A final Uganda workout?

[dlo]

 

 

 

 

The original title for this report was probably going to have something about rolling through Uganda in it. But another title related to Chris (my wife for the uninitiated) falling down a hillside in Africa would be redundant.

So instead I will pay homage to @pault and his classic trip report. He and @inyathi were both extremely helpful with some last minute tweaks to my itinerary and I would like to thank both.                So this much anticipated trip report is number 3 for me here following the classic           http://www.safaritalk.net/topic/15086-namibia-and-zambia-2015-what-could-go-wrong-this-time/

and not quite as classic http://www.safaritalk.net/topic/17048-camelscakes-and-the-ever-illusive-lightning-indisposed-in-kenya/ This was my second time in Uganda but first solely in that country. I used Great Lakes safaris both times and my guide from my first trip had gone freelance so I requested him from great lakes for this trip.

My itinerary changed several times thanks to the above culprits as well as a tweak or 2 while on the road but this is the general outline.

Jan 24:Kampala- Metropole

Jan 25:Jinja- Haven lodge

Jan26:Sipi River Lodge 

Jan27-29:Kidepo Savannah Lodge

Jan30-31:Murchison Falls- Bwana Tembo

Feb 1:Murchison Falls- Murchison River Lodge

Feb 2-3:Masindi Hotel 

Feb 4-6: Kibale- Primate Lodge 

Feb 7-8: Bwindi Haven Lodge

Feb 9-11: Mutanda Lake Resort 

Feb 12: Lake Mburo- Mihingo Lodge 

Feb 13: Kampala- Metropole

Feb 14: Spend day in Kampala then fly to Amsterdam at midnight.

One or two goofy decisions and regrets especially with all the long drives but honestly it was a great trip and I will definitely return one more time!

Alright that's enough of an intro, I'll throw in a few teaser pictures and then we can get started.

P.s I am doing this on a phone so please have patience with all spelling and formatting issues. One of my several "excuses" for not getting this done sooner is my current lack of computer or desire to replace it. Ok on with show

 

 

[Caracal]

Great start @dlo - am going to enjoy following this TR.

 

Love the photos especially the gorillas and what I think maybe a Sykes Monkey looking somewhat bemused during mealtime!

[pault]

Looks like a truly epic trip.  

[BRACQUENE]

@dlo

 

Thanks for starting your report ; the itinenary  looks promising !

[offshorebirder]

Thanks @dlo - we do not get many Uganda trip reports any more, so yours is appreciated by those of us who have not been there yet.

 

 

[xelas]

Nice, an Uganda trip report. Just in time for me.

[michael-ibk]

There you go, just a little nudge was needed afte all.

 

Looking forward to this definitely epic third dlo report. Chimps, Gorillas, Lions - looks awesome!

[dlo]

20 hours ago, Caracal said:

Great start @dlo - am going to enjoy following this TR.

 

Love the photos especially the gorillas and what I think maybe a Sykes Monkey looking somewhat bemused during mealtime!

 

Thanks @Caracal. You're Sykes Monkey is actually a Golden Monkey. Funny thing is I got about 10 feet from a Sykes Monkey but didn't even get a picture.

 

@offshorebirder I look forward to the day you write a Uganda report. I'm pretty certain it's a country you will greatly enjoy and will be able to capture on your camera very well

 

2 hours ago, michael-ibk said:

There you go, just a little nudge was needed afte all.

 

Looking forward to this definitely epic third dlo report. Chimps, Gorillas, Lions - looks awesome!

 

I'm sure Chris would love to have you come over and give me a little nudge occasionally to get things done over here😛

Btw this was a very very good trip but epic is the wrong word. I'm currently reading your Gabon report and that most definitely qualifies as epic. With plenty of hindsight I can say that it's alot of little things that stand out about this trip. But yeah gorillas and chimps are pretty awesome!

 

@xelas I'll never finish before you go but hopefully you enjoy. Have you posted your itinerary, I would love to see it.

[offshorebirder]

1 minute ago, dlo said:

@offshorebirder I look forward to the day you write a Uganda report.

 

Deal!

[xelas]

9 hours ago, dlo said:

Have you posted your itinerary, I would love to see it.

 

Entebbe (1n) - Kibale Forest (3n) - QENP/Mweya (3n) - QNEP/Jacana (1n) - Bwindi Impenetrable forest (3+4n) - Lake Mulehe (2n) - Lake Mburo (3n) - Entebbe (1n). Three weeks of mainly birding.

[kittykat23uk]

2 hours ago, xelas said:

 

Entebbe (1n) - Kibale Forest (3n) - QENP/Mweya (3n) - QNEP/Jacana (1n) - Bwindi Impenetrable forest (3+4n) - Lake Mulehe (2n) - Lake Mburo (3n) - Entebbe (1n). Three weeks of mainly birding.

 

And for me a gorilla and a chimp trek.. 😁

[kilopascal]

Excellent start. I must say this report would never happen if it were me trying to do it with my phone.   Nice job. 

[dlo]

2 hours ago, kilopascal said:

Excellent start. I must say this report would never happen if it were me trying to do it with my phone.   Nice job. 

 

Thanks for that. There are one or two advantages but man it's much more difficult overall. I guess 😩 emojis will be easier and uploading photos is actually a snap. 

So no post yesterday as @KoKo and I celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary after our Kenyan wedding in 2006. Now that was epic😁. I'll try to bang one out by tonight. 

[dlo]

After 27 hours of travel we finally landed in Entebbe. We didn't do the online Visa here but we were through very quickly and headed out of the airport in minutes. The very familiar smells of Africa are always the first thing that hits me and immediately my exhaustion lifts and then we see our friend Robert for the first time in years. Many hugs and handshakes follow and we chat about Uganda and life on the drive to Kampala. 

The next morning we were off! We drove 2 or 3 hours to Jinja. I originally wanted to mountain bike here and maybe go mangabey tracking at Mabira forest along the way. With our itinerary changes though we had to hurry through Jinja and Sipi Falls. I definitely would stay longer next time but oh well let's go quad biking along the nile instead, fun times!

If anyone stops in Jinja please stop at 2 friends guesthouse. Probably the largest steak I've ever seen in my life along with what looked like 4 servings of rice I got through maybe half before we moved on to our quad bikes. Because we were a little late we only did an hour ride but it was super fun. We drove along the nile and through villages throwing out some high fives to some kids along the way. 

The day ended with us heading to The Haven Lodge. I couldn't possibly be more sad to only have one night here. Just a perfect location overlooking Rapids on the Nile. Besides the quads and mtn bikes there are lots of things to keep you busy. Birdwatching kayaking bungee and many others and for now white water rafting.

We woke up to a beautifully foggy morning so we hung out in the early morning on our patio watching the birds and fisherman drift by. Fantastic morning and really sad we had to leave early for our drive to Mbale.

Check out the fancy threads and bank robber mask is a fantastic accessory 

The mandatory flat tire break👍

 

Alright let's see how this turns out. A couple of pictures are showing up as duplicates in the preview but not in my draft. I'm far to frustrated to continue trying to fix it🤪

 

[BRACQUENE]

@dlo

Very handsome on your quad bikes ! I have a question about the weather conditions in Uganda if I would plan a trip ; you went end of January beginning of February is that a good time to go or would our summer months be better? 

[dlo]

7 hours ago, BRACQUENE said:

@dlo

Very handsome on your quad bikes ! I have a question about the weather conditions in Uganda if I would plan a trip ; you went end of January beginning of February is that a good time to go or would our summer months be better? 

 

So both winter trips were great weather wise for us. We had some rain at the end of the this trip but it does rain more in the west especially around Bwindi. It will be much hotter in January and I did struggle a bit in Kidepo and Murchison but other than that it was perfect 

The weather would almost assuredly by perfect in july but also its busier at that time of year. We met some great people on this trip but there were never any places where it was super busy.

 

So long answer short I'd always go in January or February but there is a chance of rain. Talking to my guide he said the heavy rains started in March this year.

[BRACQUENE]

@dlo  

 

Thanks a lot  for your response ; to go in the beginning of the year is not easy for me because of my job and to much humidity not my cup of tea so I would still choose our summer but all that could change when I retire 

[dlo]

5 hours ago, BRACQUENE said:

@dlo  

 

Thanks a lot  for your response ; to go in the beginning of the year is not easy for me because of my job and to much humidity not my cup of tea so I would still choose our summer but all that could change when I retire 

 

So I did a little weather check on my lunch and I WhatsApped my guide. He was specific on late May and early Sept as his best times. He said july is hot but humidity depends on your location. Rainy season also seems dependent on location especially Kidepo where is seems rainy in the summer. The temps seem fairly consistent year round.

[BRACQUENE]

@dlo

 

Well early September has always been a favorite of mine so thanks again for your help  !!

[dlo]

Next stop was Sipi Falls and another solo night at Sipi River lodge. There are 3 waterfalls behind the lodge and we decided to hike to the second and third falls after deciding the other hike was far to steep for us. There are plenty of activities here and a longer stay would be easy to justify. 

 

For us we only had a few hours after our drive and around 3 we headed off for our hike. It was a hot steep hike with really beautiful scenery. The only request Chris had was to demand a chameleon from our guide Martin. As pushy as she can be a very short time later Martin points out a chameleon😄. Of course we can't see it so he has to point it right out to us. After putting him on Chris's arm we put him back down on the ground. He immediately changed colour to match the leaves, it was fascinating to watch.

 

Passing through the coffee and banana fields we had 3 more chameleons pointed out to us before we finally staggered to the 3rd waterfall. We enjoyed the cooling mists from the falls before the more difficult for "some" descent began. 

 

The people on this walk are super memorable for me. We chatted for quite awhile to a couple of guys selling quartz and there were plenty of hellos and waves from very friendly people. So of course after letting plenty of people carrying ridiculous amounts of stuff downhill its Chris's time to shine😄

 

After we let about 6 girls pass us Chris slips and takes a pretty hard fall. I make sure she's not dead but she's more embarrassed than hurt. All the ladies are saying pole sana but I now find this to funny and start laughing. Well that opens the floodgates and now all the ladies are laughing at Chris's expense! Honestly I really appreciate her desire to do whatever it takes to make people smile👍

 

To Chris's embarrassment Martin holds her hand on the slippery parts the rest of the way down abandoning me to my fate. We thoroughly enjoyed the hike and after a quick clean up we had dinner with a couple who were on their 10th trip to Uganda!

 

Good day but we were very tired and we had to leave at 7 tomorrow for the very long drive to Kidepo.

 

 

 

[KoKo]

Remember I spotted that one chameleon!

[BRACQUENE]

@dlo

 

Wonderful Chameleon and that hike must have been some adventure ; really looking forward to your Kidepo trip !

[Towlersonsafari]

dissapointed no pictures of the fall @dlo. when I fell in our pond, after losing a fight with a bullrush, the first thing Jane did was get her camera! very interested in your rpeort and some lovely photos so far!

[pault]

Cool duds, great photos and well done on getting a big pratfall on so early! 
 

 

[pault]

@KoKo Welcome to Safaritalk, although you’ve already been well introduced I believe?