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Update
: 23.02.2006
Place : Kisoro/UGANDA
Day : 131
Distance traveled : 17,468km
At
the end of the previous update we have left Murchison Falls National Park;
changed the oil and filters in Masindi.
Our next stop is at Kibale Forest near the city of Fort Portal. It is
about 355 km from Masindi to Fort Portal. About 320km of this route is
dirt road, apart from the last 35km once you get on the Kampala - Fort
Portal road. Nevertheless it is not that rough, so not that tiring. We
entered Fort Portal before dark. But now we are short on cash because
of the unexpected oil change operation that was not part of the plan.
We need to get a hold of Ugandan Shillings. I grab any "new"
dollar note I can find among the cash reserves in the safe. All the banks
in Fort Portal are closed. And the ATM's are still snubbing my cards.
No exchange offices around either. We will have to find a way to convince
our Hotel to accept our dollars.
Fort Portal ve Kibale Forest
Fort Portal is a medium size city in the western part of Uganda. Its name
comes from the fort that was built in 1891 - 93 in defense of the Toro
Kingdom and Sir Gerald Portal, the Consul-General of Zanzibar who was
commissioned to defense duty in the area in 1892, and died of malaria
a few months after arrival. Kibale Forest near Fort Portal is a major
tourist attraction especially with its numerous crater lakes.
One of the dozens of crater lakes in Kibale Forest (Photo by Alican
ERIC)
In addition to all these, the tea fields stretching in every direction
as far as the eye can see on the mountains and their slopes surrounding
the forest create beautiful views one must see. And especially the landscape
with dozens of workers in these fields in the distance made an absolutely
amazing picture worth capturing. And whilst I was fortunate enough to
capture these wonderful views and the workers in the field in many photos,
later I was going to lose it all in Entebbe, along with the camera and
the computer.
Tea fields as far as the eye can see. Kibale Forest, Fort Portal
(Photo by Alican ERIC)
The lodge we will be staying at is located on the shores of a crater lake,
Lake Nyabikere, just outside of the national park. When we arrived at
the hotel we couldn't see it of course, because it was already dark. Nevertheless,
all the frogs were croaking with all their might to remind us that there
is indeed a lake there. We tried to say "yes, we got it" a few
times, but they wouldn't stop. The rooms consist of bungalows adjacent
to one another and they are about 50 meters from the reception and the
restaurant.
When the "notable" lady owner of the hotel heard that we were
going to pay for the accommodation, food and drinks in Dollars, she wasn't
too happy, or so we thought. I told her that all our Dollar notes were
brand new model, barely used and not damaged she reluctantly agreed to
it, much to our appreciation. We tucked into our dinner with the joy of
having a roof over our head. We were too tired to spend much time by the
fire lit for us, so we retired to our rooms early in the night. Buket
and Alican were fast asleep, and I was reading my book in the bathroom
when someone started banging on the door. I was trying to get to the door
and the banging began again. "What the?" I opened the door to
find the bellboy / waiter / security guard / reception all-in-one person
in front of me with a torch in his hand.
- What's going on?
I asked.
- The toilet light is on...
- And?
- Should turn it off.
- Why should I? I am using the toilet.
- Oh, then please don't forget to turn it off when you are going to bed.
- Ok but who said I would forget?
- Madam saw that the light was on...
- That's fine buddy, but who is the one paying for this room? Me. Maybe
I am scared of the dark so I want to keep the light on all night.
- ????
- Tell Madam, if anyone disturbs me again I will pay everything with all
the second hand dollar notes.
- ????
What does one have to do to read one's book in peace?
When we woke up in the morning and went out to the verandah of our room/bungalow,
we realized that we are right by the lake. Correction, the lake is right
by us. I mean it is right below us... The bungalows are situated on the
hillside that dips sharply and the lake is 10 - 15 meters below it. Spellbound
by the view, Buket and I waited for Alican to wake up. Later we went to
the restaurant for breakfast. Right after "Good Morning" bellboy
/ waiter / security guard / receptionist person told us apologetically
that the ladyship was heading downtown and if possible she is requesting
that we pay for our stay. Ok, but we have not received all the services
which we are being charged for. What if we don't like the breakfast served
after we have paid for it all. Anyways, I thought better than to offend
this "interesting" lady hotel owner and made the payment. Shortly
after she got in her car in a hurry and drove off. It seemed to us that
this might have been the first collection they have made in a long time.
And since the ladyship is outside doing rounds to check who left their
lights on at night, business must be pretty slow.
The next day we left for the Queen Elizabeth National Park. We are moving
slowly on the rough dirt road winding around the mountain villages. Not
in a hurry anyways. Sometimes we stop to chat with the kids in the villages.
They are so beautiful, among all the photos I have lost it was most upsetting
to have lost theirs.
Market place. Fort Portal-Kasese road (Photo
by Alican ERIC)
On the way, just before entering the national park we cross the Equator
line once again. During this trip it is my third, Buket and Alican's second
time.
On the Equator line along Kasese-Queen Elizabeth
National Park road... (Photo by Alican ERIC)
Don't let the picture mislead you. It is a taxi not a truck. (Photo
by Alican ERIC)
Queen Elizabeth Ulusal Parký (QENP)
QENP is Uganda's largest national park with its 1,978km˛ savannah area.
It nestles part of the Lake George which is relatively small, and the
entire body Lake Edward which remains within Ugandan borders. These two
lakes are connected by the Kazinga Channel. Though it is the largest national
park in Uganda, for those who have been to Kenya's Maasai Mara or Tanzania's
Serengeti National Park, it is pretty poor as far as the wild animal populations
are concerned. Our lodge is built on a bluff on the Mweya Peninsula overlooking
the Kazinga Channel which joins Lake Edward here. The bungalows are again
adjacent to each other but the ones here are bigger and more spacious.
And they are much more upscale than the ones in Kibela Forest. To top
that, no one comes to your room in the evenings to tell you to turn off
the lights. In front of the terrace on the lake side there is a meadow
whose gentle slope becomes steeper towards the lake. On this green piece
of land you see warthogs (a wild member of the pig family) feeding on
the grass. They eat the grass by ripping it a few centimeters above the
ground so they act exactly like lawn mowers. A nice cost saving by the
hotel management!
You can indeed get this familiar with the warthogs
(Photo by Alican ERIC)
Our afternoon safari on the day we arrived at the hotel could not go beyond
a "let's have a look around" kinda tour. We miscalculated the
time for sunset so it was already dark when we returned to our hotel and
missed the sunset completely.
We caught the sunset on the road. The sun is disappearing behind
Ruwenzori Mountains, beyond them is Congo. (Photo by Alican ERIC)
Here in the savannah (grassland) areas they practice bush burning. But
these are not simple fires; the bush on a large mass of land burns furiously.
Sometimes they even set fire to the bush in the wooded areas. The goal
is to make the soil more productive. Isn't it the same practice in Turkey,
in the fields following the harvest they burn the remaining stubbles,
so the soil will be more productive the following year. Experts, on the
other hand, claim that this practice reduces productivity because it destroys
the substances that are good for the soil. I don't know who is right but
we have witnessed that the bush growing on the burnt areas has a totally
different shade of green, it's just something else. We saw this the first
time at the Murchison Falls. Southern part of the Falls where we entered
the park from, is well wooded. From the gate to our lodge we saw that
the soil under the trees on each side of the road was pitch black; occasionally
we saw charred trees as well. Later when we were following the group of
English people on the north side of the river, we have witnessed their
guide, who was actually the official ranger of the national park, getting
out of the vehicle and set the bush on fire... That night after the tour
he told me that he did this to make the soil more fertile. He also told
me a story in which he has witnessed the storks which fly down from Egypt
down south, line up in front of the fire and feast on millions of locusts
fleeing from the bush fire. Once satisfied they flew back. That night
(and the next) we were watching the blazing lines of the bush fires in
the distance, inhaling the smell of burnt bush.
The next day, that is Tuesday January 24th; we woke up early and went
to track chimpanzees in the Chambura Valley. The starting point was the
ranger camp called Fig Tree Camp. Our group consisted of 6 members and
we got out of our cars and followed our guide to the starting point for
the trek.
Beginning of the Chambura Canyon (Photo by Alican ERIC)
Chambura Valley is a narrow canyon with a depth of 100m and width that
is as low as a few meters at places. It is 16 km long. We will be walking
about 5 km of this length. From the spot where our cars are parked onwards,
we walk down the steep slope with the help of sticks in our hands. Once
at the bottom of the canyon we then begin to follow the river down. At
the bottom end of the trail we had to test our acrobatic skills to cross
to the other side of the river over a tree fallen across it. We go all
the way up to the top end of the trail along the other side of the river
and after another acrobatic effort we cross the river again and go back
up to the starting point. During the "chimpanzee tracking" walk
for about 3 hours, unfortunately we didn't come across any mammals other
than a few hippos playing in a little pond formed by the river. Only at
some point we heard the sounds of fleeing black - white colobus monkeys.
Though the guide book I have says Chambura Valley has the biggest chimpanzee
population among all other areas in Eastern Africa. Our guide, on the
other hand, told us that there is only one chimpanzee family in this area
and it is very difficult if not impossible to find them.
We are at the bottom of the canyon. Chambura Valley
(Photo by Alican ERIC)
We spent the rest of the day in the hotel. Buket read her book, I worked
on my large collection of neglected scribbles and Alican did his school
work. The next day we are leaving for Entebbe, our last stop in Uganda
before Buket and Alican fly back home.
Last dinner at QENP (Photo by Alican ERIC)
We left a little before noon. We completed a 445km route in approximately
8 hours and arrived in Entebbe. It took us so long to get there because
there were many settlement areas along the way and the crowds slowed us
down. Also, I have to add that having to go through the suburbs of Entebbe
didn't help the travel speed. Yet it was still a relatively easy and smooth
trip.
Workers in the tea fields(Photo by Alican
ERIC)
We have seen bicycles even more loaded than this one (Photo by
Alican ERIC)
A marketplace near Mbarara (Photo by Alican ERIC)
The hotel we are going to stay in Entebbe had previously hosted American
presidents. There is even a suite prepared especially for President Clinton.
It is called Clinton Suite. Whoever wants to stay there has to cough up
USD575.00. Views from the suite don't impress us, so we skip it. We are
going to stay in Entebbe for 2 nights and on the Friday morning of January
27th I will see Buket and Alican off at the airport.
The first night, we head downtown for dinner. It is pitch-black everywhere.
On the main road only a few places with generators had their lights on.
We pick one of those, a bar-restaurant, and eat our dinner in a speedy
fashion, then return to the hotel.
I found out later that there are power cuts once every two days regularly.
This is the case for most places in the country. Serious drop in the water
levels of Lake Victoria and thus in the Nile River caused the two hydroelectric
power plants operate well below efficiency levels, and resulted in drastic
measures. Uganda used to export electricity to Kenya. Not only has it
stopped exporting electricity, but also now the country is in a position
where it is unable to meet even the domestic demand.
On our last day in Africa together, Buket, Alican and I first went to
see the Golf View Inn Hotel where I was thinking of staying after their
departure. It is a small, inexpensive and modest "boutique hotel".
Buket approved of it as well so no problems, I can stay there. My plan
is to stay another 2-3 days in Entebbe after Buket and Alican fly back
home and finish all my updates, then to hit the road to travel down south
to Rwanda. After checking out the Golf View Inn, we went to the botanical
park to have a look around and to have a few cold drinks and kill time
at a cafe which we were hoping to find in the park. Sweltering under the
oppressive heat and humidity we left the park in disappointment. It was
best to have those drinks in the garden at the hotel. The Vervet monkeys
in the garden was a real cool surprise.
(Photo by Alican ERIC)
Vervet monkeys in the garden at the hotel
(Photo by Alican ERIC)
We went to a Chinese restaurant for our last meal together during this
trip. We had to go to bed early that night since we were going to head
to the airport in the wee hours of the morning (or very late at night)
the next day, on January 27th.
As
planned got up real early and left for the airport. The barrier at the
police check-point at the entrance to the airport is up and completely
deserted. I slowed down and looked around; no one cares, so I drove through.
From behind us a police officer came out of the sentry box and made a
hand gesture which we assumed meant "Go!"
Of course it wasn't easy to say goodbye to Buket and Alican. I won't see
my wife and son for another 2.5 months. I don't mean to make it sound
more dramatic than it already was. After check-in they went straight through
passport control and we said our goodbyes, so that we wouldn't have to
suffer a long farewell ceremony. Nevertheless it is not easy to control
emotions and I walked back to the car looking neither right nor left.