Who knows when this blog will be uploaded but at least it’s being written fairly currently. Celebrated my last 20-something birthday and not thinking about the next big birthday. Been having some amazing days here in Africa but also getting very acquainted with my truck seat.
Another Day, Another Travel Day
To get from Kenya to Uganda is quite a distance so we had 3 long days on the truck. The last got us to near Kibale Forest National Park. We are at a really picturesque campsite which has hot showers with no roof. Took a photo of the view from the showers.
(Shower Photo)
Chimpanzee Hike
Luckily my birthday fell not on a travel day but one of the best days so far on this adventure. We got up early and headed to a national park where guides help you go and see some chimpanzees in the wild. After dividing into small groups, the other 3 groups headed off but our group had to wait for a spare guide. Eventually she arrived and we headed off. The people our guide had been with before had been extremely lucky to see the chimps and monkeys fighting that morning, so their normal routine had been messed with by the time we got there. We were still able to see quite a few, and the noise they make is incredible.
(chimp)
Our guide controlled how close we went but since this was the wild, the chimps could choose to come closer to us as long as we stood still. One chimp came racing towards us and climbed a tree about an arms-length away from someone from our group. Got this photo with a chimp that was having a rest.
(me & chimpanzee)
It was a nice hike around the rainforest but there were some evil safari ants who attacked a few of our group. The ants are sneaky devils because they walk up the outside of your trousers and then sneak into your mid-section around your shirt and then start biting. Not fun for that bit!
Village Hike
Headed back to our campsite (which had been invaded by a school group – so glad I was on holidays – poor teachers) and had the option of going for a walk around the local village. Headed off with two guides and then got caught in a rain shower in the middle of the village. The guide led us to a local’s house where we took shelter and waited out the rain. Kinda cut short our hike but got to see some great tea fields (everything is just crazy green here) and one of the smoothest lakes I’ve seen in a long while. Unfortunately the rain hung around for a while and it was a bit tricky having a shower since it was open to the elements. Had to wrap my dry clothes in my rain jacket and then enjoy having a warm shower outside while it was raining.
Queen Elizabeth National Park
Left our campsite and kept heading towards Rwanda (even might have re-crossed the equator back to the Southern Hemisphere) and arrived at the great lakes of Edward and George in the Great Rift Valley. We were booked on a boat cruise along Kazinga Channel which connects the two major lakes. Headed straight to some elephants and got pretty close from the boat. Now only missing leopard to complete the Big 5!
(elephant – No.4 of 5)
This cruise was also a fantastic time to see hippos and more buffalo. They certainly seemed to be enjoying the water and just relaxing out of the heat.
(hippo yawning)
Blog Competition – Hippopotamuses
We were on the boat for 2 hours and saw heaps of birds, a few alligators (which don’t photograph at all well) and some more lions. There was a male lion in the bushes but my camera couldn’t really get a clear enough shot. Also finally saw a hippo stand after most seemed happy to wallow in the mud. Which leads me to my question for this blog – what is a group of hippos called?
(hippo standing)
Headed back to our campsite and a cold shower which was actually quite refreshing after the heat of the day. Our campsite was approximately a kilometre from the lake so we thought most animals wouldn’t make the trek up the hill. But as a couple were heading back to the tents from the covered area they nearly ran into a hippo. Hippopotamuses are known for being dangerous to humans (Mainly fisherman if they’re caught between the hippo and the river) so they certainly were a bit surprised and ran back to the group. The hippo didn’t like having 5 torches shone on it so it waddled down to the river and some people didn’t sleep as well as they were expecting.
Since it was so warm we had kept our windows on the tents open but then after midnight a storm came through. Pretty much everyone woke up and closed the tents and the rain really bucketed down . So much rain fell that our truck driver thought it would be better to move the truck to higher ground out of the mud to make it easier to leave in the morning.
After packing up our tents in the rain (not much fun – looking like I might upgrade tonight) we climbed into the truck and headed off. Due to the rain and the slight tilt in the mud road, our truck slipped off course and got stuck. Repeatedly. We had left camp at about 7:30am and it wasn’t until 10:30am that we were finally heading off. Wasn’t much fun having to try and push the truck out but eventually got there after some heaving digging by the local support.
We’re now travelling onto Lake Bunyonyi but the rain has followed so don’t know what’s going to happen when we get there. Been travelling on the bus today with dirty feet from the mud near Queen Elizabeth N.P and the amount of clothes hanging inside the truck makes it feel like a laundry. Fingers crossed the rain stays away!
Week Ahead
Sun, 18th of Sept Ruhengeri, Rwanda
Mon, 19th of Sept Gorilla Trek?
Tues, 20th of Sept Gorilla Trek?
Wed, 21st of Sept Lake Mburo, Uganda
Thurs, 22nd of Sept Jinja
Fri, 23rd of Sept Jinja
Sat, 24th of Sept Eldoret, Kenya
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