North Uganda - Sipi Falls

Saturday, September 21'th

We start out from lake Bunyoni at a modest time. Before getting on to the main road to Kampala we pay a visit to our bakery in Kabale, the 'Hot Loaf' to get Pizza's and stuff for lunch. It will be a long drive, so if we can save an hour at lunch by eating on the truck, the money is well spent.

The road going north is tarmac and occasional some asphalt. We are driving out of the rainforrest towards a more open countryside. The heat slowly build up and when we arrive at the equator at 2PM we are all overdressed but first things first. It is a Kodak moment and we plan to stop for only 10 minutes. That is the reason for the long trousers and shirt on the picture below:

At half past three in the afternoon we arrive at Kampala, a big difference to the cities we have seen the last week, a true Metropolitan.

Around six PM we arrived at the campsite, "Backpackers" south-west of the center. Ann from New-Zeeland was turning thirty the day we had planned to be at the SiPi fall so we took the opportunity to celebrate her birthday here in the civilized surroundings. We booked reservations at a the "Chinese Palads" a restaurant in the center next to one of the Casinos where we planned to go later. We had ten different dishes and shared them between us. The price is reasonable 1000 Uganda Shilling each and the food was plenty.

Afterwards we went to the Casino but it was nothing special and to our surprise there was a enormous minimum that you have to change into Jetons in order to get in. It was about 10.000 Uganda Shilling so we quickly left the scene. What to do now ? A foreign city, where do you go to have a good time, to celebrate a thirty-year birthday ?

Steve, the co-driver, had the answer. The discotheque "Ange Noir" is the place to go. Only a hand full of non-Ugandan habitant was present but what an atmosphere. I think we suddenly became part of the Kampala jet-set, only for a night but great fun. If you ever get to Kampala, go to the "Ange Noir" Nightclub, located on plot 77A 1'st street in the Industrial area. An ideal place with

During the night this girl (20-something I think) has decided that Yours truly is the catch of the night and she really go for it, right on the dancefloor. She resemble Lauryn Hill from the Fugees, quite good looking, on the night out with her girlfriends,

Before it came to far (It was not a homerun but way past second base. 40% of the population is HIV infected) we head back to Backpackers and call it a day. Ann manage to make a call home to New Zealand and talk to her family on her birthday, a 50$US conversation, the rest of us fast asleep.

Sunday, September 22'th

The next morning we all woke rather late but we were in no hurry, the best time of the day to reach Mt.Elgon is in the afternoon and only if midday rain is mild. Otherwise it is impossible to climb the foothills with the truck. The road will then be way too slippery.

The trip there goes rather smooth. On the way out of Kampala I spot several billboards for Danida-projects (Danish VSO-projects in developing countries). It is nice to see that Denmark is represented here. We stop for lunch before going up the foothills, there hasn't been any rain this day so it is possible drive up there.

It take about two hours to get to the top of the SiPi falls. The camp there is only visited by one Overland group every other week so they were rather pleased to see us. The children came running from the nearby school to meet us and to have a look at the people that drove all the way, just to see their waterfall. Rocks at the edge of the ravine are good to sit on and perfect if you want to enjoy the fall. You are bound to drop to pieces while your eyes and thoughts wander. A good spot for spiritual cleansing. The picture below is the view from the Campsite, astonishing.

We started out erecting our tents close to the slope and with the best view of the waterfall but then came the Campsite-guide, Shaka Patric, and warned us about the heavey rainfalls. It was a bad spot we had chosen, the water would take us right out over the cliff and into the ravine. We moved the tents in between some bushes that he pointed out as being safe.

After building the camp came the rain, almost on time at 6PM. In a hurry we erected the kitchen tent but the rain came as a flood through the tent (it has no floor) so anyway we got wet.

Then came the lightning, it quickly passed over us but we could see it the rest of the evening over the valley beneath the foothills. an other spectacular sight. We were all mesmerized by the sight and

Monday, September 23'th

The next day we had two trips to choose from. The difficult climb down to the valley at the bottom of the fall and up the other slope to some caves and then back by the road over the fall and up the mountain to get a shover under a small waterfall. Or you could go by the road all the way to the shover-fall and see an other cave on the way. I was a bit tired so I chose the easy walk.

Below is a picture from inside one of caves. Here on Mt.Elgon one of the three Ebola strains has been discovered. This variant is only dangerous for monkeys, so don't be nervous. There were many bats in there and a nice cool temperature.

After returning from the walk I talked to Shaka Patric. He was my age but he was providing for most of his family, his father had been ill for a while, nothing really serious though. He wished that more Overland Teams would make they way past the falls, then perhaps he could earn a little more as a guide in the area.

This was Ann's birthday and guess what. As a desert that night, Freddy had baked a chocolate cake (huge) over the camp-fire. He had used the casserole and put it in the middle of the fire. It was delicious and it lasted several days.

That night the rain fell heavy, not good for our descend the next day.

Tuesday, September 24'th

This day we were to go as far as we could towards Lake Turkana and we started early. On the way down the drivers were worried about the condition of the road and that the truck could fall over the cliff. They decided that we should walk down the mountain and they would catch up with us after their dangerous descend. They had to drive on the corkscrew road while we could walk straight down. At the bottom we only had to wait 15 minutes before they arrived but just as we had driven a mile or so, this happened.

Two cars had doubleparked on the wrong side of the road and we were afraid we would loose our momentum up hill so we tried to drive past them with the right wheels in the ditch, big mistake. The truck tipped slightly and was not supported on the left wheels and we were stuck. The locals helped by pushing while all the school-children got a good laugh, the truck did not move. Out with the sand-dunes again and after some more pushing and pulling we were free again, this was not as severe as Serengeti. At 2PM we reached the Kenyan border without further problems.

Back in Kenya again I did not have to pay for a Visa. I must have saved 200$US by being a Dane. We head straight for the Bank in Kitale to get some money and we just made it before they close. On our way north we are going to stop for the night Sirikwa Safaris, about 20 miles north of Kitale.

It is much easier to cook dinner today on the fireplaces spread around the camp. I use the hot-water opportunity to get my second shave on this trip. It is nice and cool that night and we better enjoy it, the next days will be hot. We make some fun with the permanent groups and their beer-score, checking all those with funny names for an extra beer. This will also solve the always present problem with more beer consumed than checked off on the beer-score. We don't touch their supply.