27 July – 31 July

Tuesday 27th July – Sipi Falls – Jinja , Uganda

Woke to a beautiful clear day. Had a lovely breakfast of fresh fruit and Spanish omelet. After a fight over changed rates for accommodation, we set off for Jinja, and the Source of the Nile.

Rivers all flooded and loads of waterfalls coming off the mountains. Still couldn’t see Mount Elgon – mountains in cloud. The countryside is green and neat. Every piece of land cultivated with potatoes, rice, mealies, avos, oranges, bananas, sugar cane, sunflowers and tomatoes. Truckloads of green bananas, and tomatoes. Must have been beautiful at one stage as now and again, you see some huge trees.

Huge swamp areas around the Mpologoma River. Women often beautifully dressed with bright fabrics - often shiny or sequined – with puffy, pointed sleeves. Definitely no concern for animals – saw 1 minibus taxi with the roof covered completely with chickens all tied by their feet. 1 taxi was loading a goat between the backseat and door and several bikes with up to 4 goats tied to them.

Cell phone companies seem to own the towns – MTN, Zain, Orange, Uganda Telekom and Wahid. Bicycle taxis can carry up to 4 people! Motorbike taxis the same and no-one wears helmets. Didn’t realize Uganda had so much flat land – was flat almost from Sipi Falls mountains to Jinja.

Eventually got to Jinja and the start of the Nile – can’t believe how big it is. I guess it has to be to be able to get all the way to Egypt. Apparently it drops by 1000m but travels 7000km. Camps on the Nile were full of overlanders! (our favourite people). Went down to Bujagali Falls ( a Grade 5 rapid). They are pretty impressive.

Guys thought it would be a good place to camp but the ablutions were shocking and it was open to the public, so we went back towards Jinja. Found a camp, Eden Rock that was not right on the river, but was quiet, lawned and had decent loos and showers. Also had Internet – bonus! Unfortunately it was excruciatingly slow and couldn’t load the blog! I got to sort out a few emails in 1 hr!

Wed 28th July Jinja, Uganda

Catch up day – washing, drew money, bought a Ugandan sim card, lubricated and filled the car, then drove around Jinja for a bit. There are lots of dilapidated big houses overlooking the Nile. Had lunch at one of the bigger camps which had free Internet at the bar.

Caught up with work and got to download the photos of Ab’s ball. Thanks so much Caroline!! The girls looked stunning. Wanted to phone kids but was out of airtime.

Thurs 29thJuly, Jinja, Uganda

Sharon, Sarah, Margs and Keith did jetboating. I didn’t think it was a good idea for Erin to go so we stayed and took photos. Right decision as they really went very fast and got drenched. That would probably have put her off boats altogether.

I’d hoped to go back on the net and update the blog but there was no power – welcome to Africa. The others had great fun.

Had lunch then dashed back to camp before the heavens opened and drenched all our washing. Showed off my photos of Ab and downloaded Margs’ videos. Phoned Ab and Nic which was great – really good for the soul. I really am missing them sooooooo much.

Friday 30th July, Jinja – Murchison Falls, Uganda

Rained again during the night so we packed up wet, muddy tents again.



Travelled through some amazing forested areas and tea plantations as we headed west and then north for Murchison Falls where the entire Victoria Nile pushes its way through a narrow gorge.



Went through several towns with major building taking place. Uganda definitely seems to be developing, whereas the parts of Kenya we went through, seem to not have moved forward since 40 years ago.



We took the ring rd to bypass Kampala, labeled the North rd. Was very slow with trucks lining the road and traffic moving at 12km/hr. Hate to know what it is like going through Kampala. Lots of fancy houses being built around Kampala. Long horned cattle are quite amazing.

Further north there was again masses of fruit and veg being sold along the rdside. What a fertile country. People carry almost anything and everything on bicycles – from live animals (goats, pigs, chickens), to 6-8 bunches of bananas or water carriers, or another 3 people! Lady passengers often ride side saddle – I don’t know how they stay on!





35 degrees C today. Yay at last some decent weather! My joy was shortlived….. as we headed towards Msinidi the temp dropped down to 20 C and it was raining again. From Msindi we headed north on a wet and potholed rd. Oh dear, Keith’s beautifully cleaned car after Sipi would be dirty again – we hadn’t bothered. Rd improved once we got past the newly graded section.



Parks are expensive – cost 193800 Ugandan Shillings (about $85) per day – that’s before camping or any activities. Not much game en route to the camp but some beautiful forests. The camp we’d been recommended had only tented accommodation – couldn’t have our own tents, so we had to go across the rd to a dust bowl with a longdrop loo and cold shower. Getting used to this. We booked our Murchison Falls boat trip for the following morning and decided we would only stay 1 night. This was our most northerly destination (well the trip to the falls would be), then it was the start of the trip home!

Sat 31st July, Murchison Falls, Uganda

Packed up camp as we weren’t happy to spend another $30 pp park fees and $10 pp camp fees. – that was after a sneaky baboon stole Keith and Margie’s pineapple and the warthogs attacked the bin.



The boat trip was great. The kids could move around between the covered lower deck and the open top deck. It was great to have some sun and to just chill. I think the guys really enjoyed not having to drive. Beers on board at reasonable prices, made it even better.

The Victoria Nile really is huge. It flows from its source, Lake Victoria through Murchison Falls into Lake Albert and then from there heads north. We saw ellies, hippothomas (as the guide called them), Nile crocs although not as big as I think they can be, buffalo, Jackson hartebeest, bushbuck, waterbuck and warthog and lots of birds.

There is a huge amount of foam floating down the river. This is caused by the turbulence at the bottom of the falls. Holgate talks about taking their boat close to the falls and having huge waves of foam come over the boat. Unfortunately our boat didn’t go that close and the falls were quite far away but close enough to see the power of the water squeezing through this relatively small gap.

After the boat trip we drove to the top of the falls. That was really spectacular. They are awesome falls. Was glad we hadn’t walked up from the bottom as they then nail you for another $10 when you get to the top.

Lots of fairy stuff in the spray-drenched forests!

From there we hightailed it to the gate before we had to pay for another day. Just made it out in time. Had a look at a lodge just outside the park, but they wanted $140pp. They wouldn’t even let the girls swim in their pool while we had a few drinks – wanted us to pay $10 each. Needless to say we told them they could shove the drinks too. We went to Shoebill camp a bit further along which was up on a hill and had a view of the Nile. We made Erin a swimming pool in the tub and she was quite happy.

There was 1 tiny cold shower surrounded by corrugated iron to shoulder level – no roof. Actually it was quite nice as it had been hot, except that if someone flushed the loo or used the camp tap, the water stopped! The 1 loo next door was the same – fine while it was hot and dry.

Had a great supper around the camp fire and celebrated our turning point. We’d be heading South from the following day.

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Went to bed with a view of the stars but sometime during the night the thunder and lightning started and we had to close everything up. We were hit by a huge storm with wind, torrential rain and lightening.