Diary (English)

Holiday in Uganda
From 4 October to 21 October 2021

October 4

Flight to Kampala or we just land somewhere in between. I guess in Rwanda, Kigali and after exactly 7 hours 35 minutes. I'll start my diary on the plane.
One sentence and the problems continue that we thought would finally end with the plane taking off for Uganda.
The keyboard has independently switched to an English layout. After 10 MINUTES fumbling the German goes again.

Actually, the flight plan shows no stopover, on the electronic ticket is no stopover noted, so we are curious as a whistle, when the next surprise is served to us. Then it will not be boring.

Exciting until the last minute before departure it was already. A little comparable to our Tibet adventure, but through Corona a little different. Corona has kept us away from long-distance travel for over two years now. And if someone had predicted two years ago that our next trip would be to Africa, we would have vehemently denied it, because we had just returned from Africa (Namibia, Botswana.... ).

Yes now we sit again in the flier, although this was not quite sure still 13 hours before the Takeoff. For the flight, everyone needs a PC test, whatever the abbreviation means (I'll add it), so a test that you do not acutely have a viral disease of the pathogen Corona-19 (which refers to the year of the first outbreak of the disease, so the 19 stands for 2019). If this test is negative, you are allowed to fly. You take the test (and I'm writing this in case a grandson reads this someday who can't remember back in the day) at a testing center. Test centers are usually tent structures or temporarily unused buildings that sprouted up like mushrooms, where a nurse sticks a stick up your nose so that your nasal mucus sticks to the cotton bulb of the stick and can then be tested in a lab for the Covid-19 pathogen. So that was back in 2020 and 2021 and maybe 2022, but you don't want to get ahead of history. So we had planned this test, had an appointment made on the spot, at Marien-Krankenhaus Marl. We showed up for the appointment and after 24 hours, as promised, there was no test result. Since I knocked exactly after 24 hours again on the door of the test center (yes, the tent had a door), just still the already going nurses pleadingly could convince to take this non-test result, I saved our vacation.
Since the test was not collected on Saturday, but only on Sunday morning, there was of course still no result. The test results were received at that time on an app, a small program, which ran on a mobile phone (in the past they said phone or computer, then you had both in your hand and said mobile phone). In the past, a phone would have been enough, you would have simply called and announced the result.
So no app, no computer helped, the nurse had to try the phone and call the laboratory, where they were told that the tube with the nasal mucus, hermetically packed, had reached the laboratory in Gelsenkirchen only on Sunday morning and with a PCR test, so with this negative positive, we wanted to create the conditions for our flight to the holiday, was not to be expected so quickly, perhaps only tomorrow morning. Well then, the plane in which we are now sitting, and as it seems, things still turned out positive, would probably have flown without us.
Highly motivated by the fee that the ladies had collected for their company for the test (70€ per test = 140€), a possibility opened up to get the test result on the same day (the cost price for the test is 9 €).
Somewhat reassured, I drove home and delivered the disturbing news to the woman. Around 1 p.m. - it is still Sunday, the 40th anniversary of the reunification, the last 40th anniversary was followed by a collapse, as is well known - - I called the laboratory to inquire how far the slime had progressed.
The lab technician was puzzled by my clear sentences, as my date of birth had been given by the test centre as July 2021. My request to change this drew an outcry of horror as I could instigate her to forge a document. Well at the tender age of not even 3 months, according to the lab certificate, my horror at such an offence would also have been boundless. This could only change the test center, which seemed to me now as a power center, in any case for me soon the center of life, even center, since I had to go there now for the 4th time. Until 33 I didn't even have a car and went on holiday. Forgotten how that went.
Oh yes, I know, I had no telephone and no PC. I appeared there and was of course gushingly friendly received. With a mobile phone you just make more friends than before, the conclusion of the story.

Just then the Stuart came by and there I had them again my three problems. We have to fill out a health form.
Questions about headaches, coughs, colds, general fatigue... I stop, how many lies am I guilty of?
Yes, we've had a bout of the flu this past week. Almost on schedule I would say, a nice ritual of recent holidays or recent pre-holiday weeks. Makes it more exciting.

So why go to Africa.
It was supposed to be America. But Covid - 19 is unpredictable. And America is also not true, because China and Indonesia have also already fallen victim to the pandemic, as they call the travel prevention wave.
America almost still got the curve, because we had already booked this trip, but at the beginning of September it was canceled, because America did not issue entry visas and we booked Uganda at very short notice, because the country had recommended a photographer on Facebook warmest. But actually I always wanted to go to the Moon Mountains Ruwenzoni.
I give Covid - 19 a lot of credit for that.

I actually wanted to write about something completely different, namely how a week with the flu and waiting for the holiday paralyzes action, you do nothing, distract yourself, sleep a lot.... Anyway, it's over.

And America is second, not first, because visas are now being issued again, but not until November. And the kerosene is not enough now either, we have to go to Africa now, we are already over the Mediterranean.
And it has to be good, because I have invested 6 vaccinations, a lot of money and see above some nerves.
Now I sleep a little, so that I am fit on arrival. (By the way Toma fills out the health questionnaire for me. So I didn't lie that bad. :-) )


October 5

Uganda - the Pearl of Africa!
It has already shone with pearl today on the first day.
But first things first.
We landed in Rwanda between, only briefly and took off for Uganda through, a remaining flight time of 40 minutes. We were still before the stated arrival time in Entebbe, the airport of the capital Kimbala.
Now it was a case of holding our breath, at least when we passed the health check.
But Africa is still Africa. There the clocks tick, not tik, tak, just differently. We showed our PCR test, but any other piece of paper would have done. The lady also looked at the yellow fiber vaccination only from a distance and whether what Toma had indicated on the questionnaire was of zero interest. We marched as quite fast through the airport controls.

Just sat a gecko on my smartphone that is next to me on a sofa. He seemed probably disturbed about the disrespectful comments about Africa and after a minute he was gone again, in the sofa.

We had to be fast, because we were the last to leave the plane, then some still had to go to the toilet and all were in front of us in the immigration - queue. With a trained eye, I then picked the queue that moved the fastest to the counter. When it was our turn, we let a father with child through, the little one had already fallen asleep on his arm.
Toma was checked in and it was my turn, when an African woman pushed our border official away and first dealt with a group standing in the queue next door. Well great!
So all the excitement, whether that would go well, was in vain. We didn't have to do another PCR test either, just Africa.

Of course, it met all our expectations of Africa, which we had collected so far, but one always goes with German standards to things like entry, customs, health office.... approach.

We reached the hotel after a 15 minute drive. Clean, nice garden around it. I didn't feel well at all during the night. After about three hours I woke up, after the first snort out blood came out of both nasal extinguishers. If they had noticed this at the airport (how could they under the mask), the authorities would probably have taken the plane into Ebola quarantine. Fell asleep again after half an hour and woke up on time at the given time, which I had traded back by half an hour. Around two o'clock the first rooster crowed and as the senses switched on in bed, early morning, other birds were then heard singing beautifully, really beautifully in the trees of the garden doing their best. Very exotic sounds, not known to me from our garden.
After breakfast, which we had specially not pre-ordered as English Breakfast, but a kind of continental variant, we drove in the direction of Kampala exchange money. With 300 Euros I became a Ugandan millionaire.
Good thing I had negotiated the half hour out, because the bank was just opening when we arrived. With the money in our pockets, we drove around the capital towards the north. The suburbs of Kampala were crowded, at least the road that went through there. It was a mixture of Asia crowd and Africa chaos, the vehicles jammed, the motorcycles whizzing every meter of free space past us so narrowly that I could not hold the photo out to the window without the danger of hurting a passing in the face.
The weather was overcast and the rain clouds gathered in the sky. First stop was a rhino sanctuary, a breeding station for rhinos, in order to reintroduce them into Uganda's national parks, since they had managed to completely eradicate them through poaching. Great job creation program for many people. We arrived around noon, approached some rhinos on foot (were lucky enough that they were not just lying around at lunchtime, but that two young bulls had been flushed out by the placeman. Huge action, at least for rhinos.

In the sky it was already flashing and thundering, a dark blue sky with thunderstorm clouds, fantastic scenery - just Africa.
We reached our jeep, a Toyota Landcruiser, dry with difficulty, when heavy rain was already pelting down on the roof. Lunch, onward journey. At lunch came, probably attracted by the smell, warthogs look and Kobs, so ne kind of antelopes. The animals here are less shy than we have experienced in other countries, but still maintaining a certain escape distance.
The roads are actually good, at least the main roads, and you can get around quickly except in the capital. Second highlight were the Murchison, so the waterfalls, which the Nile branch, which comes from Lake Victoria, before it unites with its other part, downtost. On the one hand quite unspectacular, on the other tremendous. It's a bit down to perspective, how you look at the falls. As it was raining, very windy and the water level unusually high, the spray and swirls of water carried by the wind through the air way was considerable and also prevented access to some viewpoints, unless of course you wanted to get completely wet in seconds.
No sun and windy rainy weather were of course not the best conditions for a good photo, but it is promised, we go there again. (Which unfortunately was not the case)
From the falls we headed to our lodge's destination for the day at Lake Albert (or very close to it, we'll definitely see it).
The drive there continued in the national park and we saw quite a lot of animals directly from the road. But it was also impressive to drive over the half-finished Nile bridge, over a wide river, the Nile in Egypt in nothing inferior. Only the landscape around is greener, although along the Nile in Egypt also a green stripe stretches through the landscape.
So. waterbucks, warthogs... And many more animals we saw directly from the big road without having to go on a game drive and drag a cloud of dust behind us.
The lodge was pretty basic I would say, but is supposed to be the most popular far and wide. Tomorrow we go 6. 30 clock on safari tour but not on foot. Nice lazy look at everything from the car.
Food is OK, accommodation basic and OK, but the animals right outside the porch.
Good night!

October 6

If we had flown back after the first day, I would have said, vacation succeeded. Maybe still Ruwenzoni and gorillas not seen, but what the heck.
So everything that is still to come, we take as an encore to this densely packed day, and if I write this now, I guarantee that I have already forgotten half of it and will only write the absolute highlights, that is, what made it into the long-term memory, where it will remind us of this day for a long time.

We sit in the lunge, where there is internet. It is already half past nine and on 7. 10, so the events of 6. 10, this incomparably eventful day have already overlapped with the experiences of today, which, although we only had a morning game - drive was again peppered with moments for eternity. Pictures that the world doesn't need, but that I will certainly look at for a long time to come, that will always remind me of this day, also of today, of a country, a national park that is literally overflowing with life, diversity, that also point to the beauty and unconditional preservation of this world, but in an unagitated way, not as hysterical as a movement of spoiled children, whose heads are full of the Internet, Facebook, Instagram and who rehearse the uprising, in which they conjure up the end of the world, in which they have to hand over their mobile phones and would then be lost, in a world that we got to know 50 years ago and perceived as quite normal.

So what happened? Up at 5:45. 6am breakfast. And the first moment of Exitment as I picked up a piece of toast, glancing out the window and noticing a bit of a very dimly lit sky. It was this pale pink, purple color that penetrated through my marrow, I left the toast and ran into the room to get the photo. So while Toma was having breakfast with Eddie, I caught this wonderful light, from deep blue to pale pink, and wandered around the grounds looking for a usable foreground.

8.30 departure, 6. 40 sunrise, not spectacular.
Drive into the game drive area and then already on the main road animals over animals, Hartbeast, Uganda Kobs, Waterbucks,....

We turned off the road into the savannah and despite tall grass, there were animals everywhere. Yes and not only in the distance, to say it with a currently understandable comparison, in mobile phone photography distance (without zoom function).
We had a Landcruiser where the roof could be opened and we could stand if needed and had a view to all sides. Very nice.
But not only animals close by, the expanses were filled, overflowing.
Buffalo, elephants making their way through the savannah, the eye could not get its fill, the mind could not fix.

After about half an hour we saw a cluster of cars, so there was something to see there. A young leopard lay lazily on a tree and all start fascinated upwards. Our guide noticed how in the distance, still easy to see with the naked eye, the animals became restless. A lion was spotted shortly after and the lazy leopard lost a little of its attention from the safari men. It wasn't just one lion, there were three of them, one male and two females, do they actually use the diminutive form with these large animals?
They were on a mating trip and the female ready to conceive had brought her girlfriend (sister) with her.
The presence of the pleasure-ready lions triggered with others little pleasure from rather restlessness, with almost all animals rather a flight reflex, with the buffaloes the stimulus, we will show it. So the buffalos scare away the lions, very courageous, whereby one must say to the honour of the lion that also they went from time to time to the counterattack. Completely unimpressed were the giraffes. Well, if somewhere down there is fought, what is it to us up here, clever management.

So on the first day we had already seen the Big Five, which some people look for in their African holidays for 14 long days and sometimes in vain.
So the rhinos yesterday, lion, buffalo, leopard (which we also had not seen too often so far), elephants, giraffes all today almost at the same time. Unbelievable!

We ate very sweet delicious pineapple for a break, saw many birds at Lake Albert where the rest area was.

Everything else in the morning I have to reproduce by means of the pictures, more is not stuck, everything was overwritten. Well, you can never have enough RAM.

In the afternoon, so after lunch we went to the Nile, by boat to the waterfalls, the most powerful in the world, as they say here.

On the shore we saw several families of hippos, passed colonies of bee-eaters and saw various kingfishers. We could watch the Giant kingfisher hunting, catching a fish, flying it onto a tree and eating it in no time. Great pictures succeeded.

Sea eagles, Baboon populated the trees on the banks of the Nile. We introduce only a small piece in the bay to the waterfalls, because current was so strong that the engine of our boat did not manage to fight against the water masses.
On the way back we saw another fishowl, another griffin and a crocodile right on the shore with jaw problems, it couldn't get its mouth closed.

The crowning glory were still landscape photo on the way home with a fantastic evening sun, slanting light in the savannah with umbrella acacia trees and palm trees. Then the sunset, the colors of the morning repeated.
Food is good at the lodge.

On the basis of the pictures still which ran us still everything before the camera and of which I did not report:
Hyena
Patas - Monkeys
Reason Horn Bills
Vultures (two species)
Bishop (red) does bridal dance and shows nest
Warthogs
Birds-large and small, in the savannah by the lake,,,,....
Bee Eater - In Flight

October 7

When you get up again at 5. 30 a.m., how can you talk about rest, vacation, again 6 a.m. breakfast, again 6. 30 a.m. departure.
But no colors, thunder and lightning as a substitute, rain, until arriving at the area of operation, and then when the rain subsided, a few birds.
And Patas - they didn't seem to like the rain either. But the close-ups with the wet fur were then but more interesting than in the sunshine.
Still in the rain we saw again many giraffes, patas and then we took our time, which is not so easy to convey to an ambitious guide, why we do not want to look for leopards or lions. We explained to him that sometimes we give chance a chance. So no "Cats" , but boring birds. But by then his ambition was aroused again. On the horizon he saw cranes, I think they are called crowned cranes, so these beautiful creatures. There were many of them. On the photo with the telephoto they were visible, but not very impressive. So we took the small fowl, which was in the immediate vicinity of the car, of which we had now put the roof up as the rain had eased off. Again beautiful red bishops, do not know how they are called in German.
Then in the tree for a change a pregnant Baboon female with a baby in her arms, then a herd of elephants ran towards us with a huge male.
Birds again - Kingfisher - nice and colourful. Weaver birds, hornbills, cuckoo, a snake eagle, and as we look so quite relaxed from the car, once in a while put the forward gear, I heard grunting sounds and asked Eddie if this was perhaps the leopard, because we were very close to yesterday's tree, where he had lazed around. Eddie swung out of the car onto the roof and kept a lookout. Not 10 yards in front of us were lions in the grass.

Eddie on the roof, the car door invitingly open and lions within reach. Toma felt a little different. Eddie drove forward another 5 meters and came to a stop. The male lion grunted in displeasure, feeling disturbed at the important conservation of his species. We first saw the king of beasts and a female in the tall savannah grass.
A little later, as we leaned out a bit cockily, we spotted another lioness directly below us as 1-2 meters from the path and car. Toma it became queasy. Despite all the closeness the animals were only partially visible through the high grass and behind a yellow grass curtain. The really spectacular pictures were missing, Toma's video was all the more significant for it, with all emotions, delight and fear!

So the boring birds had led us to the lions, because at the place all cars had passed so far, now of course not. Now everything gathered at the spot, those who already came back and those who joined behind us.
We left the added tourists to the lions (inside). By the way, there was another sister who wanted to watch the mating, but we discovered her only when we went to the next tree. On the next tree lay the leopard on duty. Pretty tall tree with no branches at the bottom. So the leopard must have climbed vertically for quite a distance.
Our guide claims yes, that he would soon come down from the tree, the safari cars would not bother him. So we waited for the MOMENT, for the photo. He didn't seem to be lying comfortably, but he didn't make any effort to descend either. So we looked at the surroundings. There they came flying. All the crowned cranes had set out and flown off in the direction of the lake. I could photograph the whole flock in the air. Continuous fire and then wait until everything was written on a map.
A herd of buffalo with cattle egrets was the next distraction while waiting for the photo. Because to photograph the leopard in the tree is not so easy. Many branches and leaves were in front of his face and they already made the autofocus difficult. The face was not 100% sharp. So I had to focus manually with the big lens, which I practiced while waiting for the photo. Well and always he looked yes not to our side.
At some point we all got bored waiting for the Leo's mercy and decided to drive on and come back again. The other cars were long gone anyway.
We drove to the lake, eating pineapple. This delicious pineapple, sugary sweet and juicy, of which we had already eaten one yesterday.
Shortly before the lake then once again the herd of buffalo. African fried chicken, gray heron, which was not a gray heron.

In front of the rest area at the lake today was an island about 100 meters long and 30-50 wide - perhaps even larger from- papyrus grass. This island was washed up overnight. Hippos lived in the island. Who knows if they were hippos from the nearby bay or if the hippos came with the island. They made quite a racket though. The pineapple was delicious and after quite a few bird photos we set off to drive along the shore for a bit, maybe watch the fishermen fishing, hippos were also to be seen. We had not driven 300 meters, had photographed birds and suddenly Eddie spotted a sea eagle. Well, since I had photographed quite a few beautifully yesterday, he had to add that he ate a fish to electrify me. So get ready to take pictures and the jeep approached the bird. Through the wobble I lost sight of the eagle.
We had broken through his escape distance and he had taken off. With the fish. Now, don't miss the moment. Aim, focus, pull the trigger. Keep your eye on the target, don't let go of the finger. Continuous fire until he was gone. And the result is impressive, at least on the display and even when zooming in, the shots are still sharp.
Tag gelaufen!
Now it's time for bed - tomorrow the chimpanzees will be waiting.
But that was not all. The eagle was gone, we drove on with the jeep. Not a hundred meters and in front of us stood a crowned crane, as if we had ordered a model. They're beautiful. The good Lord has given everything, how perfect nature can be. I wonder if a designer would have come up with such an outfit. When a herd of giraffes came from the other side, he flew away without me noticing, but the pictures were on the chip. So devote to the giraffes, which ate earth and that just as if they were drinking. Only when they get up they don't splash the water around as we had experienced in Namibia. Shortly after still the buffalo herd and at some point was then enough and we lead back to the lodge lunch.
We had a free afternoon, three of which I slept through to get a little healthier. After I woke up, the lodge became the safari destination (without their surroundings, because there was the lodge's own leopard, lions were also already seen and today's experience that we can not see lions from two meters away and not photograph from 5, but already prompted to act a little more cautiously) . The focus was on the birds. Well, it always takes a while until you know the places where there is a good opportunity to take pictures. So the afternoon passed unspectacularly, but I found an appealing motif for the sunset, which then also went bombastic, great clouds, very nice. Only my slow motion video I messed up, because I had not set to manual focus.
Now, let's put an end to October 7.

October 8

Getting up like it's not a holiday (so early).
At some point we had to leave this heavenly place again. It went on for a while through the park until we arrived at the gate and drove towards Ruwenzori. It went over small roads, through simple villages, then again on asphalt road with larger villages along the road and what was noticeable, everywhere you looked, the land was used for agriculture.
We did not see any larger forest areas.
At lunchtime we reached our hotel, a very nice facility built into the forest. Very nice lodge, good garden with pool and very neat and tidy.
Our room was also idyllic with cleaned windows that gave the impression they were not even there and we were one with the jungle, because all around the bungalow was jungle. and we stepped out onto the terrace and saw two monkeys trolling. The afternoon we had again for free disposal. So camera out and area unsafe made. Since it began promisingly with the monkeys, the expectations were big. Unfortunately, they were not fulfilled, but there were some nice bird and portrait photos. (During my walk through the foothills of the village and the meetings with the villagers)

October 9

Chimpanzee Tracking

Well, it didn't get better when I got up. To sleep in was not to think. 7. 30 o'clock we should be in the 750 km² large national park to see one of the 1500 chimpanzees, so was the plan. We were also on time on site, but tourists from the Ami country took it not quite so accurate with the motto issued by their Mr. Trump: America first, they came plenty late and all were waiting. Briefing, saddling up and a short ride closer to where the chimp group was staying. We were a group of three with an American woman who was there very punctually, probably more of an Obama fan and our guide - a fortyish woman, already a grandma. After 5 minutes of driving and another 5 minutes of walking through the forest, our American saw the first chimpanzee. A loner. Tabu, that was his name, was also injured in childhood and had a handicap on his leg. After the first photos, we waited for Tabu to lead us to his herd. He did come down from the tree, but then ran away from us in the forest.
But by then we had already heard loud yelling in the distance and were able to get our bearings as to where the large group was. About 15 minutes we went through the rainforest in the direction of the roar. When we then noticed the first movements and saw two chimpanzees frolicking in the trees on the opposite side of a clearing, our luck was complete. The first pictures were in the box, let's take a relaxed look at what is still to come. There are several groups in the forest, all of them strictly watching their territory. Males are not allowed to leave their territory, females are, they can change to another group. Some of these groups are habituated to humans, meaning they do not plead in front of humans, and allow humans to be near them. They are not fed. How the approach process is done was not explained to us. I was still taking pictures of the two chimps, mother and child, as the view was very good over the clearing cleared of trees. Otherwise one sees them yes mostly from down above sitting on the tree, not always the best perspective, Toma had already gone on with the guide and urged me to follow, because there was somewhere something even better to see.
I followed them and now we were in the center of the group.
All hell broke loose here. Yelling, screaming. If all children were allowed to scream as loud as possible in kindergarten, this level of conversation would be much lower than the piercing screams of the chimpanzees. The explanation was, there were two females in the group who were ready to conceive, which probably drove the masters crazy. Because with chimpanzees, everybody gets a turn. The female is about 14 days ready to conceive, the first 11 of them everybody is allowed, after that the female chooses her favorite for the last days and spends the honeymoon with him for three days. Well, and for the 7 seconds that such a sex act lasted, they now screamed around for all they were worth. Somehow they also worked out the order by, for example, one monkey coming to another who is also lying in wait and saying, let me go first, it's ok, yes. The whole thing is accompanied by a romp through the trees, the sliding down as the branches break under the weight of the monkeys looking quite breakneck. So we were down there on the forest floor and above, beside in front and behind us the bear (the chimps) were rampaging. The silverback first squatted and then lay next to us and watched the spectacle quite unaffected. One could photograph him then also. To catch the monkeys in their ape-like speed on the trees was more difficult. It was relatively dark. If the female left the tree, it came then also on the ground to the showdown. Well and the disadvantage of the 7 seconds, if you are lucky enough to have seen it happen, you only have 7 seconds for a photo. I didn't manage to capture the reason for the monkeys screams of delight on the chip. Because the pursuit of the female monkey went on and on, she also stood only 7 seconds and then she went on through the forest, until the next one was on it.

We were with the chimpanzees for a very long time. Our companion got a good tip for it, of course. Before we left for Rwenzori, we did a community walk. It went around a piece of forest that people did not use for agriculture, which they had left for the wildlife to use. First we saw a Blue Turaco, then different species of monkeys, Black and White Colobus, Red Colobus, Velvet Monkeys, ...all in a manageable area.
After the nature walk, we went to a family that grew coffee (we had declined to visit the beer or liquor production, as there was always a tasting included).
So we were invited for coffee and got coffee made, the process started at the dried bean. Very interesting and tasty, but very strong coffee. It was robusta. Uganda is leading the world in exporting Robusta coffee.

At some point we drove off the main road over a paved road, which are roads made of clay solidified over the mountains and had a beautiful view of the mountain range we were approaching. We passed volcanic - formed lakes, and bats with very different cultures ordered.
Shortly before Kasese it started to rain like a cloudburst. We spend the night in the city. The hotel was one of the hotels, as I associate them with Africa in the city: Windows and doors barred, angled construction, a security man next to the front door dozing in an armchair, the rooms very simple and small and to confirm my impression, the light went out everywhere at the exact moment when I plugged my charger into the socket. City hotels should be avoided when planning.

Rwenzori Trekking

10.10. (1.hiking day)

The night in the city hotel also passed. We had survived it, the things were packed, we drove to the mountains. About 10-15 km away was the starting point of our hike. Shortly before we reached the base, we passed through a village that looked similar to the Ahr valley after the flood disaster. Also here a flood had torn away houses, fields, bridges, schools.
Here, too, the flood has cost lives.
Around 8. 30 we were at the base camp.
Briefing, filling out paperwork, medical history (so it's like we were being operated on for 4 days and not walking through the woods to recover). If I had answered all the questions correctly, we would still be sitting there at noon.
Instruction on the rescue costs, by carrier and by helicopter (The helicopter ostete a unit price of 10. 000 $ - just a bargain - but in the weather conditions, he could not fly anyway). Trying on rubber boots, although we didn't want them at all, handing over the luggage to the porter, introduction of our guides, Abraham and Rasto, nice guys in fancy yellow shirts. Fill up with water at Eddie's - I filled up my camel bag with 2 litres). Quarter past nine we started. Sunday! Church day. The whole village on the street. The children don't go to school for almost two years because of Corona and they always have free time. In front of the church there was an African dance of joy by the young churchgoers with lively music, which inspired everyone else to dance as well. We left the village and turned towards the national park. After an hour we were at the entrance. It was very warm. The backpack with all the technology heavy.
The cold was still noticeable, I was coughing. We signed in and in the book you could find people from many nations who had passed the checkpoint here. The oldest 70 years old from Switzerland. According to our guide, the Germans are probably the largest proportion of visitors to the Rwenzori.
Then it started, the adventure. From the checkpoint to the night camp there was a difference in altitude of 850 meters. A solvable task.
The trail started flat through the forest, then to the river, over a wooden bridge, then along the river, through the forest and then the steep climb began. Rainforest, humid, hot, the sun burns as soon as the path is not covered by trees. Although the forest still had some coolness stored and we were getting higher and higher, it was still too warm. Drinking a lot, coughing, walking slowly. After about 4 hours we took a break and then I also asked if Rasto would carry my secondary camera. Of course the porters / guides do everything for their clients. We were also handed a packed lunch. Contents- Toma! After 850 meters we had reached the target altitude. We had also gone through very steadily, not fast but steadily. But I was quite exhausted. On the target height there was a lunch shelter, also for sitting, which we left, because we had already made lunch half an hour ago on the ascent.
The last part to the day's destination was uphill downhill, but not difficult to walk. Only when we already saw the hut, a waterfall appeared in front of us, we had to prove our climbing skills over a wooden bridge and wooden ladder to cross the river (waterfall drainage) over a wooden bridge afterwards.
Another 30 meters uphill and it was done. If everything continues like this, it could be a nice hike. Since there was now enough time, I took my tripod and camera and went down to the waterfall again to take many pictures.
We had a big hut for us alone. Dinner was served when it was already quite dark and also the rain came. With the rain came thunder and lightning and a totally romantic atmosphere in beautiful nature, full of sounds, with delicious (at least I think so) food and total darkness. If it wasn't for the solar battery powered lamps on the pole, we wouldn't have been able to see our hand in front of our eyes.


12. 10. (3rd hiking day)

We are sitting in the restaurant (i.e. the dining room of our camp-site), a wooden hut with corrugated iron roof and windows, in the middle a table with 6 chairs, no light, no heating, each one an orange pot in front of him, in which we can make ourselves coffee, tea or hot chocolate - with water from the thermos bottle.
We sit here alone. Outside it's raining hard, it's just rain forest. 15.45 shows the clock, so we are here in the camp for one and a half hours. So far we have organised ourselves, that is, received the things that our porters have carried for us, hung up the wet things, unpacked the sleeping bags and made ready for bed, the remaining things in our room = hut (somewhat smaller than the dining room) all distributed from the backpack on the 6 beds that are always room. I imagine it would have been incredibly awful if we had to share a room like that with 6 people. Our stuff is all over the place as the backpacks are hung out to dry. Our guides and porters have disappeared somewhere after bringing us hot tea and a small packed lunch to the dining room. Well it's not warm, not comfortable, but still we sit in the dry, warmly dressed and remember how we walked today under such a rain. Over hill and dale, through swamps and streams, through a dream landscape, because of which we have taken this on ourselves. I'm still wearing my hardshell hiking pants, which are also rain pants, and I didn't take off my hiking boots because they got warm while I was running. Now I also do not dare to leave the hut and walk the 10 meters to our sleeping room, because I think I will get properly wet, which means moving again, get cold again and warm up with tea. The hands are relatively cold and make it difficult to write fluently on the keyboard.


11.10. (2nd hiking day)

I'll take a look back at yesterday, one of those we'll remember forever.
We woke up in time, so before the tea service had been announced (7. 20 o'clock), organized ourselves, which was not so elaborate, because there were no wet things. Drank tea, packed, and then it was 8 o'clock or a little later, and breakfast was served. We had spent the night at an altitude of about 2600 meters. The weather was still okay and 9:15 we left the camp (a collection of several huts, strictly separated for tourists and support crew, toilet huts and a kitchen hut. So far, the nature had not been bad, but the quite spectacular we had probably still ahead of us.
First it went uphill to 3000-3100 meters. The altitude data they give here were to be enjoyed with caution. With my watch did not always agree.
So we tortured ourselves up the mountain to the lunch hut / stopover without that I can now say how that was. Since I lack a little memories, but is everything on film. It was at least easier than the first day as the temperatures were much lower so we weren't creeping up in the heat of the day, and the steepness was similar but nowhere near as pronounced and incessant. We passed through various vegetation zones, the rainforest, the bamboo zone and then we softened the heather zone or something like that. After about two hours we then saw the lunch hut and exactly the one where we will spend tonight (so after the 3rd day of hiking the night) where I write these lines.
The hut was located on a small plateau, where there was space for the huts and in a place that gave a wide view back into the valley. Because most of the time uphill, it went through dense forest, which allowed only very rarely once the view into the valley or on the surrounding mountains. We made a short break and I let me my second camera of Rasto give, who carried this for me and made from the trees with grandfather beards (in German probably Spanish moss) many pictures. Not too many, because the clouds moved up and it started to rain.
So we put on rain gear. The guides offered us rubber boots again, which we refused stubbornly - without knowing what to expect. Pride comes before the fall. Until now we had seen no need to wear our sturdy high hiking boots. At the campsite we had already reached about half of the height and that in less than two hours. So we were not so bad on the road.
Departure through the fairy tale forest of Grandfather Frost, because it could also have been ice formations, the moss beards. On a relatively moderately ascending path it went then further 250 to 300 meters uphill. Although it was raining and it had already closed in, the views were great.
Every now and then the camera came into use, until I packed it away completely, because the
rain became
too strong. I almost had tears in my eyes when we came to a waterfall and I could not photograph it because of the rain. After the waterfall, another trail finally started. First we went up two ladders, wooden ladders with brie steps, wet, dirty, no pleasure to touch the rungs. The ladders were not quite vertical, but of the simplest construction. Some were simply attached to the rock. On the way down, one of the ladders, of which we had many to climb, slipped off to the side. Luckily the guide was able to stop it as it tipped to the side.
The path was a mixture of stones that lay as they lay, so not a developed path in the sense, but recognizable as a path, between the stones there was then swamp, soil in which one penetrated depending on the consistency of different depths and for which the rubber boots were probably intended. Sometimes you could get onto slippery, high-slippery roots that felt like soft soap, but you had to be hell-bent on not slipping away. So at best we made progress at rollator speed, and the trail was not handicapped accessible. Our canes helped and so we basically moved forward on four limbs.
The chimpanzees would have done better, however. It was all arduous, but the rain increased the difficulty of locomotion considerably. As we were walking gradually or sometimes more steeply uphill, it was impossible to distinguish the path from a stream. Often only the tips of the stones looked out of the water and we hopped forward on them, always with the necessary protection by the sticks. Slowly, slowly we went forward. Then sometimes boards lying on the path came to the rescue, but they were so slippery that it was a safety consideration to walk on them.
The surface of the boards was like soft soap. Only by supporting ourselves with our sticks on the sides of the boards did we keep our balance.
Over certain sections were adventurous bridges timbered, which would have been secured in the Alps with thick ropes. Again and again ladders, which now also simply consisted of branches and accordingly the soft soap consistency. And touch all this with bare hands
What was incredibly beautiful, of course, was the nature that, if you looked up from the path, surrounded us. Trees with thickly overgrown moss and not only the Spanish moss, no also in green, yellow and brownish colors, exotic plants, all immersed in mist in the rain, as in another world.
About 20 minutes after the first ladders, we got to the... Garden. A small clearing over which a boardwalk led and an incredibly romantic panorama opened up. The boardwalk was supported by barrels on the ground, which in turn were connected by wooden slats and on top of them lay boards every 20 to 30 inches across, with spaces in between. It was still raining and I was despairing of how I could possibly take a picture here. Rasto got out the umbrella and I decided to ask him to keep it over the camera at all times. No sooner said than done and the first picture was in the can. So we were going back a bit to take pictures from the beginning of the walkway and as I was walking I suddenly saw a fascinating plant, I turned around and my foot slipped between the cross boards and I toppled over to the side. A hellish pain, but first I had to catch myself, because the whole body weight was now somewhere on my right lower leg bone. It could go crack any second. Somehow I got up again, Rasto helped and I had only one thought, hopefully nothing is broken.
Nothing seemed to be broken, though I still don't know why today. Maybe the hiking boots helped to take away a little force / moment, cushion.
Poor Rasto did not know what to do. But he had already announced a cave 5 minutes ago, where we could take a lunch break. I asked how far it was to the cave and looked at the mishap. There were two bruises left and right on the right leg just above the hiking boots, looking very red and about an inch deep into the flesh. No blood. What crazy luck I had had there. We walked, so crept up to the cave where the other two, Abraham and Toma were already waiting for us. Toma was eating her snack. I told her I was in shock. She replied, if you don't take a bite now, it's all gone. Now we had to find a dry place under the ledge, lie down and take off our shoes. It all seemed to have gone well once again, no quick swelling to be seen either. I began to tremble all over my body, the adrenaline did its work.
I quickly took a little glucose to balance the energy consumption. It didn't get worse, that calmed down a bit. But there was still quite a distance ahead of us with all the obstacles as described above. But that would be almost too easy now, walk to the hut and good. We still passed many beautiful places, maybe not quite as beautiful as the garden, but the path was so beautiful that you could almost forget the pain. I walked even more carefully now, of course, taking it easy on the right leg and not letting any strain get on it if possible. It was just almost not possible. The trail quality was challenging. And the rain still hadn't stopped. I asked Abraham, who was now close to me, more and more often how much time was left until the hut. It lingered and lingered, as we were making very slow progress. At some point I realized that after a short climb I would have to lean on my poles because I was out of breath. I thought that this was from my fall or still from the cold and was already afraid to come back with angina pectoris. After thinking about it for a while and looking at the clock, which now showed almost 3500 meters altitude, I realized that now the altitude was also getting to me. So I had to avoid any effort. Let myself be carried. It would have been nice. At some point we saw the hut in the distance and I even took out the photo to photograph the valley.
But the rain forced me to put it away again (after the photo).
About 40 minutes remained and we had the hut always before the inner eye.
We had passed the halfway point when we could see the hut again on a small hill. Now it was already within reach. The porters were already there, had made a fire, from which a blue smoke rose into the sky. Below us was a lake of black water and white foam. Rasto or Abraham came back from a little reconnaissance and said, while we were still enjoying the beautiful view of the valley, that the bridge was under water because it had rained so hard. Above the bridge the brook had swollen to a river, also there was no getting over to the campsite. But back the way was also too long and I think I would not have made the strain. So we had only one option, we had to get to the other side. The guys told us that there was a narrow spot at the outlet of the lake. I asked if they had ropes with them, which they did. Having only a vague idea of what the river crossing would be like, we waited to see how it would go. We waited and waited and waited. At least 45 minutes passed before Rasto came back and gave us the happy news that the crossing was clear. But we still had to get to the place where it crosses the river. There was no way to get there, so these trails filled with water over hill and dale. There it went over pure nature, moss-covered ground, where one did not know at any step what was under the moss, a stone in the very best case, swamp, there the shoes were wet, they were anyway, or slippery branches and in the worst case nothing at all and one fell into the bottomless pit. So we tried to walk as far as we could over the stones that lay around in the wild nature, like an anchor, a life raft after every step. After endless scrambling we reached the spot. The outlet of the lake was underground in a narrow place, so when it rained heavily, the lake formed first. So over about 3 meters of precipice we had to get to the other side. The guides and porters had stretched a rope, along a tree trunk, over which the path led to the saving shore. Below us the death.
We made it across and were met. But now we were back at a place from which no path to the hut had been trodden. But first we had to get away from the dangerous steep bank. In the moss swamp you could step steps while walking vertically like in the snow, When we had escaped the danger, it was now only to get to the hut.
The path was cleared by the porters with the machete, but that was only the part above ankle height. The part below was again an adventure, lottery as one would like it to be. On top of that, every minor climb increased the heart rate because of the altitude. After an hour of detour we were in the hut, felt a whole eternity.
I still had a big, fat bruise from another fall or bump that I hadn't noticed before. But we had arrived.

Now we had to grit our teeth once more and sort out the things, whereby we noticed that almost everything that was not packed in plastic bags was also wet in different humidity.
Even Tomas' sleeping bag had gotten a little wet. The rain had penetrated everywhere. The backpacks were all wet. Toma had a string with him, which we stretched across the hut and hung all the clothes up to dry. The wish that all the clothes would dry, especially the ones we would wear was great, the hope that they would dry was very low, because the humidity was at 100%, although it was not raining all the time. The only option was to give the clothes to the porters, who held them over the fire until they were dry or burnt. I gave my shoes and socks away. After the sorting I fell into a deep sleep of exhaustion for an hour and a half. When I awoke, everything was still the same. The rain was drumming on the corrugated iron roof, the cold was coming in through the always open hut door and the clothes had not yet released any moisture into the environment, it was dark because the hut had no light, only I was feeling a little better.
We had supper without really having an appetite. Afterwards we discussed tomorrow. If it continued to rain like this, we would not get across the river, which we had to cross several times to get to the pass. Also, there was a stretch of trail above the camp that had very deep swamps and it wasn't clear if we could wade through that with our rubber boots. I listened to all this and then suggested that tomorrow we return to the midday hut from today, have plenty of time for photos and a relaxed day and spend the night in the midday hut. I looked into two beaming faces of Rasto and Abraham. They added that if we arrived in time, we could go one more hut and from there back to the village the next day. I told them that we wouldn't mind going back the same way either. After the briefing, which had brought some relief, sleep.

Night was OK, hardly any pain, cough though na and getting up to get Tomas bottle out.

3rd hiking day -continuation (12. 10)

The night was over and it was time to get into the cold, partly wet clothes. Only my shoes and socks were dry. All other things were still wet, if not even wetter.
Breakfast - compulsory meal. Bunker energy.
There was some very pleasant news, for with horror we had both been thinking of the way back through the wilderness, over the log on the rope over the precipice..., as it had rained a good part of the night, and it was hardly to be supposed that the river had less water.
The guides had found a way to cross the river, as it had considerably less water than last night.
It rained and rained.
Unfortunately, no waiting helped after all things, dry or wet, were packed. The rain did not stop and we had to start walking in the rain. Even the photo I could not put on, I had yesterday still protected with a plastic bag and carried in the rain outside the backpack. At some point, but still in time, I noticed that the bag was running full of water and the lower edge of the lens was already in the water. How the water got into the plastic bag and why it didn't drain out of the hole at the bottom, we won't know.
The plan to photograph the beautiful exotic plants in the middle of the mountains did not work out. All the beautiful motifs fell victim to the rain. Due to the low clouds, there was also hardly any visibility, so even if it hadn't rained, you wouldn't have seen all the beauty in the pictures. And to be honest, it must have been even more gorgeous here in the valley had the sun divorced. It wasn't to be.
So we tortured our way back, description see yesterday - whereby this time we were relieved that it was mainly downhill and the path was the path and not a stream.
But the moss on the trees, up to half a metre thick, the threads of moss that decorated the whole landscape like tinsel, although here the soup, the mist of the low clouds made it look rather more atmospheric than if the sun had been shining.
When we reached the first exotic plants in the small garden, I took my photo out and took some pictures. When we reached the big garden, which is just after the descent that ends at the cave, we saw two diukers a kind of deer. Just at the right time the rain had let up too. Taking photos for all they were worth. Indiscriminately. Capturing everything. We were almost at the end of the garden when two groups with four Polish climbers and two German tourists came towards us.
Simple hello. I took a quick look at a few pictures for the first time and noticed that they all looked a bit milky, which I had always blamed on fog when looking through the viewfinder. There was condensation between the protective filter and the lens. Filter off, clean and start all over again. All over again, walk back to the beginning of the garden and photograph.
When we came back Toma and Rasto had already left. We also left the Garden of Eden and had not gone 100 meters when another panorama for eternity opened up to us. Stop camera out and click. Many, many pictures. Unfortunately I had to realize in the evening that they are not really sharp. 1/30 was probably too little, or I was too hectic and have photographed too nervously, because I can usually hold 1/30 always calm enough for landscape shots, without something becomes blurred.
Some pictures will hopefully be ok. After the garden there were then the last three stairs, where one almost flew off to the side, then a short stretch of path and the worst part of the way was over. The rain had started again, so that the camera would always have to disappear in the backpack, but now and then he also made a break and I could photograph.

After 4, 5-5 hours of hiking we were at the hut. Small packed lunch. Pulled line and hung things up to dry, knowing they wouldn't dry anyway. We had made it pretty much dry on our feet. Shoes were pretty much dry. It was time to write report.
I took lots of photos and a time lapse of the sunset. (So how it got dark. We did not see the sun. )
Supper. Sleep.

4. last hiking day 13.10.

Get up early, because departure already 8. 30 o'clock. Descent to the first accommodation. Although my foot still hurt and I had to walk carefully, I regained my courage and with more self-confidence I started to walk faster. Not for long. A small hop, maybe 40 cm deep and my left leg buckled, went crack and a stabbing pain went through my ankle. Typical volleyball injury with 2-3 weeks of sick leave. But there were still almost 1500 meters of downhill on the plan, before he sick leave. So I gritted my teeth and continued. The foot swelled up. I didn't even sit down. Taking off my shoes would have only helped the swelling. Now I had to be even more careful, put as little weight on both legs as possible. Luckily I was walking with poles and my arms now had to do some of the work and strain on my feet. This led to me having a large blister on my right palm after 3-4-hundred meters of descent. After 7-8 hundred meters of descent, the blister was on and shortly after I was propping my raw flesh on the pole. To ease the pain a bit, I wrapped the hand with a tissue. We went through the different vegetation zones again and it was also faster and less strenuous than uphill. Despite all sorts of handicaps we were moving briskly. I had calculated after how many meters of descent we would have to arrive at the park entrance. The calculation was not bad at all, only when we arrived on the height and I asked, the guide said that now still a flat Wegstückt follows. By then I was pretty knackered though. We took a lunch break. The packed lunch had been brought by two porters who had walked towards us. The refreshment and strengthening had been urgently necessary. Now we had to grit our teeth once more and hold out until we reached the park entrance. We made it. No one was there. We carried ourselves out and had to walk another hour to the base camp. It went along above the river where a hydroelectric power station was being built. The community that owned the land was negotiating compensation with man and mouse. Everyone had gathered around the church and talked to the representatives of the company. By the way, KfW was also a lender.
When we had already reached the upper village road, I asked our guide (Rasto) to call Eddie, so that he came to meet us and saved the last piece of way with the car. At some point, barely feeling any part of our bodies, we met Eddie waiting for us at the playground.
We did it.
Everybody was happy.
Farewell with the guides and porters. Handing out the tips. Happy faces. Gave a short speech. Bye!
It was a great challenge with unusual experiences, exuberant impressions and hard trials.

End Rwenzori -

Drive to the lodge about one hour.
Very nice lodge - apart from us there was only one group from Germany, with Kasinga Reisen (I think also Klüger). Two couples from Berlin.
Nice room where when it was dark we were escorted from the main building with two armed policemen (because of the lions which were not within 10 km, we did not see any)

Finally arrived in civilization.
Warm. Dry. Clean.
Hot water, we would have known how around we should open the mixer tap for hot water. So only lukewarm. But something to shower, to wash off the dirt of the last 4 days.
Sorting stuff. Drying things.
Hopes were high that they would dry out, as it was warm and not humid.

Gamedrive - Must look up what we saw there. (At If we had one--.... )

Dinner in the main house on the terrace overlooking the salt lake. Wonderful peaceful atmosphere. The holiday could begin.
Food was good but a lot.

14 October Queen Elisabeth National Park

Up early, breakfast 7 00 am, 7. 30 gamedrive until almost lunch.

Highlights:
Hippos with crown cranes (in tree)
Kingfisher with fish
Crocodiles
Leopard in tree
Many birds

In the afternoon boat trip on the Kasinga Channel
Highlights:
Hammerhead with big nests
Lizards (Lissard)
Miscellaneous herons
Osprey
Waterfowl
Hippos - Mother with baby rips mouth open
Elephant in water eats almost whole papyrus island

After the boat trip still another Gamedrive in the Queen Elisabeth National Park
Game Drive in roughly the same area.

October 15

Woke up early: video/sound recording of morning sounds in the national park
Drive to the other end of Queen Elisabeth National Park
Game Drive no lions seen on trees, which is the main attraction of the park- highlights on hand of pictures follow:
Congo border
Soldiers
Red cock monkey- jump shot
Velvet Monkeys
Birds
Other group with tent overnight stay

Then check in to new lodge, lunch immediately, free time.
Trip with bird photography on foot alone
• Red Fire Finch,
• Weaver birds - with video
• Beaeater

Barely Back Call - Extra Game Drive
Lions have been sighted more tomorrow

Short trip to the river


October 16

We are standing at the start. We are already looking longingly into the gorilla mountains, directly from the lodge.
The sky is cloudy, somewhere it thunders a little. Just I was again alone photographing birds, of which certainly 300-350 pictures with Beeeatern, as they eat a bee, those are the remaining-200-300 were already deleted before.
The sun was still shining. The weather changes very quickly, as does the internet access, sometimes there, sometimes gone. (This stupid spelling correction does what it wants, even if it was switched off - that's AI - the spelling correction had just made Kit out of AI).

So we are sitting on the sofa and I write today's report bent forward. Yes there is something to report again. We have slept in!!!!
Unbelievable. 9. 00 departure to Bwindi or something like that. I have so far pretty much not cared about the names, the program schedule. That just weighs everything down and steals time we don't have here. The crossing took us at the beginning once again through the Queen Elisabeth National Park, the park where we saw lions last night after all, when Eddi suddenly bagged us and we drove to a spot that a friend had told him by phone. Actually, we had made no pressure, Eddie makes himself all by himself. He had to show us the tree lions. Since it hadn't worked out on the scheduled drive, he had pulled all the strings and now we were standing in front of the tree about 70 meters away looking towards the ficus with 5 other jeep crews. Between the branches and leaves you could see lion cubs on the thick wide horizontal branches. I only saw two through the lens, but there were supposed to have been 4. Taking pictures was a pain. The autofocus worked only insufficiently, since always something and if it was shortly before, before the faces of the lions. So I had to focus manually at a distance of 73 meters. Every smallest turn of the dial and away is the sharpness. Auto magnification set to 5 seconds wasn't always enough to get the subject in focus either, but the worst part was, the 200-600mm lens is heavy and pulls down so the subject disappears upwards. As soon as the edge lift touched the lion just a little, pull the trigger. I didn't see the others with the Tamron 150 - 600 do the same. You'd be surprised, because all my autofocus shots were slightly out of focus. There were now 10- 12 vacationers running around on the street, looking for the best place to take pictures. All the guides were happy to have shown the tree lions to their guests. And when there are no lions to be seen far and wide, in the lodge, we were escorted to the lodge/bungalow by 2 armed guards. Toma was of course afraid that the lionesses, there should have been your two on the tree, one I have photographed, secretly left the tree and ate us.
We spent quite a long time in front of the tree, where everybody felt the need to talk, especially the Americans.

Back to today's action:
We drove slowly. Eddie called this a Ugandan massage, driving over the unpaved roads. Not far from where we had seen the lions yesterday, he spotted another lioness lying in the tree. And she was all there to see. A wonderful picture. I had just taken a picture and already Eddie wanted to go into the park again, to show us the lioness from close up. I had to persuade him to turn back (i.e. to go back to the spot where the first picture was taken), because the composition of the picture from there was almost perfect. Then we went to the gate park entrance and Eddie asked the ranger to let us in again for a short time without a permit. No woman can resist his charm so easily. We drove up close and Eddie told all his friends by phone about his discovery (sighting). We now photographed the lioness from close up and she put on an appealing performance, head left up, right up, head up, back down, stand up!!, back and forth on the branch at times, lay down again. The camera is glowing.
Ediie was proud, we enjoyed the scene. and slowly all the cars from yesterday arrived and we were off.
The crossing I slept through, only times in between in a room somewhere on the roadside without signs, without anything, with a table and a chair, exchanged 100 euros. Finally I have small money. Arrival in heaven, that is Heaven Lodge, lunch, sorting and photographing birds again. And write this report. Now I have to see what I still have to catch up on.

One does not come at all to the catching up. Just now I saw a Blue Turaco flitting up the tree and then with its wings of fire spread it came flying towards us. (Unfortunately only a photo in the tree. )
Without taking a breath, we continued. A baboon in the tree in front of us. He is making a mess of a jackfruit and eating and eating. Video, Photos.... When I came closer, he already felt a bit disturbed. He ate more carefully on the one hand, but hastily on the other, stuffing and stuffing. When I came even closer, although with the 600mm lens I couldn't get any closer, he turned the jackfruit a few times until it fell off and he ate it on the ground without me being able to see him.
Another addendum: Directly in front of us, so close that I would have to go back with the lens, because the minimum focusing distance was undercut, a Sunbird - pair. Unfortunately, I only caught the less colorful female. Below us a pair of mouses 3 meters away. Just now a baboon passed by again. The baboon with the jackfruit was a real big alpha animal.

Well, and there was something else, which I almost forgot in the variety of events. Tonight we have experienced an earthquake. It has rolled and the bungalow has shaken mightily. There was a lesser aftershock. Eddie said he'd experienced another one in three years.
After the quake, it was about 2. 30 o'clock, the forest was also loud. The animals seemed worried. Since we spend the night on the border with Congo, the border river is within firing range, I already thought, there will probably be no new war. Well, my first real earthquake.


17. 10. Gorilla Tracking

A Russian proverb says: An idiot's dream came true.

Breakfast at 6. 45

Start 7. 30 h
10 minutes drive to the gorilla centre
Register
Cultural program of the local women: Dance; They bounced in the air like little tennis balls.

Classification of gorilla trackers into groups. Two. We waited and waited to be called. When the group was closed, we wondered if we had been forgotten. There were only two pairs left. The sick and the old. We and two Yanks were assigned to the group that required little physical effort to look at. We had to travel 40 minutes to get there. Our guide was again a woman. So washroom and saddle up. We rode through beautiful mountain scenery, but it was cultivated, as agricultural, right up to the tops of the highest mountains. Tea, bananas, beans, coffee...

When we got off at a small village and it was on foot, we were assigned a porter who carried our lunches (packed lunch) and my secondary camera. It went a little down the mountain, over a tea plantation, a little uphill in the tea plantation and we were already in front of the forest where 3 more people were waiting for us, the scouts. They had already spotted the gorilla family. It was only going to be a few more minutes. We were not allowed to take anything with us anymore, we had to hand in our backpacks, only the camera remained with us.
When everyone was ready, off we went. After 5-10 steps into the dense forest we already stopped and the guide pointed somewhere in the thicket on a gorilla, was to assume. Even as our eyes adjusted to the new light situation, it was hard to make out anything. Something black, perhaps. The first photos, which were supposed to help identify the one lying there, provided even less information, as everything in the photos was black.
After a while we recognized the gorillas and could look into the eyes of the apes. Taking a photo was extremely difficult because many branches and ferns and other plants always revealed only parts of the gorillas. The activity of the gorillas was pretty much nil. The group was still recovering. Our time was running. From encounter one hour.
Then the first photos were taken, always only with manual focus, then came the phase that more and more gorillas came into the field of view, shots were also taken with autofocus and finally the rangers discovered the silverback. But to take a photo of him was pretty much impossible.
Quite a while passed and the boss decided we'd go a little further. We followed with the whole bunch, 4 tourists, guides, 3 porters, 3 late autumns, 3 porters.
You had to constantly look for new positions that gave you a good view of one of the monkeys.
Then he sat down, his silverback turned away from us, and ate the leaves from the tree in front of him. I had a clear shot. Click, click. The whole thing was repeated several times as the group moved downhill. The younger ones climbed up a tree to eat the fruit. The older ones stayed on the ground.
After an hour it was over, it could have been a little longer, so that our guide had granted additional time. So we made again 10 steps out of the forest and took back everything we had left there.
For everyone doable this trip. You can also be carried. By the way, this is officially offered.
I can't say anything about the pictures yet, too many. But some will have become, if not to "show off" then nevertheless a memory of the encounter with the mountain gorillas.
Time for big feelings was not anyway, maybe only this consideration, we spent time together next to each other in peaceful with/to each other. So it works, you can coexist.

Return march, "tip"-ization, also we left our two lunch packages there, return journey with focus on landscape photography.

Arrival at the lodge around noon. Shower, put on new clothes (clean), small snack and then chat with Cologne, which had just arrived.
Now the sun is shining again, after it had thundered and rained twice (good that we were already back home and not in the sporty, healthy, young troop)

Today maybe a few more bird pictures, there are so many whizzing around here, then supper....


18. 10.

Today we leave the Bwindi National Park.
The gorilla tour is over, we have seen the gentle giants and now the credits of our journey begin. The day's destination is the most beautiful and deepest lake in Uganda, the.....
The drive begins exactly as at the lecture, only that after 40 minutes we are not already at the destination, but look from the winding mountain road on the tea plantation, where we went yesterday to the gorillas. The Sony - Go-Pro is mounted on the hood and from inside the car I switch it on and off, Although the landscape is so beautiful that I would like to have it recorded all the time. After looking at the cultivated fields, we go through the Bwindi forest, a rainforest of the highest density category, so impenetrable - Impenetrable. Sometimes we see monkeys, stop briefly to take photos (there are Black and White Colobus, but also a gray-cheeked monkey is there) Especially touching are always the shots mother with child.
The many exotic plants, deep gorges, as said densely forested and with wild rivers, which due to the rain of the last few days also have a lot of water, are beautiful motifs for the landscape photographer. When the view opens, the mountain ranges can be seen on the horizon. Then also one of the volcanoes emerges and pushes out of the clouds that caress the peaks of the highest mountains on the horizon.
75 km stretches the off-road humpback African massage road through the jungle of Bwindi. The forest is somehow contiguous, but again and again large areas are also cultivated, because everything grows here. The road winds up to 2300 meters and we also pass through the bamboo vegetation zone. The driving (better the sitting in the car) is already exhausting but the landscape compensates for the strain. I can't and don't dare to stop Eddie again and again to take a picture. The 75 km seem like an eternity. At the end of the track 12 km are "counted down" until we reach the checkpoint. Even these 12 km seem to have no end.
When we left the forest, we then have permanent view of the mountains in the background, cultivated fields in the foreground on steep slopes, a strongly mountainous landscape, with pastures, tea plantations, fields where beans, bananas, Kasawa- is cultivated. The fields are worked together. Whole village communities or family groups can be seen working together. On the central hilltops are mostly built churches, the best buildings far and wide.
A lovely landscape that reminds a little of Tuscany, only a little more rugged and with deeper valleys and higher mountains.
Somehow relieved we reach the asphalt road, where it goes much faster. Then another African road and around noon we are in the lodge at the.... Lake.
Lunch. A little rest. 15. 00 o'clock canoe - trip. A program item we could have done without. It was uncomfortable sitting on a hump in the hollowed out 75 year old tree trunk that had been patched several times. The canoe, so the tree, was also quite wobbly and I was already mighty afraid for my camera, especially for the gorilla pictures.
A photo succeeded then, nevertheless, when I could photograph a cormorant from next proximity with the start / going flying.
Then we took a walk together through the hotel grounds, then alone with the big lens - bird tracking, then with the wide angle and tripod and grey filter landscape shots.
Through the gray filter, you can bring the sunset forward by an hour. I'll probably do so more often now, because you have enough time to find a nice motif. During the patrol through the plant also just a truck arrived, and I thought it come camping friends. But it was a truck from Mülheim!!! www.wolffontour.de When I just opened the web page during the supper (as still before while waiting), Angela and Peter came past and I greeted you, we just look at your web page. That was the beginning of a very nice evening together.


19. 10.

We left the hotel without resentment but with the room key. We went to the smallest national park.................
The transfers just can't be avoided.
This time we combined the evil with the useful and took our PCR Covid-19 test, which we needed as a ticket on the plane.
The medical facility reminded me a bit of Azerbaijan in the 70s.
But at least test made, results are available via internet (e-mail) - it actually went better than in Germany at the departure.
Again we arrived at the lodge around noon and had free time until 3. 30 pm (gamedrive). I used the time and explored the surroundings of the lodge and was lucky to get a Hylux in front of the lens.
The gamedrive was very beautiful. The national park was well filled and whether it was the soft afternoon light or the animals living peacefully together, it made an almost meditative impression on us.
Here were also the Mac-Donalds of the steppe, giraffes, zebras, which we saw for the first time on holiday, mongooses already on the approach to the park and mongooses in the park itself and again the usual suspects, waterbucks, bushbucks, buffalos, hippos....
The crowned cranes again up close, A hammerhead that ate insects and I could document this, small insects, so small that these did not fit at all to the large beak. Unfortunately no leopards.
When it got dark we drove back to the lodge, had a quick dinner and went for the night safari into the park. At the entrance, a ranger got into the jeep with us, connected his huge lamp to the car battery. We were now looking for the glowing eyes of the animals in the bush with the help of the lamp. Especially great was the stop at a waterhole or pool. Here was a wonderful concert. The male frogs outbid each other to be allowed to present themselves to the females. I think I will use this sound recording as an introduction to the Namibia movie.
Due to the strong light of the lamp, I was also able to take some night shots at high iso numbers. Then nothing for quite a while, then a bush baby. High up in the tree the ranger had discovered it with his lamp. Two eyes reflected the light of the lamp, but not much more could be seen. Also manual focusing didn't help much, because the light intensity decreased drastically with the distance.
And what was hiding behind the branches and leaves, you just did not see.
Again nothing for a while, then an African hare. Was too fast for the photo, then mongoose and then again a bush baby!!!!
But this time somewhere near the bottom and Eddie immediately went off-road after it. I jumped up, camera wide, I just had to see it. To do that, the ranger had to point his light at the animal, which he did. The shutter rattled. On the camera display, a few shots turned out. Let's see how it will look on the computer screen.
Another highlight was then an owl in the tree at the roadside. Very successful recording I think, but very high ISO - here it is also called wait.
No leopard sightings, I'm afraid. Last night.
Unfortunately, no luck with the sky - cloudy, no stars, no Milky Way, the only drawback. Since I would have at least hoped for a shot of the starry sky.


20. 10.

Last day

Get up early because of change of program.
We're not going on a walking safari, we're going to hunt the shoebill, track it.
Eddie did not miss it to do everything to possibly fulfill our wish. Well, actually, we were the shoebill pretty much indifferent, a bird, as a bird, until Jürgen had not provocatively asked whether he was also in our bird collection / bird watching. It wasn't and we asked Eddie who explained that there are only a few left in Uganda. Well, since Eddie had succeeded in everything so far and we had probably seen a lot with luck, that was a challenge and we were always put off until the last day. Not quite clear whether we would then really see him or whether it would then be easier to round off the whole thing.
Somehow we avoided the subject. So today we were supposed to see him.
Long drive, we crossed the equator around 11am, and are now back in the northern hemisphere. Have eaten something again and arrived around noon at Lake Victoria. Ismail our guide and Ambros our boatman met us and we sailed off. It went through a channel (waterway with left and right papyrus reeds or other water plants, including water lilies and water lilies), which reminded us of Botswana, the Okavango Delta.
After the small channel, followed the slightly larger channel and here many, many birds, herons, African Hawk--. African Jacana-, still missing the shoebill. Ismail asked the fishermen who were passing our boat and we got a hint in the end.
And there it was. The shoebill. The two companions wanted to drive with speed to him, I braked you, because I first wanted a photo from afar. When I had this so to some extent in the box, we approached the bird. Already an impressive fellow, alone already the size!
The camera then had a lot to do. Continuous shutter release. 40 minutes we squatted then in the boat in 10 meters distance in front of him.

Unfortunately, he did not let himself be carried away to big activities, sometimes the head turn, sometimes a step - very slowly forward - sometimes the wing slightly spread. Although we could hear the fish in the water in the immediate vicinity, no reaction from the bird. As our guide explained, it feeds on eels and snakes. Seems to be a gourmet and he didn't seem hungry. Still, it wasn't a boring 40 minutes.
We then gave up hope of getting an action shot and headed back. Eddie was curious if we had seen a shoebill and Toma said Guess. His Guess was no. Ha!
From the small canal we went to the ferry to Entebbe. The ferry dock, ha, ha, was well secured. Even in front of the toilet sat a policeman with a Kalashnikov and wanted to take me to court when I tried to break into the toilet illegally. I think only my tourist outfit saved me from the cadi. The ferry had just left and we had to wait some time until it was back. The ferry was of our own construction with a diesel generator very, very basic, but secured (the entrance to it) with half a battalion of armed men. The vehicles were placed in the middle, including a small truck with bricks (from the self-distillery - bricks were made everywhere from the clay itself). Where the brick truck pulled onto the ferry made me feel a little different. There were also no outside restraints on the ferry, so any boarding or anything. There was no way of securing the load, so if a vehicle rolled off, we'd all be dead in the water. I was a bit glad when we reached the other shore dry after 25 minutes. From there it was only a few minutes to the Marriott Hotel, where we could change and freshen up for the return flight. But before that, we had to print out the results - negative - of the PCR test. I forwarded the mail from the test center to the front desk, but no attachment arrived there or the dropbox link didn't work. The head of IT then solved our problem in the business center.
Changing and showering in the gym of the Marriott Hotel and then an invitation from the boss of Kazinga-Tours, Felex himself. Photo op and a sponsored dinner. Yum.
When checking in at the airport, the most requested document was the PCR test. Well and now we sit here in Amsterdam and wait for our plane to Düsseldorf.
It's cold in Europe. Even though it is very clean and tidy, we miss a bit of warmth.
A holiday packed with unforgettable impressions, positive emotions, manifold experiences, very friendly people and in my backpack gigabytes of photos and videos, which I am looking forward to, spending a lot of time with and reliving everything on screen.

Unfortunately, we still had to survive an adventure. When we wanted to check into the plane to Düsseldorf, KLM informed us that the flight was cancelled due to bad weather. (In Amsterdam the sun was shining)
That was:
Get your suitcase at the Belt 15,
Organize train ticket,
to the train station and by train to Düsseldorf airport.

On the way to the train counter, Ute already called us that there are no trains in NRW (because of the storm). We bought (exchanged the flight tickets against tickets) nevertheless the ticket and came also prima up to Arnhem. Here we got on the train to Düsseldorf. To Cologne there was a rail replacement bus. But the train did not go. A tree lay somewhere on the rails. Germany did not open the track. Wait, wait, be patient. Well, at least we were sitting in the warm, on the platform a kiosk with tasty pastries and tea and coffee. Endure.
At some point the train left. When we arrived in Germany, everyone had to get off the train and change to a new train. It was packed. In the whole of NRW there was almost no long-distance traffic.
Sometime around 18.00 o'clock we were at the airport station Düsseldorf, took our car and drove home.

 
Listing of birds seen and photographed:

1. White faced Whistling dug
2. Egypt goose
3. Glossy ibis
4. Green ibis
5. Saddle billed Stork
6. African open billed stork
7. Hamercop
8. black headed heron
9. grey heron
10. little heron
11. egret
12. dwarf bittern
13. night heron
14. African Dartaer
15. Pelican
16. white-black palm with vulture???
17. Hooded vulture (red head)
18. African white backed vulture
19. snake eagle (black crested and brown)
20. dark chanting goshawk or gabar goshawk or sparow hawk or african harrier hawk
21. long crested eagle
22. guinea fowl
23. Francolin or fowl
24. African jacana
25. black bellied bustard
26. stilt
27. sand piper
28. water thick knee
29. Temmencks paratin cole
30. black smith lapwing
31. African wattler - lapwing
32. long toed lapwing
33. kittlitz plower
34. 3 banded plovercommon ring plover
35. common sandpiper
36. whimbrei
37. tern
38. Skis?
39. speckled pigeon
40. ring necked dove
41. great turaco
42. Ross turaco
43. grey go away birdblack and white coucoo
44. white brown coucoo
45. eagle owl
46. fish owl
47. swallow
48. mouse bird
49. pied kingfisher
50. giant kingfisher
51. malachite kingfisher
52. woodland? kingfisher
53. cinamon breasted beeeater
54. white throated beeeater
55. hooper
56. hornbill red and yellow.... and a big one
57. abyssian ground hornbill
58. wagtail
59. bulbul
60. robin chat
61. white eye?
62. paradise flycatcher
63. Sunbirb: bronze; golden winch, tacazze, purple breasted; malachite; blue headed; double collared; shining; Black sunbird;olive sunbird; marico sunbird; purple banded sunbird; ametist sunbird; scarlet cheasted sunbird; collard sunbird;
64. Fiscal
65. shrike
66. gonolek?
67. pied crow
68. great blue eard starling
69. southern blue earded starling and / or Rüppels longtail
70. weaver:black headed; GROSBEAK WEAVER;black weavers
71. widow birds
72. bishop - southern red
73. fire finch
74. bronze manikins
75. black and white manikins
76. pin tailed whydas
77. See Dealers?
78. cinnamon brested rockbuntiny
79. Djar,
80. Owl
81. Shoebill
82. african hawk