Day 2: Scenic Views

After a well needed sleep, we packed up and left Ian’s place by 8.00 am. Quick stop at the shops to get some snacks for the road, a meeting with our agent for the Gorilla Safari to receive our permits and off we went. Another 10 hour drive. We drove quite a bit faster today; we had by now been advised that with our Kenyan number plates, there was less of a chance of being stopped. The scenery was once against so beautiful. Parts of it reminded me of being in Durban, other parts it was like I was in Stellenbosch and on my way to Worster. There were so my mountains and it was just so clean!

We had a very brief stop in a town called Masaka, where we grabbed some samosas, chips and water (by now it was lunch time!). The roads were amazing; with Uganda being Kenya’s neighbouring country, I somehow thought it would be similar. However, the roads were wider and there was a third middle lane for overtaking. We enjoyed this until we reached Mbarara where after it was a terrible road! It was very narrow and was completely falling apart! It is being done up, which the Chinese are supervising, but it was basically two hours of an ‘African Massage’, as one of the guides liked to call it.

 

Lunch Stop

The terrible road

Under Construction

Just as the sun was about to set, and the debates in the car were increasing that we had missed the turn off, we found the sign.  The very windy dirt road through the stunning mountains eventually brought us to where we were staying: Gorilla Valley Lodge.  

It was basic but lovely. Our bandas were cute and looked right into the rainforest, but unfortunately the dining room was a steep hike up the hill! Every single person huffed and puffed by the time they reached the top!

A much needed gin and tonic and then a bottle of wine during dinner and we were relaxed; looking forward to the treck with the Gorillas the next day. The starter was minestrone soup, but the waitress couldn’t pronounce it- she said something like “myne strone”. We all had a giggle! Pretty much as soon as we finished dinner, we gave our breakfast order and went to sleep.