Uganda Trip: Safari

The fourth phase of our trip to Uganda was a safari in Queen Elizabeth National Park, just an hour's drive from Kasese town where we were staying. We had planned to start the day early (5am) but our driver was missing in action until pretty much at dawn (7am). It is recommended to hit up the park before dawn if you want to see big cats before they retreat further into the park for the day. And we did ...

As soon as we got into the park, boom! A pride of 6 or so cubs and lionesses, along with this male lion, way off in a distance, returning from a hunt. The rest of the morning offered up baboons, water buffalo, hippos, kob, elephants, pelicans and flamingos, warthogs, and more.

Sadly we didn't see zebras, rhinos and giraffes because a few years ago they were relocated 8 hours north from this park to Murchison Falls National Park. But it was nonetheless exciting to see wild animals on their turf (as opposed to the zoo).

In August when we toured, it was the conclusion of a dry and dusty season in the park, with rumors of heavy rain in the air. By about 10am, it's so hot that you will scarcely see animals in the Park. So we headed up to Mweya for lunch and to await our next adventure. Mweya has two restaurants: the hotel being a whole lot more expensive than the lodge. Earlier on, we had managed breakfast at a small community deep inside the Park. Apparently, the park has various communities where people have settled within the game reserve. It is a common for wild animals to show up their front yard, and people cohabit among them without problems.

Later in the afternoon, we hit up Kazinga Channel (connecting the two main lakes that are part of the Park, Lake George and Lake Edward. Can you tell yet that Uganda was a British colony? Everything is named after the Queen and British royalty.
We toured the Channel aboard a water vehicle (called a "launch"), with other tourists and a Park guide pointing out various sights of interest.

On this leg of the tour, you may see water eagles, crocodiles, big lizards, an assortment of birds, hippos, elephants, various animals showing up to drink, and "losers" (buffaloes or hippos that have been kicked out of their herds, or are too injured to keep up. They seek sanctuary in the shallows of the lakes, until they die). I can not remember what else we saw after my camera went dead, with no battery backup. The 80x optical zoom was great for some of my shots, but terrible for battery life. The pictures I have from this day represent a little more than half of what we saw that day. Uganda is definitely rich of wildlife, well worth the day.

As far as costs go, you will usually pay for the safari vehicle (but we had our own), separately for a tour guide (supposed to know where the animals are in such a huge park), gate fees for each vehicle (we had two), and park fees for every person except babies (around 8 of us). For foreigners, park fees are about $90 (for Angelene, although I don't recall them checking passports). As a Ugandan passport-holder, I paid an equivalent of $30. All the other tour activities might have cost around $400 in total. By this time in the trip, we were no longer keeping track of our expenses, so this is an educated guess.
We also brought our own iced water along for how hot it gets out there. We managed a nap for Moses in between adventures, but a long day overall for him. A whole day in the wild like this (and in a vehicle) is not conducive for young babies who won't remember a shred of it.

But what do we say about phase four of the trip? Success! Many thanks to my sister Esther and brother Zablon for organizing the day, and accompanying us throughout. We became tourists for a day.

Uganda Trip: House and Land

What trip goes without disappointments ever? Not this one! The first setback was having no battery juice for the camera on the day we visited my land and also inspected my house. Although I had 3 battery packs for backup, I had forgotten to bring along their charger. As such, there are no current pictures of the house (except the glib below) and none of the land.

The second disappointment was the size of my house. It turns out that on my father's orders, the house had been shrunk from the size called for on the blueprint I kept back in the US, mostly because he thought it was too big. I had not been informed of this change beforehand, only finding out when I commented that the house looked smaller than I thought. Its length was reduced by more than 35 feet, for example, and while the floor plan was kept the same, all the rooms are proportionately smaller than I would like. In fact, we'll end up not having enough dining/living room space and must lose one of the bathrooms because the shrinking left it practically a sliver barely enough to fit a toilet seat. To say I was supremely pissed doesn't describe enough how I felt. If it wasn't near completion, I would have sought to tear down the house and start all over -- to specification (and maybe a different floor plan). Nonetheless, I will work with what we have there.

The house is in the background, seen from the front.

What is left to do about the house are final touches, painting, and furnishing. The doors and windows will need to be redone, the landscaping and grounds spruced up. The plan is to put the house up for rent or set it up as a (tourist) guest house when it is complete, until we retire into it.

The land is out in the village, about 70 miles away from Kasese town (where the house is) off the road towards the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo. My mother has done an excellent job maintaining and growing all kinds of staples on it. The only problem I see with it is that it is landlocked and not near the main road. To reach it, you must traverse small paths along other people's land. The plan at this point is to buy the piece of land directly in front of mine (between mine and the main road), or find another nearby that is next to the main road. Land is exponentially more expensive in that area, in what seems like a "land rush" of sorts. Those with bigger chunks of land are growing eucalyptus trees or pepper for export, amidst the usual subsistence crops. So it might take a little while for the landowner in front of me to sell, or for us to find another suitable piece of land adjacent to the road. But whenever that happens, our plan is to build another house and setup poultry farming on it. Poultry is surprisingly a good business in the area, both for eggs and meat.

When we went to visit the land (in background).

The takeaway from this third phase of the trip is that seeing things with your own eyes makes all the difference. I had seen pictures and taken Skype tours of the house and land, but my expectations were still quite different than the reality (especially with the house). But having seen it all, I'm better prepared to plan for and direct development of these properties. I was not impressed with the house, but I like the prospects of the land.

Further out, this is where we plan to retire: into that house (and the new one on the piece of land we are yet to acquire), and to farm the land we own. In retirement, we imagine we will spend half the year in the States with family and grand kids, and escape the colder months to Uganda for a season of farming (cultivation through harvest of some crop). Until then though, we'll visit the country every 2-4 years, do vacations or holidays with family there, or find missionary opportunities in that part of the country. It is a growing trend for Americans to retire abroad, and we are jumping on that bandwagon. We envision our retirement (30 years away still) to be quite active and full of travel or mission work, God willing.

Uganda Trip: On the Ground

We had made arrangements for private transportation throughout the 12 days of our trip. In Uganda, it is best to hire a driver with the vehicle, and provide the gasoline, which might cost about UGX 250k/day (or $70/day inclusive). This enabled us to maintain our itinerary and travel more freely, avoiding crazy public transportation (taxis and buses).

Although we had brought an infant car seat for Moses (free checked luggage on KLM flights), we used it only in the beginning. It is not the rule there for infants to travel in car seats. We also traveled with a carry-on stroller that we did not find much use for. Moses liked being held during our airport layovers. So we'll likely skip these accessories on our next trip.

For accommodation, we used a hotel in Kasese (Virina Gardens Hotel) because my house itself was not move-in ready for us. In Kampala, my sister vacated her master bedroom for our use, and in Kabale, my aunt boarded us in her rent-ready furnished home. We are grateful for this generosity because it saved us the expense of hotels, which are comparatively more expensive (for foreigners and tourists) than here in the US. A good hotel might cost about $60/night although you can always find cheaper alternatives if you know the right people. Make sure your room has air conditioning and mosquito nets over the beds. That fee also includes room-delivered breakfast.

Speaking of mosquito nets, we had brought some for our bed and Moses' crib. Late August is the end of the dry season and rains where expected when we were there. But there were no mosquitos, so we didn't really use the nets the last half of our trip. Even though, we were religious about taking our Malaria pills each day. The only other travel requirement for Uganda is a yellow fever shot.

Pretty early in the trip, we realized we needed to still maintain Moses' sleep schedule, so whatever we did happened after his naps. Thankfully, he did well with one nap most days and didn't experience jet-lag while we were there. We brought his pack-n-play so we can set up for him to sleep wherever we go as needed.

As soon as we arrived, my sister gave us a SIM card for phone service through MTN Uganda. Although Verizon claims I could have used my Galaxy Note 3 phone with it, it did not work. Luckily, I had borrowed an iPhone 4 from a friend back in CO and it worked perfectly there. I take note here that MTN is not the only network in the country; there are 3 more and they are incompatible. This means people carry around 2 or more phones for each network they are subscribed to, usually the ones where most of their friends and family are, because it is more expensive to call people out-of-network. Also, everything is pretty much prepay. Voicemail is not part of most service offers; you just keep trying all the person's numbers until you get a hold of them. Whatsapp is prevalent for those with smartphones.

In order to charge our American devices (phones, cameras, and for my blender), we bought a power converter to step down their 220/240V to 110/120V. But even with this, I managed to go through 3 batteries on the camera, with no further way to recharge them because I forgot to bring their charger. Regrets.

On our second day in-country, we needed to exchange dollars for Ugandan shillings. The exchange rate was UGX 3,500, but we found out this only applies to large denomination bills. Your $20, $10, $5 and $1 bills will be exchanged at a much lower rate. Outside of Kampala, the condition of the bill matters too: inked, old, or torn bills might not be accepted. With small bills, you can bargain for a better rate if you have a lot of them to exchange.

Speaking of bargaining, this is the way to shop in Ugandan markets. You can bargain on anything except in supermarkets or other formal venues. The prices are obviously hiked for foreigners (especially when they see a white person), so my strategy was to start my offer at half the price. A few times I consulted with any local I was traveling with whether the stated price was fair.

The markets didn't have as many fruits as I had hoped. I had planned to blend fruit shakes daily, so I brought my Bullet on the trip. Didn't use it even once, small disappointment. The food was otherwise excellent, food I had missed all these years living in the US. The only warning is that it is usually fried and heavy on the carbs. We didn't eat out much; my family and relatives provided most of the food we ate. Sometimes we ventured out for road snacks (gonja, bananas, and muchomo mostly). To avoid drinking tap water, sodas were the thirst-quenchers. One weird practice: if you want to take a (glass) bottled drink with you, you must bring an empty. Otherwise, you must drink it wherever you bought it and leave the bottle behind.

Things are cheaper in Kampala than they are upcountry, so if you want to do tourist-type shopping, Kampala is your best best for variety and price. Even exchange rates for the dollar are better there. Caution though that places such as the African Village (where they sell traditional art and other trinkets) are not cheap, because their target shopper is the tourist. I saw a good piece of art on canvas there priced at the equivalent of $100 and thought it wasn't for the average Ugandan. I've seen the same piece of African art for half that price in Denver.

The weather was fair the whole time we were there. I think it rained once or twice only. There is a day we got out to explore Kasese markets, and were drenched in sweat only a few hours into the expedition. The sun wasn't even shining per se (some cloud cover), but it was quite hot. Kabale had the best weather, save for the dusty atmosphere due to road construction in the town. Luckily, our transport also had air conditioning, although we didn't find out about it until 4 days into the trip.
To stay hydrated, we bought a cooler and filled it with frozen bottles of water (or added ice whenever we could). The cooler mostly stayed in the vehicle, as that's where we used it most. Eventually sodas and Moses' food ended up in it.

We spent a lot of time in the vehicle (on the road). Kampala to Kasese is 6 hours, and Kasese to Kabale about 5 hours (although we took a remote detour to drop off my sister at the hospital where she works/teaches). Kabale to Kampala took us 7 hours. Traffic in the towns and city is mayhem; no traffic control signals and lots of road construction. On one occassion, we hit traffic building up because the president was passing through. We passed a couple of bad accidents on the roads. The main roads are generally in good condition, and we had a good driver.

The driver, it turns out, is a distant relative of mine. At some point during the trip, he referred to an aunt of mine as his aunt. He spoke my mother tongue (Lukonjo). The language didn't come back to me as quickly as I thought it would, so we used English all through the trip. I understood when people spoke it, but I couldn't muster complete sentences beyond simple greetings. That's what 20 years of zero practice does to you. The driver found all this hilarious, my trying to speak the language.

This means that introductions to my various relatives also had to be in English. There also had to be a translator close by, in case those relatives didn't know English. We got introduced to so many relatives, most of whom I really did not know before, or whom I could not remember. It was sad somewhat to not remember someone that knows you well.

Uganda Trip: Travel To

Travel to Uganda from the US is a long affair, about 20-30 hours en route depending on what airline you choose. We opted for KLM mostly because of their service and total travel hours (25 hours from departure at COS to arrival at EBB). The first lesson from the get-go: all our US-connected flights were actually operated by Delta Airlines, which we didn't like. Next time we'll pay attention to this detail.

We started packing about 4 days before our departure. We were allowed 2 checked bags each (4 total, up to 50lbs each), plus 1 carry-on each (or 3 with baby artifacts). We couldn't check in online because of international travel with an infant, so we got to COS around 4:30am the Sunday we departed. There was a problem printing our boarding passes, holding us up for 45 minutes at check-in. Eventually we were on our way though, with stops in ATL and AMS.

When you travel with an infant, you must be creative on how you keep him entertained. We decided we'd maintain his feeding and sleep schedule as they were back home, using one of our phones in airplane mode to set timers and keep US time. What also worked was finding things he could spend hours distracted by: headphone jack in/out of receptacle, opening/shutting window shade, opening/closing containers and putting/removing stuff from said containers, etc. He was super friendly to people that showed interest in him, playing peek-a-boo with them for long chunks of time. It also helped to let him crawl in the airplane aisles (and wipe his hands with disinfectant as soon as he was done). He's not old enough for the kid entertainment on the flights, but he did really well we were so proud. On all our flights, people commended him on how good he did; we literally had no problems with him.

Amsterdam has "baby care lounges" in the lower floors of their terminals. These were a godsend in managing Moses' sleep. They are generally quiet (except for other babies' noises) and dark silos with a crib anyone can use. It was a good alternative from sleeping on our chests during flight, putting in 2.5 hours of a nap. We also tried to have naps there, but the available space outside the crib is frustratingly limited to allow laying down.

We arrived in Entebbe (EBB) around 11:45pm but didn't clear Ugandan immigration/customs and get our luggage until around 1am (Monday morning local time). But my sister and brother, along with some cousins were waiting for us outside, with our driver and ride. The trip from Entebbe to Kampala where we would spend the night took another hour due traffic and poor road conditions. This first van ride was a little bit rough on Angelene, throwing up and all. Blame the pregnancy hormones or air or something, but we are fortunate it wasn't anything lasting. We had dinner around 2am and turned in for the night, completing the first phase of this trip.

Uganda Trip Itinerary

One of our family goals this year is to travel to Uganda, during which trip Angelene and Moses will be formally introduced to my family there. I have not been to the country since 1996 (almost two decades), so this trip will be as much a homecoming for me as it will be a reintroduction to my relatives there.

We've thought about making this trip since before we were married, but it went into high gear after Moses was born. Really, the longer we waited, the more expensive it would be to make such a trip. So we committed to August (when he is a year old and fully immunized, but can still travel free of charge), and started saving for the trip. We found the best airline tickets through KLM. For a while though, we had been considering Emirates Air, through which we would have used a day-long layover in the UAE to visit Dubai and Abu Dhabi. That trip would however have been a total 35 hours, which I didn't think would be a good idea with a toddler in tow.

The most important part of this trip is on Sunday, August 23, when a reception luncheon will be hosted in honor of Angelene and Moses. This is when we expect to meet the majority of relatives. It will be preceded by a church ceremony of Thanksgiving in the morning, officiated by one of my grandparents (who is a bishop in the Protestant/Anglican denomination). We plan to be tourists for a day on a safari in the nearby Queen Elizabeth National Park the day before, and visit my land (as in, property I own) and house (which I've been slowly building for almost 10 years), among other things. It will be busy. This is why I have instituted some days of rest in the trip, so that we can all catch our breath and enjoy vacation. It looks like we'll be visiting with various relatives every other day we are not actively resting. I hope it won't be overwhelming.