More Primates in the Explosion Crater Lakes near Lake Nkuruba, Uganda

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Close Up Encounter with a Black and White Colobus

To avoid taking a matatu, (our least favourite form of transport in Uganda just because of the bus 'conductors'), we decided to hire ourselves two boda-bodas (motorbike taxis), to take us and our backpacks to our next destination, Lake Nkuruba.  A little more expensive, but worth every Ugandan Shilling in enjoyment.  It was about an hour ride, back through the beautiful Kibale National Park rainforest (complete with baboons on the road), and local tea plantations, with all the vibrant greens across the rolling hills.  Then, taking us by surprise, they took a short cut up a dirt track crossing over a number of hills and dips, giving us a fabulous view over the entire area, complete with its dozens of crater lakes, and a backdrop of the massive Rwenzori Mountains in the distant west.  A little sketchy at times on the tiny dual track road, but they kept the bikes up and on course.  We thanked, and even tipped our boda drivers, as we arrived at the Lake Nkuruba Nature Reserve Community Camp - it was such a great ride.

The camp had a relaxed atmosphere to it, and overlooked one of the steep walled crater lakes.    But better than that, we soon found out that this was our best location on our entire trip for monkey

Vervet Mother with Baby Underneath

watching at close range.  Running around camp were families of Vervet monkeys, black and white colobus monkeys, red colobus, and red tail monkeys.  All of them not too shy about us being there, and were hanging out in the trees around us.  There were even some tiny babies, either clinging to their mothers' chests, or slowly exploring a little on their own.  We were surprised to see the baby black and white colobus, instead of having mainly black hair, it was completely white!!  We loved watching the black and white colobus, with their flowing white hair, and big white pom-pom tails!  When they jumped, the long white hair flowed behind them, almost like a cape - they looked like superheros.

We took a walk around the hills one day with a two others also staying at the camp - Tabia and Isaac.

Martin Dancing with Village kids

We walked a long way along the dirt roads, followed by village kids in usual pied-piper fashion. Our goal was to get to a certain waterfall, but we ended up discovering a great location - Ndali Lodge - perched on a ridge above a crater lake with sweeping views north and west either side of the ridge. It reminded me of an English country house not too overstated with a very cosy, welcoming feel. Unfortunately it was a little pricey for our budget at $270 (!) a night full-board, but we could just afford a coke, then sat and got our money's worth enjoying the views!  We didn't quite make it to the waterfalls, but as we were getting a little tired of being followed by people keen to guide us (and then also charge us entry fee), we were a reluctant to get there.  The long walk provided us with great views over the rolling hill scenery, with lakes dotted around the countryside, and the Rwenzori Mountains sometimes clear, sometimes cut in half by cloud, off to the West.

A Refreshment at Ndali Lodge

Another walk took us to a viewpoint called 'Top of the World' or almost.  We found out that they charge to enter the specific area, so cut off just prior to the entrance and had almost the same view from a slightly different perspective.
Alway great to meet other travellers, we were happy to meet Craig and Susen, staying at our camp lodge; we ended up swapping notes about different countries - us tips for them on Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania, and them, tips for us on Kenya and Ethiopia - our next two African destinations. We were traveling in opposite directions, but basically traveling in the same methods!

Lake Nkuruba was a great stop but it was time to move on. We decided on a place called Murchison Falls National Park. Murchison Falls is supposed to be the most powerful waterfall in the world, as the mightily Nile River flows through a gap of only 6m!!  As we headed through Fort Portal we discovered that the 30-seater bus in that direction was no longer running. We were gutted as this would mean taking a matatu (minibus) and you know how we feel about them here in Uganda So it was onto plan B.   We rode on the Post Office big bus early in the morning to Kampala, and would try to make a plan from there!  *Mush/Stub

Red Colobus Monkey

Mother and Baby Black and White Colobus