Cynthia Holmes, owner of Benefactours Inc., has written these stories of African experiences, and most recently, January 2010.
Jan 30, 2010
Kenya and Uganda
I have just returned from a wonderful trip to beautiful Kenya and Uganda. I cannot get enough of these countries. I traveled alone, staying in a variety of accommodations, including safari lodges, a homestay, a banda in a village, and even in a first aid room at a home for girls. As a solo traveller, and a woman, I am aware that many people have fears of venturing on their own to Africa and I have to say that I did not once feel the slightest bit of fear while there. The people are welcoming and gracious, and there is just so much to experience, that I cannot imagine my life without Africa.
Kenya was recovering from a drought with a lot of rain, and up high in Aberdare National Park, it was cool. The day I arrived, I jumped on a jeep for a game drive in Solio Reserve. I was thrilled to see both white and black rhinos in this sanctuary, along with numerous bird species, antelope, giraffe, zebras, lions, jackal and to top it off, a leopard just standing on the road waiting to pose for us.
The next day, I was up at around 9000 ft altitude in Aberdare National Park marveling at the views and the variety of terrain. We were so lucky to see a leopard almost first thing in the morning, as usual, just hanging out in a tree. Many species of antelope, including waterbuck, bushbuck, the rare mountain reedbuck greeted us; numerous buffalo, warthogs, baboons, monkeys, absolutely huge elephants and even the very shy giant forest hog were all there parading for us. A trail to a beautiful waterfall allowed a bit of a stretch when we stopped for lunch. This park has stunning mountain scenery and is very different from many of the other savannah game parks I am used to.
Ol Pejeta Conservancy is a park just outside of Nanyuki, right at the foot of Mount Kenya. Again, I was not disappointed with the proliferation of animals in this park, as well as a chimpanzee sanctuary in the middle of the park. What a delight to watch the young ones doing somersaults or grooming each other.
While I was in the Mount Kenya area, I visited several orphanages and other needy sites in both Nyeri and Nanyuki towns. I am always amazed at the dedication of the local people who take in children and strive to educate them while providing for their basic needs. We are adding some of the orphanages and a school to our volunteer options. The nice thing about this area is that there is so much to see and do, including climbing Mount Kenya, while being outside of the big city.
I felt like I was arriving home when my plane landed at Entebbe, Uganda. The tea and sugar plantations line the highway on route to Jinja, and remind me how pretty my favourite country is. The village of Bujagali, near Jinja, has changed a lot, and is a very busy haven of tiny local businesses all catering to the kayakers and volunteers who flock there. Its location right on The Nile doesn’t hurt as the river offers level 5 rapids and is always lovely to look at.
A safari to Murchison Falls National Park included a stop at Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary, where we were able to walk up close to resident rhinos, as well as a chimp trek in Budongo Forest. The chimps kept evading us as they moved so quickly through the forest, but our rangers did manage to get us close for some short glimpses.
Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda’s largest protected area, hosts vast numbers of hippos, as well as crocodiles, buffalo, elephant, numerous antelope, lion, giraffe and birds. We saw virtually everything, including an eclipse of the sun!
A launch trip travels upriver to a viewpoint below the falls, where you can see the awesome site of the whole river getting compressed through a 6 meter gap in the rocks before dropping 44mtrs with a thunderous roar. We hiked to the top of the falls, allowing many opportunities for photos of the powerful Nile.
After the safari, I went back to Bujagali where I spent a lot of time looking at land. I hope to be able to buy a piece of land where I can build a part-time home for myself as well as guests. Down the road, I am envisioning taking in some orphans or needy kids.
I was able to fit in a number of music and dance experiences while in Uganda, in between souvenir shopping and visiting many friends. Jinja is near the equator and enjoys 2 growing seasons each year so many amazing fruits and vegetables grow in this very lush area. The locals insist that I am not eating enough, and I have to admit that it is hard not to overeat their yummy dishes.
It was a very successful trip and I am already planning the next one.
Uganda
These are excerpts from travel stories written in 2004 on a 15 month adventure. Read about travel experiences from Africa and other destinations around the globe.
1. Volunteering at a Preschool
2. Bwindi or Bust – Tracking Gorillas
Volunteering at a Preschool
The second day I was there, I was wandering down the village road, when about 12 kids adopted me. They took me into their mud house and showed me all of their possessions, consisting of a water barrel, 3 filthy beds for 7 children and a chair. They all sang songs for me, even the toddlers, taking turns and singing together. They were so sweet. One song was called "We are happy to see you today" and I really had to blink back the tears. It was just what I needed at that moment.
My volunteer job was at a preschool for orphans. If you ever want to feel needed, go visit a preschool in Uganda. Every day when I arrived at the school, the kids would all come running to greet me, grabbing my hands and climbing all over me. I usually had 4 or 5 kids hanging on each arm at a time. Sometimes they would fall asleep with their heads in my lap. I taught them nursery rhymes and songs and helped the teachers with correcting letters and numbers etc. I quickly found out that teaching kids is much different from teaching adults; you must repeat yourself dozens of times. The kids were taught in their local language, Lusoga, and English. They called me Madam "Sinseeah" or "Finfiya".
I normally walked to work, 35 minutes along the main road that passed many villages. The people were very friendly, especially the kids. The adults would often ask me who I was and what was I doing there. They were very appreciative when I told them that I was helping out at a school. I have never shaken hands so much in my life.
Our school had one classroom outside; the other two rooms had a dividing wall them that was open at the top so you could always hear the other classes. It got very noisy, especially when it rained on the tin roof. The teachers are ecstatic when a visitor brings books, pens or just anything. Only 2 or 3 of the kids had shoes, a few wore flipflops and the rest were barefoot. It was so muddy when I first arrived, as it was the rainy season, so red mud got tracked everywhere, including my clothes.
There was no running water at the school, so the kids drank from a jerry can and shared 2 cups. Occasionally, they were given toys to play with for an hour or so. The toys consisted of a few balls, grass dolls, broken plastic trucks, some bits of playdough, and some stuffed animals, all covered in dirt. The kids are so thrilled to have something other than the usual empty water bottles that they normally play with.
One little girl that I noticed, an AIDS orphan, was very bright and it broke my heart that her grandmother would likely not be able to afford to even send her on to primary school. Her eyes would follow me all day long, as she smiled shyly. Everyday she wore the same ragged blue t-shirt.
Education is basically free for primary grades 1 through 7; however, the kids must buy a uniform and their own exercise books and pencils. For some families, those expenses are prohibitive. A typical primary school has over 1500 children, and many classes are jammed packed with 100 - 150 kids. Some kids board at the schools, and their rooms are often just a bare cement floor with a thatch mat on the floor to sleep on.
Every morning, when I arrived at school, I made a point of shaking hands and greeting the teachers. We would ask each other how was the night, how’s the family, how is “there” and how are the crops, chickens, or goats. We would also shake hands again when I left for the day, wishing each other a good day. The headmistress would thank me profusely every day and about once a week would say to me "Cynseeah, thank-you for loving us".
Bwindi or Bust – Tracking Gorillas
5 women in a rented car, no collision insurance, driving across Uganda – what could possibly go wrong with that? 4 of us were in search of gorillas at Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in southwestern Uganda; 1 of the gals had been before so she just came along for the ride. Our trip started with madly shopping in Kampala for a few necessities. Since it was on the way, and they sold so many things that we could not get in Jinja, what do you expect 5 women to do? After stocking up, the next few hours were spent driving around in extreme heat, with mega traffic, and Sheila yelling out the window, with her Irish accent “Which way to Kabale?”. So we were off to a bit of a slow start.
The main roads there were busy with people walking or cycling, matatus (mini-buses) and large trucks. There were villages and towns every few miles, it seemed, and they all had huge speed bumps. Every time we drove over one of those speed bumps, our car would bottom out, and we wondered why. We noticed some other drivers taking the speed bumps crosswise so thought we should try it. It became a series of zig, zag, hold your breath, scrape and thump. After 12 hours of this, it was getting dark and we still had to drive 8 km up a steep mountain road to reach Lake Bunyoni, our destination for the first night. The road was so full of ruts and holes that 3 of us had to get out and walk, as Emily attempted to navigate around or through them. We kept questioning why the guy would rent us a car like that knowing what the road was like. The car kept scraping and finally Emily just stopped the car, and said “No more.” By then, it was pitch dark and none of us was feeling overly optimistic. Thank God for cell phones. We called the camp and they sent someone to come help us. I couldn’t believe when he arrived in a car just like ours; we had expected something bigger and tougher. Then we realized why we kept bottoming-out, we had overloaded the car with our luggage, food, and about 40 liters of water.
We finally got settled in a nice cabin and arranged for a 4-wheel drive vehicle and driver to take us the next day the last 4 hours to Bwindi. We were quite thrilled to have someone else do the driving, and in a car that we were not responsible for. Our driver, Moses, was lovely, but the truck was not. There were no shocks and the rear windows could not be rolled down. Of course there was no air conditioning and it was brutally hot. We dubbed the ride “heaven and hell” - heaven because of the scenery and hell because of the ride. After 4 hours of getting our spines and other body parts smashed around, we finally arrived at Bwindi. Phew, I’d been waiting 12 years for this!
The next morning, we checked in with the rangers and met our guide, another Moses. We were driven the first few miles with our guide, armed guards, trackers, and a few porters, so that we could begin tracking the Mubwere group of gorillas.
The first part of the trail was on a wide path and passed a few tiny villages, on the edge of the forest. The views were absolutely stunning, green terraced fields on the mountain sides and mist hovering over the valleys. It soon began to rain heavily, and within minutes we were all soaked. I think I was right at home in the rain forest, and really only felt more exhilaration. The floor of the forest was slippery and spongy
soft from leaves and vines. It was very dense, although we were able to easily bushwack our way through. The guide had been in radio contact off and on with the trackers and they soon reported that they had found Mubwere, the group we were pursuing. Since there were no actual paths in the forest, the guide and trackers then had to call back and forth to each other with a sort of hooting sound, as a way to locate each other. Our group got very excited then as we realized that we would, in fact, be seeing the gorillas. I got goosebumps as we left our porters, bags, water and hiking sticks behind, and followed our guide. We met the trackers then, and they spent a few minutes cutting at the tall foliage with machetes so that we could realize what we had been waiting for. It had taken us just 2 ½ hours, although it felt like only 5 minutes to me.
Then we saw him, Ruhundeza, the silverback. He was sitting with a baby and they were doing what they do best, eating. Cameras were snapping away when a female came running out of the bush past us. She then stopped, turned around, growled, and then charged us. 2 of our group tried to run away, but I stopped them. We stood our ground and the female soon backed away. There were a total of 9 gorillas in the Mubwere group – the silverback, 3 adult females, and the rest were babies. The foliage was thick, and our view was obstructed at times. We were not allowed within 7 meters of the hairy guys; they kept moving, so we had to too. Next thing you knew, there was the silverback mating with one of his “wives”. This was an extremely rare sight to see; one ranger told us he had only witnessed mating once in 3 years. Ruhundeza soon resumed munching leaves, while the females tended and fed their babies. One female sat scratching at a log, I believe looking for insects to eat.
We noticed the silverback looking up at the trees, turning his head back and forth, when all of a sudden he stood up, beat his chest (just like in the cartoons), and came running towards us. We all stood frozen to the ground in fear, but thankfully, he kept going, within about 4 feet of the whole group of us. He rushed up a tree, another rare sight, and began to eat up there. For the remainder of our allotted hour, we watched most of the group join him moving around in the trees. The whole time with the gorillas was not at all what I had expected; National Geographic always shows them sitting together in a clearing just eating. So, I know my experience was special and I am so fortunate.
On our way out of the forest, we made a stop to eat our lunch at a grassy bluff with the most spectacular view. By then it had stopped raining and we were able to dry out nicely for our hike out. Moses was waiting for us, for another heaven and hell ride back to Lake Bunyonyi.
After being jostled around again, we decided that we deserved another day off to relax, play scrabble and just relax with our memories before our long ride back to Jinja.
