Dreaming of Zanzibar – The beginning: bus from Kampala to Nairobi, Kenya.

This post is the first of a set of publications which will describe the last trip I did in East Africa, back in August, leading me to Zanzibar and back again.

My stay in Uganda was, as expected, going to end and leaving East Africa without visiting Kenya and Tanzania was surely not an option.

The initial plan was to go to Nairobi (the capital of Kenya) first, head South to Dar Es Salaam (the capital of Tanzania) then cross the Dar Es Salaam Bay by ferry to reach Zanzibar and then return to Kampala in a similar fashion. But, as you will read, the trip, mainly the return, did not go as planned.
Once having discussed with my boss the precise dates of my trip, planned the locations and contacted my hosts, it was time for my camera, my backpack and me to start the long trip by leaving Kampala to get to the first destination: Nairobi.

The route from Kampala to Nairobi by bus is quite frequented making it rather comfortable and safe; the only exception being, as usual, the border where it is required to cross it by foot and stand in a long queue at both the emigration and immigration office, even in the middle of the night.
Left Kampala at 8pm and arrived at 8am on a rather comfortable bus helped dealing with the new busy and chaotic city. Nairobi has the look of a very East African city, with areas being extremely different from each other: from muddy slums to extremely modern malls.

Village Market in Nairobi

Murchison Falls – Lunch break on the Nile

And as you can understand from the pattern I use in the titles, the game drive ended without us being able to see any lion.
Our guides also went to get a ranger for tracking the felines, but luck wasn’t on our side this time. Once we got to the place where they were supposed to be staying, we just found lonely bushes and grass, without any sort of cat.

After an hour, we just gave up as it was time to catch the ferry which would bring us to the other side of the river Nile for lunch.

Murchison Falls – Game Drive – Elephants

Today I will publish 2 posts as tomorrow I will leave for my Rwanda-Burundi trip and I will not be able to publish anything for few days.

I can say we have been both lucky and unlucky; lucky because we managed to see some elephants, unlucky because they were quite far from us. I know it is not much of a big deal, but other tourists had the chance to see them really close to them.

Due to them being far, I couldn’t grasp much of their behaviour; but I am pretty sure I will see them again some time soon!

 

/Nesh

Murchison Falls – Game Drive – Giraffes

I must say I was quite surprised when I first saw a giraffe in real life. Of course, I knew they were very tall, I read it gazillion of times and saw loads of pictures, but being just few meters away made a huge difference. Even the smallest one, a baby giraffe, was tall compared to us (or our van).

We saw them in 2 occasions and got to take pictures both from afar and very close-by. Although they tended to not get too close to us, they seemed to be very interested in us; especially the baby giraffe, which literally stood on the road in front of us, just facing us.

Murchison Falls – Game Drive – Beginning of the safari and Water Buffalos

After a well-deserved rest at the lodge, our group woke up at 6am for the game drive. Our group was split in 2 safari vans (with a very large sunroof) and we moved around the park.

The drive, more or less 3 hours long, had very exciting moments, such as seeing giraffes and buffalos from very close, and other much more quiet ones, where we would just drive on the dusty road in search of some new animal.

We got extremely close to a herd of buffalos, they didn’t seem to much bothered by us taking pictures or the vans themselves. They mainly stood there looking at us with our cameras.

/Nesh

Murchison Falls – Karuma Falls and close encounter with baboons

After the Rhino Sanctuary, we headed for a short stop at the Karuma Falls.
From this point on, we will be more or less following the river Nile to get to the Murchison Falls.

On the way to the falls, just after the bridge which brought on the other side of the Nile, we met a congress of baboons just next to the road. They were not scared at all, we were literally 1 mt away from them; and, among the group, there were also a mother with 2 young baboons.

It was just amazing, I was so close to them and, thanks to the zoom of my lens, I could get even closer. We had just few minutes before the group moved on and so did we.

The waterfall was very large and loud. They are planning to buy an electric dam just on it, so we might be among the last people to see the falls in its natural beauty, before being spoiled by man-made constructions.

Murchison Falls Safari – Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary

Here we go!

Last week has been quite of a pain in terms of connectivity. I had little connection and I could not post/upload anything; so I need to catch up!

Two weekends ago, some friends and I went to a tour at Murchison Falls; it was a 3-day tour departing from Kampala, passing by the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary and then heading to the Murchison Falls national park for a game drive and, on the last day, for chimpanzee tracking.

I probably don’t even need to tell that this was by far the most amazing trip I have ever done! It was incredibly well-planned and our group was great (our whole group was composed by several groups merging together); we had so much fun together!

Our trip started in Kampala at 8am and our first stop was the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary, on the way to Murchison Falls. It is the only place where it is possible to see white rhinos in Uganda.

It is a very quiet and well-kept place. It is even possible to ‘adopt’ a rhino and name it as you wish (for a donation); so there were rhinos with quite interesting and funny names (one was named Obama, as its mom was Kenyan and the father from US).

Ssese Islands – Stargazing and Milky Way

Hello,

as mentioned in yesterday’s post, today I will be posting some pictures of the night sky and Milky Way in Uganda.
I am in a rush today, so I will be posting just the pictures.

Enjoy!

Entebbe – Bugala island, Ssese Islands

Hello folks,

last weekend, together with some friends, I went to Ssese Islands, near Entebbe, and stayed there overnight; specifically on the Bugala island, which is the largest island of the archipelago.

It took quite some time to get there: Entebbe is some 3 hours away from Kampala and the ferry from Nakiwogo to Bugala takes other 3 hours.
Although long, the trip was totally worth it.

Source of the river Nile in Jinja, Uganda

Hello there,

I quickly start off saying that I am currently having issues with the color settings of my monitor and some of the pictures I am going to upload might look slightly different than they are supposed to look. I am working on it.

Few weeks ago, after many failed attempts to go to Jinja with some friends, I decided to just go by myself and get over with it.

Jinja is where the river Nile starts its way up all the way to Egypt, the source is the point where the river leaves the Lake Victoria; it is debated where the source actually is, you can read more here; being this place heavily advertised as such (there is even a sign!), I will just overlook the fact that this could not be the exactly be the source and enjoy it anyway.

Jinja is a quite nice touristic town, 2/3 hours away from Kampala. It has a different look from the capital, the building styles are still heavily influenced by the strong presence of Indian people before the expulsion of all Asians from Uganda in the 70s.

Slow beginning of the week

Hey there,
after a long and nice weekend at Bugala island (the biggest island of the Ssese islands, in the Lake Victoria, Uganda), today I feel very slow; so, I am going to publish a short post.

Sunset in Kampala.

Sign stating the ‘official’ source of the river Nile, the longest river in the world.

/Nesh

Lake Mburo National Park – Conclusion

At last, we are at the conclusion of this journey through this incredible park, considering its size.
We had the chance to see and appreciate very different species and got to finally see them in real life.

A venue of vultures on a tree.

This was my first safari and I truly loved it. My first but not my last.
In fact, in 2 weeks I am going to undertake another and much longer challenge: Murchison Falls National Park.

Skulls of several animals, including an hippo (the largest one).

Lake Mburo National Park – Antelopes

Today, the focus is on the antelopes of the park.
As you will notice from the images, these animals are very curious and, after getting to know us and understanding that we are not a threat to their community, sociable; in fact, we could get quite close to them without scare them away or disrupting their behaviour.

Lake Mburo National Park – Zebras

Hello,

the journey at the Lake Mburo national park continues with a very beautiful animal: the zebra.
This time, the post is going to be mainly visual, meaning that I won’t write much and let you get a feeling by yourself.

Lake Mburo National Park – Olive Baboons and Vervet Monkeys

Today’s post is focused on the primates in the Lake Mburo National Park, namely the the Olive Baboons and the Vervet Monkeys.
Right after getting at the HQ of the park, a troop (yeah, I googled that up) of baboons crossed a road nearby.
At first, we were all very excited, it was our first close encounter with the wildlife (we had only seen some zebras on the way to the HQ, while being on the boda-boda); little we knew that we would see more and more of them and even from a closer distance.

Young Vervet Monkey

Lake Mburo National Park – Introduction

Hello everyone,

as promised, today starts the series of posts regarding my visit at the Lake Mburo National Park, located in the western Uganda.
Although being the smallest national park in Uganda, this park still hosts many species of wildlife, including zebras, hippos and buffaloes.

The trip to the park has been quite long; in fact, it takes slightly more than 4 hours to get to the park HQ from Kampala. What made the trip more exhausting was waking up at 4am and then having to wait more than an hour for the matatu (the mini-bus which brought us near one of the gates of the park) to be full.

Quick update – Lake Mburo national park

Hey everyone,

I am writing just to inform you that I am going to post throughout this week pictures from my first trip to an Ugandan national park.

Sunset in Kampala

Last Sunday, with some friends, I went to the Lake Mburo national park (near Mbarara) to have a day trip.
It has been amazing and I feel we have been rather lucky as we visited it during the afternoon (the best time to see the fauna is either in the morning or in the evening, when the animals go back to the lake to get some water); but we’ve managed to see impalas, which, in Uganda, only lives in Lake Mburo, zebras, as well as baboons, buffalos and a hippo. Very exciting!

Andrea – our house cat

I don’t think I need to add anything more.
So, stay tuned!

Peace.

/Nesh

Image of the Day – Kampala – Nakawa Farmers Market, Nakawa

Hey there,

today I will talk a bit of Nakawa Farmers Market (or simply Nakawa Market), in Kampala.
The market is located in the Nakawa district and is a place where a lot of people sell their goods; from clothes to fresh vegetables and fruits.
Very busy and hectic, the market is the best place to find fresh products at a cheap price. Most of the times the price needs to be bargained, especially if you are a foreigner. It can happen that the price is even doubled from the original one and it takes determination, a bit of skill and some patience in order to get a fair price on the merchandise.

For now, I took only a panoramic picture of the market; but I assure you that the market itself is far more interesting.
I might head there tomorrow with a friend from work and take some more pictures. For the moment, I let your imagination work out how it might look like.

Have a great afternoon.

/Nesh

Image of the Day – Kampala – Kireka, Kinawataka

Hey pals, here is my first Image of the Day post from Kampala (Uganda). These are very simple images that can still show quite a bit of the area in which I’m currently living. The whole area is called Kinawataka (Ki is read ‘Chi’) and specifically in Kireka. My accommodation is located in the Kireka part, very close to the slums.

First post from Kampala!

Hey there!

Finally, I managed to get back to the Interwebz, so that I can update the blog a bit.

I find myself in Uganda, and specifically in Kampala. Amazing city, really.
Totally different from anything I experience in my life. I felt like in one of those ‘on the road’ documentaries, where they show the very active and busy streets, even at late night.

I haven’t had the chance to take any interesting picture, mainly because I feel I should get acquainted with the surroundings before pulling out my camera. Yeah, I admit it, I am still quite afraid to take any picture in public, especially in some areas, such as the market or the slums, although they are surely the places where to capture the most interesting shots.
I am trying to get to know as many people as possible around the place I currently live, so that I won’t seem too much of a stranger to them, in the long run.

I found already that I really love passion fruits!

First Impressions:

Kampala is a very active and busy town, which you realize only when you find yourself on a boda-boda trying to sneak around the several trucks and cars on the road (yeah, very dangerous!).
People here are commonly very friendly and polite, although some of them often try to overcharge foreign people.

Also the kids are very friendly and say hi/bye to the passing strangers, usually adding mzungu (word use for denoting a ‘white’ person).
So, don’t feel uncomfortable if some young child says ‘Bye mzungu’, because it will happen quite often, especially if walking by slums.
I usually take the time to say hi to the kids and introduce myself, as well as asking their name (and trying to remember it); in that way, I hope, they won’t remember me as one of the many mzungus who crossed their life.

I actually happened to meet a kid I met the day before and, this time, he greeted me by name (that really made my day!).

The movie:

We managed to shoot all the scenes we needed in 4 days and now the post-production phase began.
By the end of the month, I hope, we will get some footage that I can actually show!
I will try to start taking some pictures as soon as possible and do something similar to what I did in Croatia (Image of the day).

Take care for now.

/N.