Warner’s World

15th October ‘09: Den has managed to secure a lift into the park with a German family. The only problem is that they are running short on fuel so they have to travel back to Masindi to refuel before entering the National Park. The journey was far from smooth, the surface of the road(track) was pitted, with more potholes than the A12 making progress slow and somewhat uncomfortable. The journey however provided an opportunity to observe yet more wildlife, monkeys, baboons and buffalo abound throughout. Den finally arrived at Murchison Falls Campsite and pitched his tent. Whilst he was preoccupied sending a text, a warthog was seen emerging from his tent with most of Dens food in its mouth. It’s every man (animal) for himself out there…. To make matters worse there are plagues of biting flies at the camp-site which are driving Den mad, but the falls are deemed to be spectacular, so minor irritations fade into insignificance.

Murchison Falls on the River Nile. The gap is only 6m wide and the flow of water is probably the strongest surge of natural water on the planet.

A boat trip and safari are on the agenda for tomorrow as Den expects to spend two days at the falls. This is the most northerly part of the trip before heading south along the shores of Lake Albert.

Perhaps he needs to store his provisions in a warthog proof container whilst out on safari tomorrow or he might end up with nothing.

16th October ‘09: It was a very hot night last night and Den found it extremely difficult to sleep in the tent. (I think he was anxious of that warthog returning for a second helping). Apparently the German family thought it was Dennis in the tent, easy mistake to make I suppose, Den does grunt a bit and I’m sure that not having a daily shower could enhance his earthly odours. Well the warthog was attracted to something… Today he has been up river on a boat trip giving him an opportunity to marvel at the many encounters with  hippos and elephants that frequent the waters and shoreline. It was another hot and sunny day until mid afternoon, then the heavens opened and it rained heavily for the remainder of the day. On his return, the campsite was completely flooded and Den’s tent was in a pool of water; he’s had to move to a nearby hut  for the night tonight, hopefully he remembered to put all his documents in the dry sack before he left this morning. His intention for tomorrow is to head south but that depends on whether the rain stops.

17th October ‘09: Den didn’t sleep well for a second night and to make matters worse the biting flies have been feasting on his flesh while he decamped and left the falls area. It sounds like things are getting a lot tougher out there. Heavy rain made the journey south arduous. The rain did ease for a while as he travelled along the banks of Lake Albert, only to return before he reached his destination. There were mostly dirt tracks today made slippery and heavy by the rain which made hills even more challenging. Den’s last contact was from a tiny town called Kibiro about 50km north of Hoima.

18th October ‘09: Update from Hoima. Reached this provincial town early this afternoon. Only covered about 55kms today, but the roads are unmade, unless you count dirt and the terrain is rather hilly. Had a good nights sleep for the first time in days at a ‘hotel’ in the small town of Riso. Probably too small to feature on any map. The hotel was owned by the resident MP for the area Hon. Biraahwa Mukitale Stephen Adyeeri (try saying that when you have had a few beers). I was given the room next to his. It had no mains electric or running water and the pit toilet was in the yard. Very pricey at 45,000 shillings (about 15 pounds), but it did include breakfast. By contrast the hotel I am in at Hoima is very similar but I am only paying 6,000 shillings (about 2 pounds per night).

Hoima is not a bad place to spend the evening. I have managed to top up my dwindling money from an ATM in town. Uganda is a cash society. No cash no goods or services. The internet is slow, but workable. After several days in the bush it feels like luxury to have shops, water on tap and electric.

The last few days have been tough. Biting flies (the airborne equivalent to piranhas), hot and humid nights, mosquitoes, hungry warthogs raiding my food and being flooded out of my tent.

I am now rested, flush with cash, but completely out of food. There are plenty of restaurants in town and lots of shops so tomorrow I will stock up before I head south again. It will be another 2 days of dirt roads to reach the next large town of Fort Portal.

Another problem I have to solve is the fact that my cooking stove is missing a vital bit. It must have fallen off before I entered the park. I have a cunning plan to make a replacement part from an old sardine tin. I will let you know how I get on. I can cook using a few stones and some kindling but it takes a lot of preparation.

Spoke to Di this morning she was getting ready to run the Wix 5. Hope it all went well for the Harwich Runners. Di reports that the DVD of Paul and my rafting trip has not arrived yet. It is almost 2 weeks since we sent it home via Claire. If you read this Claire could you please let Di know if you have sent it to her as this is the only record Paul and I have of our day rafting on the Nile.

Evening update: Great news! Managed to fix my cooking stove with an old sardine tin!! I am so pleased I am going to give myself a Blue Peter badge and have a beer to celebrate. Having a working stove means that I can make myself a cup of green tea when I want. Not much to some, but one of my few luxury items I have brought on this trip. I have taken a couple of photos to demonstrate the upgrade. In the words of the great TV program, “Don’t try this at home”. For those of you at work, please let the Health and Safety department know of this modification, they may want to incorporate it into one of their policy documents. It increases the heat output by a factor of two, but sadly the fuel consumption is about three times the original design.

19th October ‘09: It’s just as well Den managed to get a good night’s rest because today turned out to be his most gruelling to date. The heat was unbearable, no cooling showers to ease the journey today. The terrain was very hilly and the dirt tracks were the worst he’d encountered causing him to crash his bike whilst trying to avoid the deep craters. Fortunately the bike did not sustain too much damage, but Den has a few cuts and grazes to dress. As if the day wasn’t bad enough, just when he thought it couldn’t get any worse, it did. A large snake resembling the Black Mamba (Africa’s most deadly snake) crossed the road right in front of him, causing him to stop and backtrack. A few seconds earlier and he might have startled the snake into launching an attack. Phew…..that was a close one.

Finally made it to a small town after pedalling till dusk; not sure of the name but there is a hotel which undeniably is not 5 stars but at £1.50 a night what would you expect? After the rigours of today I’m sure Den will be happy to sleep anywhere. He is hoping to make Fort Portal tomorrow. There was no food (or room service), but one of the regular residents took pity on our weary traveller and shared their rice and beans with him.

There was even entertainment laid on for the evening. It was called  ‘indoor safari hunt’. The prey was two gigantic cockroaches (about the size of a small mouse). This passed an interesting half hour, but the end result was Mzungu 2, cockroaches nil.

20th October ‘09: After two of the hardest days cycling I can recall I finally reached Fort Portal in Western Uganda. I cycled from dawn to dusk today with the majority of the day on dirt roads. This part of Uganda is seriously HILLY. I finally reached planet tarmac at 14:27 and if it wasn’t for the fact that I would probably have been run over by the maniacs who drive on Uganda’s roads I would have bent down and kissed the tarmac. Food was not in short supply, but rather limited. If it wasn’t for the large number of insects I swallowed it would have been entirely vegetarian. (My revenge on the insect world for those bloody tsetse flies that made my time in parts of Murchison Falls so unpleasant).

21st October ‘09: At Fort Portal. No cycling today except to change hotels, about 300m. Arrived late in the day yesterday only just in time to avoid a tropical storm of biblical proportions. Made for the nearest hotel, the Continental. Good value at about 4 pounds, which included breakfast. The only problem is that it was very noisy withal major road junction just outside my window. I am now in the much plusher (10 pounds / night) Rwenzori Travellers Inn.

What do intrepid travellers do on their days off from cycling. They do some shopping, clean their smelly clothes, overhaul their cycles and eat as much as possible, (And spend hours updating the website with an incredibly slow connection speed and occasional power-cuts) that’s what.

I have a slow puncture in my rear wheel to repair and the drive system on the bike needs a severe dose of TLC. The four days passage from Murchison Falls has really taken their toll of bike and rider. As always my trusty bike has performed admirably, doing all I asked of it and more. As for me the last couple of hours into Fort Portal required all my determination after nearly 12 hours of continuous biking in tough conditions. I had to resort to MAP mode (music assisted pedalling). It was head down, music and sunglasses on to shut out the rest of the world and pedal like hell. It worked and I blasted into town taking no prisoners on the road.

Evening update: The bike is now in tip-top shape. The slow puncture has been repaired, the dirt encrusted frame and drive system have been completely overhauled. The only sign of wear was that the front wheel bearing had a little play in it. I have adjusted this and lubricated every moving part.

As for the rider it has been a busy day. I have managed to eat 4 big meals so far, but must admit that the last plate of pasta beat me.

22nd October ‘09: Travelled a short distance south today about 20km from Fort Portal to Lake Nkuruba. The lakes are formed in craters and it’s safe for swimming, so spent the day bathing, surrounded by tropical forests.  I’ve been kept amused for hours watching the monkeys eating mangoes in the trees outside my banda (accommodation hut). Tomorrow I will head cross country to the Kibale forest; famous for having the largest population of primates in the word. It will be a chance to meet the ancestors..

23rd October ‘09: Spent most of the day at Kibale forest searching for the infamous primates but to no avail…apart from the odd sighting of a few common monkeys, not a chimp in sight. Bit of a non-event really, I’m sure they were there but I just couldn’t find them. A disappointing day so headed back to Nkuruba for the night as it’s too far to the next settlement to make it before nightfall. To my surprise Sam Baguma and his wife were camping at the crater lakes. Sam is the kind gentleman who transported me and the bikes back to Kampala after Paul had his stroke. Spent a pleasant evening socialising, it’s a small world! Will set off early and travel across country to Kasese tomorrow.

24th October ‘09: Afternoon update: At Kasese the gateway to the Rwenzori mountain range. The highest in Uganda. Left the Crater Lake campsite this morning and cut across country to meet the main Fort Portal to Kasese Rd. The trails were so small they didn’t feature on any map and to make matters worse there was heavy rain last night. Anyhow with the aid of a compass and asking lots of locals I managed to thread my way through the crater lakes and hit the main road late in the morning. This proves my theory that navigation is not an exact science.

Managed to reach Kasese well ahead of schedule in spite of some testing hills. Now at an internet cafe in town which must have the slowest internet connection speed in the world. It takes nearly 30 mins to open 1 page. I have given up trying to reply to emails and resorted to texting instead. If you know how slowly I can text it demonstrates how bad it must be.

My original plan was to spend the night here, but will probably press on later this afternoon to the entrance of Queen Elizabeth National Park. The main road goes through the park and cycling (there is no alternative) is allowed even though there are numerous lions and other big beasts loose. One good thing is that I have managed to top up my cash from one of the ATM’s in town, as being short of cash means that all progress comes to a halt. For my next trick I will attempt to upload a couple of photos. This may not be possible due to the slow upload speed and the fact that the computers here are full of viruses. My camera keeps giving me warnings and my MP3 player has stopped working since I tried to charge it up in Fort Portal from an internet cafe there.

Evening update: Have made it to the entrance of the National Park in the vicinity of Kigorongo, which stands right on the equator. The crater lakes area was considerably cooler due to the altitude, but here on the equator it is very hot. The hotel is basic but clean. I want to find out which way the water spins down the plug hole but unfortunately there’s a power cut in progress so I can’t see. I’ll check it out in the morning. I’ve had to seek refuge in my hotel room as a local drunk is being a bit problematic and keeps pestering me.  Mobile phone signal is weak but manage to chat to Di for a bit this evening. The next few days are going to be high risk but there is no alternative, the road runs through the National Park which has prides of lions, herds of elephant, rhinos, cheetahs etc… All roaming wild. The last National Park I entered was with the German family by car this time I’m alone and on a bike. I will make enquiries in the morning as to the best route to take in order to stay safe.

25th October ‘09: Made an early start to cycle through the Queen Elizabeth National Park. To be fair it was more like a 30 mile time trial (I might have exaggerated that a bit); I daren’t stop for fear of becoming a convenient ready meal for one of the hungry hunters stalking in the undergrowth. I was obviously too fast for them on the bike because I managed to reach the park exit with all my limbs still attached. I would like to return and spend a couple of days on safari with Di at a later stage, but it will have to be in a 4×4.

Continuing my journey south now towards Kabale, I’m up in the mountains where it’s cooler again, having a well earned rest after running the gauntlet. My midday snack is fresh pineapple which I’m eating under the shelter of a rather large tree as yet another torrential downpour hits the African canopy. The good thing about the rainy season is that I do get a free daily shower…

Evening update: It was hard going today, very hilly all afternoon but I felt really strong on the bike. I finally arrived in Kagamba around 18:00 local time, tired but in good spirits having cycled 120km today. My accommodation is another ‘budget’ hotel £3.00 a night. No water or electricity, just a single candle (that’s so I can’t see what’s lurking in the corners of the room).

My plans are to reach Kabale tomorrow afternoon in time to access the internet and upload some more photos. Then I will head for Lake Bunyonyi to chill out for a day before crossing the border into Rwanda.

26th October ‘09: What a day! Made an early start from my ‘hotel’ at Kagamba. Been in some basic accommodation on this trip, but this one is the most basic to date. Yesterday my intended destination was Ntungamo, which is 13kms down the road. As it turns out this 13kms was nearly all downhill on good roads. If I had known this last night I could have blasted down the road before it got dark and had a comfortable night is a decent hotel. Anyhow, made an early start and had breakfast at the junction in Ntungamo before I headed out towards Kabale, 67kms away.

Shortly after my breakfast stop I pulled over to the side of the road to buy some chapatti (my biking is generally fuelled by bananas and chapatti). A local Ugandan asked me to pump up his flat tyre. This was a waste of time as the valve was completely broken. Being committed to giving assistance, it became a major overhaul. In my experience most bikes are held together with nuts and bolts. This guy’s bike was held together with a wing and a prayer. One thing led to another. Eventually I had to donate one of my spare inner tubes and complete a near rebuild of the front end of the bike. 90 minutes later I made my escape before something else fell off his bike.

The morning progressed with increasing cloud cover. In the distance you could see a storm was brewing. When it came I was in the middle of nowhere. The only shelter was behind a grass embankment. This was totally ineffective and within 15 minutes I was as wet as possible. There seemed to be no point in taking ’shelter’ so I got on my bike and continued towards Kabale. The storm intensified and soon became an electrical one with thunder and lightning all around. When a lightning strike hit the ground so close it made the road shake I took the hint and took refuge in a disused cattle-shed.

The thunder and lightning eventually passed, but the rain continued. There was still over 50kms to go to Kabale so I saddled up and continued onward. I must have looked a sorry sight because even one of the Ugandan car drivers stopped to ask if I wanted a lift. I refused his kind offer as I didn’t want to admit defeat.

This part of Uganda is often compared to Switzerland. Switzerland is famous for two things, cuckoo-clocks and mountains. I haven’t seen many of the former here. Some of the climbs are of Alpine proportions, taking an hour or more, before descending at an alarming rate. At 60kph there is not a lot of time to take avoiding action if one of the many pot-holes appears in a strategic part of the road.

Kabale is the highest town in Uganda. It sits at over 6,500ft high. The mountain pass that precedes the entry road must be over 9,000ft in elevation as there is a fast downhill section into town. The approach to the pass goes through some impressive climbs. As you head into the valley it seems there is no way out and there must be a tunnel through the hill. This is Uganda and they don’t do tunnels. The road switches back for another hairpin climb. I was making my way up this impressive climb at around 8kms an hour, when a large container lorry overtook me at 10kms an hour. Sad to say I grabbed hold of the rear of the truck and had a tow for the last 40 minutes.

On arrival in Kabale my hotel of choice was full, so I selected another. The Green Hills Hotel. That’s right at the top of another bloody great hill. I nice resting place though, compared to some of the other dives I have spent time in.

27th October ‘09: Today is a rest day. It is nearly 13:00 and apart from breakfast I have done  nothing except try to remove virus’s (unsuccessfully) from my camera, memory  stick and MP3 player. I would rather be in the saddle than stuck in some internet cafe all day.

Spent the afternoon doing the usual things that happen on a rest day. Cleaning and overhauling my bike, washing clothes and checking gear. Made another modification to the stove as the heat output was so great it melted the sardine can replacement. To get a more accurate deflector plate I first made a paper template and then manufactured the metal one from a heavier duty tin can. Test firing was superb, with hardly any difference from the original. Looks like this should now last the trip.

28th October ‘09: Last day in Kabale. I will head off to Lake Bunyonyi later this morning. However there is a massive rain shower outside at the moment, so I will wait for that to pass. My intentions are to spend a day at the lake and then head across the border into Rwanda.

My camera, MP3 player and memory stick are still infected with a virus (worm) I picked up in Fort Portal. Having crashed the website once when trying to upload photo’s I am reluctant to try again. Diane is now having to do so after I email the images home.

Evening update: Arrived at Lake Bunyonyi, what a fantastic place. I visited one of the islands in a dugout canoe this afternoon, a different mode of transport made a welcome change from the bike. I bumped into Anthony again, a French guy who was also at the Crater Lakes campsite last week; I’m not sure who’s following who? The lake is safe for swimming so I had a long relaxing swim this evening, no good for Jason though being 6,500 ft deep he’d have trouble touching the bottom.

Tomorrow I cross the border into Rwanda so my diary continues on the Rwanda page.

29th October: Was hoping to reach Rwanda today, but underestimated the size of the hills big time!

Left Bunyonyi Overland Camp nice and early, it was overcast, cool and dry leading me into a false sense of security. After a reasonably good start the hills began to get steeper and steeper, round every bend there was more climbing to do up and up with no lorry to tow me up today. As I climbed higher the jungle thickened and became misty as I reached the cloud line at about 10,000ft. Just when I was beginning to think I might need an oxygen tank, I reached the highest point exhausted but relieved. It had taken me nearly all day as it was mid afternoon by now.  It’s easy to see where they got the name for the film ‘Gorillas in the mist’ from. I had to seek shelter from yet another tropical downpour; the canopy is shrouded in mist and I’m very frustrated at not being able to capture this image to share as my camera is not working. Worms on your USB and MP3 player are very bad news indeed when travelling in Africa.

The mountain pass wound its way through the dense, rain-forest vegetation until eventually I began my descent. As the forest opens up there are the most amazing views of the valley of volcanoes just across the border in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Again I have to etch the scenes firmly in my mind’s eye without the photographic reminder. It’s small consolation that I can take it a bit easier on the downhill section. The downhill section is not that straightforward. The road conditions are so poor that it is on the brakes all the way. Any more the 15kms/hr and you can be in trouble. Some of the bends down the mountain-side would put an alpine road to shame. This is without any crash-barriers to prevent a much quicker descent into the valley below.

Eventually I arrive in Kisoro, by this point I’m so hungry I could eat a scabby horse, the mountain ascent burned off rather a lot of calories. I went into town for a big meal and to update the website…This is definitely not my day, they must have heard I was coming because as soon as I got to town there’s a power cut…candle-lit dinner for one again!

I’m considering a detour to Kigali to purchase a new camera for the rest of the trip as this is a vital piece of equipment to record the adventure.

Some of the views today were the most spectacular to date. Pity it was today that my camera decided to pack up. I recorded most of  the best bits on my video camera, but this will not be available to view until I return. To be fair the vista was so overwhelming that a still photograph would not have done it justice.

30th October ‘09: Morning update: before I leave Kisoro. Great nights sleep, first for a day or so. Nice and cool at this altitude. The camera problem has been solved, at least for now. This time no small fish were harmed in the process.  Suspecting that the wet conditions over the last week may have something to do with the problem (although the camera appeared to be dry) I took the camera to bed with me (An old trick I practiced in Alaska). Overnight the warmth seemed to have solved the problem and it is now working again. This trip has been plagued with minor technical faults. Luckily the most important aspects of the journey, my health and the bike are holding up well.

Went to change some money into Rwandan currency in preparation for the border crossing only to find out that the only bank in town doesn’t do currency exchange. I will have to take my chances with the money-changers at the border. Always a dodgy exercise.

Reached the border without incident. The transition from Uganda to Rwanda was effortless and the visa was issued without any payment required. Made an attempt to change some cash at the border. Unable to decide if I was being ripped off or not. Always going to be fleeced, it depends on how much. Eventually only changed a little to get me to the next town. The next updates will be on the Rwandan page.