Blogs from Africa - page 13

Uganda day 8 Out on the water then walking with ‘friends’ in Uganda It’s amazing how much we’ve fitted into our first week here. So getting up in the daylight today was a bit of a shock to the system. The view of the lake was an amazing thing to wake up to though. We even had our first leisurely breakfast of the holiday as our first activity wasn’t due to start until 10. We had a new guide today, Johnson, who had some highs and lows. He was very friendly, his English was great, he knew a lot and he said I look a lot younger than I am. He was only 45 but I had taken him as being older than me. He also repeated himself, a lot, and laughed at everything, which would ... read more

We left London in 33 degree heat, packing our sweaters in the cases as it was far too hot to wear them. 11 hours later we arrived in Cape Town to find it was 13 degrees with pouring rain and a howling gale. Hmm, aren’t you meant to go on holiday for better weather…..? The rain subsided enough to allow us to don sweaters and waterproof jackets and go for a walk round the V&A waterfront. Back in the hotel, we celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary with a beer in the hotel bar, watching the locals celebrate South Africa thrashing Scotland in their first match of the rugby World Cup, and had an early dinner before heading to bed to catch up on sleep after our night flight. Next morning we’d booked to visit Robben Island ... read more

oday was gorilla day, the original reason we’d come to Uganda, although we have found many more reasons since we arrived. I didn’t know what to expect, but I didn’t expect to get so close to gorillas that I could smell their farts, or be surrounded by a tribe of Batwas, or finally meet a female Ugandan driver. The latter being the most unlikely. It is one of the best days of my life, though not as good as my wedding day (hi Glyn!). When we’d arrived in Uganda , Didan had said he could try and arrange a private gorilla trek. I wasn’t going to get my hopes up, as gorilla trekking already is an amazing and privileged experience, but to do it without other tourists would be quite mind blowing. Last night, Zedius told ... read more

When you can hear raindrops on your roof, you know it is raining. When all those drops become one big wall of sound, you know it is insanely torrential, especially when it wakes you up at 4am. I didn’t get much sleep after that which is ok, because we were getting up at 5am anyway. Also, Glyn started writing today’s blog last night. How is that even possible without a Time Machine? And then in the jeep this morning, before anyone (that’s a typo, I meant to say ‘anything’ but ‘anyone’ probably is correct) had happened, his fingers were on fire on his iPad, getting irate about something or nothing. After an adequate breakfast, we left Ikaze Cottages to go to Mgahinga Gorilla National Park for Golden Monkey Trekking. It’s one of the smaller parks in ... read more

We left Irungu Forest Safari lodges at around 7am. They’ll be getting a good review from me as it’s a nice place and the main guy was very attentive. Amazingly (considering all the people in and out of that place) he always remembered our names and welcomed us back personally from our excursions. It was a wonderful location, had cats and fancy birds, plus a nightly herd of waterbuck. What more could you want? Our first destination today was the Ishasha section of Queen Elizabeth National Park, however the safari started long before that. This is because although large areas of land are accessible only with a permit, it doesn’t mean that the animals don’t wander further, as there’s lots of land between each section of the park. So it’s one big safari everywhere. The other ... read more