Day 225
Sleeping location: Kalinzu Forest Reserve (camping), Uganda
Distance (km today/total): 64 / 14292
Estimated climb (m today/total): 900 / 110900
Elephants/hippos: endless
Distance (km today/total): 64 / 14292
Estimated climb (m today/total): 900 / 110900
Elephants/hippos: endless
Day in three words: Medley of Wonders*
*Actual slogan of QENP
In the morning someone showed up at the visitor centre and we paid our pittance for camping and left. Our packing up was so smooth that we were away well before 9am even though I got briefly locked in the toilet. On the way out we went back to the hippo spot from the night before, where they were now all lounging in a big pile in the water. We watched them for a bit and greatly enjoyed their various funny noises, then headed back along the dirt road back to the tarmac. Along the way we saw more buffalo, kobs, antelope, mongoose, warthogs and distant elephants, plus we made up some jokes about Arnold Schwarzenegger* and riffed at great length about whether or not the termite mounds were warthogs, warthogs in termite mound costumes, elephants in warthog costumes, or elephants who had meant to be in warthog costumes but got the online order wrong and had termite mound costumes instead. Spirits were high.
Queen Elizabeth NP has two major lakes and a narrow channel between them, and we were planning to take a boat trip. When we arrived we were set upon by multiple people offering this, and because of this we managed to negotiate down to $15pp from the usual $25 - result. We were put straight on a boat with a knowledgable guy called Praise, and in less than two hours saw, mostly close up:
-Countless hippos lounging in big piles in the water
-All kinds of birds
-Warthogs including a pair with five tiny baby hogs scurrying after them
-Baboons, which at one point started chasing some warthogs around
-A dead but alarmingly large python
-A baby crocodile
-Vervet monkeys including some with bright blue balls
-And best of all, LOADS of elephants frolicking in and around the water. We were frequently less than 20m away and they didn’t seem to mind. There were lots of (relatively) tiny and very cute babies, and in one group two randy males trying (and often succeeding) to have it off with all the females in their vicinity.
It was a fantastic trip and certainly one of the best $15s we’ll ever spend.
We went for lunch at a cafe next door to the dock, which was enlivened by a French man called Dominique who had earlier passed us in a car and was interested. He was nice, but kept peppering his own speech with loads of little noises and random words like “yes” and “interesting”. This distraction was useful as our food didn’t arrive in 90 minutes, by which point we had to leave without it to avoid rushing over the rest of the day. This was not just dead time, but brutally murdered time. After leaving we cycled the last 10km through the park, seeing a few more elephants for good measure. We had been in QENP for about 24hrs, spent less than $25 each and seen so many amazing things. A definite highlight of the trip. A series of switchbacks up out of the park gave a great view back into it, and showed how it lies in a rift with mountains either side; this rift has created the lakes, which mean that there is always fresh water and the park can support a lot of animals.
Over the rest of the afternoon the cycling was surprisingly delightful. We moved up and down (mostly up) through a series of crater bowls, some with lakes and some without, culminating in a big climb up out of a huge bowl with amazing views back into it, all greenery and low-hanging clouds. At the top we popped out onto a lovely long gradual smooth descent with more amazing views on the other side, this time of a huge expanse of rolling forest shrouded in more cloud. By the end of the day we’d climbed more than 600m out of the hot dry park and it was quite cool and humid at the top. We’d earmarked a place to stay but I’d misunderstood the distance and went straight past it, luckily stopping straight afterwards because I saw the sign and thought it might be a good alternative to itself. It was a sort of home/visitor centre (again) right up against the forest, a nice peaceful spot when lorries weren’t going past on the road. When I arrived lots of B&W colobus were scampering around in the trees. I set up the tent right under the trees and when Rebecca arrived, damp and cold from the climb then descent, made peanut butter noodles to warm us up**. We snuggled up in the tent and played Pokemon for a bit, then got an early night.
*Rebecca: Arnold was asked whether or not he wanted to update his PC to Windows 10, but replied “I still love Vista baby”.
Me: Arnold, Bruce Willis and Sly Stallone were all discussing their roles in an upcoming film about classical composers. Bruce said “Ok, I’ll take Mozart, Sly you can be Beethoven, and Arnold you can be Brahms.” Arnold replied “No - I’ll be Bach”
Both of these jokes require accents.
**Plus I insisted she take a slug of whisky from her hip flask
*Actual slogan of QENP
In the morning someone showed up at the visitor centre and we paid our pittance for camping and left. Our packing up was so smooth that we were away well before 9am even though I got briefly locked in the toilet. On the way out we went back to the hippo spot from the night before, where they were now all lounging in a big pile in the water. We watched them for a bit and greatly enjoyed their various funny noises, then headed back along the dirt road back to the tarmac. Along the way we saw more buffalo, kobs, antelope, mongoose, warthogs and distant elephants, plus we made up some jokes about Arnold Schwarzenegger* and riffed at great length about whether or not the termite mounds were warthogs, warthogs in termite mound costumes, elephants in warthog costumes, or elephants who had meant to be in warthog costumes but got the online order wrong and had termite mound costumes instead. Spirits were high.
Queen Elizabeth NP has two major lakes and a narrow channel between them, and we were planning to take a boat trip. When we arrived we were set upon by multiple people offering this, and because of this we managed to negotiate down to $15pp from the usual $25 - result. We were put straight on a boat with a knowledgable guy called Praise, and in less than two hours saw, mostly close up:
-Countless hippos lounging in big piles in the water
-All kinds of birds
-Warthogs including a pair with five tiny baby hogs scurrying after them
-Baboons, which at one point started chasing some warthogs around
-A dead but alarmingly large python
-A baby crocodile
-Vervet monkeys including some with bright blue balls
-And best of all, LOADS of elephants frolicking in and around the water. We were frequently less than 20m away and they didn’t seem to mind. There were lots of (relatively) tiny and very cute babies, and in one group two randy males trying (and often succeeding) to have it off with all the females in their vicinity.
It was a fantastic trip and certainly one of the best $15s we’ll ever spend.
We went for lunch at a cafe next door to the dock, which was enlivened by a French man called Dominique who had earlier passed us in a car and was interested. He was nice, but kept peppering his own speech with loads of little noises and random words like “yes” and “interesting”. This distraction was useful as our food didn’t arrive in 90 minutes, by which point we had to leave without it to avoid rushing over the rest of the day. This was not just dead time, but brutally murdered time. After leaving we cycled the last 10km through the park, seeing a few more elephants for good measure. We had been in QENP for about 24hrs, spent less than $25 each and seen so many amazing things. A definite highlight of the trip. A series of switchbacks up out of the park gave a great view back into it, and showed how it lies in a rift with mountains either side; this rift has created the lakes, which mean that there is always fresh water and the park can support a lot of animals.
Over the rest of the afternoon the cycling was surprisingly delightful. We moved up and down (mostly up) through a series of crater bowls, some with lakes and some without, culminating in a big climb up out of a huge bowl with amazing views back into it, all greenery and low-hanging clouds. At the top we popped out onto a lovely long gradual smooth descent with more amazing views on the other side, this time of a huge expanse of rolling forest shrouded in more cloud. By the end of the day we’d climbed more than 600m out of the hot dry park and it was quite cool and humid at the top. We’d earmarked a place to stay but I’d misunderstood the distance and went straight past it, luckily stopping straight afterwards because I saw the sign and thought it might be a good alternative to itself. It was a sort of home/visitor centre (again) right up against the forest, a nice peaceful spot when lorries weren’t going past on the road. When I arrived lots of B&W colobus were scampering around in the trees. I set up the tent right under the trees and when Rebecca arrived, damp and cold from the climb then descent, made peanut butter noodles to warm us up**. We snuggled up in the tent and played Pokemon for a bit, then got an early night.
*Rebecca: Arnold was asked whether or not he wanted to update his PC to Windows 10, but replied “I still love Vista baby”.
Me: Arnold, Bruce Willis and Sly Stallone were all discussing their roles in an upcoming film about classical composers. Bruce said “Ok, I’ll take Mozart, Sly you can be Beethoven, and Arnold you can be Brahms.” Arnold replied “No - I’ll be Bach”
Both of these jokes require accents.
**Plus I insisted she take a slug of whisky from her hip flask
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