Round the World - Do you have beer we are coming to visit?

[cloudgazer]

I am enjoying this report a lot!

jeez, whats not to enjoy.
a dream trip this is.

 

[Probie]

Gooi Mielies!! Kan nie wag vir die res nie! Excellent RR :thumleft:

 

[michnus]

halfway! And travelling just above the speed of sound

Although we were allowed in the parks with our bikes, we found it too expensive to overdo.  At $120 per visit for the two of us on bikes it can become a bit hectic, especially if this excludes all other expenses in the park like ferries, camping and guided tours.  Again – we fail to see where all this money is going!  Campsites and lodges are mostly run privately, roads are not maintained and facilities run down.  We did however found quite a few roads that borders or crosses the parks.  This made for some interesting riding.

Gorilla trekking is for the rich American and European travellers.  $500 per person to trek is not cheap and then you still need to pay for park fees and very expensive accommodation.  Visitor stats show that most of the trekkers are from the USA and UK. In 2009 11000 people did the Gorilla walk, you can do the maths on that excluding all the other money they earn.  We hoped to get the gorilla experience the ‘cheaper’ way and ended up staying at the Bwindi Forest, Buhomo Community Lodge for three days in the hope that the gorillas would visit the border of the park.  No luck, but we stayed in a ‘tent’ lodge with an amazing forest view, visited with the locals over Nile beer and learned more about how the community supported themselves and the school.

On our way to Bwindi the road we wanted to take on T4A showed on the GPS bad roads do not drive. In the end it was one of the best decisions we took to go that route. They are really scenic and traverse through the most beautiful hills and forest and small villages we have ever seen. Most of the dirt roads and in bad shape but do-able at slow speed, in fact it is possible to circumnavigate Uganda and never see a tar road.

Mountain and more mountains near the Congo border. The thousand year old volcanoes offer stunning views

Before descending into antoher river crossing, the roads were really bad. It's muddy red soil when dry allows good traction on the switch backs and steep descent

Roads to Bwindi snake through some stunning forest roads, it was some of the best days riding in a long time.

I am all for a beautiful landscape but fuck USAid if they want the place to look like the Queen of England's front yard. It's typically what happens all over Africa. USAid spend their money on their NGO's and their suppliers to give the impression they are the savours of Africa

Small villages every where along the road. All of them plant tea or some crops for themselves.

The road going up to the Gorrilla gate at Bwindi forrest

Had a great time with some locals at the a bar while waiting for the damn gorillas.

Tented camp at Bwindi forest. The gorillas did not want to grace us with their presence. Why tent when you can have a nice view and tent like this with dinner and breakfast included for backbackers rate?

Local artist did the painting for me on the nose

Tourist stuff is their sole means of income. They still earn enough to make a living.

You are allowed to walk around some of the park areas, if the gorrilas are there at the time lucky for you. We did not see any the we were there, but walking around the forest is really special. The bird life and flora is just spectacular.

Neil and Silvi, "our freezer" doing the philanthropic thing and donating binoculars to all the guides.

All in hind sight, maybe we must have docked up the money and go walk with the rangers to see the Gorillas. It is not like you get there every day and seeing a near 1.5ton Silverback mere meters away must be unequalled experience.​

 

[michnus]

Impossible to try and capture the beauty of Uganda and the views. Taking some time enjoying the surroundings, possible to see the Congo border.

Stunning roads leading through South part of Uganda, helmet just sticking out.


The riding from Bwindi forest to Lake Bungonia was one of the most relaxing enjoyable experiences I ever had on a bike. It feels like we are entering a Jurassic park world with the super size trees and ferns.

Lake Bunyonyi is a stunning lake nestled between the mountains and hills surround it. It is as close to a hobbit fairly land you can come. The bigger size opens in a new tab

Overlanders campsite next to the lake.

Our campsite for a few days

Intensive subsistence farming around the lake has changed the land scape into this

No it's not. They sure prune trees a different way in Uganda  :biggrin:​

 

[2StrokeDan]

beauty before your eyes you can clearly see. It is an amazing landscape, and to ride those roads on a motorcycle can only be very special.
I would simply photoshop a Gorilla into one of your photos. Important to get the scale right though :imaposer:

 

[Madala]

Great trip Michnus! Julle is inspirerend :thumleft: Lekker om julle trip te volg. Dankie

 

[michnus]

Time to leave lake Benoni, sorry, lake Bunyonyi. We wanted to get to Sssese Islands in lake Victoria for some island living. It's rural riding all the way. As usual we got away late and had to find a place to sleep near Mburo game park. And with standard practice the privately run lodges are situated inside the national parks. We ended up at the gate of Mburo just to be told to pay again for entry. Well, no, how about we just camp here at your gate?! Not at all came the answer. After a bit of debating and persuasion from us the second gate keeper allowed us to set up camp behind his house.

Wild camping next to a lake on our way to Lake Victoria

Most beautiful sunsets

Most of the roads are dusty, the rainy season started and the roads suddenly turn into mud monsters.

Life is on a slow cruise

Puncture repairs is often, the dirt roads used by all and Donkey-cards shed all kids nails and parts


Wild camping is fun! And in a place like Uganda it is even better. Many of the main roads run through games parks and it's easy to just park off the road for a night.

Uganda is the BEST country for riding bike and viewing game.

​

 

[michnus]

Show a kid a camera and you will have loads of fun, laughter and smiles

Waiting for our ferry to Sssese Islands we were entertained by the local bike taxi riders.

European fashion got nothing on them. This is how they roll

Lunch, eggs and some bloody tough hard oily koekies

But local honey at R5 a bottle makes everything good. Branded foods like KFC and McDonalds on such a trip are just plain wrong, luckily there's none.

​

 

[Carrots]

Eendag as ons groot is........goeie werk Michnus!  :thumleft:

 

[michnus]

The one engine on the ferry broke and they had to replace it. In German timing a new engine arrived and two hours later we were on our way. The ferry is for free and runs every two hours. And then we got the lake flies every where. They are indeed small and gets into your nose, eyes, mouth everywhere they can get a place to sit.

That entire yellow engine propeller system get replaced with in 2 hours

School bus? What do you mean school bus,this is a school bus, we can fit many more kids

The entire parking area for the ferry is hard packed soil, the goats obviously find small rocks softer​

 

[michnus]

Ninja!!
Lake Victoria also have the pesky little lake flies. They are really small and with high humidity, every breath scores you a mouthful and a choked up throat .

Packed in like Sardines.

Ssesse Island is a small island group just South of Kampala and comprises 80 odd islands. It’s was a natural forest years ago but now people cut down everything to plant olive palms for oil. As with most other forest in these countries these forests will be gone in 10 or 15 years from now. The lodges are not as hip as the Malawi lodges but they do offer dirt cheap accommodation and great food. We were alone in the lodge because of the elections. For some reason everybody and tourist expected the worst to happen.

Pulling the plug from Lake Victoria.
One morning we saw this man trying to pull out the plug from lake Victoria, we proceeded beating him senseless just to figure out later he was trying to pull in his catch. Well that’s that for trying to be a good tourist.

Clean beaches luke warm water and plenty of beers, life is good!

Lodge on Ssese island, cheaper to rent a room than camp. And get damn hot water to wash with. The yellow containers got delivered late afternoon and is piping hot it stays like that till late night when we use smaller buckets to showers with

The entire way around Uganda the towns offer the same services to the community. Welding works manufacturing doors and window frames, and not light weight stuff, heavy crime proof articles. Coffins, repair shops for Pikipiki’s and loads of small restaurants offering anything from fried chips to Matoke, bananas cooked like porridge. There’s a world of difference between SA people and Ugandans, they make things happen, buy pikipiki’s to taxi people and belongings, cultivate every piece of land they can get their hands on, and even on slopes where it is so steep a goat will break a sweat over the eyebrows. In Transkei for example people have livestock, goats and cattle and do not plant anymore, that leaves hectares of soil erosion and people that wait for money from the employed that send money home for food. Here, it works the other way round, not much cattle most people farm on small scale.​

 

[michnus]

How lucky can one get, watching rugby on an old tv and they have DSTV.

This thing, is proudly displayed in their bar. Obviously their taxidermist skills are not on the level what we have in SA

Robinson Crusoe type living next to the lake

Braai is now an international word the same as vooertsek!​

 

[funacide]

Damn, I am really enjoying reading this, one day when I am big I will do such a trip (need to make some real money first  :biggrin

Only one problem with your report, is too many pictures of your ugly mug  > > > >

 

[michnus]

This better?  :lol8:
You will notice these girls drink beer with straws.  :eek7:

 

[funacide]

You will notice these girls drink beer with straws.  :eek7:

I am sure you liked that  : :

 

[Dik Geluk]

Can't agree more on your statement about USAid. I don't think they know what excactly they are doing.

 

[Masai]

Hallo Michnus

Ok ... dalk het ek nou jou naam verkeerd gespel 

Geniet jou trip report  ... dankie. Ek en vriendin toer nogals gereeld. Sy haat sand ry en weier normaalweg as dit begin dik sand raak. Haar laaste val was in die kamp terrein by Nata Lodge  :imaposer: Eers by Kasane vir die eerste keer weer met my gepraat .... Die pad Fat Monkey toe .... is dit dik sand? Wil end van die jaar 'n Zim trip doen en dan by Monkey Bay draai.

Dankie

 

[michnus]

You will notice these girls drink beer with straws.  :eek7:

I am sure you liked that  : :

It is the darndest thing, in this small little town in Ethiopia, called Gondor, we had dinner in a more upmarket establishment and it also seemed to be the hangout place of the their hip youngsters.

There's only two options for beer in Ethiopia and none of the girly drinks we have on offer in SA. They obviously have seen the trend and drink straight from a bottle is not girl like so they use straws.

Really a nice bunch of people

 

[michnus]

Can't agree more on your statement about USAid. I don't think they know what excactly they are doing.

Look, I might be completely wrong with this, but that was the general perception we got as we traveled North and not just us also European travelers coming South had the same opinions about it.

I will post more on that when we I post about Ethiopia. 

 

[michnus]

Hallo Michnus

Ok ... dalk het ek nou jou naam verkeerd gespel 

Geniet jou trip report  ... dankie. Ek en vriendin toer nogals gereeld. Sy haat sand ry en weier normaalweg as dit begin dik sand raak. Haar laaste val was in die kamp terrein by Nata Lodge  :imaposer: Eers by Kasane vir die eerste keer weer met my gepraat .... Die pad Fat Monkey toe .... is dit dik sand? Wil end van die jaar 'n Zim trip doen en dan by Monkey Bay draai.

Dankie

Nee wat Fat Monkeys pad is goed harde grond en n moerse lekker ry, dink dit was so amper 50km vanaf die afdraai, mag dalk minder wees.
Malawi en Fat Monkeys is n moet doen en baie hoog op enige iemand se lys van naby lande.