After leaving Moshi, Tanzania (after Kili) myself and Dee decide to head to Nairobi for a night to meet with Chipo and to collect the bank cards and other bits my family have sent over post-Nairobbery. In typical Kenyan style, customs can't release the parcel unless I pay nearly 100 EUR. If I don't pay this it will take about 3-5 days and this will require my passport which of course I will need for Uganda....catch-22, eh? With no choice I reluctantly pay up and travel to the airport to collect the parcel. Turns out the gang at home also sent me replacement iPod which the girls spent days loading music on to - so sweet!

Dee heads to do a tour of the Kibera slums with Freddy of Kibera Tours (the lovely guy who helped me out when I was robbed) which by all accounts is really interesting including the energy plant which uses human waste to heat water by creating gas. Nifty! There is even a common room/hang-out area above the toilets where one can chill out and chat afterwards. Seriously, the ingenuity is amazing! As with many slums, the richest live among the poorest in this slum. All in all, Nairobi is a pretty cool city but you do need to watch out!

After Nairobi we leave for Kisumu in north west Kenya - located along the shore of Lake Victoria. We had booked the bus to Kisumu already while in Moshi. Nothing like trying to be organised while traveling....except it doesn't seem to pay off in Africa. We just happened to be passing the bus ticket office while in Nairobi and decided to pop in to confirm the departure point. Turned out that there was no bus at 22.30 which is what we booked and the last one was at 21.00 - hate to say it but T.I.A. - This Is Africa! You really need to be so flexible here and not have any definite plans. Have had lots of TIA experiences - compiling a list at the moment which should be interesting when finished but have to get Dee to help me out!
The bus to Kisumu ends up being hilarious. We are not allowed to take off until we have prayed for almost ten minutes, in real African 'Praise the Lord' style, for a safe journey! Same has to be done upon arrival too - quite cute really and everyone is really in to it! Arrive at some crazy hour in the morning and have a 20 min conversation/argument/misunderstanding with the guest house manager about early check-in...patience Ann-Marie....patience! Kisumu is a nice little town where we spend time just sleeping and chilling out. Get a tuk tuk driver called James, or 007 as he likes to be referred to, to drive us around the town for a quick tour - done in 15 mins! The Kenyan side of Lake Victoria is covered in really thick vegetation so not much to see but the town is cute and quiet, especially after Nairobi. Still exhausted after Kili so looking forward to chilling out in Kampala for a few days!

Hit the road for Kampala, Uganda after Kisumu. Spend a couple of days in Kampala before hitting off for on our tour of Uganda. I really like Kampala actually - it is a little more chilled out than other capital cities in Eastern Africa and there is a lot less hassle. It is pretty dirty though and the smell of rubbish (among other things) is pretty rank. There are also these disgusting birds called Marabou storks that fly low over the city and gather in massive groups all around town. Moving about the city is done on the back of a motorbike which is pretty great! Take in the sights over a couple of days and get a feel for a place - Visit Mengo Palace which is the eerie location of many deaths under the dictator Idi Amin. Maybe take a look at the movie 'The Last King of Scotland' for a quick reminder of recent Ugandan history and the story of Idi Amin, Obote etc.

Kampala itself is covered in election posters, including a multitude for Museveni of the National Resistance Movement (NRM party). He has been in power for something like 20 years but is as corrupt as they come. However, he is still attributed with bringing Uganda back to normality after Amin and people still have faith in him so the corruption is largely ignored. He gets elected (we leave Uganda just before elections - last time there were major riots etc. and there were some expected this time around too) but we don't leave without picking up a yellow Museveni t-shirt as a souvenir.

Uganda has beautiful countryside - much more green and lush than anywhere else I've been in Eastern Africa! Myself and Dee have arranged a five fay dour through Tour begins with a seriously long drive to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. En route we read an article in the local newspaper about toasters and how these new inventions are great for those who would like their bread to taste a little different. The accompanying ad shows a toaster with burned bread popping out the top! Hilarious! Takes up half a page of the local paper - brilliant! Just the two of us and our guide Godwin on the trip which is actually quite nice. Pass through the equator on the trip and take the typical mazungo photos. Arrive at Bwindi and are upgraded to the beautiful Engagi Lodge. Our room has a balcony looking straight in to the forest. Amazing. Kind of surreal actually!

Go to visit Group R gorillas (Rushegura group) - bit of a tough trek through the rain forest but worth it to see these amazing creatures. See one silverback (male, head honcho of the pack) and loads of female and baby gorillas. They are actually very quiet and tame and spend a lot of time just hanging about under trees scratching themselves and picking their noses. Was fine by us, got to spend our hour just watching them do what they do! They really are amazing - their hands and feet are so humanlike! You can see for yourselves in the pictures! For such massive animals they move really quietly and slowly! Really lovely to watch! A fantastic experience but probably a once off considering the cost of permit for visiting them!

Also visit Queen Elizabeth Park (QEP) on the trip and do a few safaris while we are there. Beautiful landscape and get to see lots of animals over the few days we are there - lions, warthog (aka Pumba), lots of elephants and of course every type of antelope you can think of. Have lovely accommodation again (could get used to this). At one stage on our safari we come across about 4 lions hiding in the long grasses of QEP. While waiting and watching, two old American guys in the jeep in front of us wander off for a pee in the bush (about 10m from the lions) with their guide chasing after them roaring at them to get back in to the jeep. Was kind of hilarious though - like watching a playschool teacher trying to manage a group of unruly kids! Have dinner overlooking Lake George and listening to the hippos which are literally wandering around just a few meters away - can't see them but can smell them a mile off!

Not satisfied with gorillas, we also head to visit the chimpanzees in a ridiculously cool gorge. We see everything from hippos and snakes to chimps in the gorge. The chimps are just so cute (actually much cuter than gorillas) and so much fun. They try to lead you astray, hiding in the bushes and popping out unexpectedly. You could watch them for hours! Spend ages watching babies swinging from branches in the trees - unfortunately my shaky photography doesn't do it justice! Joined on the trip through the gorge by a lovely group of American women - really great company. Take a boat trip on the Kazinga channel which is much cooler than expected - end up seeing a lot more than we do traveling by land. Even becoming interested in doing a spot of bird-watching which is totally not me! Add baby lizards and crocodiles to the ever expanding list of animals we have seen.

After the tour, we headed back to Kampala. Dee does a spot of white-water rafting in Jinja (what a cool name - both of us red heads meant to get a picture under a sign) and tales a swim in the Nile. I go to visit the source of the Nile and the place where part of Ghandi's ashes were scattered. Jinga is by far the stinkiest of cities across so far! My bus crashes on way back to Kampala - nothing serious but panic sets in among the Ugandans and everyone is in a mad rush to get out, climbing over the masses of boxes and children taking up every inch of the aisle!

When it finally becomes time to leave Uganda for Rwanda, we learn that the borders are closing tonight due to the elections so everyone is on the way out, hence one of the worst bus rides I have ever experienced. We are literally squashed on to a few very uncomfortable seats on a dodgy bus with Westlife and Islamic worship blasting from the speakers all night! Roll on Kigali, Rwanda! Loved Uganda though - the people are lovely, countryside beautiful and there's generally a very nice, relaxed atmosphere. Don't see as much poverty here as I have done in Kenya and Tanzania but from speaking to an Irish girl who is working with women over here, there is still a huge instance of rape and HIV and AIDS are still huge problems.

10 out of 10 for Uganda - would definitely recommend a trip!