The Rift Valley (Kenya)

We dropped down 1000m into the Rift Valley and stayed at Lake Baringo, a soda lake which is teeming with birdlife. It is the colour of weak tea, due to the flouride in the water from rain runoff from the land. In the morning we took a boat trip along the shore and to one of the islands, a dormant volcano, which reminded me a lot of Rangitoto in its shape and soil/rocks.  It is much hotter here than the altitudes we've been for the past month or so.

The next day we drove through Lake Bogoria National Reserve on the way towards Nairobi.  Lake Bogoria is a salt lake famous for its flamingo population and thermal activity.  There were literally thousands of lesser flamingos in pale pink wading and feeding along the shores of lake, alongside steaming pools, shooting geysers and scavenging Marabou Stork.

We stopped by Lake Naivasha for lunch the following day where we expected to see more flamingo, but instead were met with the sight of hundreds of pelicans...?  This area looks very english, with its farmland and flower hothouses.  They use the lake for irrigation and you can see its current level is several meters shallower (and several hundred meters from its former shoreline).

Then it was a big climb up again to Nairobi.

Naiberi River Camp, Eldoret, Kenya

We were stopped for speeding on the way to the border.  We came around a corner going downhill and immediately slowed down in response to the 50km sign visible.  I insisted we werent speeding and asked to see the radar, the cop handed Duncan a list of fines and asked what we could pay on the spot.  Um, nothing we just spent the rest of our Ugandan money on water, plus we werent speeding.  Just write us the fine and I'll dispute it - in the end she let us go thanking us for our apology once she realised we werent going to give her a 'little something'.  What apology!  We werent speeding and we didnt apologise.  Grrr.

The Kenya border didnt require us to fill out any forms and only charged us $25.00 each for the visa which was mysteriously priced $25.00-$50.00 on the sign on the window.  We got the carnet stamped and registered with the police then walked by a small herd of cows lying in the shade of the border building like a pack of dogs (which is what we initially thought they were) back to the Landy and out the other side to Kenya.  The road is impressive - in a bad way.

White Water Rafting the Nile

A shuttle returned us to the backpackers in Jinja where we met our fellow rafters (a British Army medic in Uganda with a unit doing jungle training, a London City banker who had spent the past two months teaching physical education at a township school in Cape Town and a young Swedish doctor who had been working for a hospital in the very poor north east of Uganda), were served breakfast, kitted up with lifejacket and helmet and briefed for the days activities.

The boats were put in just below the dam at Jinja and as we floated downstream we practiced paddling, falling out, getting back in and dealing with an overturned boat before our first set of rapids. We spent about five hours on the river, went over a dozen rapids, I fell out once alone and three times when the boat overturned, had a lot of fun and was starving when we were returned to a barbeque dinner back at the campsite. Loads of fun and we both have several bruises to show for it. I recommend the operator, Nile River Explorers - very professional and good value.

Jinja

Heading out of Kampala, which seems to sprawl forever, I had just remarked to Duncan on the high number of traffic cops there seemed to be on the road when he saw fit to overtake an extremely slow truck on a road overbridge marked with no passing signs and double yellow lines. To be fair, it was clear and he was following the actions of the vehicle in front. Of course we were signalled to pull over by the traffic cop not 100 meters ahead. He explained that Duncan had broken the law and the fine was 135, 000 shillings that we would have to go back with him to Kampala to pay. Duncan pointed out that he was following the vehicle in front and an enormous truck followed him and the cop said he only saw Duncan. Duncan asked if there was any way we could just pay a spot fine as we were headed to Jinja and would not be returning to Kampala... The upshot was that Duncan handed him 20,000 shillings ( a little over USD $10.00) and the cop let him go saying 'you are a generous man'!

We stopped at Jinja Backpackers to book white water rafting with Nile River Explorers, then set off for their campsite at Bujagali Falls, which is more a series of rapids than a waterfall.

Kampala

After a slow Sunday where we wandered around the city aimlessly and stopped off for coffee, we went to the Ethiopian Embassy in Kampala today to be told tourist visas are no longer issued for land border entry. Apparantly this policy came into effect about three weeks ago... so we'll have to try our luck in Nairobi.

We then stopped by the local Land Rover dealer for the Landy to get some rattling sorted out. USD $350.00 and six hours later we're back at the same place we stayed last night, as there is too much traffic to make it the 70km to Jinja before dark. I'm starting to think this trip is all about getting work done on the Landy in as many countries as possible.

Kampala is a dusty chaotic little city, the streets crammed with battered minibuses randomly pulling out, pulling over, passing illegally and stopping with impunity. There are dozens of enormous Maribou Storks flying over the city and perching in the few trees on the side of the road.

Some of the AIDS awareness billboards are interesting - they're focused on encouraging abstinence and fidelity rather than the safe sex message you see elsewhere.

Kampala, Uganda

The border crossing to Uganda was straightforward - buy visas for USD $50.00 each from the immigration office and pay a Ush38,500 road tax after changing money with the remarkably laid back moneychangers.

The road is terrible, bumpy mired and rutted red mud on the Uganda side. We stopped in the border town to get money and oddly, crossed an airfield on our way out of the town. A little later we passed a UNHCR refugee camp - looked like it was winding down but I'm unclear on who the refugees are. It seems a long time since Rwandan refugees sought safety in Uganda but I wasnt sure if they'd be refugees from DRC as they'd have had to come through the close jungle over the volcanos.

The road improved to graded red mud and we turned off at the tip of Lake Bunyonyi and followed a narrow road/track down its east side. Before long it was pelting with rain and the track turned to bright orange sludge...

We had a peaceful night at the lakeside before setting off for Lake Mburo National Park. En route we discussed whether or not we wanted to pay the considerable national park fee for camping in a dry acacia plain known for its zebra population.

We've seen many many zebras and decided to continue another 300km to Kampala. We passed the Equator, which is marked by two big white painted circles on either side of the road signed 'Uganda Equator' and a dozen craft shops targetting the tourist dollar. We finally reached Kampala safely not long before dark despite the repeated efforts of oncoming trucks to collide with us head on.

Kinigi, Parc National des Volcans

Duncan was up early to find gorillas. I went for a walk from the lodge to the park visitors centre, which had some displays on the gorillas. The sun was out but the cloud was low, so I couldnt see any of the volcano peaks. Then it started raining so I returned to our room to alternately work through my swahili-for-beginners book and watch CNN news on TV. Ho hum.

Duncan returned about 5pm with scores of photos and some video of the gorillas. He went to see the Susa group, which is the largest group tourists are taken to see, and the furthest to walk. It seems there are fourteen groups of gorillas, under 24 hour surveillance, but only seven of them are human habituated for viewing.

Congrats to Duncan - he left the UK for Australia exactly one year ago today.