Moved on to Lake Bunyonyi where there is a lovely campsite called the Overland Camp with gardens overlooking the Lake. The staff here were very friendly and advised us to try the local freshwater crayfish. We visited the twice weekly market here where Charcoal, Sweet and Irish potato, fish and clothes are all for sale. Everything comes across the Lake by Mokoro (dugout canoe). We spent the whole morning in the market watching the world go by and chatting with the locals. English is very widely spoken here and to a high standard. There are many local languages so we are trying to learn the basics to get by.
Duncan, (people here have English and a local name!) who we met in the market offered to escort me up the hill to see the view of the Lake and all the islands. The view was well worth the climb. Later he bought us delicious fried sweet potato. We tried to help him with his maths homework but sadly it is too long since we studied maths!!
Uganda is so impressively green having so many lakes and reasonable rainfall.
Next onto Bwindi National Park to track Gorillas. We had secured a place to track the largest group (20+ individuals), this group is however the furthest away so we had 2 1/2 hours walking up and down and through the rain forest to find them. The forest was however an amazing experience, it isn’t called the impenetrable forest for nothing! We saw the two silverbacks in the group, a mother with her young in a family group with one of the silverbacks. In all we saw about 15 of the 21 in the group. Very difficult to get photos as it was so dark even in the clearing (needed ISO800 to get pictures). Also very dense vegetation obscuring the view. An amazing experience but not cheap at USD360 each!
We gave our guide Christopher a lift the following day into the local town.
We then moved on to Queen Elizabeth National Park, firstly to the Southern part at Ishasha. Here we saw tree-climbing Lions, the most amazing sight! There was a male Lion who was using a branch as a chin-rest while his dangling paws waved back and forth while he panted in the heat. The female was also in the same tree. We also saw two Lionesses in another fig tree, their favourite arboreal retreat. Also got stuck in the very black Ishasha mud, twice! Winch and sand ladders (now bent!) very useful!
We went on to Mweya on the North side of the park but the game veiewing here was disappointing. We heard lots of Lion roaring in the night but spotting them in the day is more problematic! There were also lots of elephants all around the Land Rover at night in the campsite some of them trumpeting loudly! A lovely camp site on a water channel. There are waterbuck, bushbuck and warthog in the camp now as I write.
Met Tony (three times on the road no less!), a Canadian travelling by Bicycle from Cape Town to Egypt. It has taken him 9 months compared to our 5, not bad going!
Tried to send a fax and update the website in Fort Portal. They had power and network problems so one email took virtually all morning and fax was impossible!