From Kampala we were heading north to see the Murchision Falls. The road was perfect tarmac and we could do the ca. 400 km in one rush. On the way we came along the Karuma Falls. They are directly next to the street, so nothing to pay here, and you even cross a bridge from where you have a really good view. We entered the Murchison national park with our bikes, which is allowed, but they charge you 40 $ per person and 30 $ per bike… but it was fun to ride there. The park is quite different to the last two we visited. It has not so much wild life and seems kind of quiet and asleep. A big part of the road is surrounded by 2 m high grass, so we drove standing to get a look at the landscape and the animals.

After a while a car came from the behind and when we gave way to let it pass it stopped and we heard a cheerful “Hey Deutsche in Uganda”. That was Ingbert, he works for the Cap Anamur and was on a short trip to the falls, so we joined forces ;). Since we entered the park from the Tangi Gate in the north we had to take a ferry across the Nile to get further south to the view point of the falls. Ferries a somehow always fun to take with a bike.

We stayed the night in the Red Chili campsite (yes, it belongs to the Red Chili in Kampala) and had a really boozy evening with Ingbert and some third-generation-indian ugandan guys. Late in the night there was a little agitation, cause a hippo was standing in the middle of the camp. So we got quiet and took a cautious look, these ones can be quiet dangerous. The next day was very hot and on the way to the falls there were hundreds of tsetse flies on the road. Whenever we wanted to stop or to get a little bit slower these pearls of mother nature were trying to eat us up alive. That was especially unpleasant, because the road condition wasn’t that good anymore. But we reached the falls with only a few bites and they were amazing. The power with which the Nile goes through this narrowness is just unbelievable.

South of the falls the landscape changed again and suddenly we were driving through a (rain)forest from a fairytale. It was so beautiful with butterflies of every color all over and some hawks flying directly in front of us. At some time we were wondering why there are so many cables spanning over the road. Then we saw the spiders, which had the sizes of a small hand… well why not drive a little faster, keep the head down and the visor shut.

When we left the park we had two options to reach Fort Portal, take the direct dirt road or take the tarmac back to Kampala and from there to Fort Portal. We went for the dirt road, but after 10 km it started to pour down like in a rain forest 😉 The red dirt roads get very slippery when wet so we turned back and drove the 500 km tarmac.

From Fort Portal we did a fabulous day trip to Bundibugyo and back. Just to enjoy riding the beautiful mountain road and passes over the Ruwenzori Mountains and to have a look at the breathtaking landscape and had a look into DR Congo.

The next day we started south and crossed the equator for the third and last time of our trip. After an overnight stay at a camping site in the Queen Elisabeth national park we headed on direction Kisoro, passed it and reached Cyanika, the border town to Rwanda. The road to get there was again great fun to ride, with countless curves.

The crossing was quite easy and the customs officer could fix the mess with the carnets his colleague had done when we entered Uganda. We were a bit nervous because we had heard it is not allowed to bring plastic bags to Rwanda and that they would search for them at the entry. Nearly everything we transport is wrapped in a plastic bag. But no one wanted to have a look at the bikes, they even didn’t check the chassis numbers. The only new thing was, that they took our temperature and asked if we’d been to west Africa…

We went on to Ruhengeri, it’s about 25 km from the border. Here in Rwanda the streets are full of people walking on the road again. You find much less cars and boda bodas than in Uganda or Kenia but more bicycles. The traffic is quite moderate and it seems that they stick to some rules, which we can’t remember anymore ;). So far Rwanda has been really lovely from the beginning. The landscape is still tremendous and everything feels very friendly. We stayed the night at the Red Rocks backpackers inn and campsite (redrocks-rwanda.com). It’s a cool place with super delicious food you’ll have a great time when you go there. Unfortunately we had to move on the next day to Kigali the capital of Rwanda.

Something funny for dessert 😉