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Uganda - Rwanda Travelogue

In February of 2008 Hjalli and I travelled with Afríka - Ævintýraferðir (an Icelandic travel agent) to Uganda and Rwanda with the main focus of visiting mountain gorillas in the Virunga volcanos that straddle the border between Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

 

The journey started out in Entebbe Uganda where we visited an animal sanctuary which cares for wild animals that have been injured or cannot in other ways fend for themselves and rehabilitates them. Whenever possible they are introduced back to the wild.

 
Plains Zebra
 
Shoebill

This is a shoebill, voted the #1 ugliest creature on Earth by the Animal Planet's Beastly Countdown.  Even if you may have a pet ugliest creature, we can all agree that it isn't pretty.  It's a also huge, on average around 1.2 meters high with wingspan around 2.3 meters.

 
Shoebill
 
Chimpanzees
 
A crater lake in south-west Uganda
 
Magga Dora in middle earth.

Uganda is a beautiful country. Even if we were there at the end of a dry season it is still very green. Crossing the equator the seasons are very similar. It has many lakes and hosts the source of the Nile which flows through the country and keeps it green.  As you move south-west the landscape becomes hilly and tumbles along beautifully.

 
Fishing in the Kazinga channel
 
Hippos and buffalos in the Kazinga channel
 
Yellow-billed stork on the Kazinga channel

In west-Uganda there are two lakes, Edward and George from British Kings, being a part of the British Commonwealth.  They separate Uganda from the Democratic Republic of Congo. There you can find the Queen Elisabeth II National Park.

 

The two lakes are joint by a canal and there we found this wonderful wildlife.

 

Birds we were expecting. Hippos, yes. Here elephants, buffalos, hippos and birds all come to drink and bathe and don't seem to mind each others' company.

 
Skimmers taking off
 
Hippo mum and baby.
 
Íslensk glíma stigin í Úganda?
 
Hippo
 
Hippo

The hippo - even if it doesn't look it - is the most dangerous animal in the whole of Africa. No animal reportedly kills more humans per year. And yet it is a herbivore.

 

It lies in water all day to control the heat and leaves at night to graze. It is then they are aggressive. In the dark they are practically invisible and if a human inadvertently passes between the hippo and his water they attack.

 

Never underestimate a nasty temperament and a neurotic disposition.

 

And this is a serious pair of teeth!

 
Hippo in the late afternoon sun
 
Who's the boss?
 
Hippos asserting their status in the hierarchy.
 
Saddle-billed stork
 
Buffalo
 
Buffalo and comrade
 
Buffalo and great egret
 
See why they're called water buffalo?
 
Great egret
 
MD on the Kazinga channel
 
Fishing boat
 
Striking pose
 
Local fisherman
 
Beef with Roquefort sauce at Mweya Lodge
 
The pool at Mweya Lodge

In Queen Elisabeth Park there is a magical place called Mweya Lodge. Depicted above are my two favorite spots: The dining room and the swimming pool.  These pictures are for all of you who thought travelling to Africa was about lowering your standards. And for us to remember because we're going back. Only the lure of gorillas managed to get MD out of the pool.

 

We took two morning safaris from Mweya. The sunrise is stunning in East Africa.

 
Sunrise over Queen Elizabeth park
 
Sunrise over Queen Elizabeth park
 
Impala
 
The view from the breakfast buffet at Mweya
 
This and an omelet chef - can you ask for more?
 
Salt lake in a crater in Queen Elizabeth park

This is whole area is very volcanically active, hot springs, craters. Feels like home.  Here on the left there is a soda lake which the locals are harvesting for salt.  February is dry season in Uganda and so the water level is very low.

 

 

 
Jói and Sigrún in Kyambura
 
Kyambura Gorge
 
Walking back

Kyambura Gorge (right) hosts a number of primates. We dove in to see if the chimpanzees were in. Unfortunately they weren't. But we met  a few of our more distant cousins, baboons and colobus monkeys.

 

Note also the forrest in the gorge (by the river) that disappears at the brim.

 
Our guide and his Kalashnikov
 
The other car
 
En route
 
Elephant sizing us up
 
Elephant family.

We met this heard of elephants twice, coming from the lake and going towards it. Only about 5 minutes drive from Mweya.

 

Big tusks have disappeared from Uganda due to over-hunting but these carried theirs with pride.

 
Elephant
 
Elephane
 
Elephant
 
Elephant's rear
 
Elephant
 
Elephant
 
Elephants asserting their status in the hierarchy.
 
A secret whispered...
 
Over there: The democratic republic of Congo
 
The river separating Uganda and DRCongo

What we're so happily pointing at is the Democratic Republic of Congo.

 

Below you can see a picture of the river separating Congo and Uganda where until recently a tree made a makeshift bridge. For the natives a river like this is a real hurdle. Not only because of the hippos and crocodiles that swim in it but because of their inability to swim. This bridge was used for border crossing until (as you can see) it was cut down.

 

Congo is turbulant and we came across very recent refugee camps, that had been closed down only 2 months before.

 
Hippo's rear
 
X-buffalo
 
Impala family in the shade
 
Impala family
 
Tree-climbing lion
 
Young male lion
 
See, no filling!
 
Silly lion
 
Checking out the savannah
 
Philosophical lion

In Ishasha an unusual behavior has developed with the lions; They climb trees. This does away with the good old advice that if you're running away from a lion, just climb a tree. We met this guy as he was trying to decide whether he was actually feeling a wee bit peckish and if he should do something about it. This is his tree (below), you can see him to the far right.

 

The biggest difference between a Tanzanian/Kenyan and an Ugandan safari is the number of mzungus. If a lion were lying in a tree by the road in a park in Tanzania you could expect 20-30 vehicles swarming around the tree. The biggest challenge there is to get a good photo of the animal without a tourist in it.

 
Two men and a scooter and a pride of lions...

Here we met no one for hours. So to our surprise these two guys suddenly appeared on their scooter. As we were driving away from the lion they drove past. Idly giving the lion a glance as they passed under his branch.

 
The lion's den (far right)

Note there is nothing out here for miles around. What they do if they run out of gas/scooter breaks down is anybody's guess...

 

These fine feline fellows were lying beside the road only about a 150 m away.  I guess they weren't feeling peckish. At least we didn't see the scooter.

 
Impala
 
Impala
 
Preparing for the rainy season.

At the end of the dry season is seems to be customary to burn away the dead grass to help the new vegetation grow when the rain comes. This is even done inside the national parks. As this is done regularly the fire seems to be easily controllable and we drove through the area.

At Savanna Resort Hotel we met this amateur theater group that performed traditional songs and dance for us. Beautiful African music! It is important to understand that before the Europeans arrived nothing had been written in sub-Saharan Africa, all was relayed between generations through stories and song.

 

Now this theater group wants to take up this tradition and travel the area, telling people new stories that are important. Stories of AIDS, of hygiene, of the importance of education. I hope they will.

 
Local theater group

The border of Uganda, Rwanda and DRCongo is a volcanic zone on the west bank of the western great rift valley of eastern-Africa. This makes for beautiful landscape and explains why Rwanda is commonly called "Pays the mille collines" (Land of thousand hills).

 

Because of the volcanic soil these countries are very fertile and even if what we see in the photos is from 1500 to 5000 meters above sea level, almost every square centimeter is grown and 90% of those are cultivated.

 

Even though the southern part of Uganda has many lakes and does not seem to lack water the lesson is though important: In this part of the world, water is the most valuable resource.

 
Sam, our driver

We drove south, towards the gorillas and before we knew it we were in Rwanda.  We didn't know what to expect and we were thrilled to find that Rwanda is a terrific country. Infamous for its 1994 genocide, Rwanda is a land of plenty.  But how can you recover of an atrocity like that?

 

 

 
Water is the most valuable resource
 
Welcome to Rwanda
 
Rwandan flag

They are reconstructing (with help from outside) their infrastructure and while we were there two important people pledged to help build the economy: George Bush and Tony Blair.

 

But we were there for the gorillas. As we read on a road sign: Given peace, the gorillas will give us money.

 
MD and Hjalli in Ruhengeri (Musanze)

The gorillas are a major part of Rwandan tourism.  56 tourists line up each day to visit 7 gorilla families, each tourist paying $500 for the privilege. That makes up for 20.000 tourists a year, out of a total of about 40.000 tourists that visit Rwanda per year (2007 numbers).

 

We set out on a visit to a family of 17 gorillas, the Amahoro group. We were in luck because they had moved right to the edge of the forest and we caught our first glimpse from the potato fields.

 

This group has 2 silverbacks, 4 females, a few juveniles and some kids, the youngest 1 month old.

 
The group and the mountain
 
A 6 month old gorilla practicing his climbing skills.
 
He will get a name in June.
 
Philosophical for a 6 month old
 
I didn't fall, I meant to do that...
 
See how clever I am?
 
You are a funny creature
 
But I've got talented toes
 
Ubumwe, the silverback
 
Ubumwe
 
Ubumwe
 
Ubumwe
 
Ubumwe
 
Ubumwe
 
Ubumwe
 
Ubumwe
 
Ubumwe
 
Ubumwe
 
Ubumwe means unity
 
Ubumwe
 
Ubumwe

This is the groups main silverback, Ubumwe. A silverback can reach 1.8 meter, standing tall.  They are around 125 kg and need to eat around 25 kg of vegetation per day.

 

The gorillas are, despite of bad PR, peaceful creatures and we were often within a few meters from them as they moved about their habitat.

 
Ubumwe
 
Ubumwe
 
Ubumwe
 
Ubumwe

Mountain gorillas are critically endangered. There are only about 700 left. Around 400 of them live in the Virungas (where we visited them) and an additional 300 live in Bwindi national park in Uganda.

 

They're number has been increasing during the last three decades when they reached a number as low as 500. This is a success story of ingenious conservation that not only helps the gorillas but also creates revenue for the surrounding inhabitants.  Around 10% of the proceedings made by the gorilla tourism goes into the communities surrounding the park. On top of that the park provides work and additional revenue through hotels, restaurants etc.

 
Ubumwe
 
Himbara
 
Himbara
 
Ibigwi
 
Ibigwi

The gorillas are vegetarians. Their food consists of bamboo, wild celery, roots and leaves. They get all their water needs directly from the plants. This is however, a very low calorie diet. Which means they spend much of their day eating and don't waste energy on being agressive.

 
Ubumwe
 
Father and son
 
Karisimbi
 
Father and son

The only time there is turbulence in a gorilla group is if there is a shift in power and a new silverback takes over. 

 

In the event of a power shift the new silverback kills the youngest cubs to assert his dominance; only the main silverback is allowed to copulate with the females.

 
Himbara
 
Ibigwi
 
Ibigwi
 
Karisimbi
 
Karisimbi and her 6 month old
 
Mbele
 
Muhabura
 
Muhabura
 
Karisimbi
 
Muhabura
 
Muhabura
 
Father and son
 
Muhabura
 
Ubumwe
 
Mbele
 
Muhabura
 
Mbele
 
Muhabura
 
Ibigwi
 
Muhabura and Himbara
 
Ibigwi
 
Muhabura
 
Ibigwi
 
Karisimbi
 
Ubumwe
 
Ubumwe
 
Ibigwi
 
Ibigwi

See, here we are (courtesy of Sigrún) with Ubumwe in the background.

 

Below you can see the volcanoes the gorillas live in, the Virungas.  Left Mt. Visoke and right Mt. Sabinyo (old man's teeth). They stretch to above 4500 meters above sea level, but as you can see there is vegetation almost to the top.

 
Hjalli, Magga Dóra and Ubumwe.
 
Mt. Visoke (water hole - there is a crater lake on top)
 
Mt. Sabinyo (old man's teeth - the brim of the crater has gaps in it)
 
MD in Brobdingnag (Risalandi).

The Mountain Gorilla's Nest Lodge not only offered good facilities but also a golf course with rented kit. Since we were lucky and didn't have to trek for hours looking for our gorilla family we found ourselves with an afternoon off. What better than to share a little private moment on the golf course?

 

The golf course has 9 holes, but only one flag. Thus a member of the staff ran with the flag between holes as we moved along.  Also, another member of the staff (who also, fortunately, knew a little bit about golf (much more than us)) insisted on accompanying us as a caddy.  Last but not least an entourage of about 10 villagers went along for the ride, enjoying my golfing style. So much for a private moment.

 

On hole 3 we ran into the local football team, rehearsing on the golf course.  We didn't have the heart to ask them to leave (also, this would have meant a considerably larger audience of my golf style) so we moved along directly to hole 4.

 

The golf course is 'work in progress' but we had fun, the entourage had fund and the view (especially from hole 2) can't be beat.

 
Hjalli @ Des mille collines
 
Hotel des Mille Collines
 
MD too

In Kigali we visited two thought provoking places; the Rwanda Genocide Museum and Hotel Mille Collines.

 

Please read the history of these places, there is much that we still need to learn.

 
Punishment Island
 
Lake Bunyoni
 
Riding on dugout canoe

From Rwanda we went to Bushara Island on Lake Bunyoni where we spent the night. The lake is very deep, estimated up to 900 m deep.  The lake is almost 2000 meters above sea level and the very grown hills you see around it reach up to almost 2500 m.

 
Lake Bunyoni
 
Plain zebra
 
Plain zebra
 
Warthog
 
Plain zebra
 
Zebra's belly
 
Warthog love
 
Warthog
 
Warthog
 
Warthog grazing
 
Impala
 
Impala

An Ankole cattle farmer's wealth is not only measured by the number of his cattle but by how but their horns. The horns are so big that they could easily be confused with elephant's teeth. These cows are not used for milking, but almost exclusively for their meat. 

 
Ankole cattle
 
Impala
 
Acacia and Elliot
 
Impala
 
Nile Porch Lodge
 
Waterbuck
 
Hjalli @ the source of the Nile
 
Jói doesn't seem to be perturbed by the danger.
 
The Iceland Team + crew

Here you can see Jói and Hjalli by the source of the Nile. If only we had seen this sign a day earlier, we might not have gone through with the rafting...

 

We rafted 35 km right below the damn that's by the source of the Nile. We went through 4 grade 5 rapids and lived to tell the tale :)

 
Jói does the cannonball (Later in the trip Gísli made a much better cannonball - see video)
 
A refreshing swim in the Nile.
 
Þorsteinn trying to upturn the boat all by himself.
 
Diving into the 'Bad place'
 
Being swallowed by the 'Bad place'
 
Diving into Itanda Falls.
 
Team Iceland post-raft. 100% survival rate.
 
Sugarcane
 
Street vendor with her snacks

The hotel we stayed at also runs the rafting company. A part of their proceedings goes into a project to build up the society around their establishments.  See SoftPower.

(c) Hjálmar Gíslason & Margrét Dóra Ragnarsdóttir 2008

COMMENTS
ConnieL said at 10:46 a.m. on Apr 11, 2008:
What a wonderful trip! You have some amazing photos! Thank you for sharing.
Gummih said at 9:40 a.m. on Apr 18, 2008:
Frábær ferðasaga, og skemmtileg myndin af ykkur og Ubumwe, hann virðist vera feiminn við myndavélina á henni :o)
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