As soon as we crossed the border Into Uganda the landscape changed dramatically, giving way to banana trees, tea plantations and lush moutains and lakes.

Our first stop was in the town of jinja on the Nile. Here we had four days of being stationary and allowing us to enjoy the sites and activities around the area. The biggest tourist attraction here is white water rafting on the nile but we've resisted signing up for this until we reach Zimbabwe and the Zambezi.

The hostel was a much bigger place than we are used to with a big bar and lounge area with stunning views of the Nile. Brill !!




With a bit of freedom we chose to spend our first morning in town having a look around and also hunting for fancy dress costumes for a boat party in the evening. We stumbled upon a converted car park full of hundreds of clothes makers, vegetable and livestock merchants. No luck with our costume purchase, but our Texan friend Doug managed to purchase a football sized avocado. With a hot walk done we decided to head back on the boda boda motorbikes to the hostel. These are essentially the motor bike taxis that every one uses and are exceptionally cheap. We jumped on the back together and road up the dusty track to the hostel at high speed. Probably not the safest mode of transport but you see everyone getting about by them in towns and villages.

For our first cultural experience we opted for a bbooze cruise with the group in the evening. It wasn't something we usually do but olly and I wanted to let our hair down after a few intense days of rain and camping in Kenya. Needless to say we all woke up feeling worse for wear after a late ensued in the bar with the locals and other travellers staying there. We've also been joined by three new people, including a couple who are estate agents from london, and know our tenants in tooting!

Our second day in jinja we opted for a evening kayak to the source of Nile. During the day we lounged around the hostel, at around midday after a few of the guys started on the beers, a film crew from Germany arrived and started to film us drinking and talking. After a while they approached us for an interview about the nile. Again our Texan friend Doug opted in to explain why he was drinking Nile brew beer. When then asked about the history of the Nile he stuttered and our Kiwi friend piped up with a very coherent answer. Apparently it will be aired in Germany in November.

Our evening kayak started at an opulent boat house on the nile from then we paddled out into the centre and stopped for a gin and tonic (the guide has brought a coolbox) and was serving us from his kayak. We then paddled across to the 'source of the Nile' apparently an underwater spring under some rocks. Here we got a few snaps as the sun was setting. One of the kiwi girls we were with decided not to get back in the boat, but float down the nile,wearing her life jacket and grasping a nile beer. Apparently it was like floating in a bath. After several gin and tonics I wasn't comfortable swimming in open water so we paddled across the river bank and hooked our canoes up to the minivan. A great evening out!

On day three olly opted to spend the morning in a local education centre run by a charity. He returned covered in glitter and happy as Larry after spending time playing and doing art classes with the children.

I opted for a village walk which took me to a local house with an extensive garden tour. The garden was bursting with food, from bananas, cassava, peanuts, potatoes, coffee beans, beans and tomatoes. We were treated to a lunch from the garden which was wonderful and some of the best food we've had to date.


From jinja we moved west into the highlands and into the tea region. The campsite here was basic, all cooking was done outdoors and the loos were... basic! This was only a short stop over and few of us took a walk around the area. We met some children who were asking for money, some seemed a bit more determined as they were carrying machetes but we didn't face any trouble and they were harmless.

From jinja we head to queen Victoria park for evening game cruise. Within a few minutes we encountered elephants, hippos and a crocodile. But then the sharp rains ensued and the open sided boat was battered by the rains. A desperate attendant tried to put the plastic sides up but to little avail. Finally the rains passed as we cruised down lake Edward, towards the only
Villages that are within the park who are only allowed to fish. The timing was fortunate as many of the men were heading out to fish in the evening, All using paddles and man power to set out into the river.


From queen Victoria park it was an 8 hour drive to Kisoro which is the main town for gorilla trekking. Olly I deliberated on doing this trip for a long time but couldn't justify the £400 fee for the day trip. Instead we opted for a $20 dollar hike and boat ride which turned out to be a spectacular day. The tour guides were wonderful but clearly winging it. The days started at 7am with a hike across vallies and villages.

We have got used to children been in awe of the the yellow bus waving and shouting hello how are you? But in the vallies the kids could see us but we couldn't see them, 'mzungo (white people) hello, how are you?!?!?' Echoed around us as hiked through he village down to the lake.



We arrived on the other side of the lake to a rainstorm, which held us for a while before we hiked up to a vet swanky lodge and waited out the rest of the rain. Then up again to the highest peak to take in some views and some more children. This time instead of saying hello and running towards some started crying. We were the second mzungo they had ever seen.

Onto ruwanda!