Uganda 7/8 December 2006

Back to camp mid-afternoon. Watch dark rain clouds chase up the valley. Scamper up the hill to our tent as the rain starts to fall. Watch the valley disappear behind a veil of water.

Next morning, back to Bwindi Reserve. Alocated to groups to track the gorillas. Our group is a forty minute bus ride away. Rangers have already located them and are tracking them - keeping our guide advised. Ride through lush farmland. Cops growing abundantly. Distinctive, huge-horned cattle.

Park bus and hike up through banana plantation. Climg following the route of a stream, slipping and losing footing in the mud. Pass a solitary man in a makeshift hut, watching the crops at the forest boundary, newly marked by concrete posts (or at least the foundations for them). Find a route into the Impenetrable Forest (well not really, scrambling through undergrowth rather like the woods between Abbeydale and Beauchief golf courses as a kid).

Trackers not far off. 40 minutes hike uphill and through the forest to reach them. Four armed guards. Smiles and friendly greetings. "Are they to shoot the gorillas if they attack?" "Think gorillas are more important than you are." Don't let on the real reason.

The gorillas are just down hill from us. Dump our bags and scramble down.

Uganda 7 December 2006 cont.

Go out on our own - check out the tourist trap shops selling identical figures of a crouching gorila in all sizes.

Wander down the road. Pass tea plantations and banana plantations. So green. Such bright light - the valley opening up into the distance. and te forest - how does it grow on such steep slopes?

Uganda 6 December 2006 - routemap

This is the route we drove from Entebbe to Bwindi via Kampala and Masaka. Bwindi is beyond Rukungiri.

Uganda 7 December 2006

Slept well after 10 hour drive from Entebbe yesterday. Novelty to wake under mosquito net. Breakfast on diluted orange juice, cereal and eggs to order - omelette.

Head up trail to Bwindi National Reserve. Mateo buys our permits and we meet our guide and two armed guards. A reminder that Rwanda and DR Congo are just over the hills. A party of tourists was kidnapped and murdered by guerllas. No repetitions. Bad for the tourist trade.

Follow wide flat trail then turn off uphill into the forest. Cross and re-cross the small stream that's carved the valley on wooden bridges, some more delapidated than others.

Stop to take pictues at a pool below a waterfall. Link up with a lone American (overweight and sweating natch). Warm but not hot in waterproof layer from ski-jacket (for long sleeves).

Reach the highest waterfall. Ford the stream using stepping stones, a bit of luck and a last splashing foot in to reach the other side. Photo-opportunity. I have everyone's cameras and take group shots.

Easy hike down. Back in time for lunch.

Uganda 5/6 December 2006 cont.

Out of the airport. Old airport on left where Idi Amin and Isreali Special Forces made news in the 70s. Modern drive into Kampala. Stop for fuel, snacks and water. Next to the filling station is a market. Hundreds of black faces. T-shirts. Jeans. Hand-painted signs for Pepsi. We gawp at them. They gawp at us - the only white faces. Smiles. Greetings. Haggle for fresh fruit.

Drive out of Kampala - the road pitted. Hundreds of mopeds for sale at the roadside. Interspersed with lorries in various states of repair and disrepair. Audiences for each mechanic. So many people watching. With time to watch.

Good road south to Masakah. Stop for lunch. Is Mateo on kick-backs? Buffet of local food has insufficient for us. Sit in the shade at a round table for 10. Jenny is given the menu and reads it out. Chicken, fish, omelette and chips. It turns out most is "off". Settle for fish. It comes with a hint of curry in the batter. Not very local - a theme that would develop over the next few days.

Across the equator again. Third time today. Southbound. Reach the end of tarmaced road at 6pm. 90km of dirt track to go. Spectaculer, vertiginous-sided valley as sun sets.

Pass small towns/villages. Single storey, block built houses and shops. Incongruous hairdressers, banks, private schools. And always smiling children waving.

Lorry tipped over dramatically in one town. Surrounded by people milling round and doing nothing practical to right it.

9pm - campfire in road ahead. Another lorry bogged down in ruts. Jseph explores way round to left. Nothing doing. Reverse. It's 5 miles back to the last junction. Locals gathering, laughing at our predicament. Five point turn in a drt track. Not far to go. How far? Is it walking distance? 30kms.

Go back and round longer way. 10.15pm arrive Bwindi. Signs for accommodation - all goilla themed. Our camp on steep hillside. Climb steps past the restaurant. Our tent - double bed with mosquito net, verandah with table and chairs, toilet out the back ("Proudly made in Britain") and a bath with shower in a covered area. Luxury.

Uganda 5/6 December 2006

Alien acacia trees silhouetted against the horizon in Nairobi National Reserve as we land at dawn in Kenyatta International.

The announcement said Gate 5 for the connecting flight to Entebbe. Enter the terminal - a concrete horseshoe. 1960s architecture. Claustaphobic, low-ceilinged like a ferry with duty free outlets selling tat, souvenirs in wood, leather and metal.

Gate 5 and back out into the cool African morning. Short flight northwest back over the equator.

Entebbe - half military airfield. RAF Hercules on next stand but one. Walk into the terminal and join the queue for passort control while the alsation sniffer dog enthusiastically searches bodies and bags - handler in tow.

Our bags appear on the carousel. Reief they've connected from Kenyatta. Out into the melee of meeters and greeters. EXPLORE! sign and Mateo introduces himself. The party assembles: Jenny and me; Vicki - 50s from London, divorced; Dave - scouse wit and a damaged ar from a motorcycle accident; Andrea - commercial conveyancing solicitor; Nicolette - far hair, burns in the sun; Nadia - doctor from Cheltenham; Amanda - sex offender rehabilitator, "they should be strung up, they all re-offend"; Janet - from Lancashire with camera equipment. Not that we say a lot at this stage. That comes later.

Cursory introductions then back into the terminal, after loading bags onto the minibus, to change money. hand over US$720 to Mateo for gorilla permits etc.

Welcome

Hello and welcome to our blog.