the trip. 

Meaning I had to go to Arusha in northern Tanzania where the truck, the guides and any travellers not doing Serengeti are while the others are away.

My transport from the hotel in Kampala to the airport in Entebbe wished for us to start early due to traffic in town. We left at 8.00 and my flight was at 12.00.

After driving around for an hour trying to avoid the traffic and still get out of town, the driver stopped and said he needed to check something. What he could see was that the one break "had jumped off". It should be an easy fix. Luckily we were just by a garage.

It turned out not being so easy to fix. The break was all broke and the van couldn't go any further. 

So, here I was in the outskirts of Kampala, needing to go to Entebbe to catch a flight. No car anymore and time was ticking.

The driver got hold of an other car and off we went. With approx 30 min to spare I got to the airport, through all the two hundred controls of passport, ticket, security, luggage etc...

Today was a day of travelling. First flight went from Entebbe to Kigali, Rwanda. From there I flew to Nairobi and then finally to Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. Where I got picked up and taken to the lodge close to Arusha where we are staying.

I met my new guides, but no travellers. They are all in Serengeti. I had a nice dinner and a fantastic shower before I crawled into bed in my very nice room. Only tent for the night is the mosquito net.

Woke up after a pretty good night sleep. I was taken to a snake park and Masai museum, which was included and where the others had been before. It was ok, not something I will remember for the rest of my life maybe.

We stopped at a big supermarket in town where I could get some local currency and some essentials + lunch. 

As I got out of the supermarket the heaven had opened and the rain bucketed down. Waited a bit, but realised it was just to get out there if I should get some food. Found a place where you built your own burger. It was nice!

On the way back to the lodge the rain came back and it didn't want to stop. We stayed in the truck a couple of minutes to see if it would ease off, but not, so I took my thinks and rushed to my room, just to find it flooded. 

I had to move! The new room wasn't as nice as the first one, but perfectly fine, and most importantly - dry!

The rain lasted quite a while and I took the opportunity to read a bit and sort out papers and money and other admin needed on a trip. 

When the rain finally stopped I sat out on my little veranda with a glass of wine.

A bit later when I was inside in the dark waiting for the power to get switched on I heard a big noise and a few people shouting. My first thought was that they dropped something from upstairs at the cottage next door. I later got to know that it was a tree that fell over. And that it was pretty serious. It fell over the campsite where I should have slept if they didn't gave me a room. I few tents are under the tree and we don't know if they are ok or not until the tree is removed, which hopefully will happen tomorrow. 

It also pulled a few wires in the fall, so now the electricity is not only switch off, it is totally gone.

After a candle light dinner on my own I got into my dark room and thought I could read a book in the light of my head torch. When I noticed that I've already read the book I brought, and it wasn't even that good the first time.

Another adventures day in Africa! 

Saving the Rhinos

We were given the opportunity to visit a Rhino Sanctionary. I was the only one that wanted to go, so me and the local guide took off before the others.

It is a place where they are breeding rhinos. The last rhino was shot in Uganda 1983 after many years of hunting pushed by former president Idi Amin. 

When this Sanctionary started they got four rhinos from Kenya and two from Orlando Zoo in Florida. Today they have 15 in the Sanctionary and two at Entebbe Zoo. These are all rhinos existing in Uganda.

When they get to 35 they want to start move 15-20 of them to Murchison Falls NP. 

The animals are monitored 24/7, but only on foot. No gps or similar is allowed to be used. The area is 70 square kilometres and here the animals live free as in the wild.

This morning two of the rhinos has sneaked in to the camp site since someone left the gate open. They only eat short grass and at the campsite it is nice and short. No, no one was camping there. 

After had a look at these two we moved to a different place in the area where another two were spotted. 

After enjoying them for a while I unfortunately had to leave the group and head back and meet my group to get back to Kampala.

This was the end of my trip. After dropping me off at the same hotel as before and lunch there the others continued. They still had a few days to get back to Nairobi.

I sorted my bags out and got ready for the next chapter. Tomorrow I'm leaving Uganda for a new tour and new group.

Murchison Falls

Another early morning (it is not a sleep away holiday). Off we went in a smaller van since our truck is not allowed to come in to the Murchison Fall where we were going today. 

In the morning we did a gam drive and got to see lots of animals. But to get there we drove on a red sand road that never seam to end and then we had to take a small ferry over the river Nile. 

In the beginning we saw mainly buck, waterbuck, Ugandan kob, red Heartbeest and a small one that I don't recall the name of. Well, not to forget the group of Buffaloes on the way into the park.

We also saw lots and lots of both giraffes and elephants, more Buffaloes and some other odds and ends. It was a great drive.

We got on the ferry back and went towards the Murchison Falls, the actual waterfalls. It is not big, but very powerful falls. On the way there we got hit by a massive hailstorm. The driver wasn't sure he could make it to the falls, but suddenly he stopped and said we were there. 

It was a quick visit, because we were now a bit delayed and we had more interesting and exciting things on the agenda.

We were going chimpanzee tracking. Same idea as for the gorillas, but different ape. Chimpanzees are more difficult to find since they often stay high up in the trees and they also move,very fast. However we came across a group after a while. They did stay very high up and was a bit difficult to see, but it was still a great moment.

While I was staying there some of my groups was talking louder and louder until I realised they were talking to me - they where actually telling me I was getting peed on! Too late! As we got out of the forest I also got to know I was pooped on as well. Not the most pleasant, but hey, how often will you be peed and pooped on by a chimpanzee?!

Another successful day was to an end. 

Bwck to Kampala

The morning after the Gorilla experience we headed back to Kampala. The same long drive back. This time we didn't stop much. Had a late lunch break at the equator, then tried to get back to Kampala as early as possible to try and avoid too much traffic.

I went to the local supermarket with the lady from SA to stock up some personal things. Tonight we are sharing a room and we got one with a balcony/patio where we organised to get two chairs and two glasses. Then we spent the time until dinner there, drinking wine and chatting about travelling and life. 

The next morning power was out in our part of the hotel, meaning the shower was refreshing. 

We left Kampala pretty early and took the highway heading north towards South Sudan. However before we got close to that border we turned left towards the little town Masindi. Masindi is a very old town with the oldest hotels in the country. This is where a lot of trading was done in the past.

We stayed at a camp a few Km's outside town.

Some of the group took a stroll into town in the heat however I stayed behind and just chilled. 

The temperature was very different in this part of the country. We sat outside all evening with no jersey. Lovely. It was a lovely evening where myself and the lady from SA sat chatting to the guides until late

Gorilla Tracking

We had to wake up early and before sunrise we were on our way up to the misty mountains. After a long and bumpy road we finally reached our destination, the jungle high up above the mist. 

This area is the only one in the world where the mountain gorillas live in the wild. All in all there are 12 groups of them, where of 2 in Rwanda, 1 in DRC and the rest in Uganda. Where we are there are 5 groups. 

When you go for gorilla tracking first of all you need to apply for a permit in advance. The group going can be no more than eight plus the Rangers and guide. There is also a maximum of how many tracking groups are allowed in the entire area per day.

Every tracking group is given a specific gorilla group to track. Meaning there are always gorilla groups left alone.

Tracking is done by foot and no equipment like gps etc are used. This means you never know when, where or even if you will be able to track your group and actually see them.  If you should be unlucky and never find gorillas you are getting a 50% refund of your permit fee. 

I was determined, I didn't want any money back. I wanted value for my money! And stepped into that jungle with a great spirit and a big smile.

Two trackers were sent out before we arrive to try and help locate the gorillas. 

It was a lovely morning. The sun was shining and the jungle was shining in all different greens one can imagine. The pathway was a bit tricky at times with both small streams of water to cross and lots of mud. After about twenty minutes walk we got the message we all wanted. The trackers had located the group, and were only about 40 min away from us. The steps got lighter and the excitement raised. We were to see the gorillas today!

Not even 30 min later we could here them coming towards us in the thick vegetation. We stopped on the path, left our walking poles on the side and prepared cameras. Hardly had we done so when the first gorilla stepped out of the vegetation, just in front of us. WoW!! What a moment that was!!

In total they were about eight. Some of them just past us, some sat down at the side of the path for a snack of some fresh leaves. It was just so awesome!

One remind behind us and our guide asked us to step of the path on the one side to let him pass. But before he came pass another one suddenly jumped out from were he wasn't seen and run passed us trying to kick us. He never kicked anyone but I had his big strong foot and bum just cm's from my legs. 

We stayed for a bit to let all of them wander away before the Rangers took their machetes out and we went straight into to vegetation to try and follow the gorillas. We found them in and around a big tree. 

When they are located we have maximum one hour with them then we need to leave them alone.

Sometimes they come up to you and touches you. They are not afraid. However you are not allowed to touch them. We didn't have any that curious gorillas in our group, but a few sat and checked us out for a long time.

When our hour was up we headed back to the starting point the same way as we came in. We were very lucky to find them so close and so early, some has to trek for hours and hours.

This Kent we got back to camp early and had time to wash all the mud of shoes and clothes etc. 

What an awesome day!! An experience I will never forget!

Start of adventure

My East African adventure starts in Uganda. I arrived here late Sunday night after a bit of trouble with pre booked transport not arriving and a pre booked hotel room that was not on the list.

Anyway, I got to the hotel and they gave me a room. I even got a few hours sleep before it was time to take of for the real adventure. 

We left Kampala in the morning to head for Lake Bunyonyi. It was a long drive, but we did some short stops. First stop was the equator. It was kind of cool to walk on the equator for the second time this year, in two different continents.

We arrived to our camp at Lake Bunyonyi and it was dark. Putting up the tent for the first time and it's dark was a new experience.

After a night much colder then expected and the first night strapped in a sleeping bag I opened the tent and that view that met me... it made me forget everything about a bad night. It was stunning. The lake just on my doorstep surrounded with green rolling hills. 

Today we took a boat trip on the lake to visit a village where the pygmies lives. A lovely trip on he water, a not as pleasant climb on steep narrow paths took us all the way up to their village.

They danced and sang, sold us there craft work and showed their houses and school before we started our climb back down. It wasn't too bad going down. That being said I was the only one slipping and sitting on the bum.

After lunch being served as we got a free afternoon. It was great. Also time to prepare for tomorrow's trekking.