Wandergliding: A Big Travel Day Across Uganda

November 14^th, 2023

My next major destination was the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary. It is 200-250 kilometers to the west of Sipi Falls and there is a big spindly, swampy lake in the way called Lake Kyoga. The choice was to go south of it, through Kampala, or the slightly longer route to the north. I really didn’t want to revisit the big, messy metropolis of Kampala if I didn’t have to, plus I wanted to see more of Uganda, even though I knew from the view at Sipi Falls that it looked like a lot of flat land.

I woke up around 7 am to the sound of rain hitting the metal roof of my room. It’s one of the two seasonal rainy seasons but it hasn’t been that bad in my mind, only raining for an hour or two most days. But I wondered if this might hamper my travel day. Thankfully the rain subsided and around 8 am I was out on the road outside the Crow’s Nest resort waiting for the next passing matatu to take me to Mbale where I hoped to get a bus to a small city named Lira. I didn’t think I could make it all the way to the rhino sanctuary in one day, so I booked a room in Lira.

The early morning sky in the rainy season:

The view in the other direction:

After waiting for about 20 minutes with a few locals on the side of the road, a pickup truck showed up and the man inside asked one of the guys where I was going. Turns out he was heading to Mbale and he offered to take me for 25,000 shillings. A matatu would have been 15,000 so for about $4 more, I would have an express vehicle, and a comfortable seat! I hopped in and we headed on our way. Patrick was a 47-year-old married farmer with 5 kids ranging from the oldest who in his last year of med school, to a 3-year-old. He was a very friendly guy and we discussed topics from marriage, to religion, to the war going on in Gaza.

That's a lot of cabbage in that truck!

Patrick dropped me off at the “bus depot”, a loosely used term as it seemed to just be a few buses parked by the side of the road. Seeing me, the mzungu (white guy), a few guys approached the truck and Patrick made sure that I would be taken care of. He told them that I was a friend. I bid Patrick farewell, paid for my ticket, and hopped on a bus which amazingly left a few minutes later. Sometimes you can wait for an hour or two for the bus to be full enough before they decide to leave.

Since I was making great progress in my travels so far, and expected to arrive in Lira around 1 pm, I thought I could press on to the rhino sanctuary. I sent an email to them and found out that there would be a room available for me. I’m actually realizing that Uganda tourism is not super busy at the moment and I haven’t had any trouble booking a room or a tour so far. The arrival time into Lira slipped to almost 2 pm but I still wanted to go for it. I planned on another bus to a small city called Masinda and then a slight backtrack on a bus headed for Kampala where I would get off after about 70 kilometers at a town called Nakitoma (sounds a bit like a Japanese location).

Some big rocks made me feel like I was back in Hampi in India:

As the bus arrived in Lira, a man came down the aisle asking where people were going. He mentioned Masinda and I raised my arm. He told me to follow him. Disembarking from the bus, I stated that I required a toilet and an ATM before moving on, and I had seen a bank across the road as we pulled in.

After these two pit stops, he led me over to a small mini-van and claimed that this was an express vehicle to Masindi. “Will it stop many times?” I asked. “No”. “Will it leave soon?” “Yes”. Well both of those answers were bullshit. The car had three rows of seats but it was much tinier than a normal matatu. I was surprised when the fourth adult was made to sit in the back row, along with a toddler. I was in the middle row and sure enough, it ended up being me and three women. In the front there was a young woman and her toddler, plus the driver. Only the front two windows opened and I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the people in the back row as I found it stiflingly hot when we weren’t moving.

Finally, we got on our way, more than half an hour after I had been designated to this ride. Our first stop, the gas station of course, where the driver proceeded to buy less than four liters of gas. We weren’t even out of the city when we pulled over and an older lady was slotted into the middle seat in the front. We were now 11 adults and 2 toddlers in a car suited for 7 or 8 people. My ass was only half on the seat by the sliding door, which couldn’t be opened from the outside. There was no handle on the inside either and every time the driver needed to open the door, he reached in from the front passenger seat window and pulled on a metal wire to open it. Yikes.

I erroneously still thought that this was an “express” vehicle to Masindi, two and a half hours away. My butt was sore after only 10 minutes and I wondered how I was going to make it. I also thought of the strange practice of Vipassana, where one does yoga from morning to night in super uncomfortable positions to the point that you cry. I also had thoughts of torture methods that put the victims in very uncomfortable positions for hours and how they managed. I decided to occupy my mind and I started doing a crossword puzzle on my phone.

Typical roadside shops:

That seemed like a good strategy, but we stopped here, there and everywhere. I would have to take off my reading glasses, stow them away safely in my backpack, put my phone in my pocket, let the driver open the door, hop out and let whoever was getting out or getting in, get out and get in…it got to be a bit annoying. After 45 minutes, we did lose a few bodies, so it became a bit more comfortable, but then there were two goats and a duck added to the mix. I felt sorry for one of the goats as it bleated and proceeded to shit a bunch of round pellets of feces before being loaded into the back…it’s like it knew what was coming.

At one stop, a 60 something year old woman in my row engaged a man who approached the vehicle and was selling some fish. He dangled the fish through the window as they seemed to haggle on the price. Eventually she ended up purchasing two fish which ended up being hung over the side view mirror on the driver’s side for the remainder of her trip. With only the front two windows able to open, we received the odd pungent whiff of the dead fish as we rolled down the “highway” (that’s in quotes as a lot of the road was under construction and we probably only averaged 70 km/h).

The ride that was supposed to take 2½ hours was now looking like it would approach 4. I was starting to lose patience, even though I feel that I have a PhD in patience from the 3½ years I spent stuck in India. It was approaching 5:30 and within an hour the sun would set and since we’re right near the equator, it would be dark a half an hour after that. I decide that it didn’t make sense to go an extra 35-40 km into Masindi and then back track towards the sanctuary (it was like a triangle of roads). I told the driver to let me off where the highway split towards Kampala and I grabbed another, proper sized matatu to head south for 40 km. I enjoyed chatting with Fred, the driver and owner of the van. He was only going to charge me 5000 shillings (less than $2 for the 40 km) but I figured I’d give him double as he seemed like a nice guy…until he took the last swig of his water and proceeded to chuck the plastic bottle out of his window onto the road. Come on dude.

He let me off near a small town called Nakitoma as the daylight faded with a lovely orange hue down by the horizon. I grabbed a boda boda and by the time I arrived at the gate of the sanctuary, it was dark. The guards let us through the gate and for some reason I couldn’t pay my entrance fee and was told I’d have to return in the morning, which was about 4-5 km away from the lodge I was staying at. Okay, I didn’t really care at this point, I’d been on the road for 11 hours. My initial kickass travelling at the start of the day had been stymied by the matatu from hell.

We finally made it to the resort, and I was brought to the outside covered restaurant. By this time, I really needed to pee, so I walked over to the washroom building which was nearby. As I exited the toilet, a staff member named Erick grabbed me by the forearm and pulled me towards the wall of the washroom building. I heard this thundering galloping sound. Suddenly, two rhinos came galloping around the corner, from where I had just come, and passed by us about 10-12 feet away. They ran between the toilet facilities and the covered deck where a bunch of stunned diners sat. Wow…I felt like I’d just put on a dinner show for all the tourists!

This pic is from the next day, but this is the gap that the two rhinos ran through, to the right of the bathroom building and the tree, a gap of about 20 feet. I was pulled against the wall by the second window from the right. They continued in an arc and ran through the larger gap on the left. The railing on the left bit of the picture is where the diners enjoyed the show!

That night, around 1 am, I was woken up by some strange, loud sound just outside of my window. I got out of bed and peered outside. What?!? There was a rhinoceros with his horn protruding through a four-foot fence made of a couple of metal cross braces. I wasn’t sure if he was stuck, or just scratching. I then noticed six other rhinos; some were lying down while a few others were milling about. I continued to peer out of my window as slowly, and eventually, they all laid down to sleep, right outside of my room! I tried to take a photo and video, but nothing really turned out. The action seemed to be over, so I decided to go to bed.

By chance, I woke up around 6:20 in the morning and the group was still snoozing away. I was fortunate to be able to watch them as one by one, they roused. The largest male got up, showed his “morning glory” and then proceeded to lie down again. He got up about 20 minutes later and once again showed his prowess to the world, well to me at least. The last one to get up was the youngest, who had earlier laid his head against his mother.

You've heard of "the Elephant in the Room"...well I had "Rhinos Outside my Front Door"!