Half Way!

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Apologies for the absence of any blog activity, eventually we have found an internet connection fast enough to write our next chapter.

After lounging on the beach in Lamu and a few days of respite in Nairobi we met with our long awaited 'truck' to begin our trip west and inland towards Uganda and the endangered mountain gorillas. We headed north, towards the town of Naivasha, and Hell's Gate National Park. Our fist night of camping (the first of 71 nights I might add) was not as calm as we had hoped. After finding our newly purchased tent was broken before we had even used it we eventually got it pitched, with the aid of duct tape, looking out over the lake. Lake Naivasha is famous for the numbers of hippos it supports, so we were warned not to cross their paths. We were assured that the one foot high 12 volt electric fence would keep the 2 ton hippos away from our tent (yes- we did later realise this was completely untrue). We woke up at 2am to strange noises which we timidly investigated through the plastic window in our tent safe in the belief that this, combined with the power of the electric fence, would keep us safe. The noise was indeed coming from a hippo grazing on the grass no more than 10 meters away from us. With Africa's single most dangerous wild animal on our doorstep we didn’t get a great deal of sleep!

From Lake Naivasha we headed into Hells Gate National Park for a ‘safari on bike’- something that sounded exciting and somewhat dangerous at the same time. The area was beautiful with hot springs, looming cliffs and gorges and we had our first viewings of Africa’s larger animals. Definitely worth the following three days of saddle soreness!

Our next stop was a beautiful backpacker’s hostel frighteningly named the Hairy Lemon on an island at the mouth of the Nile in Uganda- completing our journey from the mouth to source of both the Blue and White Nile rivers. We celebrated with a surreal game of water volleyball whilst trying to avoid the stronger currents!
After a brief but eventful sojourn into Kampala (ask Sam about the casino!) we headed south again to Lake Buonyoni on the Rwandan border. The lake here is 2000 meters deep with god knows what lurking in its depths- enough to put both of us off a quick swim!

There are less than 700 Mountain Gorillas left in the wild and all of these are found in the volcanic mountains along the border of Rwanda, Uganda and DRC. Nearly 200 have been habituated for human viewing and, for one hour of contact exactly, in groups of no more than 8 you can trek into the mountains and track one of these families. Our permit was for Rwanda so we headed for the Parc Nationals des Volcans. We were extremely lucky to find our assigned family of 11, including a 250lb silverback and a 2 month old baby, after less than 45 minutes trekking. The experience was immense. To have a wild silverback come within striking distance of you and sit and watch you is an amazing, if not slightly panic inducing, experience.

One of the most poignant moments for us both so far on this trip was the Rwandan Genocide Memorial in Kigali. For three hours we walked somberly around open mass graves, memorials and tributes to the 1.5 million, mainly Tutsi, Rwandans massacred in 1994. Even the hardest souls, could not keep their emotions back when they had walked through the children's memorial room. Photos had been mounted alongside their favorite sports and food, and then just as matter-of-factly, how they had been murdered- the most memorable being an 18 month boy thrown against a brick wall.

From Rwanda we headed back north into Uganda and back towards Lake Victoria and a town called Jinja. This is the place for some of the best white water rafting in the world, including one grade 6 rapid! After spending a couple of days being voluntarily turfed out of a raft into crocodile infested water, we headed west back into Kenya and on to Lake Nakuru. Lake Nakuru is also known as the 'Pink Lake' due to the hue of the water when the 1.5 million resident flamingos feed along the shores. The park is also home to White and Black Rhino and numerous Giraffes, Gnu's, Gazelles and Elands, all of which we were lucky enough to see.

After three weeks we were back in Nairobi and heading south once more towards Tanzania. We did a three day safari in the Ngorogoro Crater and the Serengeti NP's. Both these parks are incredible and bursting at the seams with wild animals. We saw cheetah, lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo, warthog, hyena and much much more. Luckily our camping in the middle of the unfenced bush was an unexpectedly quiet affair- any noises would have brought back some rather un-fond memories of sleeping with the hippos!

We are both now sitting in Stone Town in Zanzibar after an amazing three days on a white sand beach, eating lobster and sipping cocktails... oh, the hardships of being a backpacker! Tomorrow we head to Malawi (and back to the tent!).

Apologies for the lack of photos. We will try and add them soon when the connection is faster.

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