We actually can't believe that we are now writing our last blog post. The past year has been amazing and it was the best decision ever to go on a world trip. But all good things come to an end and we'll fly home tomorrow. We really look forward to see all our friends and family again. We missed you so much the past year! ;-)
But before we take our flight back home, we would like to share with you our experiences in Uganda. From the 12th until the 28th of September we traveled in Uganda. The touristic highlights of this country are mainly in the southern part, so we decided to stay in this part of the country (also because we didn't have a lot of time). Below you'll find a map of the route that we travelled.
From Kigali in Rwanda we took the bus to Kabale and we crossed the border at Katuna. Our first stop was Lake Bunyonyi. From there, we traveled to Kilembe (to make a hike in the Rwenzori Mountains), Fort Portal, and to Kampala. We flew out of Entebbe International Airport to Tel Aviv (where we currently are) and tomorrow night we fly to Amsterdam.
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| Arrived with the bus at Kabale |
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| Relaxing at Lake Bunyonyi |
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| Beautiful sunset |
We stayed two nights at Lake Bunyonyi, and we decided to spend one full day canoeing on the lake in a traditional dug out canoe. It was beautiful to paddle in between these beautiful small islands. We make a trip of 8,5 km, with a few breaks in between. Almost every island has a resort or restaurant, so we enjoyed a nice lunch and a coca cola on the way.
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| Ready for a day of canoeing |
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| The weather was perfect |
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| Beautiful lake |
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| Monkey on one of the islands |
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| Natural rope to 'lock' our canoe |
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| Last stop before we go back to our camp |
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| Tracking our trip on our GPS |
Lake Bunyonyi was not only beautiful because of the scenery, but also because of the birdlife. So many colorful birds: you can't believe! We loved it (but we have no clue about any names of species). :-)
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| A refreshing swim after a full day canoeing |
From Lake Bunyonyi we traveled to Kilembe. We decided to skip Queen Elisabeth National Park (we did so many safari's in the past months) - but we took the transfer route through the park and even saw some animals - and the gorilla's at Bwindi National Park (too expensive). Instead, we traveled to the Rwenzori Mountains to make a four-day hike.
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| Our taxi driver preparing his car for a 200 km journey |
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| Our own music in the car :-) |
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| Tea plantations on the way |
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| Elephant on the way (transfer route through Queen Elisabeth NP) |
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| On the equator! |
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| On our way to Kilembe (flooding of May 2014) |
Kilembe is one of the starting points for hiking in the Rwenzori Mountains. This mountain range is presumed to be the Mountains of the Moon. It's a World Heritage Site and due to its beauty and biodiversity. Plant life varies from heavy tropical rainforest, bamboo forest, so-called montane cloud forest and alpine vegetation. It's the tallest mountain range in Africa (highest peak is Margarita - 5109m). This peak, but also some others, are permanently covered by ice and glaciers (I didn't know this before we went to Uganda - snow at the equator!). The trails were very muddy (we hiked three full days on gumboots) and steep, and it is no surprise that the Lonely Planet describes the Rwenzori's as the 'Rain Maker'. We were relatively lucky with the weather, because we had no rain the first and last day. However, the second day it rained heavily, and we couldn't cross a river at a certain point. Our guide Sem said that it would be too dangerous to continue. Therefore, we turned around and hiked back to Mutinda camp. However, in the afternoon the weather cleared and we climbed to the Mutinda lookout (3975m). The next day we managed to climb all the way to the Bugata camp (4062m) overlooking Lake Kopello. The last day we descended from Kiharo Camp to Kilembe (1700m down). In the end, we learned that we actually did a 6-day hike in 4 days (we are fit!). :-) It was absolutely one of the highlights of our trip in Africa. Our guide Sem was such a nice guy, super fit and since he had our age, we really had a lot of fun. Also the organization (Rwenzori Trekking Services) where we booked was very professional. The food we ate was amazing and the trails very well maintained. All in all, if you plan to go to Uganda, you shouldn't miss this amazing hike!
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| Start from the Trekkers Hostel |
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| Leaving the mining village Kilembe |
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| Entrance of the World Heritage Site |
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| Reaching the bamboo zone |
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| Didn't expect so much bamboo on a mountain |
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| Reached our first camp (3126m) - started the hike at 1450m |
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| Our hut for the night |
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| Enjoying the view and nice weather |
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| Getting cold in the evening, time for a game of Bau |
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| Great breakfast |
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| On our way to the Mutinda camp |
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| Crossing quite some streams |
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| Not so fancy, but we really valued our gumboots |
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| Beautiful "Everlasting Flowers" along the route |
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| Scenery was so different from what we have ever seen |
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| Mossy forrest |
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| So beautiful |
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| Mutinda Camp, where we needed to shelter from the rain |
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| Could not cross this river, due to the heavy rain |
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| Climbing to the Mutinda View Point after the rain |
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| We made it!! |
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| Really in the middle of the clouds (almost 4000m) |
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| Some views down to our camp |
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| Celebrating together with Sam (great guide!) |
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| The stream that we could not cross the day before |
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| Alpine Zone |
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| Red Forest Duiker |
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| At 4000 meters and still surrounded by mountains |
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| Camp for our lunch, first time for us above 4000 meters! |
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| Hard work, but amazing views! |
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| Some rain and hailstones on the way down |
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| Beautiful waterfalls along the way |
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| Our dining room (always trying to stay warm) |
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| Last day and we had beautiful weather |
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| Enjoying the last views, before leaving these special mountains |
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| Well maintained part of the trail |
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| Short break in our long descent to the village |
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| Some Blue Monkeys and we even saw a Chimpanzee (no photo...)! |
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| The porters did so much hard work for us! |
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| Summary of the day (2273 meters down in one day) |
We were very happy to return to the Trekkers Hostel. Descending 2273 meters in one day is quite a lot, especially if you are wearing gumboots. We slept like roses during the night and next day our packing ritual started again, getting ready for the final part of our travel in Uganda.
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| Our ritual for the past year |
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| Almost ready |
The manager of the trekking organisation was so kind to give us a ride to Kasese, from where we took the bus to Fort Portal. We stayed one night at Dutchess, a very nice hostel previously owned by a Dutch couple (see pics below proving this).
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| Short bus ride to Fort Portal |
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| Arriving at Dutchess |
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| Great food |
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| Does this explain the name Dutchess? ;) |
After one night in Fort Portal we took a taxi to the crater lakes region and we stayed for five nights at Ayapapa (we booked for three nights, but extended our stay). This amazing place is owned by a Polish guy who created a complete eco 'lodge' with all natural materials (mainly wood). We were the only guests and we had a great time in the nature.
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| Ayapapa with Janusz (who is creating this special place) |
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| View on the Crater Lake from Ayapapa |
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| After a four day hike we had so much laundry |
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| We love living outside! |
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| After the hard laundry work, time for a swim (first fish pedicure)! |
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| We enjoyed our selves ;) |
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| Self catering, no problem ;) |
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| Tadaa! |
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| So many birds in the garden |
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| Exploring the neighboring lodges |
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| But eating in our own kitchen! |
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| No shower? No problem! ;) |
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| The lake projected on the 20.000 Shillings bill of Uganda |
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| With our guide on our boda boda (three is the minimum in Uganda) |
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| And even some monkeys along the way |
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| Lunch and rain stop |
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| View on the 20.000 Shilling lake from the most exclusive lodge (perfect for one coffee) |
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| Enjoying the view |
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| and last opportunity to jump in your own lake |
After these very relaxing days in the nature we took the bus to Kampala. We booked a nice Airbnb in the middle of the city center and enjoyed city life. We made a beautiful city walk with our tour guide Shamim and relaxed for two days in Entebbe, before we took our flight to Tel Aviv.
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| On our way to Kampala (you never need to bring food on the bus) |
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| Typical African butcher |
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| Arrived in Kampala (welcome to the West) |
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| Kampala walking tour with Shamim |
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| Main street in Kampala city centre |
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| Many markets in the city center |
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| Selfie time |
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| Jack fruit |
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| So many people selling everything |
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| Chicken anyone? |
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| Fruit section |
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| Hindu Temple for the many Indians living in Kampala |
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| Main Matatu (Minibus) stand in Kampala |
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| Shamim always took the nice shortcuts |
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| Meat section, always outside |
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| Selling flour and suger |
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| Unions, anyone? |
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| Khadaffi Mosque, we climbed the Minaret on the right |
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| Inside the mosque, beautiful craftwork |
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| View from the minaret on Kampala |
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| Long walk with our guide, time for lunch |
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| Waiting for the rain to stop, before we could continue |
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| Exploring Entebbe, visiting the Botanical gardens |
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| Canon ball tree |
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| Tropical section (we where back in Malaysia for a few minutes) |
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| View on Lake Victoria |
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| Lake Lunch |
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| Some more relaxation before we had to go to the airport |
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| And time to go to Israel and leaving Africa after 6 months |
That was it, our six month travel in Africa. From Entebbe we flew to Israel where we stayed almost three weeks. We really enjoyed our time here. It was great to see Ophir and his family again, but also to be present at the 80th birthday of Ophir's safta (grandmother), to celebrate several jewish holidays with friends and family, to enjoy the great Israeli food and super nice weather in Tel Aviv. We'll go to the beach after we uploaded this post! ;-)
If we look back, the past year passed by so quickly. There were so many adventures. We had the opportunity to live in complete freedom and the luxury to explore other cultures and countries. We simply enjoyed every minute and we are so inspired by everything we have seen. The people that we have met (other travelers, but also many locals) made our journey an unforgettable experience.
Big hugs and kisses from Tel Aviv,
Erik & Annemarie
