We have been travelling around Africa for 11 months embracing this lesser known continent and encouraging the same of others. It hasn't always been easy, with poor internet connections and sometimes not really knowing where we might be from one night to the next, spending hours driving, but the good parts have, so far, outweighed any bad bits.
Border crossing by land can be a hit and miss affair, and we frequently engage ‘fixers’ to help us through the minefield when crossing from one country to the next, especially with a foreign car and working under a Carnet. It surprised us as to how many didn’t know what a Carnet was or how it worked, so we dutifully explained and got our regularity stamp before moving on.
Crossing from Rwanda into Uganda at Cyanika we waited for about 30 mins as their systems were down. The carnet was stamped, but unfortunately the customs man muddled up my passport number so visa entry was delayed, despite us prearranging a visa in advance on-line through our helpful contact at the tourist board. Still it was a relatively quick crossing which only took us around 90 mins. in all - believe me thats not bad for Africa!
We were getting used to the banal expressions as one country merges into another, but we weren’t perturbed as we knew that once we were into the throat of the country, we’d get to see the real people of Uganda, not the hybrids that live and mill around the borders.
As we move into Uganda it struck us as to how little knowledge and even fewer expectations of the people and of the Country of Uganda, and as it turned out, this was beneficial with little or no expectations.
Our goal was to play 12 Ugandan golf courses, and I can hear the ‘what! do they even have that many in Uganda?’ The answer is yes, and more too, you just don’t know about them because a google search most likely wont reveal them all, but then, that is why we are here! We share with you what we got up to when driving around Uganda to play some golf
So with a country packed with things to do, here’s an attempt to unravel some of our top experiences whilst we self drove around Uganda. In no particular order!
1. Trekking with Mountain Gorilla
Trekking with gorilla is often associated with Rwanda, but as the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest spans over three counties, and as gorillas don’t have boundaries or passports, Uganda is more cost effective and, delivers a top experience. The other country is the Democratic Republic of Congo - but as that is a ‘red country’ for UK citizens, we didn’t even entertain that as an option! When Gorilla trekking in Uganda you are assigned a gorilla family to visit, ours was the Mubare family, a small group of around 8 and a silverback called Maraya. Cleverly the trek assigned to the group depends on their physical abilities as hikers and walkers. With my dodgy knee, luckily we were assigned a relatively close family which we reached after about 30 mins of tough terrain walking. We have heard of others not reaching their assigned families for hours, so we got lucky. Gorilla families are monitored and their location is fed back to central control. The guards shadow, but don’t encroach on their assigned family, in fact they respect them and make sure others do too! Walking through dense forest, where there might be some tracks and others are made by crashing down forest with thick bladed knives Indiana Jones style. We had a sherpa or porter called Isaiah to carry our small bag, but in truth he was pretty good at keeping me on my feet with the loose and lush greenery all around us! Isaiah also had a good sense of humour and laughed with us along our hike to meet our family.
Uphill, and even more uphill the landscape begins to open up as you look down towards the valley below through and over thick vegetation and tree tops. These windows of snatched scenery helped put this terrain into perspective.
we hear the radio crackle and know we are close to meeting our gorilla family. A swift diversion and we go off piste across country crashing the vegetation around us, but leaving enough for it to spring back once we were past.
We put on a face mask, as we did in covid times to protect the family from our human germs.
We are only a few feet away from the huge silverback and his youngest of only 8 months old. Daddy Silverback sweeps up and protects his baby as his orange brown eyes bore down on us. He wasn’t angry, he was just mindful of the presence of humans. The family criss cross in front of us, climb trees, eat green stalks and watch us as much as we watch them. Its a serene moment, there is no haste and no pressure, we are all just cohabiting - in their space, in their jungle and we were respectful of this. When presented with a huge gorilla, respect is easy!
Seeing a cute cuddly baby of only 8 months is so lovely, but actually watching daddy silverback interacting and protecting his baby was more even more endearing.
Then they are gone, as quickly as we stumble upon them, they were gone. They didn’t bound away, crashing their way through forest with trees lying like matchsticks behind the bedlam, as you might see on Tarzan, they just melted away, and we start the downhill trek back to Andi the Landy.
There are 1063 gorilla in Bwindi Forest, 459 of them are in Uganda.
We stayed at the beautiful Mahogany Springs when Gorilla trekking. A location just a short drive from the start of the trekking and one which fits into the hill top landscape with ease and comfort.
2. Queen Elizabeth National Park.
An early morning African wake up brings a smile to our sleepy bodies as we embark on our final leg of the journey to visit Queen Elizabeth National Park. Only when camping under the stars can you truly embrace the early morning noises of Africa. Those, unique, exciting and special noises, only Africa can produce.
Our next stop is Mweya Safari Lodge on the edge of the Kazinga channel which links Lake Edward with Lake George. Staying in this elevated lodge overlooking the Kazinga channel, the elephant sighting is some of the best so far. You can get close on their boat safari or watch, with binoculars for a special 'close up' view, from a distance across the channel at the antics of the younger elephants, whose trumpet are not yet established. Noisy as any other toddler, their shrill penetrates the air as they charge around the older and more sensible elephants in the herd who look on with distain and with lust, wistfully wishing they too could act the clown, ducking in and out of water whilst dashing under the legs of the older ones with such dexterity.
Queen Elizabeth National Park is a popular savanna park in the Western region of Uganda and to truly appreciate the diversity, both the land and boat safaris are great ways to explore. We loved seeing the much darker, white socked Rothschild (renamed the Nubian) giraffe, which reside in these northern parts of Africa. Up close and personal with the huge Nile crocodile and cape buffalo, not to mention the Uganda Cob, unique to this part of the world.
3. Merchison Falls National Park.
Located some 190 miles north of Kampala, Merchison Falls National Park is best known for the falls of the same name. Some of the largest falls in Africa, Merchison is a gap of only 7 meters wide in the rocks where the Victoria Nile is forced through before plunging 43 meters in an unruly torrent to flow downwards into Lake Albert. Named after Roderick Merchison, the then president of the Royal Geographical Society, it went through a name change during the regime of Idi Amin to Kabalega Falls. Whilst sometimes still referred to as Kabalega, the former name of Merchison falls is better known. Merchison Falls National Park is Uganda’s largest national park at around 1503 square miles and is home to the largest population of Nile crocodile. Staying at Paraa Lodge, our welcome was one of a different kind with a large herd of elephant grazing roadside, we had to wait until we could pass. Paraa Lodge overlooks the Victoria Nile and is a perfect base for exploring Merchison Falls National Park. Great food and a nice atmosphere.
4. Trekking with Chimpanzees
We have visited a chimpanzee rehabilitation place in Zambia, but trekking through Kibale Forest with our guide led us up to a sleeping chimp, laid on his back with all to bare - and not a care in the world. So deep in sleep, we began to wonder if he was still alive, sprawled out on the forest floor. Then his eyes fluttered and he gazes at us with a sleepy expression and a little wonderment at us disturbing his sleep. Then like a crash scene, the chimps, well camouflaged up until now, were scattered around the forest floor. I was surprised how big they were, and how completely at ease they were with us. Cameras at the ready, you can wait a long time until one decide to move! So engrossed in their daily lives, having cloth clad humans poking their cameras in didn’t even cause a bat of their eyelid.
But what a great thing to see, they park themselves almost next to you chewing at sticks and other things that look less enticing to our pallets.
We stayed at the beautiful Chimpundu Lodge when chimp trekking.
5. Kampala
This is our 10th African country, and we’ve driven through some really hectic traffic, but nothing quite prepared us for Kampala, where I’m sure they would pile high if it meant they could pass other vehicles quicker. A complete lack of road sense, especially the motorbikes, which were often taxis’ and carrying multiple people. The landrover felt like a small rock in a flooded river. Fighting to stay afloat, the traffic parted around us to come around and quickly tucking back in to fill any gaps. This capital city is also the largest city in Uganda where suited businessmen meet casual African or tribal attire.
Quite different to the rest of Uganda, except in one respect; the people. Even in the hustle bustle of this hectic city, the people are lovely. Being a capital city, the have and have not’s divide is more obvious, but the friendly remains one consistent throughout.
We based ourselves in Kampala to play some golf and soak up the city scenes.
6. Golf
We actually played 12 golf courses whilst travelling around Uganda, but for the sake of summary, I’m just going to talk about the ones around Kampala; namely Uganda Golf Club, Lake Victoria Serena Golf Resort and Spa and Entebbe Golf Club.
Uganda Golf Club is right in the middle of this hustle bustle city, so much so that the drive in is like a flick of a switch from mad hectic music like a punk rock band to that of a symphony and thats just the drive into the car park. This beautiful parkland golf course is popular with locals and encourages visitors too. A 700 member strong club enjoys the history of this 116 year old course. Nicely established it is a green haven offering elevated tees, water and subtle movement on the receptive greens. Some of the best golf in a member friendly location.
The golf course is set around the lake, and on the day we visited the lake was quite high - that said, even the ‘leaking’ onto the golf courses didn’t cause any issues with the quality of play. This wonderful 18 hole resort course offered large target greens, and plenty of water in play. The morning breeze whips around and adds a cooling sensation to the heat of the day. This course is in very good condition, with the large bunkers being fluffed up as you’d expect from a top resort course. A nice few days relaxing by the lake in this lovely resort. We did enjoy Serena Golf Resort and Spa and it left us feeling relaxed and happy.
Entebbe is the old capital city of Uganda, its less hectic and takes on the more laid back sister role to Kampala. There is a very African feel about Entebbe whereas Kamala a is big city - noise and pace. Since gaining independence from Britain in 1962, the capital was moved to Kampala. Entebbe GC is the oldest golf course in Uganda dating back to 1901, this parkland and nicely established golf course again compliments its big city dwellers of UGC and Serena.
Pine trees adorn the fairways, huge and imposing, these trees shape this slightly hilly course. With decent, but slightly slower greens the course is dissected by red earth paths. The 12th punch bowl green could be a card wrecker with its 5 bunkers dotted around the edge like a pearl necklace. Not adverse to change and common sense, they were in the process of swapping a couple of holes around to make the course flow better. With only 260 members the course does well.
These are just three examples of golf in Uganda, I’ll add some more as a foot note, below.
7. Afriyea Charity
Jumping into Andi the Landy we pile golf clubs high and call off at a local shop for books and much needed things for the village children as we take the long ride out of Fort Portal to Kabwegyemere Village.
A slow start sees small clusters of people, mostly children gather around, then like a tidal wave, the field is littered with over 100 children, all keen to have fun through golf. Lessons in golf are transferable into many of life’s lessons and when these people have so little, and
wearing not much more than a smile, you can’t help but smile and embrace their warmth and friendliness.
Spending time with so many children and a few of the adults too, dancing around the fields and giving them a chance to hit some golf balls was a great day well spent, and an incredibly humbling experience too.
Self driving around, we sometimes stumble upon some really nice, unknown places to stay, on our way in to Fort Portal we stayed at the beautiful Crater Safari Lodge, overlooking the stunning crater and sparkling water inside, we were served dinner on our own balcony. Also whilst in Fort Portal, we had a couple of nights at Fort Motel too, which happens to be right next to Afriyea HQ and Toro Golf Club.
8. When the name Rubalika popped up, we, in truth knew nothing about this place, but being the kind of people we are, we were keen to take a look and wow from the moment we drove up in our noisy and dirty Andi the landy, we were treated like and king and queen. Met with a cold towel to take away the ‘dusty road’ we were given fresh banana juice before being led to our comfortable safari tent and our home for a couple of nights
Rubalika isn’t huge, but its very heart is. Centred in a piece of land the local people can use this land for their own farming, their own piece of Uganda. Rubalika work with the locals to give them many opportunities. The paying guests get to see first hand how this is managed and how the local community is embraced as one. From the booming jovial voice of our host to the local villagers, we were made to feel welcome.
Spanning from the waterside river up to the top of the land, this sloping patch is maximised. Whether growing, hand pollinating or selling vanilla pods, to meeting the goats to watching the banana hand crushed with lemon grass before being made into a delicious refreshing and naturally sweet drink. Uganda is after all the second largest banana producing country in the world.
We experienced the short version of this drink as it was pulped multiple times before being sifted to create this unique drink. The longer version takes the drink and passes it through a make-shift distillery - sometimes more than once to make a potent drink, more akin to gin. Exceptional food, both by the water and up on the slopes, the BBQ is dragged up and down to give guests a complete experience about what this land produces and to meet the people who make it happen. Met with a local ‘choir’ Rubalika touched our hearts and blew our minds.
9. Lake Victoria.
The second largest body of fresh water after Lake Superior, the diversity this one body of water is the life blood for many. Uganda is a land locked country, but Lake Victoria borders Tanzania and Kenya too, with its main shorelines being in Tanzania and Uganda. Taking a boat
trip from Lake Victoria Serena Golf and Spa resort, we learnt about the ‘islands’ that weren’t really islands, more bodies of ‘dirt’ which floated up to the top for a few days then sink back down again. These floating islands are forever changing the face of Lake Victoria, but you’d probably never notice, as the lake is so huge!
It is true we have navigated around Lake Victoria multiple times on our road trip, and thats hardly surprising when you consider it is 26,200 square miles of water.
An imposing expanse of water, wherever you view it from, Lake Victoria embodies life on the water from the multitude of birds who make it their home to the fishermen who cast nets far and wide.
10. The Equator. We used to live very close to the Equator in Papua New Guinea, but it never really occurred to us how unique and special it was to be able to stand on the actual equator itslef- well not until we got to Uganda that is. A monument in the making, we only got to see the old signage, but you can see Uganda is embracing this important landmark for visitors to enjoy too. We were driving along, and it popped up as a sign on the side of the road, so we are glad to see more of a ‘deal is being made of it’ That said we did an about turn and went and had a look anyway. Crossing the equator meant we were far enough north to be on our own side of the world, yet within the same beautiful country of Uganda - that was special.
Uganda was dubbed the ‘Pearl of Africa’ by Winston Churchill - and now we know why. Uganda is a real gem of a country.
What else did we get up to in Uganda?
Camping Uganda
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| Camping at the Source of the Nile |
We have a roof top tent on Andi the Landy, and whilst it might seem we stayed at a lot of hotels and lodges, we also embraced the camping. We loved staying at Enjojo, with the elephant wandering by and a chance to catch up on some hand washing - which took no time to dry in the hot sunshine. We also loved camping at the source of the Nile at Jinja, what a view and very funny to watch the rickety tourist boats take boat loads of unsuspecting tourists upstream of the Nile to its source. In truth it was just a bubble up from the surface (and still controversial as the real source of the Nile!) before the tourist boats catch the current and fast flow past us at break neck speed. I’m sure when you are on those boats you don’t notice it, but we did as we say having a gin and tonic and watching the sun set.
Another camp site with a lovely view was Nyore, on the side of a hill but sadly lacking decent washing facilities, with promises of it being fixed ‘tomorrow’
Play golf at: Sadly not all golf is equal, that said it did enable us to explore Uganda and go to places we might not have thought about without having golf as our driver, so Im keen to include all the golf courses we played:
Kabale Golf Club - a nine hole course with ups and downs across the terrain. An interesting start as hole 2 starts part way down hole one, so you tee off on hole two before you’ve putt out and finish hole one - thats different! A pretty tough walk up and down hills in the heat, and with roads to consider its a fun course and our first in Uganda.
Crossing over roads for golf is not unusual, but playing Mbarara Golf Club took this
concept to the extreme, with the first setting the tone as you hit the ball to about 10 o’clock to cross the road onto the opposite fairway - sadly I went towards 11 o’clock and my ball ended up being the longest drive ever as it gradually gained speed bouncing down the road towards town! It seemed my direction was completely off that day as I hit towards the wrong flag on another hole - not deliberately of course! Still fun playing with members and meeting more people who just love golf.
Toro Golf Club in Fort Portal and the home to Afriyea. A marked difference in quality this nine hole course is also hilly and has been looked after well, especially considering its fairly remote location away from Kampala. The greens rolled well and as the course ducked around, it wasn’t uncommon to have cross over holes, or shared fairways - definitely a course we’d like to play again though.
Rwenzori Golf Resort and Spa - a new one in the making with only a few holes open, but we were keen to take a look at this fledging course with accommodation and conference facilities. The few holes that were set up were a bit higgly piggly, then we were presented with a par three over water to who knows where - clearly it isn’t appropriate to judge this too harshly as they it is barely out of the wrapping and theres still lots of work to do.
Kinyra Sugar Plantation - with hole one being fairly lack lustre, the course took on a whole new identity once we’d played a couple of the holes. Passing the factory on the right we’re heading down hill to a hidden green before turning about face to hit over a swamp to a lovely par three. Back uphill threading our way through a narrow fairways, this course is one to play - if only for a few holes!
Masindi Golf & Sport Club - Brand new, this club has only just opened and of course there are teething problem. But its ethos is spot on - its for the community, so the community must embrace it. It was great to see different members had adopted greens and it was their responsibility to make sure those greens played well - love that idea and a real all-embracing feel ensued.
Lake Victoria Serena Golf Resort & Spa - Such a great and welcome surprise to see a quality golf resort and golf course - included as one of the Kampala courses above
Entebbe Golf Course - The third of our trio around Kampala and given in the details above.
Back on the road and heading towards Kenya we call off at
Lugazi Hills Golf and Country Club - a nice undulating and noteworthy course run by the sugar plantation, Mehta. For its members and workers, it also welcomes visitors with open arms. With changes afoot, we can see clearly the love of golf extolled onto this course. Unique planting, probably better fitting for a designer garden lines and divide some of the fairways and the first hole drops you down before returning you around to lead you back up the hills. This was the way the golf course was, and embrace it we did. With 18 holes in play, we welcomed a golf cart.
Jinja Club is our 12th and final golf course in Uganda - and our 80th for our Africa 100 challenge. with views of Lake Victoria Jinja is best known for the source of the Nile. In fact we seem to have played a lot of golf in and around Lake Victoria in various countries, so maybe it was growing on us? Starting in rain !!! the sun started to shine on hole 8 and what a difference it made to the overall appearance to the course. It was great to note the caddy picked up some rubbish - and I thought, wonderful- pride in your course and your surroundings - then he threw it off the fairway into the side - hum, well at least he liked to keep the course clean!
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| Entebbe Best Western |
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| Safari Queen Elizabeth Park |
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| Mahogany Springs for Gorilla Trekking |
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| Crater Safari Lodge |
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| Cape buffalo |
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| Elephant |
