Western Uganda

From Kampala we headed up towards the western mountains in Uganda.  We first went to the town of Fort Portal.  A nice green town in the foothills of the Rwenzori Mountains.  It is also surrounded by a number of crater lakes.  We visited Lake Nkuruba after a very dusty motorcycle ride from Fort Portal.  The lake had 3 species of monkeys: black and white colobus, red colobus, and vervet monkeys.

Black and white colobus.

And his red brother.

Eva and Brian with burnt heads.

Lake Nkuruba.

Sneaky vervet monkeys trying to get pineapple from some Austrian overlanders.

The local market at Mugusu.

From Fort Portal we headed south and into the mountains to the old mining town of Kilembe.  We were at the edge of the Rwenzori National Park, the home of Africa's third largest peak and true equatorial snow, BUT we didn't go.  We are on a budget after all.  Instead we walked in the foothills with a guide from the village to see how the people of the mountains live, grow their crops, and magically never sweat.

One of these ones is not like the other...

Harvesting cassava.

The fields are a bit steep.

Buganda Kingdom

After rafting the Nile we went to the capital of Uganda, Kampala.  We were surprised.  As generally not a fan of African cities, Kampala was green, clean, nice, and fun.  But the traffic was crazy.  The only way around the city is on the back of a Boda-Boda or mototaxi zooming through the stacked up cars and minibuses.

Making chickpea samosas.

The African Goddess of Beer.

After a few days in Kampala we headed down into Lake Victoria to the Sesse Islands (so named after a terrible problem with Tsetse filies in the past).  We stayed on tiny Banda Island a land that was just about paradise.

The chickens eating the minnows while they dry out.

Brian: Petanque Champion

Rafting the Nile

In Jinja, Uganda the Lake Victoria makes way to the Nile River. The source of the Nile is heavily debated, but Jinja has a good claim. The river is already very large coming out of the lake and has a series of large tranquil sections followed by Class 5 Rapids. We went with the company Nalubale River Rafters. All pictures were taken by a professional guide which allowed the rafters to focus on the plunges and staying in the boat.



Fruit bats.



The river giveth and the river taketh away. Eva lost her ring of 17 years in a thrilling rapid.