At the weekend, Alex and I took ourselves to Lake Mburo. We completely underestimated the distance suggested in the guide book ("just three and a half hours from Kampala") and set off in the late morning from Kampala. Sadly, we organised (and I use the word "organised" very loosely) ourselves a bit too late and so all of the affordable accommodation in Lake Mburo National Park had been booked up. The Park also hosts a number of high end resorts and although being actually within the park is probably the best option... $420 per night, really is not. We found somewhere in Mbarara (about 45 minutes drive away) for 25 UGX (about £8) with a clean bed, shower and satellite TV (America's Next Top Model was on!). It was good to get a taste of Mbarara as there a rumours that I will be spending a great deal of time there next year!
So we travelled down Masaka road at top speed, alot of the roadwork that were going on are largely complete now, and the road is just waiting for its Traffic Signs and Roadmarkings. Otherwise though, the quality is pretty good. We saw this nice rusty "End Corruption" sign by the equation crossing on Masaka road, that I really liked, warning Africans against the corrupt nature of the "long nosed, white faces". Haha! nice!The National Park was wonderful, plenty of zebra on show!!
Then we did something a bit different. We took a horseback safari from a place called Mihingo Lodge. It was really fantastic. The animals aren't so scared of you when you're on the back of a horse, and we were able to get really close to the Zebras and the Waterbuck. Such magnificent animals!
Look at that red skin! and I was wearing two coats of factor 30!
There was a small incident on the horse ride... We were just walking along, nothing fast, looking at some buffalo, when suddenly a little warthog came running out from under a bush and complete spooked my horse. It went completely mental and then threw me off! It all happened so fast, but I was terrified of being stamped on by the hooves! Fortunately the horse ran off, far away, so I didn't get trampled.
What does falling of a horse feel like? EXACTLY like falling off a bucking bronco, without the inflatable ground to catch you!
Then we took a boat ride and saw for baby crocodiles! can you spot them on the picture below?
