December 2016 | For winter break this year, we spent three weeks driving through (western) Kenya and Uganda. We started off at Maciej and Mouse’s place in Mbita, continued on to Jinja and Murchinson Falls in Uganda. Uganda is great for a 3 week holiday from Kenya, as it’s enough time to get to most places in Uganda. Conveniently for us, our resident status in Kenya meant we did not need visas for Uganda and we got resident rates in the parks, which saved us a lot of money!
Click on any image to open a slide show.
The view from the top of the fire tower at the end of a short hike in Kakamega National Forest.Hiking through Kakamega National Forest with a guide.Camping in Kakamega. We enjoyed a flat campsite with noone there and a great view of both the forest and the stars!The white Nile in Jinja, Uganda.Zoë loved the two rope swings we found in Uganda. She was much braver than me at swinging from high perches!The ferry from Sesse Islands in Lake Victoria to Entebbe.We loved the fruit in Uganda! Zoë and Robyn had fun preparing fruit breakfast meals for us – they’ve been watching a lot of Masterchef Australia!Sunset in Lake Mburu National Park in Uganda. We had our own campsite there as well.A rope swing in Lake Bunyoni in Uganda.Our favorite camping site of the trip was in Queen Elizabeth National Park, just across the river from the Congo. Those hippos are in the DRC!The best street food in Uganda is ‘Rolex’ – which means ‘rolled eggs’, but they pronounce and spell ‘Rolex’. From the boat in Queen Elizabeth National Park.Robyn and Zoë wanted lunch in the ‘fancy hotel’ in Queen Elizabeth, but instead I took them to the canteen, where we were the only tourists. It was great!A crater lake in Queen Elizabeth. There are dozens of these beautiful lakes in this area.Pascal owns some land on the rim of this crater lake, just 15 minutes from Fort Portal. Camping on his land was one of the highlights of our trip!Card games with a view.Hiking around the crater lake from Pascal’s land.Pascal told me that this might be bug’s laying eggs in my toe – I had to lance and bleed it. Yuk!Murchinson Falls.Kob Antelope were new for us – they were everywhere!Orbi were new for us – they are cute!Crossing the river in the middle of Murchinson Falls.Murchinson was hot! Our air con broke. Robyn was a mess when the temperature got over 30 degrees, she couldn’t even speak! We were happy to get the air con fixed a few days later.Ferry from Mbita in Kenya towards Uganda.Cooking at Maciej’s.Maciej’s comfie place in Mbita.We tried to drive to a lookout outside Mbita, but it was more difficult and time consuming than we had anticipated.A boat ride from Mbita.Relaxing on a shore run during our boat ride from Mbita.It’s all solar lights at Maciej’s place in Mbita. The welcome packet for AirBnb is hysterical. Section Water: no running water, don’t drink. Section WiFi: There is none. Section Electricity: There is none. etc…The famous samosa joint in Narok. I was scared to stop since I destroyed a fuel pump at the neighboring gas station last time I was there – but no one noticed me.Driving down from Chyulu Hills in the rain was fun!It was a wet drive down from Chyulu Hills. The last day was a wet morning. We huddled under the hatchback of Ben and Jilian’s car while making some breakfast.Practicing our slingshot skills over the plains below.Satellite camp.Lunch break half way up to Satellite Camp.Zoë and Hanna playing hide and seek in the Kamboyo House.Dinner at the Kamobyo House.Tsavo had an unusual amount of wild life around due to recent rains.Mzima Springs in Tsavo.Underwater viewing point at the springs.Watching ‘elephant TV’. We watched this massive elephant for a long time at the watering hole outside the house.All packed and ready to go.
