On Sunday we want to travel to Murchisson Falls National Park. After lunch in Kyenjojo we take the track north, after 20km drive we decide to turn back, this road is really too bad to drive over 150km.
We pass tea plantations and we see huge posters for HIV awareness
We take the main road to Kampala and arrive in the middle of the (Sunday) evening rush hour in the city, I’ve driven in many cities, but I have not experienced this kind of traffic yet. Everywhere cars, motorbikes and especially taxis that use the roads without any priority rule. You really need to look in all directions at the same time if you do not want to have trouble.
This adventure, we really need to drive right through the center of the city, takes time so we arrive again after sunset at Red Chilli Hideaway Camp. A fine place to explore the city from here. We do so on Monday, with the free shuttle from the campsite we go in the city at noon and we will be taken back at half past six, good service! The city is especially hectic, but we knew that already. We shop around a bit
and Sonja finds a barber
We find some peace in the park at Turkish restaurant Kyoto, just good beer and some Turkish mezze on a lazy couch, lovely.
Tuesday, October 18, we decide to drive yet to Murchisson Falls National Park, we leave early, at 7 pm, allowing us to arrive at the southern gate at noon. We are surprised that except the entry-price of US $ 40 pp also US $ 150 is charged for our foreign car. We nevertheless go into the park and are just in time in Paara to make a cruise on the Victoria Nile to the Murchisson Falls. We see all kinds of wildlife, elephants, hippos and crocodiles and many beautiful birds.
At the end of the boat trip we will see impressive Murchison Falls where all the water of the Victoria Nile flows.
a beautiful cruise getting a spot in our top experiences of these adventures. We sleep at the Red Chilli rest camp, good accommodation with good basic amenities and stunning views over the National Park.
The next morning, October 19 – Rindert, our youngest son, is 23 today – we leave early to get the seven o’clock ferry to take us to the northern part of the park. We eat our breakfast, muesli with homemade yogurt, after we cross the river with the ferry. This part of the park is unique in its beauty. Green rainforest areas are interspersed with green grass plains and river banks and everything is dotted with wild life. Really a lot of wildlife, lots of antelopes: impala, hartebeest, waterbuck, duikers etc. but also huge herds of buffalo, lots of giraffes and hippos in the water side And of course elephants, when we see a couple, a boda boda (motorbike taxi) asks us to drive for him to pass them. Later, a lone elephant bull that walks along the road
and later the track is blocked by a huge herd of elephants with dozens of animals who are at ease on and off the road to graze and spraying himself with water and sand.
We decide just not to drive through the herd but take a detour. At 12 o’clock we leave the park, our permit runs until 12:35. We are full of impressions of the beautiful scenery and wildlife, and head towards Kampala and Jinja where we want to be on Thursday.
When we are almost in Luwero, we just spoke Rindert and sung to him via messenger, the charge indicator lights up and sure enough, the fan belt is broken.
I install another, but after a few km it breaks again, it was a used one. The belt I install is slipping, so is too large, that is a problem … Fortunately, it happens again and again on our trip it seems, a young man with grease on his clothes stops, a mechanic, Kabanda Lasarus. He drives to Luwero and takes a new fan belt, which turns out to be too tight and with the slipping V-belt we drive to Luwero where Lasarus finds a good fan belt from a stack at a shop, again a mystery is fixed!
We sleep at the Africa guesthouse in Luwero, the bed is (too) short, me being 2,03m I should sleep sideways and then also in the fetal position, the shower is cold and the toilet is “French”, but well it is a roof over our heads and it’s clean and it only costs Ush 20,000 (€ 6) for the two of us.
After a breakfast in the car with cruesli and homemade yogurt we drive to Jinja and although our route is along the northern bypass of Kampala the city traffic takes us an extra 1.5 hours. Driving goes well, that is, I think. Ugandan police, however does not agree with that, we are stopped for driving recklessly, after I overtook a lorry in a village close to Jinja (the solid line). After a sermon by Mr. policeman about the solid line, he takes my license and writes a fine of UGS 100,000 (€ 30) that I have to pay at a bank in Jinja. How to pay this I will not describe, but about 2 hours later, I return to the road-block where Sonja, worried sick, is waiting. We can now continue driving to our destination, the Nile River Explorers Camp where we get a beautiful spot on a terrace overlooking the Nile.
We enjoy the relative tranquility of the site (it’s also a backpackers, so buzzing with young people partying late into the night …) and meet with Martine and Andrew who followed us through facebook and the website. They travel from South Africa to home in two years (or as long as their budget can last …), see their blog at www.4x4travelbox .com . Very nice to share a morning of experiences.
We also meet Claudia and Cliff with their three kids, they live and work in Arusha and originate from respectively Netherlands and South Africa. Claudia is quite happy to speak Dutch … We agree to meet in Arusha together again.
October 22 we leave, on to our next country, Kenya.
After first we drive past the source of the Nile in Jinja that springs from Lake Victoria. A nice spot with traditional fishing boats and a market.
In the afternoon we visit Tororo, but that will be told in our next blog…