Road to Bwindi Forest Park - Part 2

As the journey continued we progressed to a different terrain of wide plains of more separated trees interspersed with those same candelabra trees of the Kenyan game parks near Naprobi. Some villages became noticeably more rural and evocative of an earlier tribal Africa described in the early 20th century novels such as 'Out of Africa'. Women working hard, bent double, in the fields, and others carrying large water containers back from the river on their heads, dressed more traditionally in African sarongs rather than the modern dress in the cities like Kampala and surrounding villages. There was also noticeably less waving to us 'mzungu' (the Swahili name for foreigners meaning 'aimless wanderer'!) which has been a feature of our journey so far (especially from excited little children). There was more a look of slightly disinterested bemusement on the faces of the locals as we passed by, our pale white faces looking out, like some kind of strange tourist freak show. We stopped for lunch and saw a sizeable herd of the Ankore cattle and I was able to get some close up photos. Often, the driver, talked about how their name derives from the Ankore tribe who bred the cattle. He also told me name of the traditional, brightly coloured, sarong-type dresses that some of the Ugandan women wear is called the Kakoye? Often is a veritable font of knowledge about the local wildlife, landscape, and peoples on this journey as well as being a superb driver, mechanic, cook, and probably many other things - he is Kenyan and quite a remarkable individual who stays calm and equitable no matter how stressful the situation as our recent truck stranding demonstrated. He has a nice sense of humour, but is also made of stern stuff should the occasion require. His son, Ronnick, is also a lovely young man and drove us on the Lake Nakuru safari and will also drive us on the forthcoming Masai Mara game reserve safari. As we left our lunch stop Often stopped the truck again to show us a majestic, tufted, dark 'brown snake eagle' perched atop a tall dead tree, twisting his head regally surveying the surrounding landscape for his serpent prey.We arrived at Bunyonyi Overland Resort which is a lovely campsite overlooking Lake Bunyoni which is a beautiful long lake which is the deepest in East Africa. This will be the kicking off point for my chimpanzee and gorilla treks.Read more