DAY 3 NAIROBI TO CAPE TOWN (200kms) After having breakfast, packing our gear away and leaving Karibuni Pundas Milias Camp at 9.00am ready for our 200kms, we passed through Nakuru Township and on towards the Uganda border not before crossing the Equator.
We stopped for lunch in Eldoret Town for 2 hours and gathered some supplies for tomorrow's early morning start.
We arrived at Turbo Camp 40km from Eldoret and about 2 hours from the Ugandan border around 4pm, set up our campsite and finally had time to check emails and update our blog.
After a great curry dinner prepared by the evening cook group we retired to our tent for our 5.00am start to the Ugandan border. Some of our group did not make it to bed till 2 and 4am!
DAY 4 NAIROBI TO CAPE TOWN (320kms)
The next morning was a little bit of a rush with some confusion with us all still getting into the routine of the truck travel and coping with the lack of sleep. We finally got on the road 20 minutes later than planned but ready for our 320kms journey to Kampala and hoping to still miss the afternoon rush hour.
We started off well until we hit roadworks which slowed us down considerably. We got the Kenyan side of the border at 0930 and checked out of Kenya hassle free. The Uganda side (Malaba) was a different story. We crossed a very congested border bridge and made our way to the immigration check in on the Uganda side. Those who had managed to get their East African Visas before arriving in Africa had no problems, however 5 of the guys on the tour (including Ingrid) had not managed to obtain Visas and then the dramas began. Ingrid and Maddy were granted EA Visas pretty quickly after Gareth convinced the immigration officer but the 3 boys Luke, Craig & James had a more difficult time as the Uganda border control said they had no more EA Visas (this we guessed was a lie as the EA Visa is $100 which is split between the governments of Kenya, Uganda & Rwanda. However if they don't get an EA Visa it is $100 to Kenya for multiple entry, $100 for each entry into Uganda & $30 into Rwanda which would have ended up costing them $230 in total.) Gareth ended up coming up with an alternate plan which had them get 4 local guys with motorbikes (boda boda motorbike taxis) to take them back over to the Kenyan side of the border and get the EA Visa there avoiding the extra charges. Needless to say when the boys showed up back at the Uganda border the border guard was not over the moon about losing out on the extra visa fees but granted them entry reluctantly. After a breakfast at the border which included Uganda's national dish "Rolex" (not the watch!) which was basically a hot wrap filled with tomato & egg served hot.1
We continued on passing through beautiful little villages where the kids jump around and wave to us as we pass. The countryside in Uganda is amazing, very lush and green and even with the countries troubled past the majority of people we came across were happy to see us. We crossed White Nile Dam and entered Kampala around 1800 then pulled into Red Chili hideout for 2 nights.We continued on passing through beautiful little villages where the kids jump around and wave to us as we pass. The countryside in Uganda is amazing, very lush and green and even with the countries troubled past the majority of people we came across were happy to see us. We crossed White Nile Dam and entered Kampala around 1800 then pulled into Red Chili hideout for 2 nights. We managed to upgrade from our tent to one of the rooms which were basic, clean & comfortable. We had hot showers to rinse off the dust & wandered down to the bar for wood fired pizza & local beer. Finished with a few rounds of pool with some of the gang and called it a night.
DAY 5 NAIROBI TO CAPE TO TOWN
After a well earned sleep-in we woke up and walked up to have a Red Chili cooked breakfast. We then went back to our room and started washing our clothes from the last week of dust & grime using some of the gear we bought in the U.K. which worked a treat. We then moved to the restaurant where the wifi signal was best (but was actually rubbish) and continued our blogging and uploading to our website, 6 hours later we managed to get one more day added to our website along with photos. Gareth and Patrick had made us all burgers so we sat down to that, cleaned up and retired for another early start in the morning.
DAY 6 NAIRONI TO CAPE TOWN
4am wake up!! Gathered all our camera gear and the rest of our baggage and wandered down to Nahinda for our 5am departure to beat the early morning rush hour out of Kampala on our way towards the Rwanda border. Our first stop was coffee and fresh muffins at the AidChild Coffee Shop for children living with AIDS. It is situated 100 meters south of the equator line. Inside there was an assortment of gifts and souvenirs for sale with all proceeds go to the charity. We left the equator and travelled south towards Mbarara where we stopped and provisioned for the next couple of days lunch and dinners. We went to the local markets as it is far cheaper than the supermarkets and purchased all our produce.
We continued on into the mountainous area of south west Uganda finally pulling into Great Lakes Hotel overlooking a picturesque valley below. We checked into our room then sat down for dinner with the rest of the group. After a quick clean up we had an early night as tomorrow we were heading to Rwanda.
DAY 7 NAIROBI TO CAPE TOWN (120kms)
The next morning we set off at 0800 with Gareth having to floor the truck up a 30 degree incline to get to the main highway, once on the road we drove for 5 hours through beautiful landscapes and mountainous terrain before finally arriving at the Uganda-Rwanda border. After being screened for fever and the formalities of checking out of Uganda and checking in to Rwanda we proceeded on towards Ruhengheri. One of the most noticeable things we saw while driving through Rwanda was the amazing countryside and the friendliness of the people, everyone smiled and waved at us, it was a very warm welcome from a country that has been through so much. We pulled in to Fatima's Guest house mid afternoon and managed to get a room.
We settled in and then it was our teams turn to cook we prepared a simple honey soy stir fry which was devoured by our hungry group.We were all buzzing about the next day as it was an early start to see the Gorillas and we weren't sure what to expect. We packed up camp and ended chatting for a little to long before heading to bed.
We settled in and then it was our teams turn to cook we prepared a simple honey soy stir fry which was devoured by our hungry group. We were all buzzing about the next day as it was an early start to see the Gorillas and we weren't sure what to expect. We packed up camp and ended chatting for a little to long before heading to bed.