Around Uganda in 16 days (II): Kisoro - Journey to Simba Safari Camp - Queen Elizabeth National Park

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A) Mgahinga National Park
B) Kisoro

C) Kabale
D) Mbarara
E) Queen Elizabeth National Park
F) Simba Safari Camp


Day 7.

The day 7 had as its only objective arriving to our next destination, Queen Elizabeth National Park. Looking at a map this could seem very easy, but for us, using public transport, it meant taking four different transport means during the 352 km of the journey. From Mgahinga National Park we would go back to Kisoro (A), then to Kabale (B), from there to Mbarara (C) and then we would cross the Queen Elizabeth National Park until arriving to the Simba Safari Camp, where we would spend the following two nights.

And so we got up early, had breakfast and set off for Kisoro in a “special” - what we would call a taxi, which was the only option we had. The road between Kisoro and Mgahinga National Park is full of stones, and we needed around half an hour to cover the 12 km until Kisoro.

When we arrived to Kisoro, we took again a shared taxi, just like on the way there, once more 8 people in a car on a road under construction, without a doubt a great experience. They are reconstructing the road between Kisoro and Kabale which really needed it, fortunately about half of it is already finished. But the driver seemed to think that driving on a good paved road was too boring, and decided to take a shortcut, because we all know that it is much better to drive 25 km on a narrow dirt road full of holes, continuously accelerating and breaking, than to drive 38 km on a wide and new road.

At least the shortcut goes around the lake Bunyonyi and the view was nice.

Finally we arrived to Kabale, asked in Horizon Coach about bus schedules… I mean, about buses going to Mbarara, we bought the tickets in one place and then walked across the whole of Kabale to where the bus was leaving from. At the end we had to run carrying all our backpacks, because we saw from far that the bus was leaving, but after the race the bus only moved 50 metres to stop for another 15 minutes. No problem, sport is healthy. 

It seems that the Horizon Bus buses are less high-speed busses than the Jaguar Executive Coach (especially up the hill), so we felt a bit safer than on the way there.

We arrived to Mbarara without any problem, and there we asked how we could reach Queen Elizabeth National Park. This time the only option was what here is called a taxi (or a matatu) to Kasese.

Remember that a matatu is a minibus with several rows of seats to carry passengers – to be specific, 14 seats for 14 passengers and a "conductor" (or inspector) as an extra "passenger". In Kampala the usual thing is to carry 14 passengers, sometimes 15, only a few times I saw 16 passengers (plus the conductor), but on these long journeys it seems common to put in extra people. The number of passengers varies, because the taxi stops often for the people to get on or off, and in our case we only got to be 22 plus the conductor. Fortunately in the matatus the driver has a seat for himself and doesn’t have to share it with anyone.

The road passes through Queen Elizabeth National Park, where it crosses the equator, and shortly afterwards, just after leaving the park, we arrived at the crossing where we were getting off.

When we reached the crossing, which is about a kilometre from Simba Safari Camp, it was already dark, but we were lucky because in the village which is there we saw a Great Lakes Safaris van, which took us up to the lodge.

We took a shower, had a dinner and declared the adventures of the day as finished... or... maybe not. We spoke to the director to check what time we had to get up the following day for the safari and we found out that, whoops, because of some small mistake there was no car and no safari booked for us. Upsss...

Fortunately the director solved everything in a while, and half an hour later we had a van with a guide reserved for us to leave for a safari at 6:00 the following morning. To bed.

Day 8.

5:30 in the morning. So sleepy.

We had a tea and left for the park. In a while we were registered at the gate and were already driving through the park tracks looking for animals.

The sun was slowly appearing from behind the clouds...

...and we started to see animals in the morning light.

Soon we found warthogs, buffalos, various antelopes, and we even saw a hippo quite far from water.

After some time we saw a herd of antelopes, all of them looking attentively in one direction, with four cars a bit further. This usually means one thing: there is a lion close by.

And indeed, in the direction where all the antelopes were looking there were two young males and one female. We were lucky and could see them from quite close. 

We continued with the safari until the day became hot, which is when the animals are less active, and we decided to move to another part of the park called Mweya, a peninsula on the Lake Edward. The Queen Elizabeth National Park lies in the proximity of the lakes George and Edward, and these two lakes are connected through the Kazinga channel, where many animals come during the hottest hours of the day to refresh themselves, and which generally has many hippos and birds. And the boats running on the Kazinga Channel leave from Mweya.

The night before we had been told that all the Uganda Wildlife Authority boats were already full for the day, but we tried going anyway in case a reservation was cancelled. Unfortunately everything was full, and so we tried our luck in the lodge which is next to the park office, and this time we were very lucky, because the boat they had scheduled for that afternoon was free and we ended up having it just for ourselves. 

I had been to Queen Elizabeth before and this was the second time I was doing the boat ride on the Kazinga Channel. I have to say that I really like it. Buffalos, hippos... 

Further on in the Channel there is a part with many birds: different kingfishers, like the pied kingfisher or the malachite kingfisher...

Different herons, such as the goliath heron or the great egret...

Saddle-billed storks, yellow-billed storks, great cormorants, African fish eagle... 

The boat goes along the shore opposite the UWA offices and the lodge, going slowly to see the animals, and once it reaches the Lake Edward it returns directly to the jetty closer to the other shore. When we were already on our way back, we saw from far, on the shore opposite to the jetty, many spots close to the water. I zoomed with my camera and it seemed that they were animals, because the spots were moving. We asked the guide if we could go close to have a look and we headed towards the animals.

As we were approaching, the spots were turning into elephants. A big herd of elephants had come to the water to cool and drink. More than 40 elephants in front of us, and nobody else around. 

After a few minutes observing the elephants we returned to the jetty and jumped into the car to go back to the lodge.

On the way we saw a group of mongooses playing next to the road. We stopped for a while to look at them, and also for them to look at us.

After a few minutes of having fun observing the mongooses we set off again back towards the lodge, ready to enjoy a good lunch. 

But it seemed that our luck wasn’t over for that day, and as we were driving on the park path towards the main road, we saw on the trees above the road… lions – up in the trees! Two lions had climbed one tree, and on the next tree there was a lioness. 

In the southern part of Queen Elizabeth there is a zone called Ishasha, which is famous for tree-climbing lions, but it isn't common to find lions on trees in the Mweya sector, although... it seems that there are some. 

After some time the two lions climbed down from the tree, and then we left, this time for real, towards the hostel to have lunch, it really was the time. 

We spent the rest of the day in Simba Safari Camp, a simple but very agreeable accommodation, besides with very good food. What better after a nice day of safari than to have a good lunch and then spend the afternoon sitting on a terrace with a cold beer. 

It is not a luxury place, but it’s cozy and friendly. It obviously depends on your taste and needs, but Tomáš said that it was the place he liked most from those we stayed at in Uganda – though I imagine my mother wouldn’t think the same.  

After getting up early and the long journey from the day before, we finally had an early dinner and went to bed. The next day we would meet with Óscar and afterwards we would continue our trip around Uganda with him

You have just read the second part of the trip. You can also read:

Around Uganda in 16 days - Part I.

Around Uganda in 16 days - Part III.

Around Uganda in 16 days - Part IV.

Around Uganda in 16 days - Part V.