Tuesday, November 12th – Friday, November 15th
World Tour Days 10-13
The 4th day on our overland tour started with a 12 hour drive from Kenya to Uganda. We stopped at a huge tea plantation in Kenya, and made our way through border control, which was relatively smooth. As we made our way to our camp for the night outside of Jinja City there were so many children chasing the truck, smiling and waving. This was followed by another 13 hour driving day, passing metal sheets set up to collect insects at night, children pushing tires with sticks, and outdoor food markets. Our truck would stop at these markets whenever we needed fruits, vegetables or meat. It was a neat experience to see all the vendors run over with their items and completely surround our truck.
Our 6th overland tour day brought us to Murchison National Park where we did a few activities. We trekked in the Mahogany forest in the Budongo Central Forest Reserve to see the chimpanzees. It didn’t take very long to find them which was great because it can be a several hour long process. Instead, we got more time to look at them. There were several swinging from tree to tree, eating their fruits. A curious baby ended up looking at our group from behind its mother for several minutes. They began to descend the trees to walk along the forest floor.
After our chimpanzee trekking we took a walk to see the Murchison waterfall which is the most powerful waterfall in the world. We had our lunch here before hopping on a Nile river cruise. On the cruise we saw saw elephants, hippos, and crocodiles. It was amazing to see the elephants drinking on the banks. This is where we saw the tiniest baby elephant so far on our trip.
Our next day was driving to Queen Elizabeth National Park, which is gorgeous. It is surrounded by misty mountains and is famous for its lions that climb trees. The activity here was optional so Nick and I caught up on laundry and other less exciting but necessary tasks that are easy to fall behind on when traveling. Our impression of Uganda so far is that it has very beautiful landscapes.