Kenya and Uganda on a shoestring

Hi Guys,

We hope you all got a nice Christmas. We did!

After our farewell party at CRC, we left Thika to start with our long journey all the way back to South Africa (and to Sizanani of course). We booked our flight ticket from Johannesburg for February 28, so we have 3 months to come there.
We’re now on our way for 3 ½ week, so an update about what we did the past weeks.

We hired bicycles to cycle around Lake Bogoria, with its flamingo’s and geysers. The scenery was beautiful, although we couldn’t really enjoy our way back because of flat tyres (both) and no water left.
We ate Gouda cheese in Eldoret and even went back a few days later to buy more cheese:)!
That few days, we spend in Saiwa Swamp National Park, with all its monkeys and birds. And the rare Sitatunga antelope. We had the campsite for ourselves there and without electricity, we felt on another planet for a few days, very nice!
From Eldoret (2nd time), we crossed the border with Uganda and from there we went direct to Mbale, on the foot of Mount Elgon. We took a matatu (minibus) to the Sipi Falls the next day, a very uncomfortable ride. We were sitting in front and the driver was speeding in the mountains, so lots of cyclists and pedestrians just escaped from crashing with our car.
But Sipi Falls was very nice (the falls were of course nothing compared to the Victoria Falls), a very relaxing place. We walked to the foot of the Falls and were accompanied by 5 very nice guides. Children who just finished working in the fruit & vegetable gardens there. They told us a lot about the fruits, vegetables and trees, so we had a very informative walk. While we were really sweating from the walk uphill, the children did it easily with bags full of vegetables on their head.
From the Sipi Falls, we went to Jinja, the source of the Nile and very famous for it’s 5-grade white water rafting. Our campsite was situated next to the Nile, so again very scenic!
The rafting itself was very spectacular, especially the flip over we made with our first 5-grade rapid. The raft was totally vertical before it flipped. Unfortunately, it went very rough, so Anne bumped her knee against nose and lip, with a result of 2 teeth through the lip, 1 tooth broken and another one loose. So instead of rafting the rest of the day, we spend our time in the hospital and in the taxi (it was about 2 hours to the hospital). The doctor had to put 3 stitches and because it was weekend, there was no dentist. So only after 2 days, 1 part of the tooth was renewed. We had to stay in Kampala for a few days, till the stitches were removed.
Because we got a phone call from the Ugandan Wildlife Authority that there were 2 cancellations for gorilla permits (we went there the day before to check, but everything was fully booked then), we changed our plans. Instead of going north for the chimps, we went west, direction Bwindi National Park.
First to Lake Bunyoni, close to the border with Rwanda. Because the campsite was on an island in the lake, we had a pick up with a canoe. We spend the time on the island relaxing and eating ;), what a life :)! From the lake, we first had a shared taxi (shared meaning everybody had to sit on each others lap) to Kabale. From there, our only option was a pick-up truck to Bwindi. We started with 7 people in the truck, but soon it was fully loaded with big bags of potatoes, maize meal and too many people. We had to grab everything we could to prevent us from falling out of the truck. The ride was dusty, very dusty, and long, very long. After 6 hours of dust, dark clouds were coming closer and closer. And a short while later, there was thunder and lightning all around us and of course rain, lots of rain. So soaked, muddy and still shaking from the fear of the thunder and lighting, we arrived at the campsite. Because everything was wet, including sleeping bags, we spend the first night in the dorms. After a day of washing and drying everything, it was time for the big day, gorilla tracking! We were lucky, we were going to visit the big Habinyanja family. We had to descent a steep (and very slippery) hill first, but after about 1 hour of walking we arrived at the place where the gorillas were. It was really amazing to see the gorillas and especially to see them so close. While the older ones were relaxing, the baby’s were swinging in the trees. At one point, the big Silverback (older male) almost attacked Rob (because he came to close to a mother and baby).
In the end, we got a big surprise; there was a new born, only born in the night or morning. So we were the first tourists (Anne the very first one:)) to see this miracle. So the day was amazing!!
From Bwindi, we traveled to Queen Elizabeth National Park, were we spend our Christmas. We stayed on the campsite (no fences), in the middle of lions, hippo’s and elephants. Very scary outside the tent at night, but inside the tent, it was fantastic to listen to all the sounds, especially the roaring lion the last night (the whole night). While walking, we passed grazing hippos now and then.
We had very good dinners, buffet at the lodge, so our Christmas was nice, although we missed of course our family (and the cold Christmas weather). We went for a boat ride on the channel, from where we saw hippos, crocodiles, buffaloes, elephants and many, many birds.
We were lucky to get a ride to outside the park from a Dutch couple and the bus to Masaka came a few minutes after we were dropped on the main road.
So here we are now, in Masaka, close to Tanzania, where we’re heading to tomorrow. And from there we go down, all the way to South Africa.

Enjoy your New Year’s Eve!

Love, Rob and Anne