Day eleven (continued)

We finally made it to the Ugandan border and drove another 5kms before stopping to camp in (yes, you guessed it) another gravel pit. for the night. We bleached out all the equipment as a few people had been getting sick. After dinner, we watched an amazing electrical storm in the distance.

Day twelve

We got up extra early this morning as people had come through the camp sniffing around at about 4am so we thought it would be better to be safe than sorry. For all we knew they could be coming back with friends to rob us so we weren't going to give them that opportunity. We continued on into Uganda in search of Lake Bunyoni. To pass the time on board, we had a marathon card session on the truck, only pausing to view the magical scenery and the vege and fruit markets. The locals are expert market gardeners with lovely terraced hillsides growing all manner of produce. The soil was of a rich red loamy texture and obviously great for growing things in.

Suzie was Queen of Last Card for a while, but had her throne usurped by Sarah just before lunch. After lunch we changed games to Euchre, and continued until we arrived at the lake. The lake is in a beautiful setting. There were canoes and a jetty for diving off and everyone made a beeline to the water for a swim. We were informed that this lake was not one carrying Bilharzia so we didn't have to worry about that.

Bilharzia, for those wishing to visit Africa and have never heard of the word, is a microscopic snail that lives in the shallow waters of many lakes in Africa. It can burrow into your skin and then make its way into your bloodstream. Over a long period of time (10 years) it proceeds to due serious damage to major organs of your body like the liver. If you are unsure whether or not you may have been exposed to Bilharzia, you can have a test taken at your local clinic (usually involving a faecal sample) and there is a course of tablets that you can take if you return a positive test.

We had a goodsized dinner and a couple of Primus beers to wash it all down. I wasn't feeling too hot during the night and had to make a couple of unscheduled visits to the longdrop. It is not a pleasant experience visiting a longdrop at the best of times and especially during the middle of the night armed only with loopaper and a torch. Morbid curiosity forced me to shine my torch down the longdrop and I was alarmed to see the bottom of the drop was one huge slithering, writhing mass of insects and goodness know what else. I made my visits as quick as possible and decided then and there that I much preferred making my own hole.

Day thirteen

I got up this morning feeling a lot better and enjoyed French toast and golden syrup for breakfast courtesy of Ted and Heather. After brekkie, I went out on the lake in a canoe (not a kayak)with Craig. We had a water fight with Pete and Danny and then came back. Ted and Heather are magicians in the kitchen and we had a yummy pumpkin soup for lunch.

After lunch Corey and me canoed out into the middle of the lake and headed for an island for a nosey. Being canoe rookies, it took us a while to get the damn thing to go in a straight line and we made hard work of getting anywhere. However, the weather packed it in and we had to make for the shore as we were taking on water.We found an abandoned thatch hut where we consumed two bottles of Primus as we waited for the weather to clear. On our return, we paddled a lot straighter. Maybe it was because we were under the influence of alcohol this time.That evening we had another good session. We were in a great location and everyone was really relaxed and enjoying themselves.

Day fourteen

Today we would have to canoe to the other side of the lake to meet up with the truck which was going to drive around on the crap roads to the meeting place. Maybe Rob had decided we had been sitting around all trip and needed some exercise. The canoe convoy took about three hours to get across and I had a really sore backside by the end of it. If I could have stood up without tipping the canoe over to stretch my buttock muscles, I would have.

The Whale showed up at our meeting place about 30 minutes after we got there. We proceeded onto Kisoro in sight of the Virunga Volcanoes. My first feeling when I laid eyes on the Virungas was one of foreboding. I don't know why. They are all dormant volcanoes but they still seemed to project this feeling of danger and menace.

That night we stayed in a "hotel" in Kisoro. There was no power, no running water etc. Africa Wins Again as Wilbur Smith so eloquently puts it. We had banana cake for dinner cooked on the fire as it was Sarah's birthday. Everyone was excited as tomorrow we would be going into the Congo to visit the gorillas.

Day fifteen

In the morning we headed up to the Congo border which was only a few miles away. Many of us paid the border guard $US50 to hold onto our passports to save on the costs of the visa which is considerably more. The next thing on the agenda was to hire some porters to carry our cooking equipment and tents up to the overnight campsite below the volcanoes where the gorillas all lived. Some of the porters were very persuasive in selling themselves to our group and many of us had personal porters to carry our packs up as well. They only charged $US2 so they were very reasonable. Click here for Congo

If you don't want to visit the gorillas, Uganda continues on the Uganda2 link following on from the Congo excursion.