Around Uganda in 16 days (I): Kampala – Lake Mburo National Park – Lake Bunyonyi – Mgahinga National Park

We're still in Kampala, without many new adventures, and so I thought that I could tell you about how to make a trip around Uganda in a couple of weeks; but I'll do it bit by bit, you know, no hurry in Africa.

Since Zuzana had finished her contract and her brother Tomáš came to visit us, we decided to take a round trip around Uganda for a couple of weeks. Holidays. And besides, it's also a way to get to know the country a little and see places where I'll have to return for a longer time.

We were planning to make the first part of the journey on our own, travelling by public transport, and then we would meet with Óscar, a Spaniard who lives in Uganda and who has a travel agency (with which I have an agreement to do some promotional pictures) and with whom we would travel the second part of the trip until Kampala.

We could start at the beginning of the journey, from Kampala up to the Mgahinga National Park.

View Around Uganda in 16 days - Part I. as a larger map

A) Kampala
B) Lake Mburo National Park
C) Kabale
D) Lake Bunyonyi
E) Mgahinga National Park
F) Kisoro
G) Mt. Sabinyo


Everything is ready, let's go.


Day 1.

Our plan was to take a bus from Kampala, the Postbus, which is a bus you should try to take whenever you can, better than any other company. The majority of buses here are “high-speed” buses, but the Postbus takes it easy, takes longer, but is safe(r). Fortunately my friend Amos had to go to Kabale on the same day by car, and because the Lake Mburo National Park is on the way, he took us until the crossing where you have to take the road to reach the park.

From the crossing we took boda-bodas – with the backpacks on our backs – to cover the 23km of dirt road up to the park (if you come this way, it's around 10.000UGX).

Already from the motorbike, as you are coming closer to the park, you can see some warthogs (like Pumbaa in The Lion King), antilopes or buffalos… We arrived to the park, put up the tents in the camping next to the lake, and decided to leave the walking safari for the following day and spend a calm day next to the lake, resting after the trip and after getting up at 5 in the morning. And so we sat on the terrace of the local restaurant to enjoy the view.



In a while a school “bus” appeared, bringing a few children to visit the park and see from a boat the hippos, or the birds which are in the park.


And afterwards… well, let's say we weren't very lucky in this park. In the afternoon a group of nice Ugandans arrived, with one convertible and one Mercedes. Probably they were a bit confused and went to the park thinking they were going to a bar, and that's why they enjoyed the nature by listening to music at full blast and drinking until something like 2:30 in the morning. Lucky Tomáš and I had that small siesta in the afternoon... sorry for Zuzana.

Here I am going to send a small reproach to UWA (Uganda Wildlife Authority) so that it improves this aspect and makes sure that this type of incidents don't happen again, because the pak is worth it and this kind of things can ruin your experience.

And because we couldn't sleep, while we were waitng for a hippo to come and eat our lovely neighbours, we decided to watch the stars and take pictures of them.



Day 2.

The following morning we got up early for the safari. Lake Mburo National Park is one of the few parks in Uganda where you can do a walking safari. You go with a guide and an armed ranger with a gun, just in case a buffalo gets too friendly.

One of the reasons why we went to Lake Mburo is because, together with Kidepo, it is a place where you can see zebras. But to continue with the lucky streak in the park, and because you know that animals can't be booked on the telephone, we hardly saw anything during the safari. I don't know if it was partly because of the loud music of our nice neighbours, but the fact is that we had to be content with seeing a few buffalos, antilopes, warthogs and birds. Not a trace of zebras, of course.


In any case, don't let this discourage you from going to the park, this is not usual, both Óscar and other friends told us that they saw herds of zebras and antilopes from close up. We will have to wait until the next time.

After the safari we took again boda-boda to return to the main road, and there we took the first bus which was passing in the direction of Kabale, the city where we were going to spend the night. We weren't lucky enough to take the Postbus (which would probably still take time to pass by) and we took the Jaguar Executive Coach which goes to Rwanda. The bus is comfortable and much better than what you could expect in Africa, but we could really experience in person that the buses are high-speed.

In Kabale we also took it easy, we left our things in our hostel and we went to spend the afternoon at the terrace of Edirisa hostel, a very pleasant place with quite good food. One thing deserves a special mention: their very generous portions of home-made freshly baked sponge-cake for 1000 UGX (less than 30 Euro cents). It's a sponge-cake, nothing very special, but soft and spongy, and it's worth trying.



Day 3.

The following morning we got up, had a long breakfast at the terrace of Edirisa and left for our next destination: the Lake Bunyonyi.

The Lake Bunyonyi was formed when lava from one of the volcanic eruptions which ocurred during the formation of the Rift Valley closed out one valley, which then filled with water, creating a lake with several islands. It is not one of the main attractions of Uganda, but it's a nice and pleasant place where it's worth spending a few days, if you have the time. Maybe it's more of a backpackers destination, and it is more left out by the big tourism packages.

We spent two days in a place called Byoona Amagara, very recommendable. It is on one of the islands, and it is a perfect place to relax and do some activity in the area. To go there you take a canoe and you enjoy the lake while you paddle between its islands.


If you feel a bit lazy and you don't want to paddle, you can also get a canoe with a motor.

When we reached Byoona Amagara we decided to do one of the main things you should do there: chill out, and we spent the evening playing cards, eating and talking with people there until we decided to go to sleep.



Day 4.

Our plan was to rent a canoe to go from one island to another, stopping when we wanted and swimming in the lake (because there's no bilharzia in the lake Bunyonyi), but the day wasn't sunny enough to feel like swimming, so we decided to go hiking to find a place with a nice view of the lake. And this is where we arrived.

Photo: © Zuzana Kazdová

I didn't take my camera, because I had taken my running shoes and clothes to go running around the area aferwards, and thought it would be mean to leave Zuzana and Tomáš the 5 kilos of my equipment to take back. The run a little bit too much, especially one part up the hill, which after a curve turned out to be much longer and steeper than what I could do with the pace I was running until then. Than night I ate and slept really well.


Day 5.

The next day we left towards the Mgahinga National Park, where we were planning to climb the Mt. Sabinyo. On the peak of this volcano the boarders of Uganda, Rwanda and Democratic Republic of the Congo come together.

So after having breakfast, we took a canoe and then a taxi back to Kabale, did some shopping for the hike of the following day, and we started to look for transport to Kisoro.

The options to move between Kabale and Kisoro are limited. There are some odd buses (which probably won't fit with your schedule), and it seems that the matatus don't run here, so your options are reduced to a special (a taxi just for you), or a shared taxi, which is the same as a special but with more people. And that was the option we chose. Do you know that joke: How do you put 4 elephants in a Mini? – Easy, two in the front and two in the back. So this shared taxi thing is the same: How do you put 8 people in a taxi?

Easy…


It seems that we were lucky because sometimes they put even 5 people at the back.

When we arrived to Kisoro, we took another taxi (this time just for us) to the entrance of the Mgahinga National Park, where UWA has a community campground with a few bandas (huts/cottages), which is where we were going to spend the night.

It's a very quiet and pleasant place, I remember getting out of the banda to go for a dinner in the small bar-restaurant, and enjoying the sound of the trees moving with the wind (which was the only thing you could hear). I stayed for a while watching the trees while listening to them… and of course, I took a picture to make sure the moment would stay in my memory for years to come.


We had a tea… and some local food for dinner enjoying the warmth from the fireplace…


… we ordered breakfast for the following day and, because we had read in several places that the Mt. Sabinyo hike was tough, we went to sleep to be fresh the following day.


Day 6.

As we had agreed with the park guards the day before, at 7:15 in the morning of the following day we had already had our breakfast and were ready to leave, as it's common with the schedules here, it was already 8:00 when we managed to start our hike towards the peak of the Sabinyo, with a guide, another guide who was being trained, and a ranger with a gun. The park office is approximately at 2.300 m above sea level, and the peak of Mt. Sabinyo is at 3.669 m, and so we had something like 1.300 m of altitude gain on 7 km of distance ahead of us, going there and back in the same day.

Before starting the guide gave us bamboo poles as walking sticks, and offered us the possibility to take a porter. Here it is fairly common that you are offered porters to go to the mountains, but we reached the conclusion that we didn't need one.

At the beginning the path goes through a relatively flat area which had been recovered for the park after being cultivated for some time, it's a swampy part which must be quite difficult to cross during the rainy season, but in July it was in good condition.

After a quarter of an hour walking we stopped for a while in front of the Mt. Sabinyo, and the guide offered us again to hire a porter, saying that there are people who can't reach the top and that my backpack was heavy even for him.


We looked at all the way ahead of us (we were going to climb the mount from the left side, until reaching the third peak, which is where the border between the three countries is). At that moment the memory of the Pinnacles in Malaysia passes through my head, while a few drops of cold sweat ran down my temple. And because two days before I overdid it a bit when running, and I was carrying in the backpack the food and water for me and Zuzana, some clothes and, apart from my backpack, I also had the 5 kilos of the camera and lenses… I decided it wasn't worth taking the risk and that maybe it was a good idea to take a porter. The guide called the office, and five minutes later he told us that the porter is on his way, so we decided to wait for him.

After 15 minutes waiting the guide calls the park office again, and after talking to them for a while he tells us that today no porter is available… ??????????

Anyway, it doesn't matter, I already know you have to keep your own pace, walk slowly if it's necessary and without getting obsessed. I take my bamboo stick and the one of Tomáš, who is not going to use his, and we continue our hike.

We follow the trail until we reach the primary bamboo forest, the path is still quite flat.


Further on the trail starts to go up the hill and our pace slows down, at least mine, but we keep on going up without problems, stopping now and then. We thought that we were going slowly, at least compared to other hikes we had done, but during one of the stops the guide tells us that we're going fine, that our pace is good and that if we continue like this we would easily reach the top and return before it gets dark. Great.

The path up to Mt. Sabinyo is very beautiful, passing through a forest with trees full of moss and lichen which give it a feel of a magic forest. It is good to stop once in a while and just look around.



Bit by bit the trees start to disappear and mountain vegetation with thicket takes their place. After a while we reached the first peak, where we stopped to rest, eat something and enjoy the views of Rwanda on the left and Uganda on the right, looking up at the second peak which we were going to climb in a while.


Because the trainee guide was going to stay on that first peak, we left with him everything we didn't need and we continued our way.

We quickly descended from the first peak and (not so quickly) climbed the second one, from where, looking back, you can see the first peak of the Sabinyo and the other two volcanoes, Mt. Gahinga and Mt. Muhavura, the highest of the three.


Without stopping we made the second descent and we reached the climb towards the third and last peak, leading to the border between the two countries. This climb is a little more complicated, and the most of it is through ladders.


Finally we reached the peak of Mt. Sabinyo, where of course we asked the guide to take the obligatory picture: Tomáš is in Rwanda, Zuzana in Democratic Republic of the Congo and I am in Uganda.


We ate something enjoying the views of the three countries, though the sky wasn't as clear as we would have liked. In any case we can't complain, anywhere you read about somebody who climbed the Sabinyo, it seems that it always rained, before or after, while we had the perfect weather, sunny during the whole day.

After a while we started the way back, I went first because I wanted to take some pictures while the others were climbing down. We reached again the first peak, where we picked up the guide who had stayed there, and we continued the way down without problems until the park office.

We expected it to be more difficult. We didn't have the impression that we walked fast, we stopped quite often to take pictures and to rest, and even like that we did the whole hike in a time which is considered normal.

After the whole hike, when we reached the camp we got some hot water to wash in (fortunately, because it gets quite cold in the evenings), and we enjoyed the evening and the dinner while resting our feet, again around the fireplace in the dining room.


And that is how we finished our mountain day in the Mgahinga National Park.

We were ready to continue the next day our journey towards the Queen Elizabeth National Park, our next destination.

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

Around Uganda in 16 days - Part II.

Around Uganda in 16 days - Part III.

Around Uganda in 16 days - Part IV.

Around Uganda in 16 days - Part V.

Budongo Forest and Murchison Falls National Park

After being in Kampala for this long I finally had a chance to get out of the city and go for a couple of days to Budongo Forest and Murchison National Park (also known as Kabarega National Park, although this name is hardly heard). I had an agreement with Great Lakes Safaris, a local tour operator which owns a lodge in Budongo Forest, to take pictures of their lodge during my trip to the national park for photos for my project. Fortunately Zuzana could also come and enjoy the time there.

We were leaving from Kampala at 11 in the morning, so we were told to be at the office of the tour operator here in Kampala around 10:30. Amos, the owner of the tour operator was going that day to Gulu, a city in the north of Uganda, so we were travelling with him for the first part of the journey, until the junction where the roads to Gulu and to the park separate. From there a car would be waiting for us and we would go straight to the lodge.

We arrived to the office at 10:30 and... well, one thing you have to know is that here in Africa schedules are just a reference, so it was 12:30 when we were leaving the office heading north to Budongo Forest. And I have to say that Amos is quite punctual, we usually go running together and he normally arrives sharp on time.

After a couple of hours we arrived to the junction, but there had been a problem and the driver who should pick us up couldn't arrive there on time, so we decided that instead of waiting for him we would take a taxi to the next town where the driver would be waiting for us. Amos arranged the transport with the taxi driver and booked the whole back seat of the taxi for the two of us (plus our backpacks) while in the two front seats there were sitting the driver, two women and a child. It is the first time in my life that I saw two people sitting in the driver's seat.

20 kilometres later we arrived to Masindi, the town where the driver was waiting for us. We changed to his car and in less than half an hour we arrived to the lodge. The place is nice. The lodge has a main building with the common area and several cabins around in between the trees, which makes you feel like being in the middle of the forest.


And the fact is that you are in the middle of the forest, you can hear all the sounds of the forest: monkeys, insects, birds... especially at night, when everything is quiet but you still feel that the forest never sleeps. You can have an idea about how much in the forest it is by taking a look in Google Maps.

The small lighter green things that you see are the roofs of the lodge, and a bit on the left you see the road crossing the forest. I guess that there is a point to the lodge being called Budongo Eco Lodge.

Budongo Forest is the largest mahogany forest in East Africa, it has around 800 square kilometres and an incredible biodiversity, with several endangered species, it is also one of the best places in Uganda for bird watching. But on top of that, Budongo Forest is famous for being home of a population of over 600 chimpanzees, and that's why since 2006 Jane Goodall Institute has been carrying out an ecotourism project in Budongo Forest, and Budongo Eco Lodge is part of it.

Chimpanzees live in groups, and some of these groups in Budongo Forest are habituated to humans. What does it mean that they are habituated groups? Habituated animals are wild animals, they live free and behave as any other wild ones. The difference is that if you meet a non-habituated animal in the wild, it is highly probable that it goes away, but habituated animals are used to seeing humans around and they don't identify them as a threat, so they might stay and continue their normal life. One of these habituated groups lives in the area around Budongo Eco Lodge, and it has been monitored during years so we can learn more about how chimpanzees live. This group is the one that is visited by tourists (accompanied by a guide and in groups limited to 8 people and 1 hour of contact with the chimps) and at the same time guides observe their behaviour, which is registered afterwards in a chimpanzee diary.

In our planning, the activity for the first morning after our arrival was chimpanzee tracking. Before leaving, the guide explained us a few things the forest, how to behave there, how to find chimpanzees following different tracks, how to act when we meet them and that it is probable that we will find them but that, of course, it is not guaranteed.

A group of chimpanzees owns a territory of 10-30 square kilometres, fortunately the one close to the lodge is only about 10 square kilometres. It is possible to start the tracking from the lodge, in fact it is quite common, but that day other guides had spotted some chimpanzees at 4 kilometres from the lodge, so at 7:30 we got into a car and took the road crossing the forest to start tracking the chimps from another point. Once we reached there, we entered the forest and started to look for the chimpanzees.


Well, the fact is that it is highly probable to see chimpanzees in Budongo Forest but, as I told you before, even if they are habituated they are wild, and you can't book wildlife. We spent almost 5 hours hiking in the forest but that day we hardly saw any chimpanzee track. Just when we were heading back to the lodge we heard clear chimpanzee calls so we headed in the direction of the calls. We must have been close to them, because we could even smell them, but we couldn't see anything. The guide told us that they were probably another group which is not habituated. The boundary of the territory of the habituated group is close to the lodge and sometimes it happens that when a group of chimpanzees goes deep inside their territory, another group may enter their territory to steal their food. So if they were this "rebel" group and they saw us coming, they probably went back to their territory.

Fortunately, there are more things to see in a forest than chimpanzees. To begin with the forest itself, it is really nice to hike in Budongo Forest, it is beautiful and it is flat, even if the temperatures rise a bit during the day, the weather isn't really uncomfortable, so hiking in Budongo is quite pleasant. And besides, you can enjoy more animals, like big snails climbing on branches:


Or birds like the black-and-white-casqued hornbill.


Or the olive baboon, which you can see in the forest or sitting in the middle of the road.


We also saw another monkey called black-and-white colobus monkey. It is a pity I don't have a clear picture of them, but sometimes chimpanzees hunt them so they are really fast and nervous. And I have the feeling that they don't like being photographed. There was a tree close to the lodge where from time to time you can see some of them eating, but as soon as I grabbed my camera they would run away. So far this is the best I can show you, hopefully I will be able to show you something better next time I go back to the forest.



After the whole morning in the forest we went back to the lodge, had lunch and then I spent the afternoon taking pictures of the lodge. It is not a luxury lodge but it is a nice place to stay and it is very environmentally friendly, with solar power (even for the hot water), water supply from rainwater, composting toilets, sustainable waste management... and at the same time it supports the local communities by training and employing locals, commissioning vegetables from their farm, outsourcing the laundry service or selling their handicrafts in the craft shop of the lodge. Even the cabins have been built with sustainably harvested pine wood. I have to say that I liked the place.



The next day we planned to go to Murchison Falls National Park, which is known for its falls and the wildlife you can see in its savannah. The best time to watch wildlife is always early in the morning and late in the evening, close to the sunset, so we got up really early because we wanted to arrive to the park in time to take the first boat crossing the river at 7:00 to enter the park. After 56 kilometres we were the first car waiting for the ferry.

This was one of the great experiences in Uganda, reaching the bank of the Nile at sunrise while you see some hippos shyly sticking their heads out from the water. A magical moment.


The Nile? Does the Nile River pass through Uganda? I guess that at this point we could talk a little bit about the Nile. If we follow the river from its delta in the Mediterranean Sea, the Nile flows through Egypt, where it is most known. Upstream from Egypt it enters Sudan where, close to its capital, Khartoum, it splits up in two: the Blue Nile and the White Nile. The Blue Nile has its source in the Lake Tana in Ethiopia, that is clear; while the longer White Nile still has a long way ahead of it, a way which is not so clear.

It flows through Sudan and enters South Sudan, first as Bahr El Abyad (which means White River in Arabic), afterwards changing its name to Bahr El Jabal, until it enters Uganda where it takes the name of Albert Nile.

If we follow Albert Nile, we reach Lake Albert, on the border of Murchison Falls National Park, from where it continues as Victoria Nile, which is the river we crossed. The Victoria Nile then finally reaches Lake Victoria in what it is known as the source of the Nile, close to the city of Jinja in Uganda.

But that's where the problem begins. Where is the real source of the Nile? There are different opinions for that. It was John Hanning Speke who in 1862 discovered the source of the Nile on the northern shore of the Victoria Lake, and Stanley, after meeting Dr Livingstone (I presume), who in 1875 confirmed Speke's discovery, establishing the source of the Nile in the Victoria Lake. But of course, Lake Victoria gets its water from many other rivers, so if you want to find the furthest headstream from the Mediterranean Sea you must follow one of these rivers.

The longest course follows the Kagera River through Tanzania and Rwanda. But this river splits again in two: one is the Rurubu River, and its tributary Ruvyironza River is often referred as the furthest source of the Nile, in Burundi. The other one is the Nyabarongo River, which flows through Rwanda, changing its name first to Mwogo River and then to Rukarara River.

An expedition in 2006 claimed to have reached the source the Rukarara as the furthest source of the Nile. But in my opinion, they will have to do another expedition to the source of the Ruvyironza River, otherwise how can they claim anything with certainty?

Since it seems that it isn't quite clear, meanwhile they reach a conclusion, for me the source of the Nile is in the Lake Victoria, as discovered by the great explorers of 19th century, and the furthest headstream of the water flowing through the Nile must be somewhere in Burundi or Rwanda.

Back to our trip to Murchison Falls, at 7:00 we crossed the Victoria Nile, a guide from the park joined us in the car and we started the game ride.

We spent the whole morning driving through the roads of the park, watching and taking pictures of the animals. Bylon, the General Manager of the lodge was driving the car and every now and then I was asking him to stop or go back a bit when I needed. Around noon we reached the Lake Albert, where we had lunch with a nice view of the hippos in the lake. I think it is better if you see all this by yourselves.





There are also lions and leopards in Murchison Falls, but they are not seen too often. They can be easily found in other parks of Uganda, like Kidepo National Park, in the north east of the country. It is definitely much easier to see lions in Kenya, but you will probably feel like in a zoo surrounded by cars. Here in Uganda it is not so overcrowded and most of the time we spent in Murchison Falls our car was the only one we could see all around.

After lunch we came back to the jetty where the ferry left us in the morning. There we took a boat for a cruise through the Victoria Nile heading up to the Murchison Falls.

From the boat you can see again hippos, buffaloes, elephants, crocodiles, different kinds of birds...





Finally the boat reaches the point from where you see the Murchison Falls. After everybody on the boat sees the falls and takes pictures, the boat takes you back to the jetty. But there is another option, instead of going back by the boat, you can make a short hike to Baker's Summit at the top of the falls.

The boat left us at the beginning of the trail and we started the hike. I highly recommend it, we took our time, we were taking pictures and enjoying the landscape.


I had already seen the falls on many pictures, and I always thought that they were nothing special, and maybe you will feel a bit of the same when seeing these pictures. Now I know that you really have to be here to appreciate them.


Maybe you can get an idea if you think like this. Take a look at the Victoria Nile.


It is a big river, wide... Well, now think that all that water has to pass through that "small", only about 10m, crack between rocks. The river narrows and roars and starts to run faster until it hits the rocks, and there it boils and roars, all the power of the Nile compressed in a small opening between two rocks. It is impressive, and it makes you feel how powerful the river is.


We spent some more time taking pictures and enjoying the river.


You can also reach the top of the falls by car, there is a parking just couple of minutes from Baker's Summit. As you can imagine, I was taking pictures there as long as I had some light, so by the time I finished and we got to the parking there was only Bylon waiting for us. After paying the fees for the hike and talking a bit with the staff there, we left the parking heading to the lodge.

It was already getting dark and we were already thinking of the shower, the dinner and resting after the long day. But the last adventure of the day was still to come.

A bit after the parking, there is a point where the road goes steeply uphill and is full of gravel. And that is where our car refused to keep going and after several tries it got stuck in a ditch. Fortunately we were still near the parking so Bylon could go back and ask the people working there to come and help us. After one hour pushing and pulling the car and removing earth and gravel with a spade we finally managed to get the car out of the ditch and continue our way to the lodge, sweaty and tired.

My plan for the next day was going on habituation with the chimpanzees. There are two kinds of activities in Budongo Forest. One is chimpanzee tracking, which is a half day activity where, as I told you before, you go with a guide in a group of maximum 8 people and the stay with the chimps is limited to one hour. The other option is called habituation. It is a full day activity and it is limited to one or two people accompanied by a guide. This was my activity for today.

Since Zuzana couldn't see any chimpanzees the first day, we agreed that she could join us with another guide during the morning for chimpanzee tracking and then she would return to the lodge for lunch.

Around 8 in the morning we were leaving the lodge and entering the forest. That morning the humidity created a thin mist, which together with the morning light was giving the forest a magical appearance.


After hiking for not a long time the guide told me: "there, a chimp, on the track". Again, another very special moment. It was still early in the morning and there was not much light. About 20 metres in front of me there was an area with some thick vegetation making the forest a bit darker. I looked carefully and in between the mist I saw a figure sitting on the track and slowly moving. I had no specific expectation about what a chimpanzee is like, and even though I know that chimpanzees are not small monkeys, I found it surprisingly big. After a few seconds, it got up and slowly and quietly started to move away from us until it disappeared in the shade.

As we kept on walking, we saw more chimpanzees, following those we saw on the ground or following the calls we could hear in the forest. At that time of the day most of them were on the trees feeding with fruits.




After some time Zuzana returned to the lodge and the guide and I continued observing more chimps, trying to get a clear view of them, so I could take as many pictures as possible.

After midday, when it becomes hotter, many of the chimpanzees climb down from the trees to rest and interact with other members of the group. Maybe I was lucky that day, but I had the feeling that it is really worth going for habituation instead of chimpanzee tracking. During that time I spent there I could see how chimps live, while if you go for chimpanzee tracking most of the time you will see how chimpanzees eat. I could see how they interact between different members, how the alpha male rules the group... It was very interesting.


Later, when the sun starts to get down and the heat is disappearing, the chimpanzees go back to the top of the trees looking for more food. Then the afternoon group of chimpanzee tracking came and they were watching them eating while we were again trying to find a clear view of them so I could get more pictures.

Around 4 pm, after spending more than 7 hours with the chimpanzees, the light between the trees started to be too dim and the guide and I decided to go back to the lodge. I really had a great time that day.

After the whole day in the forest with the camera in my hands (almost 2,5 Kg) pointing to the trees I was quite tired; happy but tired. It was the perfect moment for a shower, relaxing, having a dinner and going to sleep.

And then it was time to go back to Kampala, to stop being photographer and to become manager again. We were driven to Masindi and from there we took a matatu to Kampala.

I will have to go back again (fortunately), one day shooting wildlife could be enough if you are really lucky, but this was not the case. If everything goes well and the project goes ahead, I should be spending more time in Murchison Falls and photographing chimpanzees.

I am already looking forward to be back in the savannah and in the forest.

First impressions

Time goes fast. It has been almost one month since we arrived. We found a place where to stay, we waited for the elections to pass and we have been trying to reach our goals here in Uganda. One month here... How has it been?

Once you arrive to Kampala there are some things you have to get used to: chaotic traffic, which can be horrible at certain point, pollution, which is far much more than we get in Madrid, rubbish on the streets... All the typical stuff I heard you have to get used when you come to Africa. Oh, I almost forget it, the red dust which is all around.


But there are also some other things which are really easy to get used to here in Uganda, for example the weather. It is just wonderful, Kampala is almost at 1200 metres above the sea level, and that makes the weather quite soft, even if we are almost at the equator; even now when the dry season is getting too long and everybody complains about how hot it is, we might have like 30ºC, and at night it gets fresh. Let's say that we have around 25-27 degrees during the day and around 18 degrees at night.

And something else which really defines Uganda is how nice Ugandans are. Everywhere you go and whoever you talk to, there is always a smile waiting for you. Especially children, you can hear all around children telling you "Hello muzungu!" while waving their hand. That's even more usual if you get out of Kampala, where children are very curious about muzungus.


Right, so we are in Kampala. What should I show you? Where shall we go? Well, that is actually not so important now, the point is not where, but how will we go? Let me explain.

Distances in Kampala are long, you look into the map and it seems that things are just around the corner, and they are, it is just that the corner is a bit too far. If you don't have a car you have two main options in the public transport: matatu and boda-boda.

Matatus, locally called taxis, are a very common means of transport in Africa. Basically they shared taxis, minivans that have a fix destination and once they are full they start the trip while people get on and off all along the route. It is like a minibus, and there are matatus for long distances and short distances. Here in Kampala most of the matatus go to the centre, going from and to Old Taxi Park or New Taxi Park and surroundings.

I am going to introduce you Old Taxi Park. It is a wonder of the transport engineering. Imagine a square, a big one. Now fill it with as many cars as you can. Right? Ok, now do it in a way that they all can enter and get out in order through many different ways... It's complicated, isn't it? OK, that is Old Taxi Park, the organised chaos.

Welcome to Old Taxi Park:


Here you are two pictures so you can see that I am not exagerating about how many cars they can fit there.



What you see in the second pictures is about half of Old Taxi Park. To tell the truth yesterday, when I took the picture, it was not very full, you still can see a lot of the ground. If you want another funny point of view you can take a look at Google Maps (by the way I guess you have noticed that "red dust which is all around").

I have to admit that I really like Old Taxi Park. Sometimes it can be difficult to cross, but even then you find people all around in between the taxis selling everything you can imagine, from water, sodas, chips and ice cream to newspapers, fruit, belts, cotton buds, earrings or anything else you may need.

Matatus are cheap, but they are not always the best option. Sometimes the traffic is too bad, and other times you don't need to pass through the city centre. There are also what we call taxis, here they are called cabs, special hires or just specials, but they are usually far too expensive and we only use them at night. In any other case your option is a boda-boda, or simply boda.

A boda-boda is a motorcycle taxi. They started as bicycle taxis taking people in between the borders of Kenya and Uganda. They offered "border-border" service, shouting "boda-boda!" to people crossing the border, and they ended up being called boda-boda.

Now they are all around and they usually ride a motorbike instead of the bicycle. You can either stop them on the street or get one in one of the many stages which are all around the city. In a matatu most of the times you get the right prices, but with bodas you will have to negotiate. At the beginning it is a bit difficult, but after a while you get to know the normal prices and then everything goes smoothly. You offer the right price and if one doesn't accept it the next one will take you, there are really many of them.



Of course, boda-bodas can take one or two passengers.


Of course, a motorcycle doesn't have to be use only by so few passengers. A motorcycle is a perfect mean of transport for the whole of the family. In Europe, when you have a child, you by an MPV, one of those family vans, because that's the only way to carry your family; here, when you have three children, you buy a motorcycle.


Yes, look closely, there are three children.

Boda-bodas are a very useful way of moving around the city, but let's face it, it is a bit dangerous. So there are some things you should care about when taking a boda. It is not a bad idea wearing a helmet when riding a motorcycle, so we have bought helmets that we always take with us when we are going to the city and we know we are taking a boda. And it is also highly recommendable having a boda whom you can trust, so when you know a good one you get his telephone number and call him when you need him. We also have our usual bodas, Henry and Samuel, they drive very carefully and they always give us the right price with no need to bargain.

Once you get to know how to deal with all this, you are ready to live in Kampala, the city where instead of sparrows, as we have in Europe, you have pterodactyls.



They are called marabous and the first time you see one of them flying low over your head not knowing where it is coming from, you think that there is something wrong. Even now that I am used to them, when I see one on a lamppost I think it is going snap.



After one month in Kampala, we have our everyday life, we enjoy the time with our housemates, we made some new friends, we go out from time to time, or we go to the cinema, or to the theatre... We are starting to know the city and, somtimes, little by little, getting out of Kampala.

We will keep on discovering Uganda together.