Back to Basics

September was frankly a rather quiet month.  The Olympics has passed, the summer holidays are over and Kampala has returned to normality.  Unfortunately this meant a long period of hard work interspaced with short weekends where Helen and I could catch our breaths.  When I returned to the UK I managed to bring back some much needed equipment for Stanley the Landie, and during the last week of the month he was treated to the Land Rover equivalent of a spar day, with bits and pieces removed and replaced.  After two full days up on a garage lift he has been preparing for our weekend trip back to Murchison Falls to celebrate the 10^th anniversary of the Red Chili Backpackers lodge.  It was also a good chance to ensure that the roof tent gets a good outing in preparation for our long journey around the South West of Uganda in the October half term.  Unfortunately however, the unsettled Nile River fishing score will not be settled this time around!  The weekend in Murchison itself was a fast and wet weekend.  Although the weather was perfect with very few clouds in the sky, the beer was cheap and readily available for the celebrations.  All of which made the long drive back to Kampala that little bit harder.

Role on two weeks and Helen and I found ourselves on the long and surprisingly smooth road to Lake Bunyoni in the hilly southern corner of Uganda.  After numerous hours on the road and the loss of the daylight, we finally rolled down the steep track into the first camping location and raised the roof tent into position ready for some cold Rwandan-German beer.  Early the next morning the sun rose and illuminated the beauty of the lake with the surrounding hills towering above us as we peered out of the tent flap.  Unfortunately our stay in Lake B this time around was short and sweet and armed with some local samosas and a full tank of fuel, we left the tarmac and heading into the mountain passes that surround Bwindi Impenetrable Forest.  The road twisted and turned through fir tree plantations and the park lived up to its name, restricting our view until we reached the summit of the pass.  Here we were able to eat our lunch with views out towards Lake Edward in the distance and prepare for some more muddy low-range driving.  A few hours and two hitch-hikers later we finally left the hills behind and sped across the relatively flat plains of Ishasha National Park in search of our home for the next two nights and fresh on the heels of the Top Gear cast and crew.  While they had been staying at the local 5* lodge within the park, we chose a more secluded bend in the river to make camp and cooled off with a dip in the swift moving waters.

Ishasha is renowned in East Africa for its tree climbing lions which enter the large fig trees in the heat of the day to cool off and snack on their favourite vegetarian option.  However after countless hours of searching we had used up our lion spotting energy reserves failing to spot the illusive felines and being so close to the Congo border with their currently troubles we thought it better to push on North to the larger Queen Elizabeth National Park.  So armed once again with a couple of hitch-hikers – this time a Dutch couple on their honeymoon – we packed up Stanley and set off.  Queen Elizabeth is the largest park in Uganda and actually stretches down as far as Ishasha and so on the drive from our last campsite we were treated to views of the animals, including a brace of elephant feeding on grasses some distance from the road.  For a change the drive turned out to be short and just before lunch we had dropped off our happy cargo and made camp at the Mweya Peninsular Campsite.  As the only ones in the camp ground we made the most of the site location in the heart of the park but ensured that we had cooked, eaten and washed up before scrambling upstairs into bed away from the night patrols of the local hippo and other dangerous nocturnal feeders that kept us awake throughout the night.

As seems to be the rule of Ugandan game parks, that sets it apart from its neighbours, Q.E was once again surprisingly low on visitors and we therefore made the most of our stay with a number of game drives spotting the local antelope, prides of lions and on one occasion a large herd of elephant crossing the road.  The older of whom paid us limited attention as they passed just meters from our bumper, but reverse gear needed to be selected rather quickly as the cheeky teenagers put out their ears and shock their heads in annoyance.  With four nights of camping under our belts a night of luxury concluded our trip as we checked into the Mweya Safari Lodge, complete with pool with a view and a superb breakfast looking out over the Lake Edward Channel, and then all too soon it was time to leave and face the 7 hour drive back to Kampala happy that Stanley had taken us safely around the 1,350km journey.