Saturday August 14, 2010 – The long road to Fort Portal and the Crater Lakes

Saturday August 14, 2010 – The long road to Fort Portal and the Crater Lakes


Driving day again today. After breakfast we said our goodbyes and set off for our next journey – the Ndali crater lakes. Back across the Kabwoyo grasslands, then up the escarpment, and then a new route that takes us through the dense Bugoma Forest on a rather rough, one lane track. Along the way we pass a WCS truck – turns out they are doing a chimpanzee survey in the forest – there seem to be pockets of chimps tucked all over the place. Once out of the forest we find ourselves in tea estates – green rows of tea bushes off to the horizon, and back into the inhabited world with huts and shops along the road, and groups of children shouting muzungu and putting their hands out for pens and money as we go by. Eventually we stop for lunch (a lot of time later, not too many km) for lunch at the Hilton hotel – which has a nice patio. Alas, just after our orders go in there is a power cut which means lunch has to be cooked over charcoal. They estimate 20 minutes for preparation, which turns into about 1.5 hours but by that point we are committed to lunch as moving on to somewhere else will just take as long again. I have no idea why it always takes so long to get food, even when it is things that are already prepared and just need to be heated up.
We drive and drive, it starts off green and lush with banana, sugar cane, and papaya. We cross several streams where people are washing themselves, their vehicles, and their clothing. There isn’t much traffic but what there is travels at high speed in a cloud of dust. I’m the wimp on the road, slowing down and pulling over everytime someone comes from the other way. I just don’t trust their driving or my ability to stay stable half on the verge of a bumpy dirt road. As we continue the land gets drier and dustier, definitely another ecosystem, and eventually we come out to the main tar road heading into Fort Portal. Kyenjojo, at junction, is a major metropolis with multiple story buildings, and lots of shops along the main drag and in a meshwork of small streets. We find a post office and mail half of our 6 postcards – turns out they don’t have enough stamps, and then up we get onto the unbelievably smooth paved road for the 50 km run into Fort Portal. Fort Portal is a real town – multiple filling stations, a high street with two traffic circles, a big building that might be a hindu temple, and several mosques. There is a large market selling everything under the sun, hotels for locals and for tourists, and basically everything else one could want. First stop is groceries, check out a tourist shop with nice crafts, and try to get on the internet but the power is out, and then on the Lake Nkuruba resort where we will be camping for the next two nights. Unfortunately we have to leave the tar road behind.
The area south of Fort Portal is made of a series of volcanic craters with lakes in their bases. The place we are staying is right next to one of them – there are bandas, a restaurant, a camping area, and a path down to the water where one can swim – crocodile free but the jury seems to be out on whether there is bilharzia there. Hard to think why there wouldn’t be. We set up our tent in the shade of a large tree on a nice grassy stretch, and then sit ourselves in line of white plastic lawn chairs along with the other visitors - there is to be a show. A local dance group, with several drummers and 6 young boys and girls, puts of a demonstration of traditional Ugandan dancing – a reasonable bit of talent and a lot of enthusiasm. Please put money in the hat afterwards. We cook our own dinner, apparently if you don’t order food in advance you may not get any, and then sit for a while in the restaurant chatting with other people. Sarah fades early, happy to go to sleep in the tent, and Elizabeth isn’t long after. I sit up for a while listening to an Israeli family who borrow a guitar off another traveler and turn out to be very musical. But even I don’t make it past 9:30 – sleep comes early to us these days.