Uganda - The Pearl of Africa

"The person who has not traveled widely thinks his or her mother is the best cook".

-Ugandan Proverb (does not apply to our mothers)

Leaving Tanzania we had both been very ill for several days. When we felt ready to board our 16 hour bus (when are you ever ready?) and off we went. One breakdown, a bus change, two border crossings, several problems later we arrived in Uganda 35 hours after departure and at midnight. Emerging from the garbage filled, cramped, sweaty bus we stepped out into the dark streets of Kampala, the capital of Uganda.

Uganda is a country filled with a tumultuous post-independence history. Much of the remnence of Idi Amin’s rule is still visible today and glamourized in the book and movie “The Last King of Scotland”. The country is poor, the people are very kind and the land is lushly beautiful. When John Speke first arrive he declared it the “pearl of Africa” and one would be hard to argue today.

A few days spent in the busy streets of Kampala and we hitched on to a budget safari heading to Murchison Falls National park in the North West of Uganda, along the Congolese border. Having not planned or budgeted for a safari we were thrilled to jump in our little vans with pop off roofs for a few days of camping in the national park.

Driving into the park monkeys, baboons, warthogs, and buffaloes scurried around our vehicle. Spending dusk at the Falls we watched the sunset over the source of the Nile and listened to the animals in the distance.

At dawn the next morning we grabbed a ferry across the river and drove into the densest part of the area. Seeing the array of animals in this savannah setting was utterly surreal. It was not as packed with animals as areas like Kruger, the Serengetti and Ngorogoro crater but it was stunning for us.

As our van drove through the tall brush all the animals in the area had stopped and looked our way. Suddenly out from our left sprung a pride of seven Lions almost into the side of our truck. We had accidently arrived in the path of their hunt. Seven lions circled our truck looking beyond us to the animals in the distance that they had been stalking. We stared in awe.

We floated in a tiny boat down the Nile to the base of Murchison Falls. The fiver was filled with hundreds of Hippos, crocodiles, etc. From our small boat we could appreciate the sheer size of the hippos and grace of the elephants on the shore. Very cool three days.

From here we grabbed a bus and headed to the south-west corner of Uganda and an area called Lake Bunyoni. It’s a giant lake sprinkled with several islands and a great place to escape the hectic environment of the mainland. Being awoken by dawn drums and singing from the distant islands, using lanterns as your only source of light and enjoying food that requires 5 hours of warning to prepare you can’t help but relax. We met many interesting people in this area both local and aid workers. Its cross section of populations as you can look into both the Congo and Rwanda from the surrounding hills.

After a few days here we piled into a local shared taxi (10 people in a tiny car with the driver sitting on someone’s lap) and headed to the Rwandan border. We have both been interested in Rwanda for many years due to its recent history and the presence of gorillas. We were about to learn much more about both in the coming days.

We will post these stories in the next two weeks.

Hope your summer is winding down well where you are in the world.

The roof of Africa

"Where there is a will there's a way"

-some idiot that obviously never hiked at altitude before.






We arrived in the Tanzanian unofficial capital of Dar es Salaam in the early afternoon on a bright June day. Immediatley the bright colors of the orange dirt, clothes that people wore and the lush vegetation was welcomed after a year living near the desert. Even as our plane prepared to land on the shores of East Africa the colours of the earth and vegetation were vibrant.


After a day in Dar we arranged an 8 hour bus to the Northern region at the foot of Kilimanjaro. The trip was filled with tiny villages boasting all types of tribes with their colourful clothing, spears and piercings. All attempts to pierce my lips and hunt with a spear proved pathetically futile. We based ourselves for a few days in the larger, friendly town of Moshi.








From this northern city we started our climb of Kilimanjaro. Along with our support staff we also had a Spanish couple join us. They had just gotten married and he was a true, slightly out of his mind, mountain man. But she didn't really seem to know what she was getting into. (this made for rather entertaining exchanges of Spanish passion on the hill - translation: "what the hell have you gotten me into you...".) He planned this part of their trip and glossed over many of the challenges with "no problem, no problem". Loco.






For 4 days we slowly hiked for 7 hours a day towards our final climb. These days were very easy, very slow, very tame walking days. They say the key is to go "Pole, pole" (slowly, slowly in Swahili) and we certainly did that. The final summit day starts at 11pm when we are awoken and prepared to go up. On this final day we cover a 2000m climb (combined day and night) in about 12 hours. We start that day at 3800m and end at 5800m. Victoria (the Spanish girl) fell very ill that night so we went on without her.





In the freezing cold dark we climbed and climbed using our headlamps to find the way. Our lead guide was awesome and sang through what has to be a challenging physical experience for anyone. I just followed behind Tina. She climbed and climbed. I puked. Then she climbed and climbed some more. I puked again. What a tough guy eh? The altitude really played with my stomach and head on this final climb. The walk was steep but the illness would simply come out of nowhere. We continued up at a steady clip.




After 5 hours of climbing we reached the craters edge. Tina jumped for joy. I puked. As we continued along the edge high above the clouds, the sun rose over Africa. It was a stunning. We reached the highest point in Africa just before 7 am. It was a massive moment.





We had to descend all the way down to 3800m right away. I was feeling ill and the drop in altitude was helping. As a side note the Spanish guy climbed later that day when his wife was resting and climbed in near record time. Loco.


After a day of recovery in Moshi we boarded a 16 hour bus for Kampala. At least that was the plan. After some breakdowns, pot holes, dirt roads, no lights, bus changes, etc the journey took an epic 35 hours by bus. We have both been on long, dirty buses in various parts of the world but this was at the bottom. The fun was just beginning. We had entered the "pearl of Africa" - Uganda.


We will post those stories and pictures in a few days.


Hope you are enjoying the summer where you are.