10 days adventure in Uganda’s wild

It is said the world is like one big book and when we travel, we turn a fresh page. The last couple of days have been an adventurous treat. From Kampala to Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary to Budongo Forest to Murchison Falls National Park and flying to Kidepo Valley National Park, down to Karamoja and back to Kampala.

And then to Jinja, which is not only the source of the Nile but a place to get your adventure caps on with a sport called quad-biking. This will get your adrenaline rushing, and your mind excited.
Through it all, there were sceneries, landscapes, animals, sounds and beautiful places to stay in and bonds created. Sometimes when you travel with strangers, the chemistry is natural and the bond is real. You bet Winston Churchill was sober when he called Uganda the Pearl of Africa.

Setting off
It started on a cold Sunday evening over cold drinks at Sheraton Kampala Hotel where Uganda Tourism Board (UTB) hosted 20 plus tour guides, operators and international tourism clients to a cocktail. There, two groups were created. The other was to do a gorilla tour and chimpanzee safari and they would travel to Kisoro, Queen Elizabeth and Kibale Forest.
The good news is that East Africa is waking up to start marketing its tourism potential as a block. That is how we got flown and driven around to all these destinations. One has to appreciate that this is a gesture in the right direction.

According to the regional coordinator of East African Tourism Platform, Carmen Nibigira, the region’s diversity ought to be celebrated; awareness and interest must be raised not only outside the region, but also within the East African Community regarding individual countries’ touristic offerings.
“This gives the EAC tourism stakeholders the opportunity to start trading each other’s products, packaging tourism products without borders, bench-marking amongst themselves and learning from each other,” she observed.

Getting cosy with white rhinos
From the first familiarisation trip, there were beautiful sceneries. At Ziwa Ranch, our tour guides, Richard Tumusiime and Herbert Kasujja, told us that tourists sometimes have to walk many kilometres as they track rhinos but luck was on our side.
At the sanctuary, which is located near Nakitoma Village, Nakasongola District, in the Kafu River Basin, approximately 180 kilometres by road north of Kampala, our experience was different.

When we went out tracking, we were able to see the rhinos within no time. There were eight of them grazing in the wild, within metres of Ziwa’s man-made pond where they quench their thirst after feeding.
Kasujja says rhinos are huge, and are the second largest mammals after elephants. A male rhino can weigh up to three tonnes while the female one can weigh between 2.5 to 2.9 tonnes.
The sanctuary is home to 15 white rhinos, the country’s biggest number. The other two are at Uganda Wildlife Education Centre in Entebbe.

After a few hours on the road and another in the wild, lunch was well-deserved. It was served at one of the lodges within the sanctuary and consensus was that the food was too little to feel African bellies, what with rice as much as a fistful.
The next destination was Masindi for an overnight stay and the next morning, we were early enough to catch some breakfast but locals in the town are late bloomers and as such, the search for breakfast turned into a merry-go round through quiet corners. After a while, we were able to get some katogo (culinary mix of matooke and offals) to warm our bellies before we proceeded to Budongo Forest for chimpanzee tracking.

Etiquette
Our guides, Saudah Birungi and Richard Okello were kind to give us pointers before we went to the forest.
“Carry some water because of uncertainty of how long you will be walking. Carry a jacket because it rains anytime in tropical forests like Budongo. Minimise on noise in order to see more animals,” Okello cautioned.
The professional couple shared some titbits about chimpanzees; they are close to human beings in intellect and live in communities. After 45 minutes into the forest, walking on its wet floor of mud, leaves and tree buttresses, we met the chimps, up in the trees.
These active fellows were taking it slow, feeding on leaves as they enjoyed family time, cuddling on their babies and seemingly chatting about the follies of man.

Lessons from the wild
“They believe humans are stronger than them. In Budongo, there are three communities. There are about 700 chimpanzees. An average family is about 200,” Birungi explained.
They have a lifespan of between 40 and 45 years but can go up to 60 years when in captivity. While the hairy folks took it slow on the chilly morning, this gave chance to photographers to snap away as the guides interjected with quick facts.
Besides the chimpanzees, Budongo is also home to some of the oldest trees, some as old as 600 years. Their character and outlook is something of interest. Some interlock, some with open stems, extra-large buttress or either big or very small leaves. A few are multi-colourful.

According to the itinerary, it was a drive to the top of the falls of Murchison and there were prized sights, of gushing water through a nestled gorge and a rainbow that runs across the water.
It can be well viewed from the top most viewpoints, and makes for photo moments though this comes at a cost of being drowned in water that splashes off the rocks. Another good photograph to capture is the calm bed into which the falls pour, forming some off-white droplets.

The stomachs were begging for a refill and we head to Pakuba Safari Lodge, a fenceless beautiful place where after a few hours, waiters and support staff became friends. They served us cold beer comes and the meals were sumptuous. In the night, as we dined, wild animals ‘kept guard’ in the compound
We compare notes on our next destination, Apoka Lodge in Kidepo which is a superior facility but with fair customer care. The lodge is high-end but with employees who are more mechanical than professional, to the standards.
Some do not know what is on the menu, others promised to wake us up and left us to snore beyond the call time. After one of the meals, we asked for tooth picks and the waiter came and served us with a toothpick each.
For a few of these things, you will let pass just to enjoy your time out and away from boda bodas hooting, loud church-goers and booming music boxes in the name of bars, pubs and nightclubs.

Moving on
Kidepo is a beautiful park, home to the buffaloes, elephants, antelopes, name it. But if not for animals then landscapes will leave your heart hungering for a longer stay. The prized lions kept at the high altitude, high up on the rocks.
Breakfast in the wild, in the middle of the park, was awesome. And as we partook of ours, the vultures were busy pocking and munching on a dead buffalo. In the jungle, you do not live and let live. The strongest survive but nature also favours the weak.

Well, Kidepo lasted longer. On one of the evenings, we visited the Karamojong communities where we got to appreciate their way of life. They live in three tribes and at the helm is an 82-year-old king, Etiang Inyasio.
Women play a pivotal role of looking after the family. They make sure granaries are filled and prepare local brew called kwete, for their men. This as the sun sinks into the cloud.
Kwete is a fermented mixture of maize, sorghum and water. Our guide, Rafael Ojok, tells us that children, as early as four years, look after animals as a perquisite for them to be tested if they are ready and ‘sharp’ enough to start studying.

Quad-biking
The next morning, we were flown back to Kampala, which provided an opportunity to take some aerial shots. Jinja came, inviting the next day. I had never though quad-biking would make me wish I did it all over again and again.
It is a great sport that you should try. Within a few minutes we could ignite the bikes, automatically peddle them in motion and direct them.
Trust me, this is something that should give you reason to go to Jinja. We are let on a trail through the rural circuits of Jinja- gardens, muddy tracks as the children and adults alike, wave at us with sunny smile.

There was a choice between quad-biking and water rafting and having rafted a few times before, I had no regrets missing out on the equally enthralling experience at the wild waters of the mighty River Nile.
Later on, the faint-hearted settled to take photos of the bungee-jumpers, another adventure. Your writer was one of the cowards who thought sipping on a Nile beer was a better reason that suspending oneself on a rope and into the waters of the Nile. Either way, we tasted the Nile. The frothy levels only differed.

The next sober moments were at Ndere Centre where we were served some authentic Ugandan dances and songs and hot, steamy food. My friend Monika Solanki, a tourist entrepreneur from Mombasa, is excited at the taste of Luwombo (sauce prepared in banana leaves).
She follows this with a Facebook post. Ndere’s proprietor, Stephen Rwangyezi, makes the night memorable, with humour. Foreigners are arrested in his delivery, so natural and tickling.

Then the traditional performances were equally engaging. The rhythmic drums, the dance and the songs all united East Africa on one stage.
Tuesday night was the gala evening, and Afrigo Band brought down the house with their legendary showcase fused with rhumba. By the way, they celebrated 40 years, with a gig at Hotel Africana last week.
As I settle into routine, my heart is still stuck in the wild.

The first Ugandan tourism expo
Earlier on in the day, the Pearl of Africa Tourism Expo was opened by the Vice President Kiwanuka Ssekandi. The expo, which runs up to today, is worth visiting. There is a rich display of on Uganda through showcases of tribal dances, crafts and history, which is relayed by those manning the stalls.
Different countries and tour operators are well-represented at the expo taking place at Kampala Serena Hotel. It is more of selling what should interest you to go to a place.

All tourism clusters are well-represented and it would be a choice of a listener to draw their plan because every place is worth visiting because they are well marketed. There is a lot to see.
As President Yoweri Museveni noted in his speech read to him by the minister of General Duties, Tarsis Kabwegyere, the tourism sector has emerged as a top foreign exchange earner with growth rates propelling the service sector.
“Uganda’s investment climate is very favourable and diverse in several sectors across the country,” he added.

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