Uganda - Rwanda Travelogue

In February of 2008 Hjalli and I travelled with Afríka - Ævintýraferðir (an Icelandic travel agent) to Uganda and Rwanda with the main focus of visiting mountain gorillas in the Virunga volcanos that straddle the border between Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The journey started out in Entebbe Uganda where we visited an animal sanctuary which cares for wild animals that have been injured or cannot in other ways fend for themselves and rehabilitates them. Whenever possible they are introduced back to the wild.

Plains Zebra

Shoebill

This is a shoebill, voted the #1 ugliest creature on Earth by the Animal Planet's Beastly Countdown. Even if you may have a pet ugliest creature, we can all agree that it isn't pretty. It's a also huge, on average around 1.2 meters high with wingspan around 2.3 meters.

Shoebill

Chimpanzees

A crater lake in south-west Uganda

Magga Dora in middle earth.

Uganda is a beautiful country. Even if we were there at the end of a dry season it is still very green. Crossing the equator the seasons are very similar. It has many lakes and hosts the source of the Nile which flows through the country and keeps it green. As you move south-west the landscape becomes hilly and tumbles along beautifully.

Fishing in the Kazinga channel

Hippos and buffalos in the Kazinga channel

Yellow-billed stork on the Kazinga channel

In west-Uganda there are two lakes, Edward and George from British Kings, being a part of the British Commonwealth. They separate Uganda from the Democratic Republic of Congo. There you can find the Queen Elisabeth II National Park.

The two lakes are joint by a canal and there we found this wonderful wildlife.

Birds we were expecting. Hippos, yes. Here elephants, buffalos, hippos and birds all come to drink and bathe and don't seem to mind each others' company.

Skimmers taking off

Hippo mum and baby.

Íslensk glíma stigin í Úganda?

Hippo

The hippo - even if it doesn't look it - is the most dangerous animal in the whole of Africa. No animal reportedly kills more humans per year. And yet it is a herbivore.

It lies in water all day to control the heat and leaves at night to graze. It is then they are aggressive. In the dark they are practically invisible and if a human inadvertently passes between the hippo and his water they attack.

Never underestimate a nasty temperament and a neurotic disposition.

And this is a serious pair of teeth!

Hippo in the late afternoon sun

Who's the boss?

Hippos asserting their status in the hierarchy.

Saddle-billed stork

Buffalo

Buffalo and comrade

Buffalo and great egret

See why they're called water buffalo?

Great egret

MD on the Kazinga channel

Fishing boat

Striking pose

Local fisherman

Beef with Roquefort sauce at Mweya Lodge

The pool at Mweya Lodge

In Queen Elisabeth Park there is a magical place called Mweya Lodge. Depicted above are my two favorite spots: The dining room and the swimming pool. These pictures are for all of you who thought travelling to Africa was about lowering your standards. And for us to remember because we're going back. Only the lure of gorillas managed to get MD out of the pool.

We took two morning safaris from Mweya. The sunrise is stunning in East Africa.

Sunrise over Queen Elizabeth park

Impala

The view from the breakfast buffet at Mweya

This and an omelet chef - can you ask for more?

Salt lake in a crater in Queen Elizabeth park

This is whole area is very volcanically active, hot springs, craters. Feels like home. Here on the left there is a soda lake which the locals are harvesting for salt. February is dry season in Uganda and so the water level is very low.

Jói and Sigrún in Kyambura

Kyambura Gorge

Walking back

Kyambura Gorge (right) hosts a number of primates. We dove in to see if the chimpanzees were in. Unfortunately they weren't. But we met a few of our more distant cousins, baboons and colobus monkeys.

Note also the forrest in the gorge (by the river) that disappears at the brim.

Our guide and his Kalashnikov

The other car

En route

Elephant sizing us up

Elephant family.

We met this heard of elephants twice, coming from the lake and going towards it. Only about 5 minutes drive from Mweya.

Big tusks have disappeared from Uganda due to over-hunting but these carried theirs with pride.

Elephant

Elephane

Elephant

Elephant's rear

Elephant

Elephants asserting their status in the hierarchy.

A secret whispered...

Over there: The democratic republic of Congo

The river separating Uganda and DRCongo

What we're so happily pointing at is the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Below you can see a picture of the river separating Congo and Uganda where until recently a tree made a makeshift bridge. For the natives a river like this is a real hurdle. Not only because of the hippos and crocodiles that swim in it but because of their inability to swim. This bridge was used for border crossing until (as you can see) it was cut down.

Congo is turbulant and we came across very recent refugee camps, that had been closed down only 2 months before.