Date: Sun, 23 Aug 1998 00:39:12 PDT
From Nakuru we went to Kakamega. It was now a fortnight after Kili and I was feeling okay again (I probably spent about 4 days in bed with my cough and the whole fortnight feeling like shit, covered in coldsores and spots - charming!!).
Anyway - Kakamega - definitely the best place we went to in Kenya. It's the only rainforest they have and it's beautiful. We arrived at about 4.30pm and had a walk to the campsite from the side of the road (the sign said 2km). It started raining the minute we started walking - very heavily. At 5pm we found shelter in a cowshed (We had no idea how much further it actually was - 2 minutes).
When we eventually arrived we decided that the world (and us) were just too wet to camp, so even though it was 10 dollars a night for a Banda we splashed out.
It was dark, there was no electricity and the water came from a bucket in the corner. (On the 2nd night we were given a lantern). It was the first real mud hut that we stayed in. Luckily there were mosy nets because so much dirt falls out of the roof through the night from all the animals crawling around, that you'd be pretty mucky without some protection.
The next day we hired a guide and went for a walk in the forest. HE was brilliant. He told us Iittle stories about all the plants and what the Aficans did with them, and the habits of all the various animals and birds in the forest. Can you believe that we're now well into bird watching - I bet you'd never have thought it of me.
Anyway, from Kakamega back to civilisation and 2 nights in Kitale (Big town) with a self-contianed room (en-suite). We spend one day at Saiwa Swamp. We just sat in this tree house and watched the birds - hoping for a sighting of a sitatunga antelope - we didn't see one, but we did see De Brazza Monkeys (both only in that NP and surrounding area)
From Kitale we came to Uganda (we reverted to matatus after about 2 journeys on big buses - its just much more convenient). Because matatus won't acutally cross the border, we had to walk across and pick up another one from the other side. All these guys wanted to give us a lift (with backpack and napsack) on their bicycles across the border - I decided it would be easier to walk.
The second we arrived in Uganda I was told off for making too much noise and disrespecting a government office (scary monsters). Uganda is much more subdued than Kenya - but the people are much much more friendly and honest. After a couple of days in Kampala we went to Murchison Falls NP in the North. WE felt v. smug because the guide book says its v. difficult to do the trip in less than 5 days. We did it in 3. We hired a special taxi to take us into the park. We shared the cost with 2 others - one came with us from Kampala (a Yank - he was fab). The other we picked up half way and he was a nightmare - a bigot and a dweeb. Luckily we were able to pretty much ignore him.
At Murchison we drove to the top of the falls, and took a launch up the river to the bottom of the falls. They were amazing. 50m wide river being forced through a 7m wide gap - it was really difficult to take a photo to do it justice - the power was amazing. The boat could only get to about 500m from the bottom because the river was swirling and eddying around too much. We also saw the Shoebill (v. rare, v. ugly bird) After MF we've come to Ssese Islands (Small group on Lake Victoria) it took 5 hours in a dinghy to get there. WE arrived in pitchblack at this gorgeous campsite.
It pissed with rain for a day, was glorious sunshine for a day and then we came back. On the 6.5 hour trip back to the mainland we had an Austrian girl with us who had a dislocated shoulder - she wasn't too happy. When you arrive at the mainland, the boat gets swamped with 'porters' who want to carry you and your luggage from the boat to the shore. The water's about waist deep. We decided that as there were 20 of us it would be better to have some people on shore, some people on the boat and some people getting all the bags off. Then at the end we'd carry the patient to shore. This place is the only place I've come across aggression. The porters were rocking the boat, trying to grab our bags from us and saying to the injured girl 'you're going to die muzungu'. We all got off, didn't loose anything and managed to get the girl to hospital - but we had to fight.
Our gorilla permit was a bit of a struggle too, but on 31st of August we're going to see the Mubare family. The queue at the gate is now 49 people long. We've been really lucky.
We're thinking of going white water rafting on the Nile before we head south to the gorillas everyone says it's the best place in the world to do it.
Have you thought any more about coming to see us??
Dar es Salaam in about a month.
We're sending our first film by post back from Kampala - if you could send a copy of it on to Sue, she's really enjoy the Kili shots.
We're at the same phone number in Kampala today and tomorrow if you'd like to try phoning again. Sunday best time to phone is between noon and 5pm UK time. On Monday anytime between 3pm and 8pm. There's only one phone and it's used for email, and all incoming calls so... it's not so easy to get through - sorry
Went white water rafting on the nile yesterday.... tee hee
Love you and miss you both v. much
t