South Uganda - Kabale

Saturday, September 14'th

After leaving Serengeti at 1PM through the northern passage at Ikoma we went

We would try to catch a ferry at Mwanza in Tanzania to Bukoba, just south of the Uganda border. At (almost) all cost we should avoid driving through the sector South-West of Lake Victoria. A lot of bandit gangs rage this area. They are mostly refugees from Rwanda, Burundi and Zaire (Democratic Republic of Congo) and several Overland companies have been robbed there in recent day (Fall of '96).

We had two options, either take the car-ferry and bring the Truck as well, or put the passengers and Freddy on a normal passenger-ferry and let Steve & Steve drive the truck through the hazardous territory. The chance for us getting the Truck along the ferry (Sister ship of the one that sank in '94) were very low. It is being booked several months in advance because they only can bring two trucks since the disaster.

After a beautiful drive along the shore of Lake Victoria we reached the small town of Mwanza and went straight for the port. The ferry was not to depart until 8PM and we arrived at 6PM. We were told

We decided to try our luck and bought tickets for the truck and all the people and moved us in front of the already waiting Coca Cola truck to be sure to catch the boat if the other Coca Cola truck should show up. The time went, still no sign of the other truck so we were directed to board the ferry. This chain of events saved us more than one day of driving since the ferry only sail at night in that direction.

During the night we experienced the night-flies of the Victoria. They hatch at full moon in the water and gather in huge (Gwazunga) flocks of up to 5 billion individuals. When seen in the daytime, it looks like the lake is on fire, the resemblance to smoke is obvious. Luckily the moon was only half so we only felt a fraction of the plague. We slept on top-deck of the ferry, the others in their sleeping bags, I just had my book to use as a pillow.

Ferry at Victoria

At 10AM next morning we reached Bukoba and went straight for the market. We had to buy some diesel before entering Uganda, where the prices are twice as high. Steve (#1) asked around if anybody had some Tanzanian money they would like to exchange, then he would use them for fuel and give us Ugandan money instead, when we would reach the town of Kabale.

I gave him all my money, enough to get diesel for Uganda, Rwanda and back into Uganda again. The rest of the money was

After loading 245 liters of Diesel we headed for the Tanzanian border to Uganda. We would try to save some more time by driving straight West instead of going North and South-West where the best roads were. At the border out uf Tanzania we had to wait a while, we had arrived in the middle of their lunchbreak, so we decided to have our lunch right on the borderline. Pleasent in the shade and practical with a toilet close by, last chance before the bumpy off-road ride.

At around 2PM we had our pasports stamped and drove out into No Man's Land between Tanzania and Uganda, a distance of 150 miles on a wheel track that once was.

Along the road we enjoyed the above view of the river and saw some relics of the war between Uganda and Zaire (Democratic Republic of Congo), back in the 70's. A bombed out tank was intact on the side of the road, now rather rusty but you could still see where the shell had entered.

At 4PM we discovered that our driving speed was to slow and we wouldn't make it into Uganda before the border closed. We now had two choices, either camp at the side of the road or drive to our designated destination, Lake Bunyonyi, and have our passports stamped the next day at the nearest policestation or borderpost and do some explaining why we had entered illegal into Uganda. We decided to drive along and camp at the shores of Bunyonyi.

In the twilight we crossed the Uganda border and sure enough, no one was there. This is understandable since the

It was close to midnight before we arrived at the front gate of Camp Lake Bunyonyi. The guard opened the door and two other Overland Trucks were already there, preparing dinner. Freddy was setting up our kitchen while the rest of us was making camp, a couple of feet from the water. When you go to Bunyonyi you will no doubt notice the gigantic croaking of the frogs. It is so loud, that it make a self-perpetuating echo across the lake that it is almost impossible to fall a sleep and I am long overdue for some serious sack-time.

Monday, September 16'th

This is the view of lake Bunyonyi in the morning. The building at the other side of the lake is an old hotel, ruined by Idi Amin soldiers in the 70's. We later met Raj Shah at his "Overland Stop" and he mentioned that he had plans of buying that old hotel and surrounding area and make a "Overland Stop" here at southern Uganda.

We had a fast breakfast because we had to go to the Uganda/Rwanda border as quickly as possible to get our passports stamped. The Rwanda border is just an hour drive away and on the way back we spent the morning in Kabale, a rather large town with many shops, one of them being the famous "Hot Loaf" bakery that make Danish

On the way back to Bunyonyi came the midday rain. We were going up hill when the road turned into soap. The faster the wheels were spinning the quicker the truck were sliding back down hill. In situations like this you have push the truck and dig the tarmac in front of the wheels to get to a flat point and wait until the road dry out. In the process one of our shovels broke but we made it.

The rest of the day we relaxed upon the long drive the day before. It was spent at the shores of the lake reading, walking and playing cards. Our visit to the Mountain Borillas had been booked several months in advance on the 18'th so we had to stay and wait. Not so bad, after all this was a holiday. But be careful where you decide to swim, the Bilharzio parasite is getting more and more common. It develop into tiny worms using snails as hosts and enter your body through the skin. The first symptom is blood in the urine and untreated the disease can get severe. But if you use the water to get a shower it should be okay, just be quick and dry yourself up with a towel so the worm does not have time to get to you.

Another tip is when you get struck by the unavoidable Delhi-belly. I ajusted to the african food within two days and that was before leaving Nairobi, but having to be on the look-out for facilities during a safari, your focus are not with the animals. The tip is to get it all done in the morning, when you awake, after breakfast and again before departure and don't eat too much during the trip - in order for you to go without disaster until sunset. We were careful with the preparation, the vegetables were rinsed with some cleanseng chemical, the drinking water on the truck disinfected with Micropur^® or similar, and most important - a high level of sanitary. Nevertheless some got the runs and used our break at Bunyonyi to rest and get their energy back.