Our erstwhile globetrotter Lily has been off on her travels again. This time she is visiting Uganda to visit the Mountain Gorillas. We will be following her travels over the next few weeks as she explores this beautiful country in Central Africa.
Day 1
Not the best day I have ever had as my flight to Dubai was delayed meaning I had to overnight in Dubai instead of catching my connecting flight to Entebbe in Uganda. However saying that the flight was smooth, the transit night in Dubai was well organised by Emirates and overall it wasn’t too painful!
Day 2
I left Dubai finally and caught the morning flight to Entebbe a day later than planned. The flight is only 3hrs 30 mins and the Emirates flight was once again very smooth with plenty of entertainment available and excellent staff. On arrival in Entebbe at lunch time the temperature was a hot and sticky 79 degrees – a bit different from temps in Cumbria this week! I caught the airport bus to the terminal where I was met by our local representative Christine. I then queued for the entry visa which is $50 USD. Please note that in Uganda if you are paying in US dollars make sure that the dollars are in good condition as they will be rejected otherwise. This is across Uganda!
I then met Francine from the agency who escorted me to my first destination. This was my first time in Uganda since 1995 and I was really looking forward to seeing if it had changed at all since then. My first hotel was the Banana Village Hotel which is about 20 minutes from the airport and half way to Kampala the capital city of Uganda. It is a good starting point as it doesn’t involve a long transfer after a long enough journey to get here. The hotel was down a dirt road track and I was surprised by how bright the red earth is here. The Banana Village has 6 simple rondavel style semi detached cottages which are functional but basic (3*). They have tiled showers with a small sink and loo in the bathrooms and a double Zanzibar style bed and comfortable chair in the room. The rondavels are situated in lush green lawns with some cheeky vervet monkeys to keep you company! The staff were very warm and welcoming and made us feel right at home. I think however that we will be looking to use a higher standard of accommodation on our client’s tours but for me this was more than adequate!
At supper time I met up with some of the other people on the fam trip with me; there were tour operators and travel agents from Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic. We had dinner with our local agency director Joan who I really enjoyed meeting. We ate some typically Ugandan fare of chicken and beef with peanut sauce with rice and potatoes which I enjoyed.
Day 3
It was an early start this morning as we had a very long day on the road to look forward to. We departed at 6am after breakfast into our seven seater Landrover. Our destination was south west Uganda and the world famous Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park.We were driving from Entebbe via Kampala, Masaka, Mbarara and Ishaka to the Queen Elizabeth National Park before heading south to the Ishaha sector and Buhoma just outside Bwindi.
It would take us 12 hours to reach our hotel Mahogany Springs but the journey was fascinating and I gained such an insight into this country en route. The main Kampala to Masaka road is a tarmaced fast road with lots and lots of traffic weaving in and out and lined with shops especially mobile phone shops! There were people on bikes, mopeds, buses, tractors, lorries, cars, on foot…. everywhere was a hive of activity. In between the towns the land was lush and fertile with farmed fields, swamps and forest as well as a flower plantation. There were also lots of little shacks run as small businesses with great names which kept me amused.
We arrived at the Equator at 9am where we stopped for some photos and the matchstick in the water test! We then continued on through rolling hills and lush banana plantations. Thankfully the roads are in excellent condition making our journey relatively comfortable. The countryside flattens out towards Mabarara and I saw lots of cattle grazing the flatter grasslands. These cattle are Ankole who have huge horns and are very sought after.
By passed Masaka heading south west on an excellent road towards Mbarara fact, the roads in general are much better than I remember from my previous visit in 1995. Still patchy in places but far fewer hazards than I remember!
Mbarara town is the first major town we passed through (about 300kms from Kampala) and it is the epicentre of the old Kingom of Ankole which was broken up after independence. As we entered Mbarara, we were greeted on a roundabout by a statue of an Ankole bullock with impressive horns. We stopped for lunch in Mbarara at a local restaurant. I had a pot of delicious Ugandan ginger tea and a toasted sandwich with chips. The whole lot came to $7 which I thought very reasonable.
Mbarara is the crossroads for traffic and travellers heading towards the Queen Elizabeth National Park, Lake Mburo, Rwenzori Mountains in the north east and Kabale in the south west (for Bwindi etc). From Mbarara the country then seemed to get hillier, particularly after Busheni. The road started going up and down through forested hills before it reached the escarpment down to the Great Rift Valley.
Mid afternoon we pulled into a viewing point and Francine announced that we were looking at was Lake Edward, the Kasinga Channel, Lake George and the Queen Elizabeth National Park! It was a truly fantastic view indeed! After having some time to stretch our legs and take pictures we drove off the escarpment heading for QENP and acacia country before turning south and passing the sign for Mweya Lodge. We didn’t have to pay park fees as we were just passing through but even so we were lucky to see three elephants very near to the road. One of my fellow passengers was very excited as it was her first visit to Africa and her very first elephant sighting. We also saw some Olive baboon families as well. It felt good to be back in familiar safari country. We took about 3 hours to drive through the QE National Park as the road is a bit rough but it made for a good game drive. We were very surprised as we crossed over a river bridge to see there were about ten men swimming in the river… they must have known it was a croc/hippo NO GO area??! We continued our journey southwards through beautiful countryside with mountainous scenery and forests of fir trees, surprising for being near to the Equator. As we passed through villages we watched cattle herds being guided back to the village for the night and I did enjoy seeing all the school children walking home from school in their attractive (and spotless!) uniforms. The local people watched us as we travelled through their country and I think they were as intrigued by us as we were by them! The landscape is so lush and green and we passed numerous scenic deep valley and glorious views of lakes and distant mountains. We finally reached Bwindi at 7pm that night. Phew, that was a long drive!
Posted by Lily
