Uganda

11 September 2012. Last night we arranged for our Gorilla trekking clothes to be cleaned. The price increased from a couple dollars last night to $35.00 this morning. We ended up paying $5.00.  After a few hours of driving this morning we stop at a small town, Kabale and buy some snacks. This included a 250 ml bottle of Smirnoff for the equivalent of $2.50. We drive through towns with children dressed in colourful school uniforms, tethered pigs, headless sheep and locals waving and shouting Mzungu. We're told this means westerner or white people. We arrive at the Queen Elizabeth National Park and see elephants and buffalo on  the drive to our camp site. Despite the relatively primitive conditions there's a bar. Lyn breaks open the vodka and mixes it with a pineapple Fanta.
12 September 2012. Go out for a morning game drive and see the Ugandan coat of arms, the Ugandan Kob and the Crested Crane. There's also a hyena jogging around. After lunch we board a boat for a cruise of the Kazinga Channel and get so close to hippos you could brush their teeth. Amazing to see buffalo and hippos lying in the water together. There are also many different types of birds flying and swimming about. Back at the camp site we are told there is no water for the shower. I look out across Lake George and notice that it is not empty. Shower tonight is out of a bottle of water. After dinner we head to the bar with Lyn mixing vodka with a strawberry Fanta.
13 September 2012. We survive 2 nights in the tent and manage to pull it down and pack it away in the early morning light, without injuring anyone. After a short drive we stop for a photo opportunity at the equator and then get going again for a few hours. We then stop at biggish town and one of the Geckos members manages to buy a post card of Idi Amin there. We stop in the middle of nowhere for lunch and some locals come to watch. Our driver James gives them some food and fills an empty Fanta bottle with cordial which he also passes on to the locals. A drive through Kampala takes forever and is followed by a 30 minute journey to our camp site in Entebbe. This place is called Red Rooster and has loud music and cold drinks. Apparently it's also a working girl's delight. Vodka and Fanta gets another workout. We've been having trouble trying to access our dcsi email and set up a hotmail account which we access via the ipod.

14 September 2012. Another early start and we drive to Lake Victoria. We wander a local zoo for about an hour before boarding a boat which takes us on a 90 minute ride to Ngambi Island. Apparently the delay was because the boats fuel was stolen and they had to get some more. The island is home to a chimpanzee sanctuary. They are behind high electrified fences which reminds me of Jurassic Park. The chimps are loud and aggressive and it's hard to imagine they are related to gorillas but easy to understand they are humans closest relative. After getting back to Entebbe it takes G28 hours to negotiate the Kampala traffic. We drive past high rise buildings, shanty towns and rusting trains. At last we arrive at Jinja on the banks of the Nile River where we are due to stay for 2 nights. 

15 September 2012. We sleep in until 7:30 am before getting a lift into town some 4 kilometres away. It's a dusty old town and every local wants to helps. Now this is how I remember Africa. There's a touch of colonialism in the building style and we note that there are lots of motor and push bikes, both acting as taxis. We return to camp, not by bike, for lunch and later on head up the Nile by banana boat. This activity is called, "Source of the Nile". My understanding is that this is in Rwanda however no one seems to have told the Ugandans.There's a little island no more than 10 metres wide in the middle of the river and at the edge of Lake Victoria which has a sign Source of the Nile. There are also tourist shops here. When we return to camp we discover that the Ugandan scam has struck again. Seems that prices quoted for laundry are flexible. All the Geckos people are now being told that the laundry prices have tripled. We eventually pay double.
16 September 2012. We packed up the tent in the dark and after a couple of hours driving we arrive at the border town of Bursia. It's hot and smelly. Money changers with huge wads of paper money work the queue as do the sweating drink sellers. The Ugandan Immigration officer is very talkative asking about the trip and asking us to come back again. The Kenyan equivalent says next to nothing. Walking the no mans land you have to dodge trucks, cars, bikes, puddles and manure. Lyn's knee is still bothering her after the Gorilla trek and Malinga gets some ice. We drive through Kusumi, which is apparently where Barak Obama Senior was born  and arrive at Kericho  late afternoon. We upgrade to a room in the hotel complex which is in front of a tea plantation. The hotel must have been really lovely when it was built in the 1950's but it is desperately in need of some care and attention.

Kazinga Channel

The locals who picked up some lunch

Ugandan Kob

Jinja

Rwanda

7th September 2012, (we think) It's all a bit of a haze. An 8 hour flight to Addis Ababa followed by a 4 hour wait for a flight to Kigali which we discover is going via Entebbe, Uganda. At last we get to Kigali and only 31 hours after leaving Tullamarine. We find a lift to our "hotel", the Beausejour Guest House and notice through bleary eyes that there is no rubbish in the streets. Seems that plastic bags are a no no and paper bags are the go. Our room has a TV that works and a lamp that doesn't.
8th September 2012. After breakfast, which was surprisingly good, we join up with some other people on the Geckos tour, and catch taxis into Kigali proper. It's a contrast of new buildings with shopping malls and small market style stalls.The amazing thing about walking around here is that the locals don't harass. The first time I can remember being able to walk down the street in an african city, in peace. Lyns' Fanta fetish has started early with a lemon version. Back at the Guest House we meet the rest of the Geckos tourers, 24 in all and our leader, Malinga. He takes a long time to say anything and his patter reminds me of Yoda.
9th September 2012. Breakfast today is less than fabulous with service being next to non existent. Yesterday must have been a blimp on the radar. I might take up a collection and buy a toaster for the guest house. Seems they only have a 2 slice toaster for 24 people. We get in the big orange Geckos Truck, good old G28 about 8:30 am and drive out to the Genocide Memorial. Very moving. There's some 250,000 people buried in and around the memorial and there are lots of personal stories to read and photos and videos to view. After this we drive for several hours along well maintained roads, up and down steep hills to Ruengowi. We stay in dormitories tonight in a Catholic run complex. Guard duty is arranged for the night in case a priest is sighted.

10th September 2012. 6:30 am start and we drive to Volcanoes National Park. Lyn and I are selected to trek the Sousa Group of Mountain Gorillas. This is not good. Lonely Planet says that only the fittest need apply to find this family. After a 90 minute drive, the last half being over a track that goats would have second thoughts about, the 8 fittest white people in all of Rwanda begin the trek to find the Sousa Group. After a pleasant walk between fields of agriculture the hard slog begins up mountain through forests of bamboo and eucalypts and later stinging nettles. Three hours later and at an elevation of more than 3,000 metres above sea level we sight a family of Gorillas and all pain is forgotten. We are only metres away watching wild animals and they seem to be just as relaxed with us as we are with them.  There are two sets of twins with this group and we are told that there are only four surviving sets on the mountain range. After an hour of being mesmerised we head back down the mountain. It's been raining and is so slippery that everyone falls. Lyn hurts her knee and gets to hold hands with her new boyfriend Joseph all the way back to our van. I stick with the guide with the gun. He tells me his African name 3 times and I have no idea what he says. He shrugs his shoulders and tells me to call him Eric. The journey back to Ruengowi is just as long as what it took getting there. Surprising really.The rest of the Geckos group are waiting in the bus for us, having done their Gorilla thing, some shopping and getting showered and changed. Dirty tired and sore we head off in G28 for the Ugandan border. Being organised we bought our visas in Australia for $150.00 US per person. We discover you can buy a visa at the border for $50.00 US per person!!!!!! It's a very short drive to Kisolo and our camp site. We pay extra for an upgrade to an insect riddled room, just so we don't have to pitch a tent in the dark. The gecko we share with should be happy. Welcome to Uganda.

7 September 2012
After a 9 and a half hour flight we arrive in Bangkok and now have to wait some 5 hours before our next flight, to Addis Ababa. Bangkok airport is very busy, even at midnight but Lyn has somehow managed to find a very comfy recliner chair to rest in. With the very best yet to come..........................