Blogs from Fort Portal, Western Region, Uganda, Africa - page 4

It takes close to an hour to negotiate the traffic of downtown Kampala and make it out of the city, but soon the country opens out around us: lush, undulating, endless, with sheets of smoke rising from the burning crops in the distance. It’s a beautiful, bumpy drive. We stop in small towns for passengers to get off: men with battered suitcases, women with burbling, bleary-eyed babies on their backs. Young boys approach the bus waving skewers of goat meat and packets of peanuts; women suggestively wag a few bananas or bunches of small red onions. I grin and wave but would rather hold off till we reach Fort Portal; there don’t figure to be many bathroom breaks for upset stomachs. Tea plantations cover the hills, broken by small bursts of banana plants and clusters of ... read more

From Kampala we had a fairly uneventful bus ride to Fort Portal in Western Uganda on our way do the Chimp tracking in Kyambura (Chambura) gorge in Queen Elizabeth Park. In Western Uganda the countryside is much more hilly and the road wound its way through terraced farms and tea plantations. Fort Portal itself isn't much to look at, and there is no fort, but there is plenty to see in the surrounding area. Situated at the Northeastern tip of the Rwenzoris, Fort Portal is a good base to explore the 'Mountains of the Moon', the various national parks like QE, Kibale, the Crater Lakes, and the reason for our visit, the Chimps of Kyambura gorge. With a supposed 85% chance of seeing the Chimps, Kyambura gorge is a 19 km long gash in the plains ... read more

Just got back from Fort Portal. Spent the holiday there with my friends Curry and Kate who are in the SIT program with me. Curry is living there and working for a conflict resolution/human rights NGO. We went on a couple of long hikes in to the foothills of the mountains, and hung out with some volunteers staying at the hostel with us. Ate some really really good food too! Hope these photos give you an idea of what the landscape is like....... read more

Well my friends the time has come - our final travel blog. You'll probably be reading this as we arrive back home in London and we'll soon be in touch to arrange a drink or 2. We can't wait to see everyone again. Our last adventure was in Uganda, which began with tracking gorillas in Bwindi Forest and ended at a village near Fort Portal working with the community. First to the gorillas. The journey from Kampala was a long and bumpy route but made unforgettable by the lush scenery and hordes of children waving, smiling and shouting "How are yoooooou". The trek itself, to see the family of 12 apes, took 2 hours of huff and puff through dense forest but when we eventually found them it was an overwhelming moment. The playful babies rolled ... read more