Kampala, Entebbe, Murchisons Falls NP - Uganda

[iandvl]

I'm disappointed. I'll be away from home for three weeks in a week or two. One week in the Cape, and then two weeks in Uganda.

I'll be flying in to Kampala, but on the weekend that I'm there, I've decided that I'll rent a truck and do a bit of driving...

Unfortunately, most rental companies only seem to have cruisers, but I really don't want to lower my standards... Luckily, I seem to have tracked down a few reputable rental companies who do rent out Patrols for the more discerning customer...

My big issue is: I've never been to Uganda... So I'm hoping somebody here on this forum is a little more experienced in terms of the place...

I'm planning on heading out from Kampala on the Friday afternoon towards Entebbe, to try and get a sighting of the Shoebill Stork on the Saturday morning (apparently one of the more likely spots to find one), after which, I think I'll head up to Murchisons Falls National Park up in the North.

My itinerary looks as follows:

Friday 15h00 - Kampala to Entebbe. (~35km).
Saturday morning (don't have a set time, as it depends on how long my tour of the marsh takes) - Entebbe to Murchisons Falls NP via Masindi. (~324km).

This is the thing that worries me. Whilst the distance from Entebbe to the NP is only 324km, T4A specifies travelling time as about 7 hours. However, several sources I've checked on the Internet, say that travelling time between Kampala and Murchison's falls (~280km) should only take about 3.5 hours... :| In short, I'm relatively confused.

If anyone is familiar with Uganda, as well as the route I'm sort of thinking of taking, I'd appreciate the advice.

Thanks in advance.

[Russ Kellermann]

Hey Bud,

I've been to Uganda, was there for about 3 weeks, shooting a commercial for Nile Breweries .
We didn't travel extensively, as i was relatively contained to the areas that we chose as locations for our shoot. But...
You should try and Add Jinja to your list of places to go, incredible spots right on the Nile River. we went rafting 40km down the nile and had the most insane 4wd track, back to the place we stayed.

I wish i could offer more advice on the route you plan to take, i'm not sure i drove that.

One bit of advice i can give you though, is take your Brass Balls with, because some of the crazy shit driving i witnessed there, will blow your mind.
on single lane roads, driving 100km/h head on towards another car and the first person to flash his lights gets right of way.... thats the rule.

Most of our time in Uganda we used Land Cruiser 80 series , but trust me when i tell you that Nissan Patrols are Everywhere!

one of our locations was a Nissan Garage,... and 90% of the vehicles in there for serviving were Patrols...

The UN also love using Patrols un Uganda, as well as many other aid Orgs.

I'll post a few pics.

[iandvl]

Russ,

Thanks for the feedback.

I am very tempted to add Jinja to the list, but I'm literally only going to have two days (and a Friday afternoon) to see things. And Murchison's Falls is trumping Jinja at the moment. Will look forward to the pics.

Ian

[Russ Kellermann]

Ian, im so sorry, i've been out of touch due to work and Macbook / internet problems for ages.

I would have liked to post up a few pics.

Have you left yet?

[iandvl]

Ian, im so sorry, i've been out of touch due to work and Macbook / internet problems for ages.

I would have liked to post up a few pics.

Have you left yet?

Russ,

No worries. I've left and returned in the meantime....

Things didn't go quite as planned. The Friday of the single weekend I was there was a public holiday, there ended up being massive issues with my rental, and that scuppered my plans for Murchison Falls. This was probably a blessing in disguise. Honestly, Ugandan driving is the worst I have seen in my life. And I doubt that I would have managed the trip through Kampala... Their drivers are insane....

I did, however, manage to get a vehicle on Sunday, and took a leisurely drive out to Mbamba swamp (about 30km West of Entebbe). Took a Mkorro-korro through the swamp and was luckily enough to see a Shoebill stork. Yes... The photo is terrible, but I didn't take my big camera, and it was taken with a Monocular, in a very shaky boat in very bad light....

View over Lake Victoria on the way to Mbamba

lakevic.jpg (506.37 KiB) Viewed 6855 times

Boats in the swamp

boats.jpg (58.1 KiB) Viewed 6855 times

Shoebill Stork

shoebill.jpg (74.18 KiB) Viewed 6855 times

Route: Kampala to Mbamba

kampala.jpg (52.17 KiB) Viewed 6855 times

[JohnBoyZA]

Things didn't go quite as planned. The Friday of the single weekend I was there was a public holiday, there ended up being massive issues with my rental, and that scuppered my plans for Murchison Falls. This was probably a blessing in disguise. Honestly, Ugandan driving is the worst I have seen in my life. And I doubt that I would have managed the trip through Kampala... Their drivers are insane....

Ha ha, I was about to comment and then saw you were back already. Man, yea, driving through especially Kampala and Entebbe and between is quite something!

The cows at Lake Albert are also special :-)

[iandvl]

Ha ha, I was about to comment and then saw you were back already. Man, yea, driving through especially Kampala and Entebbe and between is quite something!

The cows at Lake Albert are also special :-)

John,

Yes - The Ankole are generally only found more West. I did, however, see one of them in Entebbe on my way to the airport. Well, one walking freely next to the road - I know they have several at the Uganda Wildlife Centre in Entebbe.

Strangely enough, there are currently a whole herd of Ankole long horned cattle standing in quarantine in Brits. Rumour has it that they belong to Cyril Ramaphosa, but no real idea, really.

PS: If you're driving through Brits in a Northerly direction on the R511, you go past the new mall. Just before the traffic light, at the "old mall", is an "AI" place with a bunch of quarantine pens on the left hand side. If you drive slowly, and look carefully, one can see them there.

[JohnBoyZA]

Ankole, well there you go, learnt something new

Would love to do a non work related trip up there....

[iandvl]

Ankole, well there you go, learnt something new

Would love to do a non work related trip up there....

Likewise. I'm very disappointed that my trip up North didn't work out. But hopefully there will be another occasion.