22.Uganda to Rwanda to Uganda - 24 Novemberto 6 December 2009

On Tuesday 24 November, we had a tricky border crossing into Uganda at Malaba with some minor hassles which merely made it more challenging than usual. But once in Uganda, driving through the countryside was beautiful, with rich, lush green, tropical hillsides, cultivated and sectioned off with hedges. Bananas are grown everywhere, and sold in roadside stalls as well as the usual onions, cabbages and beautiful tomatoes. We passed trucks with mountainous loads of bananas, or other trucks with a bunch or two tied anywhere, but most fascinating of all was the number of huge bunches of bananas that were being carried on bicycles, up to four at a time, strenuously pushed up hills, and careering recklessly down. We are now convinced that there is not a thing that cannot be transported on a bicycle - in Uganda we saw a timber double bed frame AND mattress strapped on to the back of one, balancing precariously but moving along successfully and taking up as much room as a car.

We drove to Jinja which is situated on the shores of Lake Victoria at the source of the Nile, called the Victoria Nile here as it flows out of Lake Victoria. Nile Explorers Campsite at Bujagali Falls has a bar/restaurant with outdoor seating and a magnificent view of the Nile as you sip coffee, or enjoy a beer or a bar meal. We spent some time here enjoying the spectacle of the rapids and kayakers, but decided we wouldn't brave the rafting - the very idea of being dumped by the rapids too terrifying and we were trying to keep fit and well for our gorilla trek in Rwanda.

Left Jinja for the drive to Kampala - SO many speed bumps, huge potholes and mad crazy drivers. Once again there was a campsite, Red Chilli, right in the middle of a big city, and once again we caught up with Maria and Bob, Dickie, Claire and the girls who were coming through the opposite way, having already been through Rwanda. So we ventured in to the chaotic Kampala traffic and visited some Embassies while we were there to try to get visas for the countries to the north. Not much success - we'll have to try in Nairobi on our way back from Rwanda, but we got to know Kampala and the different shopping centres while we were trying.

From Kampala we drove to Mbarara, crossing the Equator again back into the Southern Hemisphere. It's quite a pleasant touristy spot at this crossing, compared to the one we crossed in Kenya, and we would have stopped except that there had been a truck accident and the traffic was lined up for quite some way getting past, so we decided to keep going, and call in on the way back - looked like you could even get a good coffee there. Driving along we also noticed the cattle with the largest horns we've ever seen. They are called Ankole cattle, and have a long tradition of being highly prestigious possessions, with hundreds of different markings all known by a particular name.

After camping at Mbarara, we drove on to Lake Bunyoni Overland Camp, a beautiful spot up in the hills above Kabale overlooking the lake, and close to the Rwandan border. A quick border crossing into Rwanda the next day, and we were suddenly negotiating left-hand drive. Rwanda is hilly and mountainous, with every square-inch of soil cultivated, even on quite steep slopes, a necessity in a country of such high population. Tea plantations in the flatter valleys are picturesque amongst the surrounding terraced and farmed slopes. Once again a rich, green and lush landscape.

Rwanda is such an interesting country, unlike any other so far. The roads are very good, and everything is clean and rubbish-free, tidy and orderly, so different to the intriguing chaos of the Africa we have already seen. We were led to believe that littering is punishable by hefty fines and even gaol, hence there is a sense of supervision and surveillance and management. But perhaps for a country that has suffered the effects of genocide, to move on and forgive and live together again requires such an approach - who knows. We visited the Genocide Memorial Museum which was incredibly tragic and horrific, but gave us a greater understanding of what happened and why. And one floor of the museum recounted other genocides which have occurred in the last century and placed the Rwandan genocide within the much bigger perspective of human behaviour in similar situations.

We organised our Gorilla trek in the Volcanoes National Park on our first day in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, but as it was a Sunday, and foreign credit cards don't work in ATMs in Rwanda, we had to wait for the banks to open on Monday before we could get money to pay for the trek. So Gorilla day was to be Tuesday. Our first night was spent at Chez Lando Hotel in the city towards the airport, as there is no camping in Rwanda. The next night we spent at Kinigi Guest House, right on the edge of the National Park, so we couldbe ready for a 7:00 am start the next morning. Over dinner we chatted to a young Australian girl and her travelling companion from the USA, who had been doing some voluntary work in Bagamoyo in Tanzania, and had travelled through hell and high water across Tanzania, Lake Victoria and into Rwanda, all by public transport, in order to see the Gorillas. At one stage they were travelling in a small sedan taxi, with five people sitting in the front and six in the back!

We loved our Gorilla trek, even though it was only a 10-minute trek from the park boundary after a similar length of time walking through villages and cultivation. The Gorilla family we were tracking were quite close, and in amongst a thick stand of bamboo which they love to eat. We had wanted a short trek as we are totally unfit after 5 months of travelling in a car, but it was probably a bit shorter than we had imagined, and the photo opportunities of Gorillas in the bamboo were very limited. But wow! There they were only a couple of metres away, the big male silverback and his large group of females and offspring. We had young Gorillas playing together, climbing the bamboo and falling down and really entertaining us, while their mothers ate on regardless, all of them totally unconcerned by our group of 8 fascinated onlookers. But most incredible of all, early on in the hour we spent watching them, the silverback beckoned to one of the females with his finger, and made gorilla noises which must have meant 'come over here', and we were suddenly witnessing Gorillas mating in the mist, which was pretty amazing. Unfortunately for the rest of the time, the silverback of course only wanted to sleep, so we hardly saw his face again as his head was hidden, and he only glanced up if he was disturbed by the young ones playing too close, or an interested female. But what was really funny, after we had left them and were climbing back over the dry-stone wall which forms the park boundary, one of the group had managed to film the whole event and announced she now had "gorilla porn" in her possession! All good fun. We only managed two good photos, and did manage to get some video footage of some of the family.

We then drove back down to Kigali and decided to stay at the Hotel des Mille Collines, of Hotel Rwanda fame, which the couple the previous night had recommended. Fabulous views over the city from the restaurant, where we had a great dinner after spending quite some time at the bar by the pool listening to a Ugandan singer who was performing live that evening with a couple of her friends backing up. Very pleasant!

The following morning was the visit to the Museum, and then we drove to the Rwandan border again, back into Uganda and had another night camping at Lake Bunyoni, feeling very glad we'd had a glimpse of Rwanda and seen the Gorillas . From there it was back tracking to Kampala, this time stopping at the Equator crossing and having a great coffee, and wandering around the curio stalls for a break in the long drive back to the city and Red Chilli Campsite again. This time we met an Australian girl from Griffith, living in Windhoek, Namibia with her husband and two little girls. They were having a three month camping holiday.

We had another night at Jinja, and this time had a fabulous dinner at the Black Lantern Restaurant next door, still overlooking the Victoria Nile. Next morning we decided to find the exact location that they call 'The Source of the Nile" which we had tried to find the day before but got lost in the back streets of Jinja as it wasn't marked on the GPS. We eventually found it, more set up for tourist visits than we had imagined, however it was early morning so we were left to ourselves after paying the small entrance fee to the bank of the river.

We then set off for yet another border crossing back into Kenya, but this time we crossed at Busia, a little further south than Malaba .