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Published: August 10th 2006
Mzungus In The Mist
So we left good old Delhi at 4 am in a Rickshaw and headed for the airport having had an awesome time in India overall. Our plane journey would take us back to Honkers and then on to Nairobi via Jo'burg over 27 hours. All good fun indeed Fawlty, particularly when your destination is affectionately known as Nairobbery and 1 in 3 people have been mugged or assaulted there! We pensively exited Nairobi airport (without a problem), headed to our new camp site to meet our new group for the next 3 weeks and spent the evening watching Brazil vs Australia - good effort boys. Overlanding on a big green Scania truck through Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania was the plan and Overland we did....
The Overland Experience - Heading Through Kenya A big green truck full of white people (Mzungu's as we are commonly known through East Africa) was a sight to behold as we clattered North at a slow pace, heading for Uganda and the Mountain Gorillas made famous by Diane Fossey and then Sigourney Weaver's Gorillas in the Mist. Somebody commented that it was truly awesome but a long way -
Nakuna 
Lake Baringo, Kenya
Sunrise Boat SafariMatata (no worries) we thought as we arrived at Joy Adamson's place made famous by Elsa the Lion of Born Free. We took a sunrise boat ride on Lake Baringo, safari'd on foot and of course watched the England vs Sweden game which wasn't so much fun! The highlight being a hippo grazing next to the bar....much to the delight of all of us.
The Breakdowns Begin All was going well until we encountered the first of our "break downs". Three days and a new clutch later, we were back on the road full of enthusiam and excitement. We crossed the border, drove for an hour and then we "broke down" again in a lovely little road side town called Adoodee.
Now trust me when I tell you that we were genuinely the most interesting and exciting thing to hit this little town for a long long time. Within minutes, the bus was surrounded by 100+ children and interested onlookers so we played celebrity Mzungu, smiled, played with the kids and then set up Dom's Soccer School and taught these little fella's how to header, volley, take penalties etc. To be fair, they were very good
and were more interested in the "real" football than me given that they usually played with plastic bags tied with strings! Eight hours later and we were taxi'd off leaving the truck and road crew behind.
Adventures on the Nile The truck would arrive two days later, by which time we had been quad biking, Watched England beat Uruguay (only just) and rafted the River Nile on grade 5 rapids (the biggest you can get). Seriously, seriously good fun! I have to say that for a full on adrenaline thrill this was top draw. I must also take my hat off to YT who was a little unsure about rafting to begin with but absolutely loved it and also survived much to her relief. For a little lady, she can compete with the best of them and she is now a genuine White Water Rafting addict much to my approval - good work Doll! Unfortunately, the Azure's beat the Socceroo's much to everybodys disgust but a great performance from the boys in green and gold overall!
And Finally to the Gorillas! Next stop, the Gorilla's which involved two more full days of travel on rubbish
roads. Again, all good fun! We were met by the Gorilla guides and trekked into the forest. Fortunately, they were at home and we spent the next hour with a Gorilla family including a VERY big Silverback - aka The MacDaddy - two males, three females, three infants and a baby - aka The Cutest Little Thing. Joking aside, the hour we spent in their company will remain etched in our memories forever. They are the most beauiful, magnificent, awe inspiring creatures to be seen. Unfortunately, there are only 700ish Mountain Gorillas remaining in the world. As a result, Uganda imposes the death penalty on Gorilla Poachers -who will be shot on the spot if caught - and quite rightly so. Eventually, we left the family to do their thing and headed back home having had one of the best experiences of our trip so far.
The long road back to Nairobi Having spent 7 days getting to the Gorillas, we now had to get back to Nairobi. However, our truck was still at the River Nile so we we were taxi'd all the way back to Kampala on rubbish roads again. . We got back to
our truck, crossed the equator, crossed the border into Kenya and all was going well until we encountered "break down" number three! Not amused Fawlty was the general feeling of our fellow travellers but this is Africa after all so expect the unexpected my dear chap. Fortunately, we were on the road again within a couple of hours and hurtling back to Nairobi.
A day out of Nairobi, we took in Nakuru National Park and spotted a White Rhino along with Giraffe's, Zebra's, Gazelle etc. We ended the day by watching England vs Portugal in the aptly named Safari Bar - a local bar for local people and England lost on penalties again. Never mind old chap, there's always next time......Good work boys??? Having had an awesome two weeks, covering three countries, one world cup and approximately 2000k's on rubbish roads, we returned to Nairobi to meet the next group heading to the gorillas - It's a long way we said -
Nakuna Matata was their reply!
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Nicole
non-member comment
Dodgy truck?!
Hi Guys, Your stories and pic bring back so many memories - oh it seems so long ago! You must have bought a pretty budget tour to break down that many times..he he. Actually I'm surprised it doesn't happen more often - rubbish is a nice way to describe their roads! Keep up with the adventure stories. Nic xo