27th June

25^th June. Queen Elizabeth NP

Gosh it’s good to be on the road again. We finally left Kampala mid afternoon yesterday, Tuesday 24^th. The final problem was I had given a deposit to cover the parts and part of the labour when I received the bill I realized I had given about $500 too much. The bill was less than we expected. They didn’t have enough cash on hand and gave me a cheque which they said I cold cash at the local bank. Not so, the Manager said so back we go to Coopers and after quite a hassle and an annoyed coy director we walked away with the cash.

The road south to Masaka was quite interesting: very green, banana plantations and areas of 2 metre tall papyrus growing on the marshy land that edged Lake Victoria. The camp site at Masaka was wonderful, out of town, quiet and a great bloke in charge. Just what we needed for our first night back in the van.

I mentioned in an earlier post, Masaka was the town where the minister that is a friend of Joan’s Anglican Church back in Bellingen was to be contacted. We hadn’t had a reply from an email sent to his brother or a postcard sent to his address but we managed to find the Anglican church with the aid of Joseph the camp site owner. It transpired that Rev Dan is doing a 3 yr course at a town some 200kms away. We met the arch deacon, Dan’s wife Justine and their 2 older children and hope to catch up with the man himself when we go through Kibali, where he is studying, before we cross the Rwandan border. We were shown over the church school and learnt a few details from the headmaster. They were a great crowd and it will be nice for Joan to be able to report back to her church the situation we found.

Then it was on to Queen Elizabeth NP. It borders the Congo and the legendary Mountains of the Moon. Something I have always wanted to see. Ptolemy the Alexandrian explorer spoke of these snow clad mountains that sat on the equator, nobody believed that such a thing cold possibly occur. It wasn’t until 1887 when Stanley, the bloke who found Livingstone, saw them and reported back to the Royal Geographical Society did they realize they existed. We hope to see them tomorrow.

The park itself was another one destroyed by Amin’s army but is well on the way to recovery. Driving in we saw quite an array of animals.

For those interested. I am having an article printed in the July issue of the Australian Caravan & Motorhome Magazine. It’s about the paperwork necessary for shipping a vehicle overseas. Just in case any one is interested. I thought they may have been interested in further articles on touring overseas but they haven’t replied to my queries. I thought it would be a change to the articles you read all the time about Australian destinations, after all, there is other countries worth seeing as well as AU. Perhaps there will be some emails to the editor asking for follow ups on travelling in a campervan overseas that may make him show more interest.

27^th June.

Well yesterday was not our best of days. The animals in the park were few, the Ruwenzoris were covered by low cloud, the road south through the park was very rough at times then the road from the end of the park to Kabali was good until we were told that a bridge was down and we would either have to drive via this terrible track to another road or take a long detour to get to Kabali.

We wondered why there was no traffic on the last stretch of road but had asked a couple of locals who assured us the road we were on was the correct one, there were no signs to show a detour and it wasn’t until we asked a bloke in the middle of nowhere did we realize our error. We were on a high hill and he was able to point out the road we had to get to in the distance. The track was narrow and rough with washouts and a stream to cross on this bridge that had half the lengthwise running timbers missing. I imagined our 3 tonne vehicle going straight through it. This was mountainous country with not much edge before falling away to the valley below Beautiful hilly country with tea and banana plantations interspersed with pockets of bush. Loved the scenery, despaired the damage to the van.

We made Lake Banyoni, a few kms out of Kabali, as it became dark. Found this wonderful camp site where we are parked 3 metres from the edge of this crater lake. The Lonely Planet suggests the area could be a scene out of ‘The Hobbit’ we fully agree. In the morning we awoke to the sound of a school gong clanging in the distance, kids singing and the call of boatmen as the paddled their dugout canoes across the lake. It is cool but the sun still has a bite when it comes out. The camp is reputed to be one of the best in the country.