Jenny in Kampala

Last month (I'm a bit behind on my blogs!), my Dad and sister, Helen, came to visit for 10 days. They arrived late one Tuesday evening (having got a free upgrade on their BA flight, thanks to one of the BA pilots who supports Hands for Hope) and were surprised by how hot it still was even though it was approaching midnight (I was wearing a cardigan and complaining how it cold it was; an indication maybe that I've become quite acclimatised over the last 10 months!).

They spent the first few days of the trip in Kampala, visiting Hands for Hope on the first day. The children enjoyed a sing song with them (any excuse to sing and dance - they are unstoppable once they start singing!):

They also visited the African craft market and generally got a feel of Kampala. I think they were quite surprised by how full-on Kampala can feel when you first arrive; the heat, the dust, noise, the traffic, the attention from strangers and the constant shouts of "Muzungu" as you walk down the street. I realised, again, that I've become quite to used to the atmosphere and cultural differences in the city. Also I think they were struck by the contrast between wealth and poverty; the upmarket restaurants in the leafier areas of town as opposed to the street food being sold in the slums or the people riding clapped out pedal bikes next to someone in a 4 x4.

We had a nice lunch on Prunes café (one of my favourites):

In Prunes for lunch (the Nile Special is Dad's!)

as well as dinner in a Thai restaurant and in one of my favourite bars, Fuegos.

On the Friday, we headed, with our driver Hamza (a brilliant driver -if you're ever in East Africa and want to hire someone you should definitely contact him!) and his brother Hassan, to Lake Mburo, the first stop on a six day trip. About 70km south of Kampala, we crossed the equator (there are a couple of locations in Uganda where this is possible).

Me, Helen and Dad at the equator - it was pretty rainy day!

We were also shown how water swirls in opposite directions on each side of the equator (clockwise in the northern hemisphere and anti-clockwise in the southern hemisphere) but with no flow when actually on the equator. Don't ask me to explain it, but here's a pic!:

Lake Mburo is around 3-4 hours drive south west of Kampala. It's Uganda's smallest national park, with five beautiful lakes and popular, in part, because it's one of the few places in Uganda where you can see zebras. It is the one park without any lions, though, there are stories that one random lion makes and appearance occasionally. I'm not so convinced!

We spent the afternoon on a boat trip around Lake Mboro seeing hippos, buffaloes and lots of different birds:

African fish eagles

As you can see from the photos, it was a pretty rainy day and we were in a very little boat. At one point the engine got caught up in an old fishing net and we were stuck for some time. Unfortunately, the guide had already told us that we were in the area of the lake with the most crocodiles... However we escaped without incident, bashing into a few hippos on the way back to shore (a slightly disconcerting experience...!) and the rain only added to the experience.

Here are a few of the animals we saw on the way back to the lodge:

Zebra crossing!

Some Impalas

Ankole cows are a common site in Uganda, particularly in the south west (though I have seen a few herds pass by my flat at times!) and I think are quite unique to Uganda. They pretty much look like an ordinary cow except for their extreme horns - some as long as two metres:

Ankole cattle

The following day we headed further west to Queen Elizabeth National Park. This is Ugandan's most visited park, with 96 specious of mammal and 611 different birds (more than in the whole of Great Britain!). We spent the first day in Ishasha in the south of the park, famous for tree-climbing lions (which unfortunately we didn't spot!) and the second day in the north of the park. We went on several game drives and also a boat trip along the Kazinga channel. Here are some pics:

A herd of elephants in Ishasha

A family of hyenas

An elephant in the north of the park - clearly not very interested in us!

A waterbuck

Some photos of the boat trip on the Kazinga channel:

Our boat!

Dad on the boat!

A marabou stalk standing over a crocodile

Amazingly we saw a lion sitting on top of the hill. She was only really visible with binoculars, but you could clearly see that she was waiting to pounce on one of the buffaloes. We saw many buffaloes along the banks of the channel and away from the main herds. This is because, once they reach a certain age, male buffaloes are dismissed from their herd as they are seen to have limited use... The lion was staring down at the one of the buffaloes (or "losers" as they're called!).

Back on shore the following morning we saw some lions up close. Firstly this female lion:

and secondly, several lions sitting in a tree (though the zoom on my camera wasn't quite good enough to pick them up).This was during an early morning game drive and we had a cooked breakfast with an amazing view:

I particularly liked the lodge we stayed in at QE, with interesting outside showers and animals, such as hippos, known to occasionally wander up to the lodge for a look round (luckily we didn't see any!).

Our shower!

A cute lizard thing in the camp.

We then travelled north to spend two nights at Kibale Forest. Kibale is a tropical rainforest, believed to have the highest number of primates of anywhere in Africa, as well as lots of birds and 250 species of butterfly. We stayed right in the forest

and our main activity whilst there was the chimpanzee tracking (there are 1500 chimps in the forest). This was one of my highlights of the trip. We walked for just about 30mins through the rainforest and then came across around 6 chimps, who we stayed with for an hour. This was fab, if a little scary at times (they are very loud and, at one point, were swinging right above our heads!). We were lucky to see the chimps both up in the trees and also on the ground, right by us. They are fantastic creatures, really expressive and pretty un-phased by us! Here are some pics:

In the afternoon, I went on a guided walk around the Magombe Swamp. The guides were from the Bigodi Wetland Sanctuary, set up by the Kibale Association for Rural and Environmental Development to protect the swamp. It's also a really good example of conservation and tourism having a direct impact on the local community. All the money raised from the walks go to different community projects; so far this has funded the creation of a small library and the construction of a new secondary school in the village. It was a really lovely walk and we saw lots of birds and primates:

View of the swamp from the top of a treehouse

Some coffee beans!

Black and white colobus monkeys.

The following day we headed back to Kampala via Fort Portal. The drives from place to place were great with some fascinating scenery (along with a few bad roads), including rural villages, lush vegetation and beautiful tea plantations.

Back in Kampala we spent an evening at the Ndere Cultural Centre, to watch the Ndere dance troupe. In existence for over 25 years, these dancers are famous throughout Uganda. They perform dances from the different tribes in the country as well as neighbouring ?Rwanda and Burundi (Uganda is very diverse with over 30 tribes) and the compere (an actor who played the Minister of health in the film, The Last King of Scotland) provides some history on the country and background to the different tribes and their traditions (along with some dodgy jokes and a bit of cringe-worthy audience participation!). The dancers are spectacular and it was a really nice way for Dad and Helen to spend their last night in Kampala:

I really enjoyed showing Dad and Helen around Kampala and Uganda and it gave me a good excuse to see some more of the country (and I'll be here for little while yet so am always up for visitors!).

Jenny in Kampala

Thursday 11 December 2014

Sunday 19 October 2014

Visitors from Higham..