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Published: April 6th 2013
So after overnighting at the brilliant campsite in Eldoret which involved enjoying a great Indian buffet and a few beers over a big wood fire, we were planned to make our way into Uganda. We awoke in the morning to hear poor Christine had been up all night, violently ill. I have never seen someone so ill like this in my life, and it was not a case of get in the truck and continue on. She was unable to walk without two people helping her. We were fortunate enough that there was a local hospital not too far away and we were there not soon enough for Christine. It was the first time Christine had ever been to hospital as a patient - she was used to being in the opposite situation to what she was in now. We were all overall relieved at the hospital and its relative modernity, which made us feel more relaxed. Christine was definitely unnerved as the nurses in emergency tried to take blood from her hidden veins in her hand, unsuccessfully. I think she wished she had more strength to give them some tips. Christine was eventually assessed by a doctor and admitted into a ward, a private room all to herself. Sarah, our always conquering tour guide, had the difficult task of planning what we should do. After, what felt like a relatively short time for us, but I’m sure an eternity for Christine, she had some IV fluids put in, and was looking slightly better with a bit more colour in her cheeks. Sarah organised with the owner of the campsite from Eldoret to look after Christine. We were on a tight schedule to make it over the border into Uganda and on to Jinja. We all didn’t feel comfortable about leaving Christine at the hospital overnight, but Sarah insisted she was in good hands.
A few hours later we had crossed into Uganda, feeling a little flat as we had temporarily lost a family member, but also excited to be in Jinja, the outdoor adventure capital of the area. It was a really nice campsite, on the River Nile. We were briefed on our options for the following day and Keisha, Gary, Alex and I decided on river boarding. This is similar to white water rafting, except we had our own body boards to go down the rapids on. Alex was a little nervous about this one and for the first time more than me. It felt good.
River boarding, sorry Christine, was epic! BUT, you were that angry HOLE in the rapids, taking out your anger on you not being there by smashing us down the rapids. We all had a great day - another surreal experience. We were driven to our departure point on the River Nile, after an included hot breakfast, and were briefed and set up ready to go. We joined three other people that were white water rafting, including an English bloke starting up a pig farm that he had no idea about, an Aussie girl from Perth and a local Port Macquarie boy, Luke Kennington, who was in the year below Alex in school. Once again, what a small world. We learned how to raft down a relatively easy rapid to get us started. The day now was to involve the four of us paddling between rapids in the big raft with the others, and then jumping into the water, flippers and bodyboards in tow, and throwing ourselves down each rapid – awesome! We had two guides between us, and we ‘tried’ to follow them down each rapid. We were taught how to surf the rapids, by turning around 180 degrees before a big wave comes for you, and paddling hard to catch and surf the rapid. Alex succeeded in doing this like a pro and once she was in the wave, she effortlessly stayed there, saying after she could have stayed there all day. She said Lachie would have been proud. I failed miserably. There was a photo that we could have bought that showed Alex effortlessly smiling and surfing this wave and me trying with everything I had, face screwed up to the max, next to her (for a brief few seconds), trying to join her. It was almost worth paying the $40 for this one photo I think Alex thought.
Put the clocks forward 30 minutes and we were then navigating our way down another rapid, this time following the strict instructions to go LEFT to avoid a massive HOLE. Gary leads us all off. Gary did not go left, he went right. I thought – ‘has been good knowing you mate’. I was off next - I went right, following a similar line to the guide who led us all off. But, no, within a few seconds I am in the middle of a massive HOLE being completely hammered, bodyboard cord ripped off my arm, and slammed for what seemed like a good twenty seconds, racing down the Nile with no board. I eventually escaped out of the rapid and collected myself. I thought, if this has happened to me then Gary is dead for sure. No, Gary missed the HOLE altogether. I’m picking my own lines from now on I thought. Keisha succeeded in following a similar line to myself and was hammered down into the HOLE, GoPro ripped off her head (caught by the safety), board gone, a rock collision on the way. Alex survived this rapid unscathed.
30 minutes later and it was Alex’s turn to be smashed on the rapids. She said she was more confident going into this rapid as she had navigated the previous one well. That mindset was gone from now on, as she experienced what Keishi and I did on the last rapid.
Gary had another interesting rapid experience when on one of our last rapids there was a fork in the river with the instruction being stay LEFT. Again Gary ended up on a different route – going down RIGHT. When he reappeared after we waited for him for some time, we learned that his route involved many rocks. Gary was bloodied and beaten after bashing his way down via the rocks, but I think he was happy to be alive so that was all that mattered.
The day eventually had to finish and it was topped off by a buffet hot meal and beers at the finish of the rapids, before being taken back to our campsite. We would highly recommend riverboarding to anyone who has been white water rafting and wants a different experience.
Christine fortunately re-joined us that night, after taking a bus from Eldoret to Jinja. We heard her stories of her five star treatment from Raj and his hospitality in taking Chrisitine into his home and feeding her. This involved eating with his extended family, all 18 of them, which they do every day. Christine looked a lot better than when we left her and it was exciting to think we all would be experiencing the Gorilla Trek tomorrow.
Alex subbing in here:
The next day we drove into Kabale where we left the truck and were taken by a smaller van up to Lake Bunyonyi as our base for the Gorilla trek and 3 days of relaxing. As we drove into this mountainous region on the lake which the locals proudly admit is the 3
rd deepest lake in the world (approx. 2000m deep), we were once again blown away by the spectacular scenery. It was breathtaking. The mountains, the water, the village, the people, and it all once again created another little paradise for us. With the decision to upgrade into a little bungalow looking over the lake, we had a lovely buffet dinner followed by an early night in anticipation with what tomorrow would hold.
Our five o’clock start saw us decked out in our safari/hiking get up and we witnessed a beautiful sunrise as we drove up to a height of nearly 3000m above sea level, overlooking the Bwinidi mountains in which we would be trekking. The anticipation was killing us. We had been briefed that the guides will track the gorillas throughout the morning to gauge their movements. However, we were warned that the trekking involved in locating them could be very unpredictable and the distance could vary considerably, from 10 mins to 9 hours and on the odd occasion you would not see the Gorillas at all. It was to be physically demanding with variable weather conditions. As Christine still wasn’t 100%!w(MISSING)ell we were after a shorter hike but still a long enough hike to feel worthy of seeing the gorillas. Before heading off we found out off our guide Steve that the rarity of the gorillas in the world was due to the destruction of their natural habitat, which includes the 330 km sq in Binwindi (Uganda) and 450 sq km in the Virunga Volcanoes in Uganda and Rwanda. Poaching and respiratory or parasitic diseases, due to human contact have also contributed to their decline. Conservation in recent years has helped to save them becoming extinct. A typical group of gorillas has about 10 members. Our family, the Bitukura Family, were a family of 12 including 3 males, one infant, one juvenile and the rest female. We were also warned that at all times we were to stay at least 7m away from the Gorillas to safe guard them from too much human contact.
Other gorilla facts
We set off with our hiking sticks rummaging through exactly what we imagined, thick, green slippery jungle. Slipping and sliding, ducking branches and climbing over logs, it was awesome and the views were spectacular. Luckily it worked out just like we wanted it to, not too hot and not raining, and we started to spot our first lots of fresh Gorilla droppings within 35 minutes. We were super excited and tried to get ready for the experience we were about to witness, but not enough photos or videos could capture what we were about to see. First up we came across a Silverback sitting with his back up against a tree having a feed on leaves less than 3m away, absolutely incredible. He just went about his business of eating whilst we then turned to observe about six of the Gorillas up in the trees ahead of us. Dumbstruck, we witnessed a mother and baby climb up the tree, a few other females grazing on leaves and another silverback stretching gracefully out for some breakie. This incredible scene we witnessed was enjoyed by the music of their bottoms, that is, constant loud farting! It was hilarious and not expected, and this continued for the full hour we got to observe them.
We continued to watch a young female pose for us laying under the tree yawning. We then watched in awe as a few of them started to climb down the tree to wander straight past us. Whilst this was happening the original Silverback that we first saw came racing down the hill, brushing past Keisha (definitely not 7m away!).
The hour spent with the Gorillas was over before we knew it, and like I said earlier, words, photos and videos will never do the experience justice. They are just so incredibly human like, their hands, the way they groom each other, feeding and their faces and big eyes are just magical to watch.
They put on such a show for us but it was also like we weren’t there at all and they were just going ahead with their everyday life (which is exactly how it should be). It was a great combination of them being in the trees and on the ground. We trekked back to our 4x4 on the biggest high reminiscing and reliving what we had just witnessed and feeling simply amazed to have been so privileged to experience this once in a life time opportunity.
The next day we set out to visit the Little Angels Orphanage. This was an orphanage set up by Duncan who was an early 20’s boy who was an orphan himself and had been sponsored up until the age of 18 by an English man. Duncan wanted to return the favour as a thankyou for the opportunities he was given due to being sponsored. In 2.5 years he has managed to start up his own orphanage and school in which there are 175 kids. Of these kids he has managed to get 65 of the kids sponsored, has 3 classrooms for the kids and has organised volunteers to assist. The volunteers also help free of charge (the way it should be). Simon and I entered a class that was year 2 and the children were just gorgeous. We stood up the back and tried not to interrupt the lesson. The floor was dirt, with basic wooden benches as seats and long desks with 5-6 kids on each one. Most of them had a uniform but owning shoes was a privilege. The lesson was in English but a lot of their learning was put into song form and sing they did. They were loving it, singing, English and maths based songs, they couldn’t get the smiles off their faces. It was so amazing to see so many children loving being at school. The teacher asked us to contribute a song so Simon and I went to the front of the class and led Old MacDonald, which went down a treat. After this, they cleared out one of the classrooms and a select group of kids from each class came and with a teacher playing a bongo drum they danced and sung for us some more. We had a good dance with them, let the girls braid my hair and played bubbles with them that we had brought. They were just the most incredibly happy beautiful children. They never once complained or asked or begged for anything (unlike other kids we have come across). I would have loved to have sponsored all of them. Duncan is doing such an amazing job and the kids just melted our hearts. Simon and I have decided to sponsor a child, knowing that our money is going to an outstanding cause and that the money is actually making it to the child, for food, clothing and schooling and making a difference. We decided to organise this through Duncan when we get home and allow him to allocate a child to us in most need, as there was no way I could have picked just one child out of all of them. It was one of my highlights of the trip and these beautiful children will be with me forever.
Just before we went to the orphanage Duncan took us to the local crazy lady’s house who was well into her 80’s (a mean feet in Africa). She was a beautiful crazy character that didn’t speak a word of English. When we arrived she picked me out to be Duncan’s new girlfriend (Sorry Simon), as she always does apparently, and then continued on to slap everyone on the bottom multiple times and for those with sizable busts had a good squeeze of these too. Needless to say, both Christine and I were quite popular and were lucky enough to get a few extra squeezes! She also had a good feel of Simon’s guns. She then demonstrated how she grinds up sorghum into a fine powder which is then made into a porridge type substance. In this time it started pouring with rain so the lady’s 80 year old husband fetched us some sticks so we didn’t mud slide on our bottoms the whole way back down the mountain. A small example of how the people have nothing but are always trying to help when they can.
The next day we visited a second community orphanage which was actually founded by Francis the local and two ex-tucan travellers. This was in conjunction with the pygmy village that have become homeless due to their removal from their original habitat in the forests. The aim of the program was to get the pygmy children into school and educated to help with the tribes future. The children at this school were just as gorgeous and put on an equally good interactive singing and dancing performance. The kids must have sensed that Simon loves to dance so picked him first to join in with the bird like arm flapping dancing (they must have known his nickname was tweety). We then all joined in, puffing significantly after a few minutes of dancing in the altitude and taught the kids the Hokey Pokey which they loved. After this, the pygmy village put on a small little dancing and singing performance before we donated clothes and bedding to them. The women were very enthusiastic with their dancing despite not wearing bras which led to a few little secret giggles. Once again, Francis and the Australian’s who assisted this set up have done a wonderful job and are looking to extend to another class in the near future which is great to hear. On the way home from the orphanage we caught the boat to the local floating/riverside market enjoying a little meander through the fresh produce and textiles.
Sadly, the next day we said goodbye to Lake Bunyonyi and headed for Kampala the capital of Uganda. Two highlights of that day were chicken on a stick from the side of the road which Gary was quoted saying, ‘this is better than KFC’ (those that know Gary, will know that is a massive call). Secondly, some fresh fish from the side of the road that we made into a fish curry. Depending on who you ask the fish curry was delicious, but not so delicious coming up for some (Simon).
I think I could say and I know it’s a big call but Uganda was my favourite of the east African countries. Winston Churchill was right in saying that Uganda is the Pearl of Africa- the mountains, lakes and forest are simply spectacular. It is positive to hear that in 10 years the country have managed to improve the percentage of people under the poverty line from 56%!t(MISSING)o 24%! (MISSING)The people of Uganda have suffered such great atrocities of guerrilla warfare under Milton Oboti and Idi Amin in the 80’s, killing over 1 million of their own people and creating over 2 million refugees. Uganda is also one of the countries that the evil Joseph Kony recruited child soldiers from, as well as from the south of Sudan and unfortunately, as he has not been captured, this still goes on today (Might want to check these facts and the spelling of the leaders). Despite this, the Ugandan people remain happy, and optimistic for a peaceful and developing future. Simon was lucky enough to stand outside a church whilst I was at the ATM and he just stood listening to them sing songs of hope and happiness.
Returning back into Kenya, we visited our second last park, Lake Nakuru NP - a bird watchers paradise with over 4000 species of birds. Simon continued to not be well unfortunately or maybe fortunate for us, as he wasn’t stopping us every five seconds to look at all the birds! Our mission today was to see rhinos up close and our guide promised that he would deliver the goods, so we were all pretty pumped. After watching some beautiful pink flamingos up close we came across a family of black rhinos- mother father and baby. We were thrilled that we were close enough not to need the binoculars this time. They are pretty cool, stocky, triceratops looking creatures and sad to know that they are so endangered due to poaching. We were lucky enough to see 2 more black rhinos up close before getting a flat tyre. Whilst waiting to get a spanner that fit the wheel of our van, we waited in the shade whilst cheeky monkey’s hung about trying to steal our food. Keisha gave a monkey some of her sandwich which caused a fight between three of them leading to a scared monkey latching onto Simon’s leg and giving him a little nip. I knew Simon was feeling slightly better, as after this he soon pepped up and spent the remaining hour pegging rocks at the monkeys as revenge. I’m still watching out for tell tale signs of rabies from the bite, such as foaming at the mouth!
Before spending the afternoon sunning ourselves at a resort pool over looking the Nakuru NP we were lucky enough to see a white rhino from a bit of a distance. So we left the park feeling very satisfied that we could now tick off all the Big 5 off, up close!
Nearing the end of our African adventure, our last stop before returning to Nairobi was Lake Naivasha. The first afternoon we enjoyed, good internet and a relaxing afternoon by the pool. The next morning, with our African guide Simon, Christine, Simon and I set out for a 25km bike ride through Hells Gate National Park. This park is said to be the inspiration of the setting for the animation The Lion King, including the gorge. Peddling into the park was such a rush and a nice way to finish up in the national parks. I feel like that although we have been to so many, you never get sick of these amazing animals and cycling by them that morning made you feel just that little bit closer to them. We saw your typical pumbas, zebras, antelope, gazelles, buffalos (Christine’s favourite) and some giraffes to top it off on the leg home. Once we got to the gorge we hiked down into it. The high sandstone walls and valley really felt like you were in the scene where the stampede happens in the Lion King. Christine and I thought it was only appropriate to act out the Mufussa and Scar cliff face scene where Mufussa cries out to Scar to help him. We thoroughly enjoyed the re-enactment, however, I think Simon thought we were a little loopy. Within the gorge there were hot springs, that were lovely, but unfortunately not quite big enough to swim in. We then had fun taking photos, posing and jumping off the rocks before hiking up again to look over the gorge from above - what a view! Jumping back on the bikes with our bottoms feeling a little sore already we enjoyed (Christine might argue this) the rest of the ride through the park back to the campsite.
Heading back into Nairobi for our last night together as a Tucan gang and the Famous Five, we finished off with a Mexican/Spanish feast. The sangria was made to perfection and housed in the esky (total class) and the nachos and chipate burritos, with guacamole was incredible. Enjoying each others company, re-living the past two months together and learning a little more about each other whilst finishing off the sangria was a perfect way to end the trip.
The next day was a busy one packing up all our souvenirs we had collected along the way and saying goodbye. It was sad to say goodbye and the reality of going back to the real world for some of us was lingering.
We couldn’t thank Josh and Sarah enough for all of their hard work, dedication and patience over the past 2 months and felt privileged to be Sarah’s last tour group.
We set off to the airport with our 60 kgs of luggage to fly to Addiss Ababa, Eithipia before parting ways.
Simon and I were so lucky to travel our African adventure and experience everything there was together. We felt incredibly humbled by the spirit and attitude of the people in every country we visited, and astounded by the natural beauty of the many landscapes and animals we saw along the way.
A weary goodbye to Simon saw me on my way in the next chapter of my travels with my oldest friend and partner in crime Amy, to discover and explore the Northern parts of Africa- Egypt and Jordan.
Quickly touching base with Simon he landed back to 2 degrees in London for his bike course and managed to get all our weird and wonderful souvenirs through customs.
Thanks everyone for reading, we hope you have enjoyed hearing of our African tales.
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Colleen McQueen
non-member comment
The final African Blog
Thanks guys once again, for such a wonderful description of the last part of your African experience. As always for me at the end of a good read, I always feel bereft, saying goodbye to the characters or in this cases the adventures. Happy to have read the description of the riverboarding after event, knowing that you have survived it. I was worried about hot air ballooning and bungy jumping!!!! Am sure that such a wonderful trip will be something you will treasure and reflect upon many times throughout your lives. Make sure that you include these blogs as part of your photo books when you get to put them together.