Dennis and Paul will depart the UK on Sunday 27th September. The flight will take them to Entebbe airport in Uganda. The inital plan is to spend a couple of days in and around the capital, Kampala. This will allow a period of acclimatisation and time to sort out visas, maps and check to latest news about travel in Uganda.
Murchison Falls - River Nile
When satisfided with the arrangements the initial plan is to cycle to Jinga, 60 miles to the east of Kampala. Here the Rive Nile begins its journey as it exits Lake Victoria. Some of the best white-water rafting and kayaking in the world is to be found in the area and it is hoped to spend a period of time on the water.
If it is safe to venture north the next objective is to cycle to Murchison Falls National Park. Famous for its wildlife and the home of the world’s most powerful waterfall, as the River Nile is squeezed throurgh a gap of only 6m. Described as the most spectacular thing to happen to the Nile along its 6,700 length.
Mountain Gorilla
Other objectives whilst in Uganda are:-
- A visit to Lake Bunyoni. Described as “A magical place, its beguiling beauty defies description”.
- A trek through Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. This is the home of the rare mountain gorillas and with a stunning backdrop of active volcanoes it is likely to be an interesting place to spend some time.
This will mean that we will have nearly completed our time in Uganda having made an anti-clockwise circuit of the country and finished in the far south-west corner. It is expected that we will cross the border into Rwanda at either Cyangugu or Katuna.
Rwanda Mountains
Rwanda will be a difficult place to cycle because it is one of the most mountainous countries in Africa. It also has one of the highest population densities on the continent. The genocide of 1994 is how most people remember Rwanda, but the political situation has changed remarkably in the last 15 years and it is now considered to be one of the safest countries to visit. The outside world has not realised this fact and few people are prepared to visit making the tiny number of tourist who venture here very welcome. We hope to report good things about this country on our travels to further help the healing process.
Rwandan mountain gorillas
We will travel in a general North to South direction, the nature of the geography means that our track will meander somewhat to follow the natural contours of this mountainous country. The Northwest of Rwanda is where the Parc National des Volcans is situated. It is here that the rare mountain gorillas can be found. It is also where the border crossing with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) can be found. Gisenyi in Rwanda is one side of the frontier and Goma in the DRC is on the other side. The national park straddles the border and wildlife will migrate at will from one side to the other, although due to the long running turmoil in the DRC the animals are much safer on the Rwandan side.
Goma after Nyiragongo eruption 2002
As yet a decision to enter the DRC has not been made. It would be great to be one of the first people to venture into this facinating place, although not so great to be one of the first to be kidnapped, attacked or worse. The offical recommendations at present are not to enter the DRC, although there are several people who have made the trip and survived. Should we cross then it is expected to be a difficult experience. I would like to trek to the top of Nyiragonago Volcano. This is an active volcano which last erupted in 2002 swallowing half of the city of Goma in the process.
African wildlife
Once we reach to southern border of Rwanda our plan is to cross into Burudi. Another small country with a history of conflcit. Not many people have heard of this small country let alone visited it. A couple of adventure cyclists who recently went there reported that the local population were so unaccustomed to tourists that they were greeted with such warm affection they considered this to be one of the nicest places on their travels.
As with Rwanda, Burudi is a small and mountainous place. The capital Bujumbura lies at the northen end of Lake Tanganyika with the western border of Burudi being formed by this large freshwater lake. Again we have to travel from the north to the south. The options are to follow the road alongside the lake or venture inland to more remote parts of the country (and much more mountainous). In any event we will have to make a decision nearer the time. Another important choice to be made is whether to take the ferry down Lake Tanganyika or risk the long and potentially dangerous route through Western Tanzania.
It would be great to visit this remote and seldom visited part of Tanzania, but the road is reported as being in a poor state (it can take a 4×4 a day to cover 100kms) and the risk of dangerous encounters with hungry wildlife is ever present. There are few places to stay overnight and camping out in the open could be an open invitation to provide a snack for some toothy animal. Additionally, there is little water to to found in the area and water-holes are a natural draw for the wild animals. To witness at close hand the African wildlife is likely to be one of the highlights of the trip, but how close do you need to be? A cycle has little protection from lions and having watched a couple of videos of them hunting, I am not too confident that my limited supply of pepper-spray would offer much protection in the event of an attack.
Whether it is by ferry or cycle we hope to reach the crossing point into Zambia in the vicinity of Mbala. Depending on our arrival time and the state we are in phyically and mentally the agenda for Zambia is still to be set. If we arrive in good health and plenty of time to spare we can take out time to explore. Should time be short we will head directly to Livingstone out final destination close to Victoria Falls for our rendezvous with Diane and Christopher in mid December.
