So I'm writing this up on word pad whilst i wait with baited breath to see if the Internet connection actually comes back on so forgive me if Ive missed some days here and there as i cant see my last post I'm going to go ahead and guess that the last post was somewhere before lake Bonyonyi and so that is where i will begin today's tale....
22 January 2011
so we were staying in a little campsite on the outskirts of Kampala we woke up at the crack of dawn to get out of the city before being hemmed in by large amounts of traffic it is somewhat surreal to drive through a major city in the darkness of dawn (and it always amazes me how many people are up and about at that time!) so anyway to cut a boring story to the point we drove all day to lake Bonyonyi a beaut of a spot close to the Rwanadan border here we spent a few days chillaxing in what i would like to say was sunshine but in actuality was the misty coolness that is the Ugandan mountainess we arrived late arvo and set up tents etc before wiling away the evening in the bar....
23rd January 2011
today was set to be a pretty boring day and instead ended up one of my favourite so far we spent the morning doing laundry (and i mean the whole morning it took me several hours of washing in a bucket! i will not let it build up so much from now on!) so then sometime after lunch we headed off on a walk around the lake no sooner had we left the gates of the campsite when a few kids fell into step with us they started to tell us all about the area and showed us this path heading straight up the side of the hill we walked to the top where we had a view of almost the entire lake and all its islands (including the smallest one a tiny island dubbed 'punishment island' as back in the day women who got pregnant out of wedlock were brought to the island and left to die if they could swim they were tied to the one single tree their only hope was if a local man couldn't afford a bride price he could row out and take the women and her child as his own) they also pointed out the mountain that is the border with Rwanda on the way back down we popped into the orphanage that is their home the orphanage is run by their auntie and houses 17 kids from 4 months to 18 years they live together in 3 houses they were the sweetest kids ever they showed us all their animals (including baby cows sheep and rabbits) they all sung and danced for us and we played games for a while John the eldest and one of the ones who showed us up the mountain teaches the wee ones to swim and coaches the local football team as well as helping out around the home it was the best afternoon we have had just hanging out with all these beautiful kids!.....
24th January 2011
boring day of driving from the lake across the Ugandan border into Rwanda.....
25th January 2011
up super early for the day we have been waiting for....GORILLA TREKKING! we had to be at the gorilla centre at 7am so very Early start we drove there in 4x4s and hung about while they split us into groups we ended up in the hard group meaning we climbed the highest and the furthest and boy did it take it out of me we drove up up up this bad bad road to a little village where we parked up and headed across the Fields to the entrance of the national park (by the time we got there i was pooped!.... and we hadn't even started walking up!) when we got to the edge of the park we climbed over a stone wall and the terrain instantly changed the bush became thick and closed in and the air began to feel wetter it really was gorillas in the mist as we walked up the mist closed in so much we couldn't see the ground off the mountain the path just went up up up and we were so glad for the wooden walking poles the guides gave everyone! after 2 hours hard slog we reached the point where the trackers had found the gorillas the group we climbed to see was called Amahoro meaning peace and was made up of 17 gorillas there are 3 silver backs (one dominant of course...and one with only one hand after losing it in a snare) and then some black backs females juveniles and infants the smallest was a teeny tiny 4 month old bubba riding on its mamma's back....at the centre we were told to maintain a distance of 7 metres but as the gorillas themselves move at times we were a mere arms length away....it was beautiful,exciting,amazing,brilliant i really don't have enough adjectives to describe the absolute coolness of it all....when it started to rain they nested into the trees and bushes hugging themselves and each other to keep warm just like a person would!....most of the time we watched them eating but it was mesmerizing! we had a few close calls when suddenly a gorilla would appear out of the bushes or change paths at the last minute and come really close but the guides are so experienced ll they needed to do was make reassuring noises and the gorilla would go back to what it was doing you could see in their eyes they knew exactly who we were and that we meant them no harm....it was just so....so...fantabulous if ever you get the chance to do it...DO IT!!!.... we spent an hour with them which just flew by and then we headed down the mountain slipping and sliding due to the rain i think everyone fell down at least once!...back at camp we just chilled exhausted after the climb...i slept SO well that night.....
26th January 2011
we got up early and drove to Kigali the capital of Rwanda where we spent the day exploring its such a cool place i think my favourite African city its so clean the people are friendly and its a stunning location built in and around the hills we got a taxi looking for a place to lunch but as we couldn't all fit in we split with LP and Sam taking motorbikes....only problem turned out the taxi driver didn't actually know where we wanted to go....luckily neither did the motorbike drivers so we were all driving in circles when we happened to bump into each other which was extremely lucky! we then changed plan and went straight to the genocide museum....its brilliantly set up with an indoor and outdoor section the outdoors is a garden and mass grave for 250,000 victims of the genocide we walked through the whole thing with an audio guide which really complemented the information in the displays the whole thing was absolutely powerful afterwards we just had to sit for a while and absorb it all....in the late afternoon we all jumped on motorbike taxis (yes even me! argghhhhh) and drove to the Hotel Des Milles Collines (the real life hotel Rwanda) we went in and had lunch in the poolside restaurant which is on the hill overlooking the city such a stunning location!....that night we had a meal in the hotel restaurant which was a tad disappointing the lonely planet gave it a great write up but we soon realised that it had changed....the first clue was that the food wasn't Ethiopian...and it was an Ethiopian restaurant in the lonely planet....we then had to wait almost 2 hours for our just average food....but the profits of the whole place do go to a charity giving artificial limbs to people with disabilities which is a good cause....and the place was called 'one love club' which is a good name!.....
27th January 2011
a long drive again we have hit a bump in the road somewhat the rules of entering Ethiopia have changed and we can now no longer get a visa at the border and so we drove back across the border to Uganda where we have to courier our passports to Australia to get a visa so we now get to explore this beautiful country a bit more extensively which doesn't bother me at all!....
28th January 2011
A pretty cruisy day in Kampala passports off this morning then we just hung about eating internet-ting etc a wee trip to the shops to get....wait for it....laundry powder! and that's about it tomorrow we hit the road towards lake Victoria some more national parks and hopefully some chimp tracking! life is sweet!....
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