It's a short journey back to Kabale from Lake Bunyonyi. As I wait for my taxi, I idly glance over a map showing the districts of Uganda and am surprised to find that more than a quarter of them begin with K. I stay a couple of nights in Kabale. The Golan Heights hotel appeals because of its incongruous name but I choose a funky hostel that has wifi. Once again, travellers are in the minority, though there are plenty of volunteers. Kabale is swarming with bicycle boda bodas in numbers I've never seen before. I meet a Scottish couple who have been living in Kabale for ~8 months. It has been a tough experience for them, not helped by some family tragedies back home, and it seems as though our conversation is an outlet for ... read more

I leave Kampala in a torrential downpour on a bus that, despite having a supposedly fixed departure time, waits around until it is full. The first two hours have competing attractions. A well-dressed salesman somehow spends this entire period giving a pitch for various Chinese medicines. Unlike in the UK or US where he would be ignored - and quite possibly requested to shut up - by all passengers, here most are actually paying attention and he makes a few sales. The competition is the series of amusingly amateurish music videos playing on the bus's lone TV. The nadir is reached by Rude Boy Devoh, whose apparently serious rap entitled "Man-U" sees him name-checking various players who've represented Manchester United over the last 20 years. It's truly appalling. We lose the salesman at the half-way point ... read more

As per standard operating procedure for bus companies in Kenya, I'm told to report to the office half an hour before departure. I'm staggered to arrive at this time and find that I am the last passenger to check in and, once my backpack is stowed and I'm on board, we depart 20 minutes early. Is this Africa? The bus or the driver or the road or possibly some combination of all three are not that great, and every bump sees me having to hang on to the armrest to avoid heading skyward. However the bus is also not even half full so I have a double seat to myself as well as sole control of the window for ventilation purposes. More unbelievably, we stop only at the border so there are none of the constant ... read more

Though there are buses that go straight through from Nairobi to Kampala in barely more than half a day, I don't feel like spending that long in a bus of unknown comfort levels so decide to break up the journey half-way in Eldoret in western Kenya. Though the company I choose don't do international trips, their bus turns out to be surprisingly good with decent legroom and a mere 6 other passengers. The security check when we board is a nice touch, though having to undergo another one after the toilet stop in Nakuru is a little tedious. I've already done half of the journey before, on my Masai Mara/Lake Nakuru safari, and doze for much of this repeat viewing. The road certainly gets worse beyond Nakuru, and one stretch has been tarmaced but for some ... read more

Breakfast gives a confirmation of my long-term traveller status - I've worn pretty much the same clothes for the entire safari, whereas everyone else has rolled out a new outfit each day. I'm not sure I haven't lost the ability to tell if I smell. We only have one game drive in Lake Nakuru National Park. You can't stray from the tracks in this park, so there are several occasions when we see animals but have to frustratingly stay a couple of hundred metres away. The reserve is centred on Lake Nakuru, which is home to well over a million flamingos, of the greater and lesser species. A good chunk of them are currently in Tanzania but there are plenty enough still in residence to create an amazing sight. It's not just the visual sensation of ... read more