Nathan's Insights

Africa Trip 2017-18: Day 13 Lake Bunyoni to Kampala, Uganda

December 5, 2017

Monday 04 December 2017. Photos
Highlights: Water Volley Ball, Equator Water Test

Today was a long travel day from Lake Bunyoni to Kampala which is 470 km and 11.5 hours drive away. We left our campsite 6.30 am which meant I was saying goodbye to me upgraded cabin which was very nice way to spend the last four nights.

We do a seat rotation on the truck and today that meant I was up at the front with a table. This gave me a very different view of the roads and how people drive, let’s say it’s probably best not to know how our skilful driver has to be to not hit the traffic in the towns and cities. It can be very tiring on the truck during this long drives.

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Africa Travel Co, Kampala, Lake Bunyoni, On The Go Tours, Uganda

Africa Trip 2017-18: Day 12 Lake Bunyoni, Uganda and Kigali, Rwanda

December 5, 2017

Sunday 04 December 2017. Photos
Highlights: The Kigali Genocide Memorial, Hotel Rwanda, Belgian Solider Memorial

Today was the unexpected journey to another new country in Rwanda. This wasn’t an option I was aware of but one I’m glad I was able to undertake as I got a chance to visit are previously war torn country that in very recent history, 1994 in fact, experience a genocide. We must all attempt to learn something from the dark points of our shared history and try to honour the victims.

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Kigali, Lake Bunyoni, On The Go Tours, Rwanda, Uganda

Africa Trip 2017-18: Day 11 Lake Bunyoni and Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, Uganda

December 4, 2017

Saturday 02 December 2017. Photos. Video.
Highlights: The Amazing Mountain Gorillas (The Bwera family)!!!!

Today was the big day, the day to hike and attempt to find the endangered mountain gorillas who now number around 750-800 and who are slowly increasing in number. This was an amazing day of seeing these beautiful, peaceful creatures, who are very closely related to humans. They are such stunning creatures, and I feel so privileged to see these gorillas.

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Africa Travel Co, Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, Gorillas, Lake Bunyoni, On The Go Tours, Uganda

Africa Trip 2017-18: Day 10 Lake Bunyoni, Uganda

December 3, 2017

Friday 01 December 2017. Photos.
Highlights: Little Angels School, Views of Lake Bunyoni

Today those not going to the mountain gorillas today decided to visit the Little Angels Uganda who look after orphans and run a local school. This meant a very easy morning with no tents to pull down and breakfast at 9.00 am, how easy to we have this?

A volunteer from the Little Angels group met us at our truck on the campsite at 9.30 am and off we went by foot to explore the island a little. This small hike, all uphills for the first 30 minutes is good preparation for tomorrow’s gorilla hike. The effort was worth it as we got awesome views of the Lake area. (more…)

Lake Bunyoni, Uganda

Africa Trip 2017-18: Day 9 Kampala to Lake Bunyoni, Uganda

December 1, 2017

Thursday 30 November 2017. Photos.
Highlights: The Equator – two Hemispheres at once!

Today was the last of the three back to back long drive days. Our tour leader let as sleep in a little so we left Kampala campsite at 7 am for the 470 km and 10 hours drive though the beautiful Uganda countryside. Agriculture is obviously the major industry in Uganda, any crop that needs lots of water is farmed here.

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Equator, Kampala, Lake Bunyoni, On The Go Tours, Uganda

Africa Trip 2017-18: Day 8 Eldoret to Kampala, Uganda

December 1, 2017

Wednesday 29 November 2017. Photos.
Highlights: Border crossing to Uganda

Today we travelled from Eldoret (Kenya) to Kampala (Uganda) a distance of around 370 kms but a trip took over 12 hours :(. We left our campsite at Eldoret at 6 am on the dot, meaning breakfast was at 5.15 am and packing up commenced at 4.45 am.

I still finding the greenery of the landscape in this area to be amazing. Lush green everywhere. As we moved from Kenya to Uganda the agriculture started changing from tea and bananas to sugar crane, bananas, rice and carrots with Uganda being 70% covered in water and being in a rainy climate they farm for products needing lots of regular water if not submerged.

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Africa Travel Co, Eldoret, Kampala, Kenya, On The Go Tours, Uganda

Africa Trip 2017-18: Day 7 Masai Mara to Eldoret, Kenya

November 30, 2017

Tuesday 29 November 2017. Photos
Highlights: The Green Mountain Ranges of Kenya

Today was the first of three long travel days with us ending eventually ending up at Lake Bunyoni (Uganda) for the likely highlight of the tour the Gorillas. Today’s road trip between Masai Mara and Eldoret took just over 11 hours with a 6.30 am departure, meaning breakfast at 5.45 am and packing tents starting at 5.15 am. Early day’s are the norm of this trip.

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Eldoret, Kenya, Masai Mara, On The Go Tours

Africa Trip 2017-18: Day 6 Masai Mara, Kenya

November 29, 2017

Monday 27 November 2017. Photos.
Highlights: Ballon Safari, Amazing Africa Wildlife

Today was the first safari for this trip and in fact it was two safaris across a very long day. It was to be a day of an overwhelming range of wildlife; lions, the elusive leopard, elephants, buffalo, monkeys, ostriches, warthogs, cheetah, hippos, hyenas, crocodiles, wildebeest, gazelles, buffalo, elands, zebras oh my!

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Kenya, Masai Mara, On The Go Tours

Africa Trip 2017-18: Day 5 Nairobi to Masai Mara, Kenya

November 28, 2017

Sunday 26 November 2017. Photos.
Highlights: Masai Mara Village Visit

Today was the first full day of the Great African Expedition tour with On the Go Tours run in conjunction with the Africa Travel Company. In reality this is several trips tied together so my travel companions will change regularly. There are only two people I know for sure who are going to Cape Town, Rosa and Anthony from England.

There are fourteen tour members: James, Ang, Stephanie, Helen, Judith, Belinda, Margaret, Rosa, Arron, Logan, Emilie, Owen, Nick and me. We come from Australia, UK, New Zealand, Canada, Germany and Mexico. Our tour leader is Kapalua, our cook is Duncan and driver is Alois.

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Kenya, Masai Mara, Nairobi, On The Go Tours

Africa Trip 2017-18: Day 4 Nairobi, Kenya

November 26, 2017

Saturday 25 November 2017. Photos
Highlights: David Sheldrick Elephant Refuge, Giraffe Centre

Today was a chance to explore the local area by undertaking a day tour of the nearby attractions of Nairobi. This tour was organised by the Wildebeest Eco Camp so there were three of us involved, one lady from Germany and another from Canada.

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Elephants, Giraffes, Kenya, Nairobi