Author: rabbitsv

After a wonderful time in the southern section of the Queen Elizabeth National Park we drove north to the Kazinga Channel.

With only limited time, we decided to take an afternoon cruise along the Kazinga Channel into Lake Edward. We had seen all the big game we wanted and thus asked the skipper to concentrate on the bird life on the embankments.

We hadn’t expected much beyond a few cormorants and the usual plovers, but the boat ride proved to be spectacular and way beyond our expectations.

Gliding along the calm waters we had an absolute blast identifying birds, taking photos and watching the spectacular scenery flow by.

Our next stop was the southern Ishasha section of the Queen Elizabeth National Park (QENP). With clear skies all the way we made our way through the twisting and winding tracks of the mountains, over the escarpment and into the blazing heat of the open plains.

Our home for the next few days was the Ishasha River Camp situated on the banks of the Ishasha River, which also forms the border to the DRC about 30 meters away. As in Bwindi, our campsite was protected by the Tourism Police and their AK47’s for the duration of our visit. A rather unnerving experience, not from a security point of view, but simply because these guards spent their entire day watching us. Whether we were reading, cooking, eating, drinking or playing cards, there was always someone watching you.

The campsite itself was lovely though. Within the first half an hour we had spotted a family of the Abyssinian Black and White Colobus monkeys happily sitting in the tree canopy, the hippos were playing in the water in front of us and the dense forest surrounding us constantly presented us with flashes of flying colours that had to be observed with binoculars, discussed and identified. It was a wonderful spot to truly enjoy the bush life surrounding us.

Having taken our time to settle in comfortably, we had our first game drive later that afternoon. We had heard quite a bit about the tree climbing abilities of the local lion population and soon decided that their preferred hang-out (sorry, I couldn’t resist :-)) should be our first stop. The guidebooks and maps had a few fig trees marked as possible locations to spot the lions in the trees, however there was no guarantee that we’d actually see them.

Driving through this area, looking at all possible fig trees, we drove past the same fig tree we’d driven past 10 minutes before. Coming from a different direction, we suddenly spotted three lions hanging in the branches, their extremely fat bellies propped between the branches. We hadn’t seen them before as they were lying as still as possible in the densest patch of shade they could find.

Wow! Although we had obviously hoped to find them in the trees, none of us had actually expected it and to see three of them so nonchalantly resting was absolutely fantastic.

Two of the three lions were happily dozing, at most opening an eye to peek at us, or letting forth a spectacular yawn, but the last one couldn’t quite find the perfect position. For the 30 minutes we spent watching them, he was constantly shifting, moving his paws or belly into a better position, getting up, pacing from branch to branch, flopping down in a new position, only to get up again and find the next spot. It was comical to watch. We got the distinct impression that the uncomfortable lion’s two siblings were occupying the best spots and he was left to make do with what was left over. 🙂

As the afternoon came to a close, we slowly had to head back to camp. A few hundred meters further along the track we drove past another fig tree and spotted another two lions quietly sleeping in the shade and not interested in the least in us or anything else.

Elated with the day so far, we almost missed the Verreaux’s (Giant) Eagle-Owl peering at us through the shrubland…

Waking up to a rainy day the next morning we decided to try to reach the swamps on the edge of Lake Edward to track down the ever elusive Shoebill. We had heard reports that they could be sighted along this stretch of the Lake, but that the access road was pretty much impassable. Not ones to shy away from a worthy challenge, we piled ourselves into the rented Prado and finally found the access road.

Tracking ahead of the car, Chris had the dubious honour of checking each mudhole and  bog before deciding the best route for the car through the obstacle. Soon he was too dirty to be let back into the car, so he spent the time between obstacles hanging onto the roof rack and being scraped by any bushes and thorn trees along the way. His cleanliness was also reduced by each puddle we drove through, as we had to have sufficient speed so as not to get stuck in the mud.

All too soon we had to turn back though. According to the map, we had only managed a small section of the road and it was only going to get worse. Scouting ahead on foot, the unanimous decision was to abandon the shoebill hunt, turn around and take a more comfortable and relaxing route back to camp and easier bird targets.

Before we started our trip in November Chris’ dad gave us a huge surprise. He had organized that when we reached Uganda he and the family would join us and all of us would go to see the increasingly rare Mountain Gorillas of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.

Armed with high spirits we all left Johannesburg and headed to the mountains of Uganda. A very long and twisty road later we arrived at our lodgings. Chameleon Lodge boasts a literally breathtaking view over Lake Mutanda all the way to the DRC and a total of six volcanoes that can be seen from the deck. Travel weary and dusty we had hot showers and went to bed early, knowing that we’d be getting up before dawn the next morning.

Traveling from the lodge to the gorilla tracking proved to be more complicated than we thought, as there were tracks crisscrossing our path all the way. Only through good luck and asking for directions from every person we met did we make it to the ranger station on time.

Here we tightened our boots, hitched our backpacks and were briefed on how to behave ourselves around the gorillas. And off we went. Our group consisted of eight tourists, two guides leading the way as well as two policemen armed with AK47s. We were assured that the armed policemen were there to ensure that we weren’t attacked by any wild animals and the fact that the DRC with its troubles was only a hop, skip and a jump away seemed to have no influence.

The Bwindi Impenetrable National Park is aptly named. Standing on top of the hill looking over the vastness of the forest we were wondering how many hours of hacking through the undergrowth it would take to find the gorillas. Luckily for us (or unlucky, depending on your viewpoint) we found the family of gorillas sunbathing in a clearing just inside the leading edge of the forest.

This allowed us to get within three meters of them and the Silverback of the family even walked right past Chris. He could have stretched out his hand and stroked his back! We spent an hour with the family, watching the two babies being cradled by their mothers, watching the adolescents bickering and the adults picking their noses. It was a strange experience to say the least. They are incredibly gentle creatures and to see them lovingly play and interact with each other was extraordinary. The whole time we were with them, the Silverback made sure that he was always in between us and his family. With his back to us, he dozed in the sun, occasionally scratching his bum or tasting a leaf or two.

Unfortunately our time was up all to soon and we slowly headed back up the mountain. The rangers explained to us that the set of circumstances on our visit were incredibly rare. We had sun; the gorillas were close; the family was extremely relaxed; they weren’t off in the trees foraging, but happily snoozing in the sun and we had a close and intimate viewing which few other people can claim.

What an experience!

With the experience fresh in our minds, the grueling hike back up the steep mountainside in the midday sun went if not unnoticed, then at least was happily tackled and conquered.

Discussing the day’s events over dinner that evening we thought it couldn’t get any better. Not so. Charles, our wonderful barman mentioned in passing that if we watched carefully, that we could see a live volcano erupting. What!?

It turns out that the last of the six volcanoes that can be seen from the Chameleons deck is active, very active. As of 9 PM you can literally see the eruption. Although very far away, you can see the sky glowing and the smoke from the volcano backlit by the flowing lava. An incredible sight and a fitting end to an unforgettable day!

For the first time on this trip Chris and I had a deadline that we could not miss: a flight back home to South Africa. The reason for this was very important, as we wanted to surprise our very close friends Oliver and Claudia with our attendance at their wedding.

Unfortunately for us this meant that we suddenly had a very strict schedule to maintain, as we had to be in Kampala with enough time to spare to ensure everything was organised.

So, off we went. We left the beautiful Islands behind us and put foot on the highway. Reaching Kampala we were immediately swallowed by its notorious traffic. And what traffic! You might think that you’ve had a traffic jam or two worth mentioning, but I promise that it’s nothing compared to Kampala. And it’s not even the cars. It’s the boda-bodas. In an area of roughly 10 square meters there will be 50 boda-bodas all driving in any direction they want to, irrelevant of which lane or side of the road they’re on. Any car caught in between this chaos moves very slowly if at all.

Eventually we found our way to our destination and started stripping and cleaning the car. We would be leaving our Rock Rabbit behind for three weeks and we wanted to make sure that there wouldn’t be any surprises for us when we came back. So everything was removed, cleaned and repacked.

During this time we also met up with Olivia who, without even thinking about it twice, embraced us into her family and made us feel incredibly welcome and at home. Thanks to her we had a safe place to park the Rock Rabbit and also someone to turn to for help in the vastness that is Kampala.

Finally packed and ready to go we were on our way to the airport when we heard a bump at the back of the car. Thinking that someone had crashed into the boot, we got out to inspect the damage. No such luck. Some b*****d had gotten into the boot and run off with the first thing they could reach. Chris and my laptop bag. Our world crashed. In this bag had been not only the laptop, but also the hard drive with the accumulated pictures of the entire 5 month trip. With both gone we had nothing left of the thousands of photos we had taken. Only the photos on this blog and what we had sent to a few friends along the way remained.

Shocked and crying we made it to the airport and flew home bemused and dazed.

On our arrival in Johannesburg we had calmed down, but we were far less enthusiastic than we had planned. We let the family know we had arrived safely and much to our surprise found out that the police in Kampala had already started searching for our property. In the short time that we had been on the plane they had already found some of the items that had been in the laptop bag. (Thank you Eric!) However, they had found no sign of either the laptop or the hard drive.

We made our way home from the airport and although slightly depressed we soon realized that although we had lost the photographs, we still had our memories of all the wonderful people we had met and places we had seen. Chris and I decided not to dwell on the bad, but to enjoy the fact that we were home again with our loved ones.

The next morning Chris left early to spring our surprise on the groom-to-be. He was off to the bachelor’s party for a weekend of fun with friends, rafting, shooting, drinking and eating.

As Oliver and Claudia’s big day got closer, our excitement also grew. We had decided to do everything we can to attend their wedding as we were hiking Mount Mulanje in southern Malawi a few months previously. We were sitting in front of a fire after a hard days hike and were discussing how much fun we would have with our nearest and dearest there with us, when we realized that there was no way that we wouldn’t try our hardest to make it home to be there for Ollie and Claudia.

Finally the Saturday dawned clear and bright and Oliver and Claudia had an incredible wedding that was truly spectacular. We partied late, fell into ditches, twisted ankles on the dance floor and had an incredible time seeing all our friends back together again. Truly epic! 🙂

Here are some of the pics that Kate McLuckie took at their wedding – beautiful!

What a strange sensation to be back though. We had spent so much time by ourselves traveling and seeing new places that our home town seemed completely foreign at first. It took a few days, but old habits die hard and soon we were cruising around town finding all our favourite shortcuts, visiting friends and family and enjoying life back at home.

We had decided to extend our stay to include the Easter weekend and thank goodness we did! We had such a great time with the family cooking, eating and drinking that before we knew it, Chris and I had been completely integrated in the home life again. The two of us hadn’t been home for Easter in the last eight years and to be in Jo’Burg with the Cosmos flowering all over and to spend the last few days of summer with friends and family was spectacular!

Having crossed the border from Tanzania into Uganda our first stop was going to be Masaka for lunch. Reaching the outskirts of Masaka we were introduced to the most popular form of public transport in Uganda. The boda-boda motorcycles are literally everywhere you look. Neither the drivers or passengers have helmets; the drivers don’t follow any rules of the road nor do they even have a license or know in which direction you should drive around a traffic circle…

Unfortunately for us, we found out about all of this at first hand. We were indicating to turn to the right, waiting for the oncoming traffic to pass, when a boda-boda driver decided to overtake us from the right. He calculated a bit too finely though and he ended up clipping the bull-bar of our Rock Rabbit. The driver and the passenger slid from the bike into the ditch next to the road, but were not hurt beyond a few scrapes.

Chris and I got the fright of our lives, not having even seen the motorbike. We immediately pulled off the road, Chris grabbed his medic pack and made sure that both driver and passenger were not seriously injured and treated the scrapes and bruises that they did receive.

In the meantime I tried to figure out what was going on in the background. We had already drawn quite a crowd and about 15 other boda-boda drivers were trying to convince the policeman on sight that it had been our fault. Luckily for us the accident occurred right in front of the High Court of Masaka and the policeman on duty at the gate witnessed the accident and refused to be influenced negatively towards us. We were incredibly relieved, as we had expected to be accused of causing the accident or at least to have to pay a “fine” to make the troubles go away.

As we had to head to the police station around the corner to make our statements, Chris suggested that the limping driver of the boda-boda get into the passenger seat of our car and I drive us to the police station while the passenger and he walk there. We were about to head off when the Chief of Police arrived to find out what had happened. Chris and the police on duty explained the situation again, while the driver and I waited in the car. It was an extremely hot day and the shocked driver got out to sit in the shade.

When the Chief of Police walked up to the car to interview the driver we discovered that he had disappeared, along with his motorbike and all other boda-boda drivers. The Chief of Police just laughed and said: “He knows his mistake and ran away”.

So we headed to the station where we made our statements. The last sentence on my statement was that the boda-boda driver had “escaped” 🙂

Throughout the entire time the police were extremely efficient, honest, helpful and friendly. We were never once asked to “make the problem go away” or any of the expected difficulties.

Totally exhausted, we ended the day with a few cold beers and a Cheeseburger or two at Masaka Backpackers; pleasantly surprised at the outcome of our first accident on our trip. What a day!

Remote and isolated. Ruggedly beautiful. Peace and tranquillity. Busy market towns. Scary busses. Terrible roads.

All of this is true for western Tanzania and Lake Tanganyika.

For the past two weeks this is what Chris and I have seen and experienced. It is a truly beautiful area, nowhere else have we felt like we are driving through the scenery of a David Attenborough documentary. 🙂

Along our route, we stopped off at Kasanga and the Liega Beach Lodge, where we spent our time camping on the beach, snorkelling and living the usual carefree beach existence. From our camp we could see straight across the crystal clear waters to the highlands of the DRC with vast cloud banks piled on top of them and we knew that the next storm was going to come through sooner rather than later…

We also visited the second highest waterfall in Africa. The Kalambo Falls are situated on the border between Zambia and Tanzania and are almost unknown. To see them, you have to get permission from the local headman to enter his lands, you sign the entry book, get a receipt for your entrance fee and then make your way along overgrown paths to the falls.

They are spectacular. The Kalambo River drops down 235m into a lush green gorge. Walking right up to the edge, you have to hold on to the surrounding trees if you want to see the bottom of the falls and into the gorge. There are no fences, no booms, no signs warning you that if you are stupid and fall, that the only thing that will stop you is the ground 235m below you. It was a great experience, appreciated all the more after being shepherded at Victoria Falls and its likes.

From here we once again headed north along an extremely bad road. On all of our five maps, the road from Sumbawanga to Uvinza is a main road and tarred. Not so. Although the Chinese are starting to build what will one day be a great road, at the moment it is a small, rutted, muddy, sticky, slippery road used by all vehicles traveling north or south. The amount of accidents involving large buses or trucks was really scary and considering the way they barrel down this road at full speed, it doesn’t surprise either. Chris and I made it through though, with nothing to show except our tired and stressed selves.

The bad roads did throw up one minor inconvenience though. On the rough roads two of our eight roof rack brackets snapped. We fixed the first in Kasanga, but the second time it happened, we were halfway through Katavi National Park and decided to fix it before we carried on.

We pulled over on to a wider section of dry road, got out the good old Pratley Steel Putty and fixed the bracket. Not trusting it to hold, we decided to wait for it to dry and thus enjoyed a very relaxed day on the main road of the National Park. Needless to say we must have been quite a sight. Two mzungus (white men) sitting in the shade of an awning, eating lunch with the safety triangles out in the middle of a game reserve. We had a great time waving at all the trucks and buses hooting their way past us. 🙂

A few hours later we were on our way again. Not 2 km down the road we spotted a huge male lion, comfortably resting in the shade of the road… Not what we wanted to see so close to where we had been sitting! However it turned out that our delay proved to be a waste of time, as another kilometer down the road, the same bracket we had just repaired broke apart again. Oh well…

During our long and slow process on this road north, we had been listening to the epic adventures of Dr. Livingstone and Stanley in the audio book version of “Into Africa”. Enchanted by this fascinating tale, we were happy that Ujiji was on our route and that we would see the famous spot where Stanley found Dr. Livingstone and uttered: “Dr. Livingstone, I presume” in 1871.

Having spent a few days recuperating on our private beach (yes really J) at Jackobsen Beach, we picked a rainy morning and headed to Ujiji. Considering how famous both Dr. Livingstone and Stanley are and the importance of what they achieved, it was surprising that it is almost impossible to find any reference of them in Tanzania. Even in Ujiji it was extremely difficult to find the museum erected in their memory. After much asking we did find it. A small fenced in building under a large mango tree. The entrance fee was extortionate at TZSH 20,000.00, about US$ 13.00, for a building that you can walk through in five minutes and a mango tree which you can see from the road!

Needless to say we did not go in. Even though this might sound drastic, we did not see why we should pay that amount of money to enter a derelict building, which shows a few artists’ impressions of the famous scene and a few plaques with facts and figures. It was a real shame.

Considering the time that we have spent in Tanzania so far, it is quite surprising that  neither Chris nor I can seem to make our mind up whether we like Tanzania or not. The people can be friendly and helpful, but they aren’t always thus. The scenery is spectacular, but the roads that lead you through it are so bad, that you cannot afford to lose your concentration to look at it. It has some of the best and most famous national parks / game reserves in the world, but they expect you to pay well over US$ 100.00 a day for the privilege of driving through them. Never mind actually wanting to spend a night camping in one!

All in all it is a pity. We so much wanted to love Tanzania, but it’s very difficult to do so.

Having left Malawi behind us, we made tracks to the Tanzanian border worrying about this notorious border crossing and what it would bring. Surprisingly we made it through relatively easily. Our passports were stamped, the car’s carnet was signed and sealed and all that was left was the third party insurance.

Imagine our surprise when we get to the insurance company and they offer us COMESA third party insurance! We explained to them that Chris and I are South Africans and that our car is also registered in SA and that we had tried to buy COMESA insurance in both Zambia and Malawi, but had been turned down in both countries.

According to the Tanzanian insurance company all of that is irrelevant though, as in Tanzania cars registered in RSA are still viable for the COMESA insurance.

So guess what, after my little tirade in Zambia, Chris and I are now the proud owners of the coveted COMESA third party insurance.

I’ll tell you one thing though, it’s a very small piece of paper for so much hassle and I really hope that this is the last time that Chris and I have to fight our way through the insurance fiasco. Only time will tell…

Mushroom Farm Eco Lodge is situated on the Nyika Plateau and probably has the best views in Malawi. Perched on the escarpment, it overlooks Lake Malawi and on a clear day offers you views of both Mozambique and Tanzania as well.

14 years ago Micky Wild started the lodge after discovering the amazing possibilities for  adventure sports on the plateau. The camp started out as a base camp from where they used to abseil down the Manchewe falls and Chombe peak.  As things got busier, Mick set up what we now know as the Mushroom Farm.

The Mushroom Farm has now been taken over by Cameron and Maddy, a brother and sister team. Together with the help of Naomi and James, they have their own plans for the future of the Eco Lodge and have already started implementing changes in both the farm as well as the local community. They started the Women’s Group and encourage them to market the coffee produced on the plateau through a coffee shop, which is just being constructed, allowing the local ladies an opportunity to showcase their skills and giving them a place to get together.

Having spent a week with Cameron, Naomi, James, Efreda and the ladies, we got to know them all well. Learning about the plans for the future, discussing recipes for the local produce, drinking the delicious coffee and generally absorbing the vibe of “Life on the Edge” 🙂

This all sounds very complacent though. But don’t worry, we didn’t just spend our time chatting, we were active as well. We proved that the Mushroom Farm actually produces lots of delicious mushrooms, even finding Chanterelles! And yes, they were delicious in a creamy sauce with Semmelknödel 🙂

Chris took Cameron and James abseiling down Chombe peak, in what he calls “the best abseil he’s ever done”. He went mountain biking, hiking and even slack lined across the little stream running through camp.

The plateau is also home to a town called Livingstonia, named after the famous scottish  explorer, Dr. David Livingstone. A lovely town with tree lined avenues, a large university  

and  even a cathedral it is home to some very friendly and interesting characters that we got to know during our stay. Kennedy showed Chris around the plateau, taking him to see the caves hidden behind the Manchewe Falls, which were used as hiding places from the slavers. With a good knowledge of the plateau,the surrounds and it’s history, Kennedy made our stay all the better.

While Chris was off being active, I spent my time getting to know the youngsters of Mushroom Farm. While we were staying there, Naomi and James presented Cameron with an early birthday present. Named “Chipati”, this little puppy was soon everybodys favourite. Being a cat lover though, I never neglected my cats. Momma Cat (yes, that’s her name) had three beautiful kittens that had just opened their eyes the week before and last year’s kitten (named Kitten) was my favourite. We all had a great time with the little ones, deciding who gets to keep what and where Chipati and Kitten get to spend the night…

Thank you guys for all the great memories! Keep the ideas coming and we’ll see you on the way back!

P.S.: keep the climbing gear handy 😉