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Published: March 26th 2008
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Ready to rumble!!!
Fresh and fruity before the climb Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Our dear family and friends,
How was your Eastern weekend? I hope you had a good time! Our weekend was excellent. We have been to Mount Elgon national park last weekend. Mount Elgon is a sleeping volcano of 4321 meter high on the border of Uganda with Kenya. The volcano and some surrounding mountains with their craters and slopes are called out a national park.
On Friday morning we took the bus from Kampala to Mbale, the city closest to the National park. We went there together with Ruth, the daughter of Martin, and Peter. From Kampala to Mbale takes normally about 4 hours. But, it took us 8! After just one hour the engine of the bus failed and we parked somewhere along the road. Since the engine was too damaged to be repaired we had to wait till another bus came along and took us. Finally we had another bus to Mbale and we arrived there safely. From Mbale we took a taxi to Budadiri the last village outside the national park and we slept in a very fine hostel named ‘last change’.
Traveling in Uganda by public means
active taxi-drive
The first 7 km up by taxi is all but comfortable…especially in a coach which connects the big cities around the country. Drivers try to brake the record to put as much as possible people in one bus every time again. Beside this there are many other factors which make a journey by coach through the country a hard adventure but I rather want to tell something more about the good things of last weekend…
On Saturday morning after a good breakfast in Budadiri we met our guide Patrick, a park ranger, complete with gun, who would guide us safely to one of the peaks of Mount Elgon, named Wagagai. Patrick has been an excellent guide, we had a good time with him. Then there were 3 porters that carried our baggage. We hired a tent from the national park office. After we met all people that would help us and another group that would do the same tour the climb began. The first seven km was by taxi! However we had to step out of the taxi and help him climb the slope so it was not a real passive part of the climb. After these seven km the only path up was a footpath.
Rainforest trail
Our guide Patrick on the footpath through the rainforest The first hour the path led us through the agricultural fields of the community, where they grow e.g. bananas, potatoes and onions. Then we entered the mountain rainforest. On our way we saw some interesting things like tree ferns, and blue monkeys. In the afternoon we arrived at the first camp, at Sasa river (2827 m). The porters cut wood and made a fire, build the tents and prepared us food and coffee. Some of us swam in the river but the water was very cold. There we also saw a chameleon! At night we discovered that it can be very cold in Uganda! With all the clothes we had we laid in our sleeping bags but still it was so cold that none of us really slept…Next day we climbed further to the second camp, named Mude (3500 m). Here it was also cold at day time, and at night even worse! But despite the very cold nights we had such a nice time. On the way to Mude, we passed from the rainforest to bamboo forest and later to heather. The third day we climbed even higher and came in what they call moorland. Here the vegetation is
Running up the mountain!
On the way up we passed our English friends who started half an hour before us African alpine, which means only plants that can grow in extreme cold. And there we walked without a jacket, with only our summer clothes plus a pullover. But we reached the Wagagai alive, 4321 meter! Can you imagine, the Vaalserberg (highest point of the Netherlands) plus 4000 meter! It was worth it, so beautiful! After enjoying the peak for about 10 minutes we went back to camp Mude to lunch and later on to camp Sasa to sleep for the last night. On Tuesday morning we did the last part to arrive in Budadiri again by midday. During the weekend we met three guys from England and we had a real good time with them. That’s why in Mbale we ate with them together and drank a well deserved cold beer. How good that taste after climbing a mountain!
Now we are back in Kampala. Tomorrow Nina goes back to the clinic to work. I will receive today or at least very soon an email from NatureUganda, and hopefully I will have the possibility to do research for them in one of the areas where they work. I’ll keep you informed about that. I’m ready with the work I had to do in Bulenga, so I’m looking forward to have something else. But till that time…, I will just see if I can spend my free time as good as possible by seeing interesting things! Enjoy the pictures, and wish you all the best!
Nina and Joeri
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