Autumnal Adventures

With panto practices and schoolwork bearing down heavily on Hels and preparations for the Banff Mountain film festival here in Uganda keeping me busy it was with glad timings that John and Zoe arrived in Entebbe one early Friday morning.  Two of Helens friends from London couldn't have timed their trip better and we settled into the long weekend in front of us with a bottle of fizzy on the deck watching the sunset over the city.  Early the next morning, and with Stanley packed and ready to go we cruised out of Kampala heading West for the hills of Fort Portal and the Rwenzoris in the distance.  After being stuck in the City for so long it felt great to have the windows down and the wind cooling us down as the sun climbed ever higher and the heat started to rise.  Even though this is still technically as close to winter as Uganda sees the temperature under the midday sun was still intense.  After five hours we rolled to a stop at the stunning Ndali Lodge nestled amongst the crater lakes of Kibale Forest and shuck the dust from ourselves and dropped like stones into the pool overlooking those mountains separating Uganda and Congo.  Ndali is one of those places that you instantly feel at home in.  Centred around the old tea farm house of the current owners great uncle, walking into Ndali feels like arriving back at your parent’s house.  Everything is familiar somehow, you are made incredible welcome and the food is hard to beat.

After a great evening staring at the full moon and eating and drinking to our hearts content it was back onto the road in the morning as we made the short leap over the Equator to Queen Elizabeth National Park.  Although this is the second time Hels and I have been this way, it seems like we’re old hands at this route and before long we were checked into to our evening accommodation and staring at hippos and elephant from a boat with beer in hand.  Unfortunately due to their time restraints John & Zoe’s visit had to be pretty rushed but QE gives you a great chance to see a large number of Ugandas’ game in one place without having to face hundreds of other tourists or travel too far.  Unfortunately we didn't spot lion again as per our visit last year but our luck would change soon enough. 

Once again setting off again in the morning we turned right out of the park and headed South down to the Ishasha portion of the bigger Queen Elizabeth Park and in two hours had reached the gate to the much smaller realm of the famous tree climbing lions.  As we turned off the main road and started our way down the track to our camp, we were faced with a large muddy puddle strung across the road.  On our last visit to the At The River Camp, we had encountered the same puddles and Stanley had powered through them with ease.  Unfortunately after days of driving and with Helen and Zoe on the roof, I seemed to have lost all of my off-road driving knowledge and managed to get two of the wheels stuck as I attempted to pass to the left hand side of the water hazard.  Halfway through the depth of the mud increased and even with low range diff lock engage, the big green machine was stuck.  Without wanting to over stress the engine and gearbox I followed my training and rocked the wheels whilst reversing and accelerating forward to no avail.  It wasn’t until we had lined the path of the wheels with fallen branches did a local man finally appear and lend a much needed hand to proceedings.  And with a finally push Stanley was free enough to reverse back to the start and drive directly through the puddle…just as we had been instructed!

No the skills had been remembered the rest of the very muddy track was a breeze and within twenty minutes we were all in the camp pool with Nile Special Beers in hand and muddy faces.  It was at this point that a guide arrived back at the camp with news that he’s seen the infamous lions that had eluded us for the numerous times we’d hunted them last year.  Desperate not to miss them once again, we turned him around, threw on some t-shirts, packed some cold beers and hit the road once more.  As we entered the park, Helen and Zoe once again sort their elevated spotter positions on the roof as I crept along slowly through the park in search of the lions favourite Fig trees where they love to sleep away the hot hours of the day slung over the large branches.  A bumpy drive later we spotted four tails dangling down from the canopy of a wide canopy and were quickly joined in the cab by two rather hysterical women.  Presumably the park ranger had forgotten they were up there!

Once the sun had set over Congo just a stone’s throw from us across the Ishasha river, we headed back to the safety of the camp and crashed out to the sounds of the river flowing past our hut.  The next morning we were parting ways with John and Zoe as they headed down to the gorillas as we took the nine hour drive back to Kampala.  It had been a fantastic adventure through some of the best scenery that Uganda has to offer.  Unfortunately although we would have loved to have continued further south and retraced our tire tracks from last year’s adventure we had to get back to work.  I still haven’t had the chance to see the gorilla kings of the southern mountains.  That will have to wait for another day.