Uganda
Rubanda County

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    • Day 10

      Ruhija - Kabale, Lake Bunyonyi

      August 28, 2023 in Uganda ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

      Am Morgen durften wir das Community Werk von Ruth besuchen, wo Waisen und andere Bedürftige Arbeit und ein Zuhause finden. Wiederum wurde ein Tanz aufgeführt und zum Mittanzen aufgefordert, sie liessen uns Körbe flechten mit Papyrus und wir probierten Porridge und "Bier" aus Zuckerhirse. Natürlich shoppten wir alle etwas und boten so "Direkthilfe"🙃

      Danach ab in den Sattel für 53km mit einer langen Schussfahrt vorbei an harter Handarbeit von Abholzung und Steinschlag und vielen Dörfern. Dabei warf mir ein Junge mit voller Wucht einen Stecken nach - gottlob traf er nur meinen Hintern und nicht in die Speiche 🫢
      Das Mittagessen nahmen wir in einem Nobelklub in Kabale ein und wurden die letzten Kilometer ins schöne Birdnest Hotel gefahren. Hier assen wir mal was anderes als Reis, Kartoffeln und Erbsen-Gemüse-Curry😃
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    • Day 37

      Lake Bunyonyi

      October 22, 2019 in Uganda ⋅ 🌧 20 °C

      Today we're heading to Lake Bunyonyi, south of the Bwindi Forest, to relax lake-side for a couple of days. The drive through the Impenetrable Forest is intense- hairpin turns carve their way down the mountain side, where one false move could mean a huge plummet.

      It's not possible to reach our accommodation by road, so we park up at another hotel car park and catch a boat across. The hostel is wonderful- built from the top of the hill down the the lake-shore, which a cute wooden cabin built just on top of the water. This will be our home for the next few days.

      Right now, we're starving, so ask for some lunch. The hostel is owned by a Japanese hostel company, so they feature Asian food on the menu. Keen for a break from chapatti and beans, Katie opts for Pad Thai. Three hours later, our food shows up, and Katie is given a loose approximation of the famous Thai dish. It's spaghetti, tomato sauce, veggies and parmesan cheese, and Katie is thoroughly disappointed. We decide to order the local dishes from then on, which are delicious.

      We spend the time jumping off our deck into the Bilharzia free waters, lounging in the sun, and reading our books over cups of Ugandan coffee.

      One evening we climb the nearby hill with Bas and Vera to watch the sun set over the nearby range of Volcanoes. It's incredibly quiet and peaceful here, and we end up spending more time than we planned.
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    • Day 9

      Langsam steigt die Spannung...

      January 26, 2020 in Uganda ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

      Die Fahrt geht weiter Richtung Bwindi-Gebiet (Bwindi impenetrable Forest, der „undurchdringliche“ Bwindi-Wald = das Zuhause der Gorillas😍) wunderschön durch die schon etwas höheren Berge mit kleinen Seen, der Kongo ist auch zum Greifen nah.
      Hier werden wieder viel Bananen und vor allem Tee angebaut, die Felder sehen aus wie ein Teppich, man meint man könnte drüber gehen. Wenn man an den Teefabriken vorbeifährt riecht es nach einem leckeren Tee!

      Gegen halb 11 läßt Ronald uns aus dem Auto und wir machen eine kleine Wanderung entlang des Lake Bunyonyi. Sehr idyllisch, seeehr viel Landschaft und wir schließen in den Dörfern seeehr viele Freundschaften mit kleinen Kindern, denen wir Stifte und Stofftiere schenken und die uns dann immer bis kurz vor das nächste Dorf begleiten.

      Bei der Weiterfahrt tut sich dann der eigentlich wohl gigantische Blick auf die Virungavulkane in der Kisororegion auf. Leider ist es wie auch bei der Wanderung diesig, schlecht für die Sicht 😂 und die Fotos.
      Auf einem dieser Vulkane ist auch das Dreiländereck Uganda Kongo Ruanda 🇺🇬 🇨🇩 🇷🇼 . Leider soll die Wanderung zu diesem Vulkan schon seeeehr anspruchsvoll sein, daher verzichten wir darauf.

      Die nächsten drei Nächte verbringen wir im Travellers Rest Hotel, sehr berühmt bei den Gorillaforschern, hier hat auch schon Dian Fossey übernachtet.
      Wir sitzen später hier im Hotel im Garten rum und wundern uns über diese ganzen jungen Männer, die mit fetten Kameras hier rumrennen...da geht lockerlässig Frank Elstner an mir vorbei👍😂😂
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    • Day 4

      Bwindi Forest National Park

      January 8, 2023 in Uganda ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

      Along our way we stop off for breakfast with an extra treat at * town. We are now on the line of the equator. In the middle of all the shake houses and businesses the Equator restaurant has popped up run by a local man who saw an opportunity and has made a thriving business from the tourist.
      *picks a flower from his little garden and takes us to a bowl. With a well rehearsed demonstration he fills the first bowl up with water and then waits till it settles and then pulls the plug. We are standing in the southern hemisphere and has we watch the the water drains away clockwise has he drops his petal in you can see it clearly going clock wise. Nkosie looks decisively unimpressed. We then step over a white line in the ground and *announces we are now in the Northern hemisphere. He once again fills the bowl up and the. Let's the water out this time it goes anti-clockwise. Nkosie Jaw hits the floor. "How come.?"
      *moves to the middle of the white line and announces that we are now standing in the centre of the equator. Once again the bowl is filled up and the what is released the petal is through in and boom....
      it's sucked straight down the plug hole. Nkosie says is it black magic.
      It's a first for me to be on the equator line.
      It's only 7:30am and it feels like we have been awake forever. Time for breakfast Williams says. Popping over to a little souvenir shop which also doubles up has a restaurant they make us very welcome and Nkosie orders Burger and chips, William Rice, cooked Banana and Irish potato. "I thought this was breakfast....lol
      A cheese omelette for me, with avocado and tomatoes. Then after a long chat about the local religion (mainly Catholic's) we are back on the road.
      Uganda is full of hills the land is rich and fertile and everywhere you look there is something growing.
      Coffee ☕️, Bananas 🍌, Beans 🫘, Potatoes 🥔, Peanuts 🥜, Mangoes 🥭 and with all that growing of food everyone where ever where is growing it, transporting it and selling it. The bananas taste like bananas I have never tasted before, they pack a punch.
      Why are the Ugandas so proactive.?
      Why are they so self sufficient.?
      Has we chat to William slow we manage to join the dots up and get answers.
      1. Their government does not look after them. You have a baby you don't get paid out for that baby it's your responsibility. Unlike in South Africa where you get paid every month for child support.
      2. In fairness the Ugandas land is so rich and fertile everyone is grown something but they can. In South Africa this is not the case in the area that the CoCos Foundation works it is mainly sand.
      Has we drive up into the mountains with it raining hard the water running down the banana leafs this day Is one experience not to be forgotten. Fortunately Nkosie is sitting on the cliff side......lol. As we speed along a narrow single dirt track the 4x4 I think William thinks he is a formula one driver...😂 not for the faint hearted.
      1hr later we arrive at our camp where we are staying the nigh. It is basic but has everything we need a bed a shower. Dinner is served at 7:30pm what amazes me is here we are in the jungle and jet the service and the food is amazing. When I asked Lindani what's the thing he misses the most about africa he always said the sun and the service. I get it buddy.!

      After dinner we sit around the camp firer always the best thing about been here. An old boy place a tune on a local harp and we reminisce about the day and Williams driving..lol
      We retire to our tent ⛺️ for the night and the boys have prepare our beds with a hot water bottle and mosquito nets. Has I close my eyes I hear the sounds of the jungle and the Gorillas 🦍 in the distance.
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    • Day 5

      Bwindi Forest National Park

      January 9, 2023 in Uganda

      The alarm goes off at 6 am. It's the start of the new day it's pitch black outside and a little bit cold. I get out of my warm bed and then jumping to the cold shower with some reluctance. As I pull back the tent door, the Sun is just coming up and the mist is hovering over the valley of the jungle.
      We go up the stone path for breakfast, the two boys greet us and they have cooked poached egg on toast.
      They season food so well here.!

      We leave the Bwindi camp and travel to an out post where we are going to start our days trakking to the Gorillas 🦍. William drops us of at the out post where we are met with two mean carrying AK47 machine guns. (for our protection I might add)
      We meet the local ladies who preformed a travel well and good luck dance that we see the gorillas.

      We move off in the 4 by 4's, then park on the roadside. Maureen appears from no where a tiny lady she is going to be our guide for the day. She gives us the instructions.
      We have to wear masks.
      We must stay together.
      We mustn't let the gorillas dead in the eye if they come to waters.
      And she has some sticks for us to help to balances on the way down.
      We start to descend down the mountainside, but before we do, we catch a beautiful view of where the farmland ends and where the voice starts. There are 351 square kilometres of Bwindi forest with 459 Gorillas 🦍 50 families
      22 are habituation. The government has ordered that no more land should be cleared for farmland in order to try and protect the gorillas.
      It's to the same the world over for wildlife. There are too many human beings on our planet, squeezing the wildlife out, but what do you do? Humans have got to eat..! In the Uganda
      The people worked incredibly hard to maintain a living out of the land..
      we descend down the mountainside. God, it's steep…!
      For 30 minutes we descending trying not to grab the trees with spikes on and the nettles, then suddenly a little our ranger Maureen put her hand up, which means we have to stop. Silence comes over us all and then there's a huge crack on the branches above us in a tree. We all look up there in front of us is a mother gorilla with her little baby.
      There are times when in the presents of Wild life that you can only be in oar. We hear a loud grunt behind us and has we turn there he is the make silver back. If you thought the mother was big then you now understood that you were in the presents of a beast that at an moment could choose to end your days......
      Maureen have the sign not to move....lol has if anyone was going to go. We all knelt down taking a submissive position. The Silver back also sat down and with one gentle motion took the branch of a tree and stripped it from the leafs and then started to much on them. Maureen gave the sign that we could all get a little close. So very slowly we all edge forward on our bums. He looked up grunted and we all froze, that was far enough.
      We spent the next hour observing this family of 7 them foraging arguing over mushrooms 🍄 they had found and swing up In the trees above us.
      Maureen then said we had 5 mins to go. Truly I could of stayed there all day.
      What you then remember is the steep climb that you have to take to get back to the road. 1hr of almost a vertical climb. Flip I'm unfit..!
      We eventually pop out on to the road there stood little Maureen not a bead of sweet on her and breathing normally. There I was breathing like a stream train and sweating like a pig.
      The guy next to me was polish and he was in a right state. He asked me how old o was. 53 I said your fit...lol
      How old are you I said 33. I didn't feel that bad.
      Maureen gave us our certificates and we posed for photos.
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    • Day 5

      Lake Bunyonyi

      January 9, 2023 in Uganda ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

      William then arrived with our trusted 4 by 4 and we were off. Our next stop and place to stay for the night was about 3hrs drive south to Lake Bunyonyi which means Small bird. We started to climb up a mountain winding our way to the top. Once there we went along the ridge and then it hit us.......

      Lake Bunyonyi the deepest lake in Africa 900 meters. Peppered with little islands 29 of them, William announced we would be staying on one of them for the night. Nkosie face was a picture. How we going to get there he said. By boat, was the answer. I'm not to sure it he looked happy nervous or just scared. We drove down the opposite mountain side and the appeared next to a little motorised boat. In we all popped luggage and all and then off we went. Nkosie nervous so changed to now if happiness.
      The little canoe cut though the water like butter. We arrive on the island to be met by a young man with a warm flannel on a wooden tray.
      We were then loaded on a gold buggy and off we went to the top of the island. Arriving there we were take trough to a veranda which over looked the other island. It was soooo beautiful.
      After settling in William asks us if we would like to hirer a canoe 🛶 and canoe around the island. With that decision made William jumps into the rear of the canoe I jump in the middle and then Nkosie jumps in the front. But with in seconds he jumps out and says no no no..!
      It's not safe. Me and William took it out to show Nkosie all was good. We then returned and a very reluctant Nkosie got back in at the front, then then real fun started. To many chiefs and not enough Indians sprang to mind. With William trying to instruct Nkosie and Nkosie stuggerling to understand we spent about 20mins going around in circles.
      They finally sorted it and we slowly but surly made away around the beautiful island of jahukwe.
      The lake was so calm the perfect way to end a day.
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    • Day 108

      Lake Bunyoni

      August 22, 2017 in Uganda ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

      It was with some sadness that we left Rwanda and headed into Uganda. Visiting Rwanda has been a bit like visiting Singapore as a break from SE Asia’s chaos. It’s safe, clean, orderly, and seems to work. It has also been educational, emotional, and inspiring given how resilient, hopeful and hard working the people here are.
      The border crossing into Uganda was reasonably straightforward, but not as well organized as it was coming into Rwanda. Fortunately, we are now experienced enough that we can usually make sense of the disorganized group of unconnected sheds and find our way through with minimum stress. As soon as we crossed into Uganda, the road instantly turned to potholed dirt and was crammed with trucks. We also noticed trash/rubbish on the side of the road, which is non-existent in Rwanda.
      We only drove a few hours to Lake Bunyoni, a very picturesque lake, dotted with multiple islands. While here, we took a boat trip and learned about one of the most interesting islands - Punishment Island, where unwed, pregnant girls were sent as ‘punishment’. We gather that many died here, as it’s a tiny island with no shelter, no fresh water and no food. This practice apparently continued up until the 1950s.
      We have definitely hit rainy season. We were hoping we would miss it, but apparently it has come early this year. This means we are likely to experience torrential rain most days – not fun when camping. This also means we will be adjusting our plans in Uganda and Kenya (basically we’re planning to stay in an airbnb for a week or so). A friend of John’s texted him saying she had just spent a month in Japan on a food tour. As we were sitting in our tent in the middle of the afternoon, with deafening rain lashing the tent for hours on end, imagining and looking for leaks, we had to ask ourselves, “what the hell are we doing sitting in the tent in the middle of Africa during rainy season when we could be sitting in some Onsen in the Japanese mountains eating great food and sleeping on dry tatami??!!” Oh well, it’s all part of the adventure!
      You may have noticed over the last couple of posts, that we are tending to stay in guest houses more often and stopping to take a few days off from driving and camping. We’ve definitely had an amazing time and great experiences over the last 4 months, and are looking forward to the next 3-4 weeks, but we’re also looking forward to not driving ourselves, and not camping – especially now that the rains have arrived.
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    • Day 1

      Ruhija

      June 9, 2017 in Uganda ⋅ ⛅ 8 °C

      I have been away from home for one month now. Although by the time I post this it will be closer to six weeks because that is likely the soonest I will have internet access. Ruhija is a community within the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. It's inhabitants are mainly gorilla treckers and farmers and many many children. I am working in the health clinic here three days a week. There are five Canadians and five Ugandans in my team of health care students and we are staying on a conservation site owned by MUST (Mbarara University of Science and Technology). The lights are solar powered and there is no running water. We hike up a steep hill to charge items and collect water in jerry cans. Monkeys seem to be nearly as common as squirrels here. The ITFC (Institute for Tropical Forest Conservation) people let the monkeys eat our garbage, but this has not stopped them from breaking into our house and stealing our bread.
      This is probably the most beautiful landscape I have ever been in and the pictures simply do not do it justice. I will try to post more often.
      Alicia
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    • Day 3

      Kabala

      July 7, 2017 in Uganda ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

      We had a long journey today, tent down and away by 6am and not arriving until 7pm. It was an enjoyable ride as the scenery changed to be more rural and hillsides covered in crops. We crossed the Equator again, had a roadside lunch stop and played a few games of cards.Read more

    • Day 27

      Gorilla Trekking in Bwindi

      October 1, 2021 in Uganda ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

      Gestern war unser Gorilla Trekking Tag 🦍🦍
      Wir haben es eventuell wieder etwas zu ernst genommen mit unserem Trekking Outfit, dafür war es aber sehr funktionell 👍🏼

      Der Nationalpark ist 331 km2 und ist Zuhause für über 600 Gorillas. 18 Familien sind überwacht und an Menschen gewöhnt. Wir haben die Familie Habinyanja besucht, die aus 12 Gorillas besteht. Zu ihr gehören zwei männliche Silberrücken und viele Jungtiere. Berggorillas gibt es nur noch in Uganda, Rwanda und Kongo. Die DNA von Menschen und Gorillas stimmt zu 98,4% überein, deswegen ist es zu ihrem Schutz wichtig ihnen nicht zu nahe zu kommen. Sie können die selben Krankheiten kriegen wie wir und da ihr Immunsystem nicht darauf vorbereitet ist, kann das sehr gefährlich für die Population sein. Wahrscheinlich wird das Maske tragen bei dem Besuch der Gorillas auch nach Covid beibehalten. Berggorillas schlafen nie zwei Nächte im gleichen „Nest“ deswegen müssen sie jeden Tag aufs Neue gesucht werden.

      Wenn die Gorillas gut gelaunt und entspannt sind darf man ihnen in die Augen schauen, falls sie Moody sind, weil ihnen in der Nacht zum Beispiel ein Elefant oder eine andere Gorilla Familie begegnet ist, sollte man darauf lieber verzichten und mehr Abstand halten. Uns wurde gesagt dass man eine Gorillafaust nicht so schnell wieder vergisst.

      Bei unserem Besuch gab es eine Situation wo der jüngere Silberrücken ganz nah an uns vorbei gelaufen ist und für einen kurzen Moment bleibt einem echt das Herz stehen vor Aufregung. Beim beobachten der Tiere merkt man wie ähnlich sie uns, bzw. wir ihnen, sind. Insgesamt war es ein Erlebnis, das wir niemals vergessen werden. ❤️
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    Rubanda County

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