Is it Port Fortal or Fort Portal?? Uganda

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I know that you've read a few things about our trials and tribulations with local minibus taxis, but the matatu (as they are called here) drivers and conductors really are an ignorant and greedy bunch, pulling out all the stops to take extra money from you.  We experienced this first hand over the next few days, and tried to figure out how to handle our upcoming travel around the country.  They were

Kingfisher Lodge above the Rift Valley

so bad, that we had a couple of screaming matches with them upon arrival in town, after we had decided on a price and they wanted to increase it for some reason, or charge us more than other passengers!  It was not a pleasant way to arrive in new towns.  We found out that they not only cheat mzungu's but also local people.  This really put a damper on our few days, and possibly on our entire time in Uganda, which is a shame.  I could go on, but will spare you the details.

Heading North in the general direction of Fort Portal, we crossed the Great Rift Valley again, which runs from Ethiopia, right down through Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Malawi and into Mozambique.  Queen Elizabeth National Park sits in the valley, and there was an impressive view over the valley from the spectacularly perched Kingfisher Camp on the escarpment.  It felt like the

Martin at O degrees Latitude

infinity pool actually flowed over into the Rift Valley.  Too bad we couldn't afford to stay here, but instead camped at Simba, just minutes in latitude, North of the Equator.

I think for both of us, this was the first time actually crossing the Equator by land.  It was relatively exciting, but the monument itself marking the crossing was in rough shape.  You could read 'Equator', but Uganda was missing a few letters and read 'UG N A'!!  And, we were disappointed because nobody was there trying to demonstrate the Coriolis forces with a sham demonstration of water spinning down the drain in opposite directions in the North and South!!!  Oh well!  Did the obligatory photos of one leg in each of the Northern and Southern hemisphere though, while the locals looked at us strangely!!

Another disastrous couple of matatu rides in which we actually got 'sold' from one bus to another, landed us in the town of Fort Portal.  We lucked out and found a great little guesthouse called Golf

With Paul from Golf Course View GH

Course View, run by a very intelligent and well spoken man named Paul.  He really had his head screwed on right, and was doing all the right things to be successful in his business, and help out the local orphanage.  That, and he was exceptionally nice, and we enjoyed chatting with him.  He let us camp under a nice banda in the back yard for only 10000 Shillings, which was super cheap and nice since it poured with rain that night..... and we stayed dry!!

Around Fort Portal are a number of scenic locations and parks.  We avoided the expensive Kibale National Park, and instead visited the community run Bigodi Wetland Sanctuary.  Much cheaper and we were walked with our guide Ivan for more than three hours spotting some colourful birds like the Blue Turaco, but more importantly for us, we spotted 5 of the 8 types of primates in the area.  New for us were the black and white colobus monkeys, red tail monkeys, red colobus monkeys, and grey-cheeked mangabeys.  We love watching the primates, so this was a highlight for us.   The walk was relaxing and enjoyable, skirting the swamp on one side, and the local cultivated fields on the other!

Michelle in Chimp's Nest Rainforest

We stayed at a place called the Chimp's Nest, a highly recommended place in our Lonely Planet.  Unfortunately, we didn't know that they were going through major renovations (and only after being open 5 years???), so most of the cool places to hang out were under construction.  They had a private rainforest that bordered the Kibale Park, and some nice boardwalk paths through that led to a couple of very cool tree house accommodation high up in the canopy - if only we had more money sometimes.....   We did head out on a guided night walk, seeing some interesting animals like a African Palm Civet cat, and a fruit bat hanging over the path, eating some round fruit.   We moved on the next day though, because of the construction issues and nowhere to relax.   *Stub

A Blue Turaco at Bigodi Swamp