A tree planter's perspective on cycle touring

Cycling around Uganda and Rwanda with a fully loaded bicycle constantly reminded me of tree planting. Upon first glance cycle touring and tree planting are very different activities, however, similar emotions have been evoked in me while doing both. For instance, the mental gruelling meeting the hightened physical aspects speaks to both pedaling up a steep mountain for 10km straight while having children and adults alike scream at you as well as trying to shove thousands trees in the ground in a matter of a couple of hours. Another fine example is the weather. Both cycle touring and tree planting leave you exposed to all elements with no where to go, be it strong winds or cold downpours, you have no choice but to keep pedalling and keep planting. In general cycle touring is mostly mental, especially if you have no schedule (which you likely don't), since your daily km's depend mostly on your willingness to keep pedalling and only slightly on the terrain ahead. The same goes for tree planting where the number of trees you put in in a day depends very little on your physical output and much more on how focused and strong you are mentally to get through the day regardless of the challenges you might face. With cycle touring your legs are constantly burning as you pedal a heavy bike up and down hills, your legs are also burning when you're carrying around several kilos of wet seedlings around your waist for 10 or 12 hours a day tree planting. Tough days cycle touring involve (for me) people -too many of them asking too much of me as I face physical exhaustion and mental challenges like mechanical breakdowns, lack of sleep and little food to be found in my viscinity. Tough days planting involve challenging terrain, solitude, bugs, and digestion issues. Both kinds of tough days require an individual to just "push through" and make it to the end of the day, hopefully with a smile on their face. Both days are usually concluded with a beer in hand!

I learned a little bit about what tree planting is like in Uganda. It is much slower and their technique needs some development. Two people are apparently required to plant ONE tree. One person holds a tray of a few seedlings while the other person digs a hole, puts the tree in it and neatly closes the hole. They have yet to learn that efficiency could be improved and, therefore, daily income increased. Payment per tree is hardly comparable to tree prices in Canada, that is, Ugandans are paid much much less than Canadians. The climate is obviously quite a bit hotter and more humid than that in Canada as well.

Look at the planted block in the background from this Ugandan village fellow tree planters. Imagine planting on a hill of that grade. I'm sure coastal planters can relate.

Ugandan tree nurseries. They still have some work to do...

Planted pine in neat rows in Uganda. High density indeed!

All this said, there are some obvious differences between planting and cycle touring in that one generates money, while other doesn't, one takes you to a new places EACH DAY, while the other doesn't, and one stimulates you constantly while the other may become monotonous. This last point, however, depends on your attitude and I think tree planting can be as stimulating as you are willing to let it. So, as I enter another season of tree planting, I will be trying my hardest to observe my mental outlook and make sure I am open to any stimulation planting might have to offer me. Will you join me fellow tree planters?!

The Spaniard, stunning vistas, and the best day of cycling: A heartfeltgoodbye to Uganda

It took me about 5 hours to ride the 14km from the Queen Elizabeth park gates to the main road that transects the east and the western parts of the park. My snail-like pace had nothing to do with road conditions and everything to do with the fact that I did not want to leave! Surrounded by wildlife while pedaling or straddling my bike was a dream come true and the wildlife just kept on coming. The main road, although tarmac, further facilitated my slow pace as more antelope, warthog and prospects of more elephants distracted me. I came to a town called Katunguru situated on the Kazinga channel at around 5pm, so it was time to look for a place to sleep. The town was no more than 100m in length so I pedaled the whole of it to scope out my options. There were a couple of guest houses and "hotels" (which could mean just restaurants or restaurants with actual accommodation), but I prefer camping, so I asked the local police officers who were hanging around. They pointed to an empty field next to a mosque and said I could camp there for free and no one will bother me. I decided to check it out myself and it was perfect! Right next to a spiritual place and across from the police station and I could get far enough away from the road that no one could see me AND it was right on the river! I couldn't have asked for a better spot. So I started to claim my territory by setting down my bike next to the flattest spot for a tent. As expected, a couple of locals decided to wonder over. I thought they just wanted to watch me set-up my tent like everyone else, but these guys were apparently "tour guides" and could not let me camp there. "But why?" I exclaimed as I could not imagine a better spot. These uniform-less, business card-less "guides" explained that this was not a campsite, so I couldn't camp there, but there was an actual campsite a couple of kilometers into the bush from the town. Well that's interesting since the police said there weren't any actual campsites around and I got permission to camp here from them. These guys were obviously just looking to make a buck from their buddy who owns the campsite and I am never keen on paying $5 to put up my own tent and take-up not more than a tiny patch of someone's grass. Give me a break you thieves you! Suddenly, a white dude on a bicycle with a couple of panniers pulls-up....What?! Another one? And now when I need another white person to help me negotiate with these crooks -great! So we introduce ourselves, checked out each other's bikes, admired the fantastic spot I found for camping, and ignored the two "guides" as much as possible. Turns out he's from Spain and is cycling from Cairo to Cape Town. I explained the current situation to him as the two locals were not giving up. Apparently part of the reason why they can't let us camp there has now turned into a Good Samaritan story and they want to save us from the evil fate of the hippo. I laugh out loud since, as you might recall from my previous post, I slept among dozens of hippo and passed by several within a few meters of me and my escort, whom barely acknowledged their presence. I had a hard time believing the two local criminals in front of me were sincere in their sudden concern for our safety. I don't remember how, but the "guides" ended up convincing us to go to the real campsite. We probably caved because they wouldn't leave us alone...typical at the end of day when you're tired and hungry and just want a beer. 

The campsite was not easy to find as it was down a half-ass road and there was no sign, so we had passed it by about a kilometer at first, but eventually made it. Of course the price of everything -camping, beer- somehow inflated in the time we met the "guides" to the time we arrived at the campsite. We negotiated our way with an employee who had to call his boss to confirm the new price for the mzungus. Wow it's a lot easier to do this with another person, especially a dude, because you can make two-person deals and Ugandan men tend to take foreign men more seriously than foreign women. So we set-up our tents, had a real shower and discussed everything about cycle touring there is to discuss over dinner (made with our respective MSR International stoves) and beer. It was so nice to talk to someone who had much more experience than I (Gerard had been on several other cycle tours before) and learn from his experiences, but also confirm some of my experiences as a cycle tourist in Africa. It was refreshing to debrief on good experiences and bad with local people and the pros about cycle touring and squander the myths about cycle touring in Africa. It was nice to make fun of similar situations we've found ourselves in and express how incredibly grateful we are to local hospitality. Gerard told me about the hospitality of the Sudanese and the extreme challenges one faces in Ethiopia. We talked gear, about food, the pros and cons of carrying more or less on your bike. Just everything. It was so great for me, a lone cyclist on her first tour, and in Africa nonetheless. You can read blogs and  until your eyes are burning before you embark on a tour, but talking to someone who is going through what you're going through currently and after you have a few kilometers under your belt is priceless and I was so grateful. Gerard and I cycled "together" the next day (I have "together" in quotations because Gerard is much more fit than I and was miles ahead of me most of the day....he also only has two panniers instead of four like I do), which was a neat experience as I had never cycled with anyone before, well not while cycle touring that is. I discovered I prefer cycling alone since I was constantly stressed about keeping up with Gerard. Nonetheless, the scenery was breathtaking. Landscapes changed drastically throughout the day as we went from the flat, grassy plains of Queen Elizabeth to the Andes-like hills covered in agricultural patches and filled with crater lakes situated at the bottom of long, steep hillsides. This meant a couple of very long climbs, but they weren't all that steep, at least not compared to those I experience a couple of weeks prior when going from Gulu to Fort Portal (Gulu to FP). Plus these climbs were paved!

View from the "official campsite".

We were camping on the Kazinga channel -down river from where I had experienced the boat tour in QE NP.

Bikes and tents.

Flat QE National Park to...

...hills and more cultivated hills.

Nicely paved road lead the way, weaving in, out and around the hills.

A break from cultivation and a view of a forested valley.

The way forward.

The road after Ishaka turned into a bumpy dirt road full of construction and we found ourselves struggling to find anything -food, water and a place to sleep. The villages along this road were those of the "non-village" variety I comment on here: Sipi to Amudat except they were made up of a few concrete houses rather than mud/thatched roof huts. The point is: there were a handful of buildings that almost looked abandoned, the place was desolate, dusty with a couple of onions and some paraffin (kerosene). That's it. Not even warm bottled water. Thankfully, we reached a town further down the road called Kitagata where we found another cycle tourist! What?! Yes two in two days...crazy. This guy was from South Africa and was a well versed veteran in cycling around Africa. Seemed like he went on relatively short trips of a month or two in length from his home. This time he was traveling through Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda. Given that we were going in opposite directions, we exchanged useful information about our respective paths, things like where is a good place to stay, what the roads are like ahead, where you can find what resources and then we parted ways. He seemed like he just wanted to enjoy his beer and be alone. Fair enough, we all know what that's like. Gerard and I found water, both bottled as well as the local village source from a tap, of which the locals drink from straight and someone unlocked it for us. Some villages lock their water source at certain times of day and usually throughout the night to avoid misuse of water. I imagine this is necessary only in the dry season and less so in the wet season when water is more plentiful, but I'm not sure. It is very nice of them to make an exception for us mzungus and unlock the water source without hesitation. The same cannot be said, however, for beer sources. Gerard looked long and hard for beer that did not cost twice the price it should, but our skin colour seemed to jack up the price quite a bit. We ended up finding some for a normal price just 100m down the road and out of this town. Why do they have to go and do that? Bugs me.

The SA cycle tourist had told us we should check out the hot spring just 100m down the road and there might be a patch of grass we could camp on nearby. I don't know about Gerard, but I don't even hesitate when given advice by another cycle tourist, I just do what they say. So we went...and what did we find? Probably 3 dozen NAKED Ugandan men crammed together and BATHING in the hot spring. HAHAHAHAHAAH! Either the SA dude was pulling our leg or this crowd appeared after he had already left (if was Friday evening). Either way, what a sight. We just stood there, jaws open for a few seconds before turning around to leave, but not before someone (with clothes on) started approaching us and asking "What's wrong?" and saying "Come join us." Seriously, I felt like I was in some sort of twilight zone. I couldn't help but literally burst out in laughter in this guy's face. This was a comic scene meant for movies (or blog posts!).

Getting desperate for a place to stay now as we only have an hour of sunlight left (and beers meant to be drunk!), we try to ask the owner of a piece of farmland...no speak English. We go across the road to a construction company building. Success! We are given permission to camp behind this building. Turns out there's a REAL toilet with running water and a SEAT as well as a real shower! We weren't given permission to use the shower, but it was right next to the room with the toilet, so it was too easy. We had a good meal, good beer and good sleep with the cool, crisp air as we were getting higher in elevation. We woke up the next morning to find ourselves in a cloud. Gerard was ready to go before I even got out of my tent, he was eager to get going as we had about 120km to cycle that day if we were going to make it to Kabale. His plan was to go head and I was grateful so that I didn't have to stress about keeping up with him! Before Gerard was even finished packing his panniers, the owner of the construction building came up to him and starting yelling, "You must pay me. What are you doing here? This is my property. I have to cut the grass here." I was in my tent, but scrambled to get out to see what was going on. Apparently we did not speak to a real authority figure the night before when we asked permission to stay there. We spoke to the Acari, or security guard -apparently they don't have authority to give out such permission. The man continued to yell at us as we tried to explain that we were given permission and we weren't going to pay anything and in our respective countries, this would never happen, etc. He eventually backed-off, but nothing ever resolved. I packed up my stuff quicker than ever that morning and hit the road. What a rude awakening! Good thing the owner didn't find out we had used the shower without permission. Glad nothing came of it.

A crazy insect. Looks like a giant mosquito, but wasn't a fly -couldn't see any halteres.

A beetle among many ants attacking fallen sexual ants attracted to the fluorescent lights.

That day was a tough, but absolutely splendid day. The road was great for the most part with beautiful scenery all around. Lots of ups and downs and a couple of HUGE ups and downs that lasted over an hour each, but the vistas were worth it as they always are. Thank goodness bananas are plentiful in Uganda or else I don't think I would have made it to the top! 

Gorgeous and unique mountain landscapes.

A flock of egrets swooped low overhead here.



A typical view on this spectacular ride.

I surprised myself: I made it to Kabale. Not only did I surprise myself, I surprised Gerard. He didn't think I was going to make it :) It was a tiring day and I ate an insane amount of food that night and all the next day, but it was worth it. Even in a larger town like Kabale, I somehow picked the hostel Gerard had also picked. I guess the giant "BACKPACKERS" sign draws certain people's attention. Nothing eventful occurred in Kabale other than insanely loud music, hostel managers trying to charge the same for camping as they do for dorms and lots and lots of rain. I planned on staying in Kabale the next day because I *had* to do laundry. I had left it as long as I possibly could. What a waste of a day. The days of the sun drying your laundry by mid-day were over and I happened to choose the day of the endless rain drops. Needless to say, my laundry did not dry. In fact, it didn't dry for another few days after that. I'm not entirely sure how local people ever have dry clothes to wear in the rainy season as most people do not have anywhere to hang their clothes under. Doesn't sound like fun to me.
I got the heck out of Kabale the next day, albeit not until about 10:30am when the rain had only somewhat subsided. My journey was shorter that day, especially compared to the previous day of cycling, only 70 or so kms. One tiny problem: I did not have a rain jacket. I know, I know. I planned for how many months for this trip, but consciously decided not to bring a rain jacket?? In fairness, I knew I would be faced with rain near the end of my trip and I decided it wasn't worth it to carry around a bulky rain jacket for 6 and a half weeks, only to use it maybe a couple of times in the last week of riding. Plus, I had spent entire days in the rain in Costa Rica sin rain jacket many times knowing that you're bound to get wet regardless of whether you have a jacket or not in the tropics -either by rain or by sweat. I did not, however, factor in the elevation. Funny thing about science is: it gets colder the higher you go. I happened to be among the highest elevation towns in Uganda. According to Wikipedia, Kabale stands at 2,000m above sea level (you can find other fascinating information about just how cold it gets here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabale). What do I say in these kinds of situations? FUCK IT. Off I went, already cold to the bone because, don't forget, I was wearing my soaking wet laundry that may as well have been freshly dunked in cold water. The first few meters sucked, I'm not going to lie. I thought I would turn back and have to stay another day in Kabale, but then I got warm! "Yes!" I thought, it's like tree planting, you just have to keep moving! And so I did. Up and up and down and down the crazy hills I went, getting crazier and crazier myself. I started yelling while enjoying the downhills and singing "Coocoocachew" as little Squirt's father does in "Finding Nemo". The rain fueled my stamina and energy -as it normally does. Why didn't I remember this earlier? I LOVE the rain. I love running in the rain, I love playing in the rain, I love planting in the rain. Well, guess what? I love cycle touring in the rain. Yes, it was freezing at times, but I said FUCK IT many times that day (and sometimes out loud). Luckily the road was amazing and I didn't have to worry about mud. Although it rained right up until maybe 10km before I reached Kisoro, this was by far my best day of cycling bar none. I winded through vista after vista, climbing and climbing and climbing to see lakes, including Lake Bunyonyi, rivers, various shades of green on hills upon hills in the distance. I traveled through a pristine jungle to my pleasant surprise! I got to see what these raped hills used to look like.  The jungle was part of the Echuya Forest Reserve, apparently gazetted in 1939 -that's amazingly early for Uganda. For example, Kibale NP was gazetted in the 90's.  Not a whole lot of info is out there about Echuya Forest Reserve (not even in Wikipedia!), but here's is a link with some good info about the ecosystem and how the area is managed: Echuya Project. Things don't look good for Echuya as it happens to stand smack-dab in the middle of the most densely population region in Uganda. This place is gorgeous with picture-perfect vines, moses, bird sounds galore, I saw baboons crossing the road, it's a true tropical jungle with a high canopy. The area surrounding it is devastated, like someone took a giant chisel and chiseled away parts of the jungle bit by bit to make way for agricultural plots and ignoring the screams of the chimpanzees, gorillas, birds and other wildlife that used to reside comfortably in their tree homes. Now all you here is "Mzungu! Mzungu! Give me money!" You can tell the ecosystem has been altered by looking at the clouds after the rain has subsided. On the cultivated side of the mountain the clouds remain high and relatively uniform. On the forested side of the mountain the clouds are whisping upwards out of forest crevasses back into the atmosphere like individual skinny ghosts. The funny thing is, this forest is supposed to be less of a hardwood forest and more of a bamboo forest apparently. We've just screwed up things royally (see the following journal article: The ecological changes of Echuya afromontane bamboo forest, Uganda Banana 2002 African Journal of Ecology Wiley Online Library). The contrast between the majority of my ride that day and when I saw this forest on the other side of the slope was astonishing and brought tears to my eyes. I was both upset as well as moved as I had been hoping and wondering if anyone had been able to save what these slopes once were. Thankfully, someone had, in 1939. Thank you, whoever you are. 

Echuya Forest Reserve.

Envision many tweeting birds among the trees.

Bamboo among the hardwood.

Andes-esque hills.

Hills within valleys.


Just when I thought the vistas couldn't be more moving, I was slapped in the face by the massive peak of Mount Muhabura, which on the map just looks like any old hill, but this hill is a modest 4,127m high. So you can imagine just how stunned I was to see the peak of this thing poking out of the clouds. You can, and should, read more about this mountain as it borders Rwanda and is the tallest of three close peaks: Wiki Mount Muhabura.

Mount Muhabura

Some bad-ass looking kids.

A chain of seriously tall mountains beyond the cultivated ridge and homes  in the valley.

Hills as far as the eye can see.

The road. Down, down, down.

An attempt to demonstrate just how steep these hills are. I did not envy any of those digging in the fields on these slopes.

Mount Muhabura from the hostel in Kisoro.

I reached Kisoro and stayed in a hostel, treated myself to a dorm room bed (the dorm room actually only consisted of two beds and no one was occupying the second bed, so me and my Surly took over) and ate, rested and took in Uganda as I knew I would be leaving the next day to cross the border into Rwanda. It felt weird knowing I was about to leave a place I just explored, lived in and been touched by over the past 7 weeks, but I had a plane to catch.

Living the childhood dream

After spending 5 days instead of 1 at the crater lakes, it was hard to get back on the road again. I didn't leave Jasiu's place (the polish dude running a camp site on Lake Layontonde) until noon after I had planted a tree. Jasiu has planted thousands of trees around the lake and I was a guinea pig in his plan to have his guests pitch-in and plant a tree if they want. It was a fantastic experience for me being a "professional tree planter" (feels weird to type that) in Canada, used to planting thousands of trees in a day. I spent about 5 minutes planting this one tree, *Cola gigantea*, which is probably the longest I've ever spent planting one tree.

My tree!

The ride to Kasese through the crater lake area was gorgeous. Roads were rutted and bad after having had a couple of hard rains, but it didn't matter because it was so scenic. Loads of greenery around and litte hills with the Rwenzori range in the background. Relatively peaceful with very little traffic and few humans. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Beautiful scenery makes up for the shitty road.

Although poor, these locals have a pretty sweet view.

See that hill in the background? One guy left his bike at the bottom, while the two of them pushed one bike up at a time. I can't imagine doing that on a daily basis or at all just to sell some bananas at roughly 3 cents a banana.

They asked for money, I took their picture...after I asked *them* for money. You need to develope a sense of humour over time or else you loose your temper.

Lots of rolling hills made for great riding.

Look closely for the bright colours that caught my eye on the bike.

Small farms with the Rwenzories in the background.

A prison farm.

On the way to Kasese.

The night in Kasese was relatively uneventful. I stayed in probably the nicest place I've stayed in in Uganda. Still I paid less than $10 for a private non-contained room with "hot" (more like Luke warm) water, clean sheets, clean towel, a comfy bed and a rotating ceiling fan. To top it off, I wasn't woken up in the night by screaming people, loud music or early in the morning by someone sweeping -the first thing people do when they wake up here.

The next day I rode passed the Ugandan Equator! It happened to be exactly noon, which I thought was cool, except it was actually boiling hot! I wanted to take a picture of me AND my bike, but only managed to take a couple of lame selfies with my ipad (anyone know if the iPad has a timer on it?). Luckily, two mzungus drove up to me on their boda! Sometimes attracting attention can bring great things at handy times. I was able to have them take my picture WITH MY BIKE in front of the Equator signs. Perfect! Poor things had just been run off the road by some vehicles, but luckily came out of the experience with only a couple of scratches. They asked me a bunch of questions, I asked them a bunch of questions. Turns out they're from Grrmany and they've been traveling all the way from Cape Town, SA. Awesome. They had only acquired the boda in Uganda though. They were on their way to the crater lakes, so I had to tell them all about Jasiu and also about the Lake Nkaruba campsite. They had been told the roads were bad and that they should take the main road to Fort Portal first, which would have been a huge waste of time as Fort Portal is north of the crater lakes and they were coming from the south. Plus they would have missed those scenic roads through the lakes! I told them I had just come from there and recommend it. Coming from a person on a bike, I think they were convinced. Off we went our separate ways, them to the lovely lakes and me to Mweya peninsula through Queen Elizabeth National Park.  I rode passed WARTHOG and ANTELOPE and WATERBUFFALO...amazing! I stopped at a water hole on the way to the main gate (i.e. I road 14km in the park before having to pay anything) and through my binos was able to spot a bunch of waterbuffalo, some antelope and FLAMINGOS! Of course no one else was stopping at this water hole (i.e. crater lake) because they were too busy flying by in their Land Rovers, buses, bottomed-out sedans or boda-bodas. I tell you, traveling by bicycle is the BEST! You're able to stop when you want and take it all in. This road, I admit, was even worst than the road to Amudat in that the washboard was INTENSE, but it didn't matter as I was in heaven with all these animals around me. I reached the gate and payed the $40 park fee to continue another 7km to the Mweya lodge and campsite. Thank god there was accommodation other than this lodge, because a) there's no way I could afford to stay in such luxury and b) it is disgusting! This is one of those 5 star, life-sized animal posed in the entrance, leather everything, fire place, $3 beer kind of places ($3 is ridiculously expensive in a place like Uganda where the most expensive beer anywhere else in the country is maybe $1.5. It's a crime if you ask me).  I mean Mzungus are bad enough for not questioning any of the prices here, but Mweya lodge has taken obseen advantage of that and jacked all prices up 100-fold. Nevermind, I by-passed the place to stay at the campsite. However, I expected to be able to do my usual when I arrive at my destination after cycling that day: tent set-up, shower, food and beer. That's all I want to do at the end of the day. But the whole reason I came to the Mweya peninsula was to take the boat tour, which has a reputation for being the best animal sight-seeing in the country and is well known among guides in Kenya even. Upon arrival I'm told the only boat going in the next 24hours is at 4pm, in 40 minutes. I had expected to go in the morning, when I'm not so tired and flustered, but my pass into the park only lasts for 24 hours. Well, what choice did I have, I paid the $26 and hopped on the boat, very hungry and not in the mood for being amongst tourists. In fact, I felt even more out of place than I do when I'm cycling through small Ugandan villages being the only white person for miles and perhaps the first that some of the kids have ever seen. Maybe if I had at least been able to shower or change before hopping on the boat with a bunch of old people carrying giant lenses for their cameras and in the country only to spend hundreds of dollars to chase wild animals with their compensating lenses. Here I was, dirt and sweat-salt-covered, buff-wearing dirt bag, cranky because I'm hungry and not in the mood for gaulking mzungus because they can't even fathom the fact that I'm traveling by bicycle. Of course, my mood changed once I was graced with hundreds of water buffalo and countless birds. SO MANY birds in fact, it was a little overwhelming. I would say it was a good thing we had a boat driver who knew the names of all the species, but the boat driver dictated the names of species is such a monotone manner I thought he was going to jump off the boat and let the crocodiles have him. He obiviously detested his job. I thought this was sad since I'm sure many Ugandans would love to have a job that does not require back-breaking work in the fields and actually PAID. Oh well, again, I was taken by the sights of more birds, giant crocodiles, tons and tons of hippos, a monitor lizard eating a GIANT fish and a few elephants! I was honestly a little dissappointed with the few elephants we saw as I had heard that we would see dozens, but I guess I was a week or two too late as the rains give the elephants less reason to be by the water and are therefore less viewable from the Kazinga channel, where we were touring. The tour lasted 2 hours, which was pretty good I thought! I had a beer before knowing how much they cost and was shocked enough to refuse a second beer once I found out the obsurd price. But having a beer while watching hippo float above and below the water's suface and multiple species of kingfishers fly by a few types of storks sitting by a cormorant who's looking at Egyptian geese waddling by thicknees...I think you get the point :)

Photo taken by German couple on a boda.

I could just turn right...

Just a ridiculous number of water buffalo, hippos and birds.

Water buffalo and hippo live in harmony.

Yawning hippo.

Chilling waterbuffalo.

The circle of life, a dying waterbuffalo.

Water buffalo chilling next to their buddy's skull.

Beautiful fish eagle sitting majestically ontop of this lone tree.

A stork doing what it does best, eating the creepy crawlees in the murky water's floor.

Can you see it?...

...can you see it now?...

...Bet you can now...

...How about NOW?!

Croc in QE np from Krisztina Mosdossy on Vimeo.

The old wealthy people with their giant lenses checking out a monitor lizard eating a massive cat fish while two hammerheads (the birds, not the sharks) wait for their turn to peck at the kill.

The monitor lizard and hammerheads as we let them dine in peace.

I lost track of how many species were on this particular beach during the tour. I know there are some skimmers in there, a couple of types of storks, cormorants, thicknees, a couple of hippos, etc. Our guide listed them off in his most unenthusiastic monotone voice, but I was ecstatic! 

Look closely and you might be able to see a white tusk at the upper edge of the bushes in the middle.

The disgusting, vomit lodge.

There's a fountain *inside* and everything is made of leather...

Once the tour was over, I set up my tent and noticed there was an elephant across the channel! I could see an elephant from my tent! Amazing! I watched him for a while then had a real shower with running  water (amazing for rural Uganda let alone a campsite!) and went back to the vomit lodge because this is where the beer is at. I am hopeless for beer. I only had one more though, I couldn't justify spending $3 on another beer when I know they usually cost $1. The sunset was gorgeous lighting up Lake Edward and the Kazinga channel with it's oranges and pinks while hippos called out in the distance and I watched as the silhouetted water buffalo faded into the night. The sun fell behind the Virunga mountains in Congo -so tantalizingly close I could get up and sprint there right there and then. Somewhere I've always wanted to explore. One day. At least I'm finally seeing that wild place for my own eyes, even if it is from such a distance. Suddenly I noticed the old tourists getting excited about something in the grass and shining flashlights eagerly to find it. I was obviously curious and went over to see what the fuss was about. "A mongoose!" the man and woman exclaimed. Well that seems fun, I got my light out to help relocate it. We found the supposed mongoose, but were quickly corrected by a MONGOOSE RESEARCHER that it was not a mongoose and perhaps a small cat or something in between. Well, I thought the mongoose researcher was more interesting than the mongoosy-kitty-cat-thing. Let's talk biology! I had no idea extensive ecological researcher was going on in Queen Elizabeth, but this masters student from England was part of a long-term mongoose project run by her supervisor for the last 30 years or so! Awesome! I didn't even know people studied mongoose to that extent anywhere to be honest. So we chatted for a while about ecological things, turns out mongoose are ridiculously interesting. For example, they can synchronize births to confuse the alpha female! What?!!! Wicked. Also turns out that besides one other long-term project on lions and hyenas, there's not much else in terms of research going on in Queen Elizabeth, at least not on Mweya peninsula. The occasional butterfly-enthusiast has touched on flutter-by identification, but sounds like nothing extensive has gone on. One more potential field site for entomological research! Something to think about indeed. I wonder why people don't study the insects in places like Queen Elizabeth or Kibale National Park. These seem like ideal research sites: research stations already in place, trained local field assistants, infrastructure and plenty of insects! 

Sun setting over the Kazinga channel.

Warthogs at the campsite!

Surly looking out over the Kazinga channel.

Cool bird-filled tree woke me up in the morning :)

Not a bad place to hang.

Not a bad place to sleep.

When re-entering the puke lodge earlier that evening I was told I should not stay long, in fact I should consider going back to my tent ASAP. Walking by yourself 200 meters to the campsite was not advice at night. I told them I was not going to stay in my tent from now (around 6pm) until morning, that's absurd. So they said I should leave no later than 10pm and they'll have a guard escort me. Sounds good to me. So my curfew came and the guard escorted me. Along the way I decided to ask him what were the exact dangers faced when walking solo at night on this particular route. His response was vague: wildlife. How enlightening. I pursued a more fulfilling answer, begging the questions: "Is it lions? I know they're rare here. Is it hippos? Although they're the most deadly animal on the planet, we've passed several already that are a mere couple of meters away and you barely shine your light on them to take notice. Elephants?" His answer, of course, was "Yes." Ah, the frustration. I nagged further. "It seriously can't be the hippos you're worried about, we've passed about 5 already, one being a group of three with two adults actively huddling around a baby to protect it and there was no immediate danger, you barely flinched. The driver to the marina boasted about seeing two lions over the number of years he's been working here, so I can't believe that the gun you are carrying is to fight off lions. The answer must be elephants, but have they ever hurt anyone in the campground before?" His reply was "All of these animals are dangerous." I personally do not believe that I was in any danger. And if I was, it would have been because of elephants. But who here thinks that one unarmed person walking alone is different from one unarmed person walking with an armed police officer who is NOT a ranger and even if he could hit the elephant in the dark with his bullets, who here thinks he would fire off enough rounds before the charging elephant got to us? Raise your hands....Needless to say, I thought this whole entourage thing was a big waste of time. To top it off, once we reached the campsite, the policeman was stunned that I was in the campsite alone....no, I have a whole posse of people waiting for me in my 2-man tent while I had to get an escort from the resort. What did you expect?! "Well, this is just too dangerous, you can't camp here alone." He exclaimed in the most matter-of-fact manner. "I was told there would be an armed guard here at night." I said truthfully, although, as you may have gathered, I didn't feel the need to have one. The police man could not handle it, he said he'd guard me throughout the night. OK, whatever, no skin off my back. However, he expected me to get into my tent right away. Well, dude, I still have to take a leak, brush my teeth, organize some of my shit, look at the moon and stars and then think about whether or not I want to go to sleep just yet as I am in no hurry in the morning and I want to soak up this paradise I'm in. I've dreamt about sleeping among wildlife in my tent since I was a little girl, I'm going to enjoy it damn it! So he huffed and said he'll wait to retrieve his jacket from the lodge until I get into my tent. So, I brushed my teeth and pretended to get into my tent to make him happy. Once I heard him jog away, I got out to enjoy my stargazing leak and the sound of hippos in the background. The night was truly gorgeous, moonlit waters, starry background to the Virunga mountains. I was reluctant to get back into my tent after a while of taking it all in, but I suppose sleep is in order at some point. I was happily woken up periodically throughout the night by the booming growls from the communicating hippos. I love you guys too.

Watching the sun set over the Virunga mountains in CONGO while I sip on an expensive beer.

Cool thread snake I found where I was keeping my bike at the vomit lodge.

I never noticed the gun-man coming back that night, so I assumed he changed his mind and didn't. I woke up to what started out as some light rain to violent raindrops, which was fun! I stayed dry in my tent (my thermarest got a little wet as it has been when heavy rain hit muddy ground and the splash-back enters my tent under the fly and through the mesh. Watch out MEC, I'm returning my Volt for this reason) and just enjoyed the sound of the storm and the rising sun in the distance through my window. I love the classic African scene where you could be under a black storm cloud, but clear skies await in the distance. Then you watch the once menacing cloud bother someone else in its distant path. Love it. As soon as the rain starts stopping, birds start-a-chirpin'. I noticed, the man-with-a-loaded-gun did actually come back and he walked solemnly back to his post now that morning has come and I am safe. A sweet thing to do, stay up all night in an environment that scares you just so a silly mzungu can enjoy her childhood dream (albeit he didn't know that it was a childhood dream of mine) when she didn't even ask you to. I never got to ask him if there was any danger in the night, but I bet you it was all good or else I would have heard some commotion.

Making tea on your camp stove when you're outdoors anywhere is a joy, but having so much wildlife all around me, being able to see the Congo and having a beautifully bright yellow bird come steal some bread crumbs off your breakfast table made morning tea ever more blissful. The bliss was interrupted with having to argue with some of the staff about my plans for the day, which originally consisted of taking a fishing boat across the Kazinga channel so that I could continue to ride within the QE park toward Ishasha at the Congo border rather than going back the way I came to continue on the main road, which eventually leaves the park and is much less direct to the southwest where I want to go. However, thankfully a woman staff member advised me that a) there would be no where to stay on the other side of the channel as the fishing villages are cut-off from the rest of civilization essentially and therefore could potentially rob me and get away with it and b) there are tree-climbing lions in the southwest of QE. The latter reason I had heard before, the former, however, was what I was trying to get out of the other staff members over the phone. My main concern was that I would not be crossing the river until the afternoon ( as I wanted to milk my 24 paid hours in the park), therefore would not make it to Ishasha today, therefore would need a place to stay on the other side of the river, i.e. a fishing village or a campsite. Apparently there is a campsite on the other side of Kazinga channel, but it charges $18 for camping with your own tent! HAHAHAHAHAHA. No. That's stealing. Rotten crooks. I don't know why it was so difficult to convey my concerns to the male park staff, but this woman totally got it and I'm very grateful to her. Although taking a local fishing boat across the Kazinga channel and continuing to ride through the park was obviously the more attractive option, I agreed with the woman in that I would be putting myself in unnecessary danger if I decided to stay in a fishing village where my safety is not guaranteed as there are only the local authorities, which probably wouldn't give a shit if someone stole my iPad or worst, hurt me to steal anything and the unspeakable: someone stealing my bike. I'm still not sure what the big deal is about the tree-climbing lion thing because I thought all lions climb trees...I'm with Mom: animals don't scare me, people can though.

The road between the Mweya lodge and the park gates strateling Lake Edward.

Savannah type scenery on the road. Who knows what animals are out there beneath the meter-high grasses.

Lonely road. Fine by me!

The wild winds were howling at times.

Elephant tracks by the road. Bound to be around here somewhere! Looks like someone slipped.

An elephant trail!

He ol' Surl hang in' out while I take one million pictures figuring I'm not going to be in a national park again this trip.

Really, my options were not bleak, going back the way I came still meant passing by warthogs and antelope and then, it happened, a lone ELEPHANT not 50 meters from me! WOWEEWOWERSONS. Picture it, me, on my bike, alone in the middle of savannah-type vegetation watching this giant elephant (I assume male) browse on a tree. It felt like a dream. That's it, I'm ruined, I'll never be able to safari any other way now. Safari by bike is the only way to go. Hell, screw doing anything without a bicycle ever again. There's nothing like having nothing between you and an elephant but a few hundred blades of grass and "The Air" as Johnny Gogolak would say in The Whole Nine Yards. I took out my binos and just watched as this majestic creature stood there sometimes just chomping on whatever was already in his mouth, other times almost playfully raising his trunk to grab some more leafy grub. I'm sure he noticed me, but didn't give a shit since I was a speck to him and he could crush me in the blink of an eye if he felt like it. But I wasn't bothering him, so why stress? I'm sure he thought ;) I felt bad for the lonely dude though, where was his family? It's not like they had anywhere to hide in this environment.

Me and the bull elephant, just chillin'. Too bad all I had was my iPad, so I couldn't zoom in, but maybe this gives you an idea of just how close/far I was from him. EDIT: Actually, I'm a moron and just discovered that I *can* zoom in with my iPad camera...fuck. Wish I knew that while I was still in Africa. Good thing I'm going back!

Although overexposed, this photo might give you a better idea of where the elephant is -under a tree.

Here he is again all by his lonesome.

I stopped at the same waterhole I had stopped at on my way in. I saw the same animals, lots of water buffalo, some antelope, those same flamingos were there in the same spot! This time was different though, I kept hearing lots of vocalization and branch-breaking. I looked around in my binos to see if any of the water buffalo were vocalizing, they all looked to be sun bathing or actually bathing in small pools of water. I kept hearing crashes in the trees though, what was going on? After a few minutes scouring the edge of the water, there it was! Another elephant! He was breaking branches obtaining his lunch off the trees! Wow! What a great day, so glad I came back this way. I watched this elephant for a while through my binos, he was much further away, probably 150 meters or so, but my binos are amazing and I had no probably seeing what he was up to. I admired how well camouflaged this giant animal can by in the trees. I can't believe how long it took me to find him originally seeing as how these animals weigh a couple of tons. Starring through my binos, I notice there's some movement behind the elephant, what's that? Woah! Another one! Wait a minute, those bushes in front of the elephant are moving...oh my! There's a baby elephant! Hold on here, there's a MASSIVE dude roaming in the background. Woohooo! Dont' mind me, just watching a small family of elephants as I straddle my bicycle! Yes. Time of my life. It took maybe 5 or 10 more minutes for me to realize that there were actually 8 elephants in sight in those trees and probably many more that I couldn't see. I was watching a HERD of elephants on the edge of a waterhole from my bicycle, alone. No land rovers, no old people with massive lenses, no human noises, just me some elephants, water buffalo, antelope, probably a few crocs, flamingos and my Surly Troll. Fuck. Yes. Two tiny cars loaded down with a bunch of goods sped by over the course of probably an hour having no clue (or not caring) that there was a slew of life to be viewed just yonder, while I stood there enjoying this glory-full moment. I seriously was solo with these creatures, living a childhood dream. The washboard road didn't seem to matter as much on the way out as it did on the way in. I wonder why.

The waterhole.

Here's the first of the herd spotted. Yup, that fleck is one of at least 8 elephants! The others are in the trees behind this one.

Antelope!

Waterbuck!

Bird-filled tree with Ugandan Kob in the background.

These pictures do no justice to just how many antelope were in this scene. There were at least 50. All of their beady little eyes were looking right at me and nd my Surly Troll.

Antelope road block!

Click to watch Ugandan Kob and Waterbuck play around: http://vimeo.com/90770730