Uganda – Part ll (13.10-19.10.2009)

We stayed on another day at the Rhino Sanctuary, as there was a possibility to see the shoebill at the swamps of the Lugogo River, which runs through this area.

We arranged the guide and did a morning walk of 5 km but were not lucky, as there was no way to enter the swamps.

As it is main rain season in Uganda (Uli overlooked this factor in his planning!), we have chosen to travel as much as possible on tar, as the byroads are bottomless.

We drove direction Kampala and turned off at Wobulenzi, taking a shortcut to Mityana and then on to Fortportal. We took residence at the renovated Mountain of the Moon Hotel situated in a landscaped, well wooded park. Unfortunately the service level was not “renovated”

The next morning, we tackled the unpaved mountain pass along the Ruwenzoris into the Semliki Valley, leading into the National Park.

It is famous for birding and offers ca 40 species of Central Africa, which reach their eastern border.

The birding was again very difficult as most types flit around in the canopy. So we abandoned this activity and visited the ‘male and female’ hot springs, where sulphur rich 105°C hot water geysers to the surface.

The name “male and female’ indicates the bathing rituals of the locals, which are allowed to bath at those designated springs.

Basket Truck

The next day we tackled the first part of the Kirumia River trail. It is famous for forest birding but our result was one female chestnut wattle eye, which we had hooked off at Murchison already. So we said goodbye to a very wet and damp forest and traveled through the savannah of the oldest proclaimed Wildlife Reserve of Uganda; Semliki, up to Ntoroko at the shores of Lake Albert. What a campsite - being surrounded by thousands of birds; water and grassland species, it was fantastic!

Northern red bishop

Sacred Ibis

We arranged through Patrick, the parks board ranger, a fiberglass boat from the Ugandan defense force and went out the following morning to search for the shoebill, accompanied by two Ugandan Defense force guardswith their unavoidable, rusty and dirty AK—47’s.

The Lakes shallow waters are warm and swarming with Tilapia and Nile perch, attracting hundreds of fishermen with boats, nets, traps and lines. All kind of water birds utilize the swamps and the abundance of the water hyacinth which is a huge threat to Africa's waterways, forming little islands and platforms, to fish and breed like champions.

We didn’t need long to find “our” Shoebill, stalking through the ‘flowerbeds’. We approached to ca 50 meters and had the privilege to observe him for over an hour.

We learned that 18 shoebills were counted fours years ago in this area, which supposedly makes it a nearly guaranteed sighting.

Excited about our luck we celebrated at the return to the campsite with some champagne.

Our camp attendant had managed to secure a 5Kg Nile perch for us (4988) from last nights catch, which we cooked on the coals for lunch.

Three thunderstorms developed over Lake Albert and ended this very special day on a ‘wet note.’

We planned to return to Fortportal and then visit the crater lakes in the vicinity.

The clay roads were very slippery as we left and soon we met a bunch of trucks which had skated all over, one totally blocking the road. We were approached to rescue but had to decline, as Konstantin is not ready yet to pull 15 tons of steel out of the mud.

We returned to camp, organized some help from town and enjoyed a late breakfast. Two hours later, the news came that the road was cleared and we slithered along, passing numerous trucks which were stuck.

Banana country

We took camp at Lake Nkuruba, a campsite looking down on a Crater Lake, surrounded by large forest trees.

Now we were privileged to look the forest birds eye to eye, as the canopy was below us. The Great Blue - and Ross’s Turaco, as well as the Piping - and Black and White Casqued Hornbills were some of the more spectacular sightings.

The most entertaining show however we received from about 30 Black and White Colobus as well as a group of 20 Vervet Monkeys.

The youngsters of both types mingled freely and played catch. It was a peaceful, laid back setting and even the, by now, obligatory afternoon thundershower could not disturb the tranquility.