The Happiest Days of Our Lives

Colorful guy

 Kampala 01.02.2012

Uganda is an absolutely beautiful country. You get gas and bread everywhere, the landscape is nice, the wildlife good and the Ugandans themselves are incredibly friendly. I’ve heard that they are thieves and liars as soon as money is involved, but my own experience down here has been splendid so far.

We had a relaxing day of planning in Juba last Tuesday, getting our clothes washed, the car clean and reading guidebooks and maps. Our first destination in Uganda was the Murchison-Falls NP. We got there on Thursday and spend two full days in the park. The main attraction is the fall, which was impressive enough. The other thing, that I enjoyed at least as much was the game.

We did two game-drives, and even if we were unlucky with the cats (we only spotted some lions quite far away in the grass) we had some nice encounters. The absolute highlight was a meeting with a small group of Elephants. They crossed the Road only two or three meters ahead and behind of the car. We had turned off the engine, and were surrounded by the huge animals for some minutes.

In the park we also met doctor Ekkehard, a German doctor on tropical medicine, who has been around in Africa for over 30 years, and has worked in as many African countries. He actually joined us on our second game-drive, and could tell us amazing stories. He has also given us a lot of ideas and inspiration on what to do here in Uganda. It’s a shame that our time here is quite limited due to Roger’s flight from Lilongwe. I think I’ll have to come back here and track around for some weeks or even months.

Ekkehard has also organized the place we’re living here in Kampala. We have stayed here for some two or three days to fix Wombosi a bit. He needed a general service, and the breaks finally needed some tending to. We’re staying at a friend of Ekkhard’s place. They’re both crazy about African art, so this place is full of sculptures and statues.

As you can read between the lines, we have had a splendid time. Not just have our western friends (Margo in Juba and Ekkehard here) been an absolute blessing, but also the Ugandans have made our time great. They are always smiling, asking how you are doing and helping us out with whatever little we need. In the evenings we have not wild-camped (in its proper sense), but have went to a Church or School or other compound and asked if we could stay there for the night, and not one time have we been rejected or asked for money for it. People even come to us and thank us for staying at their place.

Tomorrow we are heading on a day trip to some semi-primary forest, with those gigantic trees with Ekkehard. We’ll also use it as a test-drive for Wombosi. We have fixed the vacuum-pump of the breaks, but the breaks are still not functioning as they are supposed to, but they might just need some time.

The plan ahead is to use some more days here in Uganda, focusing on the mountains in the South-West. We might even wander across the border to the Democratic Republic of the Congo to an active volcano called Niarangongo. That would be absolutely fantastic! After that we’ll be heading into Rwanda, stay there a few days before we hit Tanzania. Tanzania will probably be a bit of a drive-through. We just don’t have the time to appreciate everything as much as it should be, but I guess that says a lot about how blessed we are. Anyways, you’ll hear from me before that time, so you can see how it evolves for yourself. 

Boooo

A beautiful Elephant! Boom boom

And we met at the middle...

Reflections

"New" license-plate-number

At the falls

Thompson

Bird riding a warthog

The wave

Freshly "showered" by the falls