I had left 2 “easy” countries til fairly near the end. It is possible to get travel burnout and I was conscious of this having been travelling so much in 2023. Also because some countries can be incredibly challenging, physically, the body needs time to relax as well and mentally travelling by yourself in challenging countries is exhausting. Uganda was UNcountry 191/193. I had two more to go after this, but I was by no means rushing thru countries. Flying from Central African Republic to Uganda, in a direct flight would likely have been around 2 hours. Instead, the flights took 14 hours and two stops! I was exhausted when I arrived and checked into a nice hotel close to the airport for a long sleep and some pool time (I will always try and book a hotel with a pool!). When I felt rested, it was time to start seeing Uganda and I had heard great things.
We left Entebbe and drove thru Kampala and north toward the rhino sanctuary. I had opted not to do the gorillas as I had just seen them in the Republic of Congo and also as Uganda was the most expensive place in the world to go gorilla tracking. Instead I was looking for the big 5. Elephants, rhinos, buffalo, lions and the often elusive leopards.
On arriving at the rhino sanctuary, it immediately started spitting. But this did not stop us seeing two white rhinos within minutes of entering the park. “What luck!” I thought as I was taking photos! But without warning the torrential rain started! By the time we had driven to the lodge where you start tracking from, you couldn’t even see out the window. My guide went to rearrange for two days time as we were heading to the waterfalls. At least we’d seen two rhinos unexpectedly.
We did a 180, and drove back out the park and continued north. We were heading to Murchison Falls National Park. This contained some of the most powerful waterfalls in the world and I was not going to miss a good waterfall. We drive for another few hours, entering the park just before sunset, and seeing so many parliaments of baboons, it was insane. From tiny baby baboons, to old frail ones and everything in between, they were there, sitting, walking and playing on the road, by the road and in the trees nearby. We were watching the baboons for so long, we didn't arrive at the camp til after dark - and nearly missed dinner.
We had also gotten distracted on the bridge over the nile as we watched a storm and realised that we had caught the lighting as part of a pano photo, and were trying to do it again (kinda hard when you never know when lightning will strike!)
But the park was way more than I had imagined. It was also for safari and we had two game drives booked, a boat ride and seeing the falls from the top and there was even a swimming pool! I was super excited and looking forward to the next morning.
The next morning we were up early and searching for cats - leopards in particular, but I'd never say no to a lion either!! We drove and drove along the tracks, desperately searching, but only finding giraffes, pumbas and buffalos, which are cool themselves, but the cats are better!! We also saw the most beautiful sunrise, with the sun bursting into the sky behind the trees in a rich yellow colour.
After nearly four hours of searching, we went back to camp for a swim and lunch, before heading for a boat trip. I was excited to be back on the Nile and had been promised loads of hippos, which would make up for their elusiveness in Gabon!
We set off, and it was a beautiful day. I ordered a beer and enjoyed the breeze, and the scenery around me.... and the hundreds of hippos in the water.
And crocodiles, birds, more hippos...
After the boat ride, which culminated with a viewing of the base of the falls, we went again on a game drive, searching for the cats.
The sun was beautiful and warm, and thankfully not as bright as in the morning. We were looking for tracks that would hopefully lead to what we were searching for!
Eventually after a number of hours, we managed to find a young male lion, stretched out in a tree - at first I thought it was going to be a leopard as it was in a tree, but it was indeed a lion!
It had been an amazing day, and I was totally buzzing. I ordered a beer with dinner and was looking through my photos, when an email came through, I'd been hoping would arrive and it had. My Libya visa code. I needed this in order to get my Libya visa. It was time to start heading home. The possibility of finishing all 193 UN countries whilst in my thirties, was now very close to becoming a reality.
The next day we decided to leave early. We waned to see if there were any more cats we could spot and we still hadn't seen elephants!! We did however, have a long day ahead with the long drive back to Entebbe, and rhino tracking, so we couldn't spend hours like yesterday driving around, but fingers crossed we would see something!
We stumbled across elephants fairly quickly, which was amazing, we were the only car there and thy were just hanging out, relaxed. But agin, no cats! Must have to return to see them!!
We drove and stopped on the bridge, and got our last views of the park, and messed around taking photos!
We'd had such an amazing time, it was very sad to be leaving - although our final stop in the park was going to be the top of the falls.
There were several different views of the falls at a number of different levels, The tops, with the rainbows, the side, seeing the power of the falls, and the river before it fell, plummeting down through an 8m gap, making it one of the most powerful falls in the world. No swimming at the base of these falls!!
We drove, the long drive back to the rhino sanctuary, and today, the weather was perfect!! Somehow, with the help of Lydia, I managed to climb up ono the sign, in flip flops (getting out was even more challenging!). but just to be clear - these are real rhinos!!! ;)
We had an hour rhino tracking booked in, and the park has rangers tracking the rhinos at all times, to protect them from poachers (a great idea, given how many rhinos die each year for their horn.
The rhinos can't see too well, but they can smell. I wished I hadn't put mozzie spray on, just before heading out, as they appeared to know exactly where we were all the time, and I couldn't help but think it was my fault!!!
We eventually made it to Entebbe, for a good nights sleep. Tomorrow was also a super long drive day and after Uganda was Ethiopia and a lot of camping, so sleep was essential while I could get it!!
We left early and drove west. We were going to the equator. For some reason, I love a good equator sign, and have now been to the equator in many countries, in Africa, South America and Asia Pacific - but not all have an "equator sign!".
We sent ages messing about taking photos at the sign - there was no-one else around - usually you'd have to queue to take your turn to get a picture and there would be a load of strangers in the background. We were kind of waiting to be kicked off the sign, but no-one came!!
Afterwards, we went to the Wakaliwood film studio, which I'd seen on my buddy Nick's instagram and sent a picture to my guide saying "I'd like to go there, please!". so we did.
The film studio was started by Isaac and his brothers and they put films on YouTube. The most famous, is "Who killed Captain Alex?". The sequel is due out soon... They have made a lot of there own sets and props and people can pay to feature in their films (I did not do this!). But enjoyed messing about having fun posing with the guns and on the helicopter that is outside! Charles, our driver, had never been there so it was great to share a new experience with him, especially as he was Ugandan.
A photo with a famous film director!!
It then decided to torrential rain for well over an hour. it was so heavy it was impossible to leave. When it finally calmed, the streets were flooded, water entering the shops and peoples houses. It was really shocking to see that this was likely a regular occurrence. Locals walking through the now, rivers formed in the streets, just carrying on like it was normal.
We drove on. We had a final stop before the end of the day and with the delay caused by the rain, we were going to struggle with sunset fast approaching! The last stop, was another steal from Nick's instagram (I love having travel friends that do fun stuff!!) we were going to aerobeach. Which contained old wrecks of aeroplanes. Almost like an aeroplane graveyard. Its right next to Entebbe airport and contains a "British Airtours 707-436 that has been abandoned outside the airport perimeter fence since it was retired by its final owners "Coastal Airlines" in Ugagnda.
Apart from the famous "British Airtours" plane, there were many other. None quite as cool, but still fabulous to see and a great final stop of my travels in Uganda for this trip.
Massive thanks you to Lydia of Mazike Tours for her amazing efforts coordinating my trip to Central and East Africa trip. It was no mean feat, with the countries I was travelling to and fabulous to meet her and Charles (said always in a very British accent!) "the driver" in Uganda. I will most definitely be back to see more of this incredible country and of course, find the elusive leopard.
One final stop on this trip would be meeting my buddy Nick in Ethiopia (not a new country for me!) for a trip to the Danakil Depression. This was a place I'd been dreaming of going to for a number of years, but just hadn't managed to fit it in, with everything else I'd been doing. But you can hear about that trip after I've finished my last few countries!!
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