Jul 7, 2012 - We are not the 10%

Our trekking day started with a nice breakfast of eggs, toast, and fruit sitting in a little open air thatched area overlooking the lake. So much for roughing it! Our morning walk was to an area swamp known for its variety of birds and small monkeys. I'm not a big bird person, but the large hornbills were pretty neat to see. The other birds just all looked like regular birds to me. We ended up seeing 5 of the 8 species of monkeys found in the park: red colobus, black and white colobus, velvet, baboons, and another one I can't recall the...

Mar 17, 2008 - Kabale, Rwanda

Leaving from Backpackers at 6:30 am to get to the Post Bus Station we found ourselves in morning rush hour traffic, dah! So after waiting for 15 min.(we had to get there according to the LP by 7 to get tickets/a place on the bus...first come first served), we split up, Bon & Mari taking the first avail. myself in another about 10 min. behind. Since the whole system is basically screwed, that is does not really work, by the time I got near the bus/taxi stop about 7:30 the taxi let us out at a place 2 blocks from its normal delivery point. I...

Jan 21, 2007 - First leg Gorilla's and game parks

20th Jan - Finally got a sleep in today after our week of trekking. First port of call was to get our filthy clothes washed. What an ordeal. The hotel was going to charge us $US80!! That was our budget for a week! So we wandered up and down the streets of Nairobi looking for a launderette or a nice lady on the side of the road with a sign (it worked like that in Asia...). No such luck. Alexa cracked the poo poo's and went home for a nap while Mark did it all by hand down the road at the Youth Hostel. What a gem! It was now dinner time and...

Sep 20, 2006 - The Road To Kigali

HI GUYS HAVE NOT WRITEN FOR A WHILE SO LOTS TO TELL YOU HAVE BEEN TRAVELLING THE LAST 2 DAYS FROM KAMPALA TO WHERE I AM NOW HIGH IN THE VOLCANO NATIONAL PARK IN NORHTERN RWANDA. OUR TRUCK HAS TAKEN US OVER 500KM OVER THE MOST BUMPY ROADS I HAVE EVER EXPERIENCED WE HAVE SPENT AT LEAST 8HRS PER DAY IN THE BONE SHAKER BUT THE SCENARY AND THE PEOPLE ARE FANTASTIC. WE TRAVELLED THROUGH SOUTHERN UGAND WHICH IS A LUSH LANDSCAPE OF BANANA PLANTIONS IN ROLLING HILLS AND SWAMPS. THE KIDS ARE FANTASTIC WAVING ALL THE TIME AT THE BUS THE ADULTS DONT...

Sep 17, 2006 - Me and my truck

Hey guys , still in kampala but last night here. met my truck and fellow overlanders today. there are 14 of us whole range of ages and nationalities all seem very nice. have 2 trip leaders lucy and jason both my age and great fun. spending a night under canvas in ground of a hostel in kampala then early start and off to lake bunyonyi near kabale in the south west corner of uganda tomorrow tehn fron there we drive to kigali in rwanda. am sharing a tent with stephanie who i met yesterday which is cool. yesterday as you know we went into...

Sep 2, 2006 - Kabale - 'Lake Bunyonyi'

Last night drank and decided it would be a good idea to sleep under the stars. Woken early in the morning by Ed suggesting we should all move to the tents as it was raining. Headed for Kabale which incoroporates Lake Bunyonyi. The drive was pretty stunning and we had our first glimpse of the three volcanos where the gorillas live. Lake Bunyonyi is a crater kake and is the deepest in Ugandaat 6,500ft!!!! Sod swimming in that. Arrived early afternoon, put the tents up, did some washing and ate whilst it was raining. Seems to rain alot in...

Feb 21, 2006 - Kabale and Lake Bunyoni - Uganda

Kabale and Lake Bunyoni - Uganda What an Oasis. Away from the dirty, dusty part of "Africa" to this little paradise by the lake surrounded by terraced hills, bush camps and cabins. In the morning we took a dugout canoe and paddled on the lake. A late morning start and we are off to Bwindi Nat'l. Park to see the gorilla's. (The biggest high-lite of this trip.) The area is compared to Switzerland with its mountains and lakes.

Jul 7, 2005 - Back from the Congo...

Well, we made it back no worries - another tour group had a few issues though! It started to rain really heavily again (think monsoon rains yet again) - fortunately we were making our way back to the border by then. The other tour group had gone deeper into the NP and got caught in the rain - it was a problem because they couldn't drive the truck and subsequently they missed their border crossing - the border shut at 8pm. After some bribing of officials they finally made it back to camp about midnight... We left for Lake Bunyonyi today - it...

Jun 5, 2005 - Kenya to Uganda

Well Graham managed to get his bag back the next day... We've now been travelling with our group for just over a week. There's 5 of us on a truck which seats over 30 so plaenty of space to move around. One night we stayed in a campsite and heard hippos munching on the grass outside our tent. We were advised not to confront them cos they'll run you over in an attempt to get back to the water. Poverty here is rife... A lot more than we expected. Everyone is very friendly, often over friendly in that as soon as the locals see us get off the...

May 12, 2004 - S: Uganda: En route to the great mountain gorillas

Friends, After being swallowed by the mouth of the Nile, we headed out on our journey to go track the mountain gorillas. While the mountain gorillas were the magnet which pulled us deep into Uganda, all of Uganda proved to be a delight. After our overland journey ended in Nairobi and we were officially on our own again, we had just under two weeks before we were to fly to Cairo, Egypt. While many of the overland tour companies offer trips into Uganda to visit the mountain gorillas, none of them were quick enough or had the right timing for...