On the Road to Uganda
Clothes? Check. Snacks? Check. Pizza for the road? Check. Jamie and I were ready for the 22 hour bus ride to Uganda. After a farewell lunch at one of our regular local joints, we headed to the bus station where we were met by the GZA who was waiting to say goodbye to his favorite mzungus. After a 1 hour delay, we hopped on the bus and headed for the Kenyan border. I thoroughly enjoy the scenery we get to take in during these long journeys. The views from Northern Tanzania into Kenya were stunning with vast plains and amazing mountains, Massai leading cattle for miles. The ride was bumpy to say the least, but that and the bone chilling night are our only complaints. We crossed the Kenyan border after dark – this was my first border crossing via foot and it was a tad frightening, but exciting. As we walked across we were followed by elderly Massai women desperate to sell us their jewelry – it was almost spooky how they loomed over us dangling necklaces in our faces as we walked through the dark street. Before we knew it, we were back on the bus and in Kenyan territory. A few hours later we made a brief pitstop in Nairobi and rolled through the night towards Uganda. We were seriously underdressed and the bus was freezing (thankfully I had my wool socks in my bag – thanks Karen!).
Exploring Kampala
Early afternoon the next day we entered Kampala, Uganda’s capital city. The outskirts of the city vaguely resembled the outskirts of Dar Es Salaam, but were not quite as run down as Dar’s slums. Many of the homes had tin roofs vs. the grass roofs commonly seen in Tanzania.
Upon pulling into the Kampala bus station, Tony (the tour operator assisting us with obtaining our gorilla permits) was there to pick us up. We headed to his house / office and made plans to meet the next day to pick up our passes at the Uganda Wildlife Association office. We were then dropped off at the Red Chili Hideaway hostel where we grabbed a couple of beers and watched the monkeys play in our backyard.
Monkeys in our backyard at the hostel
The next day it was exploration time – we headed into Kampala and wandered the streets. We hit up the local market and tried grasshoppers (a popular snack item in Uganda) for the first time. I can describe them as being crunchy, greasy, and probably good with a bit of salt. We observed that the city is a lot more modern than the cities that we have visited in Tanzania. The infrastructure is more contemporary and the people even appear to be more modern – the women wear pants vs. the traditional kanga or long skirts that virtually all women wear in Tanzania. Also, in Tanzania there are mass amounts of 2nd hand clothes which we noticed are probably 75% Canadian. Did we mention that during our first week of volunteering we were visiting projects in a very remote village and we met a man that was wearing a Prince Edward Island tourism polo – small world.
The city has done an exceptional job getting back on its feet since the Amin days. However, there were a staggering number of child beggars in the streets. Another problem in Uganda is “cross-generational relationships” in which older men date especially young girls – there are large billboards scattered throughout the city condoning the act.
Streets of Kampala
That afternoon we picked up our highly anticipated gorilla tracking permits and Tony and his side kick took us to their favorite local restaurant for some Ugandan food. They were entertaining us with safari stories and started discussing safari experiences with different nationalities. We got a kick out of when they described the Germans as being very “complicated” people to safari with and told us that once a German group had brought their GPS and were quite concerned when they ventured off the predetermined route.
We took our first Boda Boda rides (motorcycles used for public transport) through the city. We are still alive. Once again, enough said. We wrapped up a day of exploring the city and headed back to the hostel to rest of for a day of white water rafting on the Nile.
White Water Rafting on the Nile
Rise and shine – it was time for white water rafting on the Nile (the source of the Nile is located in Jinja, Uganda). It is notorious as being home to some of the best rapids in the world. We had some breakfast and jumped onto the bus Jinja-bound. When we arrived, we had a quick pep talk, met our guide, got geared up (rain coat, life jacket, paddle and helmet) and headed excitedly to our raft.
We had 9 passengers on our raft including our guide. The morning began with a few lessons on paddling, falling overboard, flipping, etc. We learned that the rapids are classed from a grade 1 to grade 5 (commercial rafting companies aren’t allowed to do grade 6 rapids). We would be going over 6 large rapids ranging from grade 3 to grade 5.
In the morning conquered 3 rapids, one of them being the largest rapid, “big brother.” We were on a roll until we hit big brother – our raft did a nose dive into the rapids and our boat bent in half. The passengers sitting on the left hand side (the side which I happened to be sitting on) bounced and were then thrown out of the boat. This happened before we went over the 3 major waves so it was quite a battle. We were all scooped up by the safety boat and put back into our raft in time for some leisurely floating down the river for lunch.
After lunch we did some more floating and had a chance to jump in for a swim. Somewhere in between lunch and before going over a class 5 waterfall, I couldn’t turn my neck to my right hand side or move it downwards. Luckily we had a nurse on board who diagnosed me with probably a pulled muscle in my neck (probably from being whip lashed by big brother). So it was the safety boat for me. The Ugandan rowing the safety boat had superhuman strength and we were all in awe of him. It was amazing to see him work and at one point, all 3 of our rafts were tied to his as he paddled us up the river so we could relax. We chatted and went over the lower grade rapids which were still unreal. Then came the last rapid that is almost guaranteed to flip. I watched from the safety boat and yes, they flipped! The power of the rapids are out of this world. I watched for Jamie’s little red helmet to pop out from under the water and then let out a little sigh of relief. We then headed to shore (along the way spotting a 2 foot long neon green iguana) and headed back to Moshi with a bus load of cold beers. A photographer rafted with us for the duration of the day to capture all of our best moments. P.S – there are crocodiles found in the calm parts of the Nile that we rafted through!
A Little Piece of Heaven Called Lake Bunyoni
It was time to move south to Lake Bunyoni. We took a taxi ride in probably the most congested traffic on the planet. As usual, the instant we stepped out of the taxi at the bus station, we were surrounded, our bags grabbed, and pulled towards the busses going to our destination. Anxious to get going, we bought bus tickets for the first bus heading to Kabale (8km from Lake Bunyoni). To our dismay, when we stepped onto the bus, we were the only ones on it. 4 hours later, after the very LAST seat was filled, we took off for Kabale.
As per usual, the scenery was amazing and the trip flew by. It is very interesting to watch the people going about their day as you pass by – men (and very often small boys no older than 5) tending to and herding cattle, children playing (very young children usually naked) in the dusty yards, women weaving baskets and shelling peas, people napping in the shade in their yards and so on.
We arrived in Kabale at 10PM (much later than planned) with no plan of action. The city was very dark, dusty and there wasn’t a taxi in sight. It looked like the city (with the exception of the men drinking outside and in the pubs and a few flickering candles) was fast asleep. As we got off the bus, a man approached us and advised us we would need a special hire to take us to the Lake as the roads are treacherous. He conveniently had a friend waiting outside who even more conveniently had a brother that was working at the hotel that we had in mind. They agreed to give us a lift. There is no way in hell that I would agree to this in any other circumstance at home, but here in Africa, sometimes you just have to go with the flow and forget that gut feeling. After a 30 minute, very rough ride along the road’s windy edge, we reached the hotel (hallelujah!).
The next day we woke up to one absolutely gorgeous view of the lake just beneath us which we couldn’t see the night before in the dark.
View of Lake Bunyoni from our canoe
Jamie suggested we use this occasion to celebrate our 1 year (and a bit) anniversary. We spent the morning in a canoe ride around the lake and visited some of its islands. One notable island is called “punishment island” – girls that became pregnant before they were married used to be cast away to this island to either starve or drown trying to reach the main land. Another island was used as a leper colony (leprosy is a very common and extremely heartbreaking problem in Tanzania and there are lepers lining one particular street here in Moshi). We spent the remainder of the day relaxing, reading and playing pool (Jamie was determined to redeem himself after his defeat on our 1st date)
The Bumpy Ride to Buhoma
Once again, we made another awful travel mistake. We took a cab into Kabale and eagerly accepted an offer for a 20,000 shilling ride in the back of a local’s pickup truck. We foolishly refused to take the front seat – we wanted to sit with the Ugandans in the back (why not? It was only 120km to Buhoma – it would be fun!). The first 30 minutes were pretty amusing. The locals were shocked to see 2 mzungos in the back of a pickup truck. It didn’t take long before the cool breeze turned into a cloud of dust filling our eyes and mouths, for the novelty of the amusing stares to wear off and for the back of the truck to hold 5 to 15 people. We stopped in every town for potato pickups which took up the rest of the space on the truck. The roads were unbelievable (if you can call them roads). In two of the villages we encountered some daunting drunken locals. One woman came up to us to ask for money and then kept asking me to take a picture of her (you have to be careful when taking pictures of people in Africa or you could end up footing a bill). She was quite persistent and mildly aggressive. I was pleased to pull away from the village as she picked up her machete. The drunken man in the 2nd village was quite the same and kept touching us, this time our companions in the back had finally taken a shine to us and threatened the man who left us alone. We were halfway to Buhoma and I wanted OFF that truck!
Another 3 hours later we arrived in Buhoma with very sore bottoms and gritty teeth. We moved into our little banda hut and joined a lovely Canadian couple for supper. We also indulged in our first hot showers in 2 months. It was then time to get some sleep and dream of gorillas!
It’s Gorilla Tracking Time then Moving on to Rwanda
It was 7:00AM and we were ready to track down some gorillas. We were assigned to the “R” group and broke into our group of 6. Obed, our guide, gave us the lowdown on the rules, and we ventured with him and several armed guards into the jungle. Trackers entered the jungle before us and started the hunt for the gorillas. Once located, they alerted us as to their location. Our gorillas had only moved several miles from their location the previous day (lucky as some days they can move much further).
We macheted our way off the beaten track until 1.5 hours later we came upon our magnificent gorillas. We first spotted a baby dangling from a tree, eating. He was almost doing the splits with one knee forward and the other knee behind him, each pushing against a tree, propping him up, (priceless posture) allowing him to eat with his two free hands. We then visited a breastfeeding mother with a small male lazing around beside them.
Mother gorilla nursing
Then came the moment we had all been waiting for: through the thick of the jungle we spotted the king of the jungle - a striking, astonishingly large, silverback gorilla. The silverback’s back turn silver with age and these large males are the protectors of their families.
Tragically, these gorillas are highly endangered (they make valuable, prized souvenirs) and can only be found in the hills of the Congo, Rwanda and Uganda. Each year thousands of poaching traps are removed from these parks. I was quite shocked that poaching was still such a crisis.
The silverback quickly moved on and we weren’t far behind. We pressed forward, slashing our way through the jungle, and stumbled upon the family. The silverback lay on his back in a very relaxing-looking fashion, while scratching his giant chest and belly and releasing boisterous farts. Surrounding the silverback were smaller males and females and one very active and endearing baby playing who frolicked among the group. Off to the side of us were two smaller males that seemed to be completely immersed in eating. Jamie and I were approximately 2 meters from them and they were not giving us the time of day.
Meanwhile the adults of the large group eyed us from time to time, but didn’t seem very interested in us bystanders. However, the baby seemed to almost have the courage (or curiosity) to approach us. He came halfway and then scurried back to his mother (perhaps he had been scolded about approaching these visitors at some point by her).
The baby of the familyWe were about 3 meters away from the family, with some vines separating us. It is very common for a mother or silverback to charge while doing the tour, to establish their territory and we were a bit disappointed that we didn’t get to experience this. Visitors are limited to 1 hour with the gorillas and only 1 visit is permitted per day (this is to minimize the animal’s stress and exposure to disease). This was easily the quickest hour of my life. We then tracked back to our banda hut and relaxed for the remainder of the day. That night Jamie and I both came down with wicked colds and Jamie spent the night in and out of a delirious fever.
The next morning we were greeted at our door by a tarantula and then by breakfast.
We did a quick tour of the tiny village of Buhoma and picked up the odd souvenir. We joined 2 French lads in a taxi ride to the Rwandan border and were in for another ridiculous road trip. The taxi driver drove his little car although nothing other than a 4x4 should EVER attempt these roads. In total, we had to empty out of the car four times to give it a push over a bump or out of a hole. I cringed the entire time as the bottom of the car was being destroyed. The plus side of the trip was once again the stunning views - hills with farms and villages and also a large, beautiful volcano. We pulled up to the Rwandan border and waved goodbye to Uganda.
Monkeys in our backyard at the hostel
Streets of Kampala
View of Lake Bunyoni from our canoe
The baby of the family
