Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary
On the steel gates of Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary there was a stern sign warning “NO GPS ALLOWED.” This is part an effort to curb information, and therefore poaching, about the more than 30 rhinos that call this sanctuary home. Ziwa is run by a non profit in cooperation with the Uganda Wildlife Authority, and they are doing the long and slow work of breeding rhinos for eventual reintroduction into Ugandan wildlife parks. After our time at Murchison we thought it would be cool to go check it out.
The reserve is small, but it was still a few kilometers into the camp. We rolled into headquarters and checked in, booking a rhino tracking walk for that evening. Rhino tracking here is all done on foot, not by game drive, and we were pretty excited about the opportunity.
Camp is only a hundred meters or so from the scattered buildings of headquarters, and here we were admitted through a big gate to our heavily fenced campsite. The fencing was of big steel bars, to protect us from rhinos, though at Ziwa there are only the relatively docile white rhino as opposed to the black rhinos, who’re generally thought to be more cantankerous. The robust fencing that surrounded us made me feel like we were camping inside a horse corral.
It would be a few hours until our rhino tracking. While we were waiting another camper showed up. He was Ugandan, working for a pangolin conservation project with a sponsor in the United States. We had a nice conversation with him, including solving a mystery of the bush that I’ve often wondered about.
Pangolins are incredibly rare animals, a sort of scaly ant eater. They are also under intense poaching pressure, the scales being one of the things in high demand in the far east for various perceived medicinal benefits. In truth their scales are just the same as our finger nails. What a tragedy that an animal might be poached to extinction for something as mundane as the keratin.
Long has it been a safari goal of mine to someday see a pangolin, but every guide we’ve ever asked has always given us a polite version of “It ain’t gonna happen”. So then, if I am destined to probably never see a pangolin, how the heck does a pangolin poacher make a living, what with them being so difficult to find?
Our researcher friend explained that the poachers look for the tracks, and then follow them to their burrows and dig them up. Presto, pangolin scales for China. Mystery solved.
He is doing the work of putting tracking collars on pangolins. This also involves following their tracks to their burrows and then waiting until they come out. Then they tag them and release them. He said this can take days, where he camps outside the burrow in a tent, and even then they’ve had times were the pangolin has eluded them, slipping by while someone is sleeping or going about the work of living in the bush for days.
Our researcher friend also said that when he first came here to look for pangolins the locals told him, “Pangolins? No problem, how many would you like us to dig up?” He quickly told them that isn’t how they work and refused the offer, instead dong it the more laborious way, by waiting.
During this interesting discussion rain came and gently tapped down for a while, but we were comfortable in the camp provided shelter. Some warthogs wandered by with several energetic piglets who were charging all about. It was adorable.
It was now time for our rhino walk and conveniently the rain stopped. The ranger gave us a safety briefing and explained a bit about rhinos. Of the 30+ rhinos hereis watched 24 hrs a day by a team of two scouts. Frequently the rhinos hang out in groups, making this task a little easier. This means there are quite a few scouts roaming the woods, each keeping a watch from a distance on their perspective group of rhinos. This labor intensive procedure has kept the rhinos at Ziwa safe for the roughly 20 years since they started breeding rhinos here.
This also means that rhino “tracking” is a bit of a misnomer, as the scouts know where the rhinos are at all times. Nonetheless, walking on foot unto a group of sleeping rhinos is exhilarating. Our first rhino group was just a few hundred meters into the bush from camp. We obeyed our instructions and were able to approach to about 10 meters of several rhinos taking a nap. They started to wake up and we backed off a bit, but it was incredible to see how they took a look at us and were in no way perturbed.
This is because the rhinos here are incredibly habituated to humans, and are thus fairly safe to approach on foot. Normally this would be very dangerous, but these rhinos have never known anything else. It serves them well here, but I did wonder if that might prove problematic if they do ever get reintroduced to the wild; poachers would be able to approach with ease.
After some minutes with our first group we left them and went to find another set of rhinos. Today they were a little further away, so we got in our vehicle and drove a few kilometers (with GPS off) as directed by our guide. He was talking on a cell phone, which they use to communicate between the teams. He explained this was because cell phones are harder to hack than radios, and they don’t put GPS trackers on the rhinos for the same reason, lest poachers hack the tracking system and are lead right to their prey.
No trackers and poor cell signal meant we spent some time wandering around the bush until we came upon a female rhino and her roughly one year old calf. Again it was incredible how tolerant they were of us.
Our ranger told us about the history of rhinos in Uganda, and at Ziwa. All of the wild rhinos were hunted to local extinction in the 80s. This meant that Ziwa had to start from scratch, and they received a few donated rhinos to start with. One was from America (I think from a Disney zoo?) and another from Kenya. These two bred and when their baby rhino was born it was named “Obama,” as his parents were from America and Kenya.
All the wandering around finding the second group had taken more time than usual, according to the ranger. We got along well with him, and he was very interested in our trip, asking a lot of questions. In the end our second rhino group was quite close his living quarters, and we stopped by to say hello to his wife and child.
The rhino evening was a big success, we dropped off our guide more or less at sunset and retired to our reinforced corral. Evening in camp was relaxed. There was an enormous fire one of the staff must have lit, far too big to cook on, but we cooked on the stove and laid plans for the next day.
In the morning I woke before dawn. There was a curious noise outside the tent. I got up, and found to my surprise three rhinos sleeping right up against the fence, about 10 meters from our vehicle. Amazing! I watched them in the darkness for a bit, listening to their breathing, and every once in a while there would be a burst of air. I realized they were farting in their sleep.
This whole thing was totally awesome, an enormous and prehistoric animal dozing next to camp, emitting various noises, it was all great. I made coffee and as the light improved I whispered up to Jenny. She woke up and I told her about our neighbors, to her delight. An hour or so passed where we watched rhinos right next to us, me sipping my coffee and Jenny watching from the tent. They woke up around dawn and stretched, farted some more, and milled about for a bit. Not in any big hurry they eventually moseyedoff into the grass.
What a magical morning. The guide had told us that often as many as 15 rhinos will sleep near the camp. It is one of their favorite spots, so apparently our experience was not all that unique.
Birding at the Royal Mile (Budongo Forest Reserve)
I had pushed a bit for an early start today, so that we could go birding at The Royal Mile, which purportedly has some of the best, if not the best birding in Uganda. It is a bit of a drive away, and since birding is best done early we needed to get going.
I still maintain that we are not bird crazy, but I also believe that if you are in a place that is unique or good at a particular thing, why not check it out? And the birds up here do seem to be spectacular, with wonderful coloring and character that are unfamiliar to us.
Heading to the Royal Mile meant backtracking towards Murchison Falls, but then turning off towards the west. The Royal Mile is contained within the Budongo Forest Reserve, one of the mish-mash of conservation areas abutting Murchison Falls National Park that we found confusing. But it was marked on the GPS and we blindly forged ahead.
We turned off the tar onto some freshly graded gravel roads that lead through large organized sugar cane fields. The Honey Badger was happy with the crunch of gravel under her shoes and we rolled along these farm roads happily, a cloud of red dust in the mirror.
From the village of Nyabyeya, close to the reserve, things got confusing. We made our way to the entrance of the reserve, where an old man stood watch over the gate. He spoke little english, but we established that a guide and permit was a requirement, even to walk the road. My previous research had indicated that you could walk the road without these, but the trails required the guide and permit.
“Where do we get the permit?” After some gesturing and awkward communication with the old man we figured out that we were supposed to back track a few kilometers to a Forestry College. I was getting the sinking feeling that this was going to be a fruitless wild goose chase, but Jenny maintained a positive attitude and we pressed on.
At the Forestry College we were eventually directed to an office, where a man called another man on the phone, and finally the person in charge showed up. A permit is not cheap, a half day running 90,000 UGX pp (~$25 USD), a full day 120,000 UGX.
A guide is required on top of this. When we asked about how much the guide is they said, “You negotiate that when you meet him at the gate.” I wasn’t too happy about this, not wanting to commit to permits without having at least some idea of what the guide would cost. The authority seems not to care or comprehend our concerns about the price, but he agreed to call the guide and said we could negotiate on the phone. On the phone we settled on 50,000 UGX for guiding.
After all this was agreed upon we still went about the laborious process of writing out receipts for our permits and then we were finally on our way. Receipt Man also had to sign us in at the gate, so he hopped on his bicycle and rode on ahead of us.
At the gate we geared up for our walk with our binoculars, camera and all that. Here I regretted not having one of those dorky binocular harness things that birders always have. Our guide showed up on a boda taxi, and amusingly Receipt Man was giving him a hard time, that it was time he buy his own boda.
Our guide introduced himself as Raymond and we thanked him for showing up on such short notice. From here we set off on The Royal Mile, so named as it was used for the escape of a Ugandan King during some dispute or another that I forgot the details of.
The Royal Mile is a straight run of dirt road that runs through the Budongo Forest Reserve. It is [kind of forest] with a high canopy and impressive mahogany trees supported by mighty buttresses, as well as many other hardwoods. Huge figs tower above, and vines wrap around and between, with thicker foliage underneath. The whole collection of flora is impressive. Raymond said that on top of being excellent for birding there are also lots of primates here and very occasionally on bird walks they even see chimpanzees.
This was our first proper guided bird walk. Raymond conducted us at a very leisurely amble while deploying his incredible mimicry skills at bird calls. The diversity of calls and sounds he could make was unbelievable, and with great success he called in many birds. Usually he would first listen for their calls, to know they were in the vicinity, and then we would repeat their calls back to them and the birds would come to investigate.
Sometimes of course the birds were just there on their own, and then Raymond’s incredible eyesight would pick them us before us. He also displayed an excellent knack for telling us where to look. “You see this tree? Follow its trunk to the twisted branch, then to the right there is a big leaf, under that leaf is an Ashy Flycatcher.” (or whatever species).
We were sighting new species nearly as fast as he could point them out and I couldn’t keep up noting them on my phone. I managed to note 13 new species, though there were more than that, but between juggling my camera with telephoto lens and the binoculars I didn’t always manage to write them down.
I have a fondness for kingfishers and we happily saw the Pygmy Kingfisher, Blue-breasted Kingfisher, Dwarf Kingfisher and Chocolate Backed Kingfisher.
Eventually we had to go back as we still had some kilometers to drive in the afternoon. Raymond was great company, and he seemed very happy to be walking in the woods and birding, not only for the work but just because he liked to do it.
To Lake Albert, sort of
Back at the car we scarfed down some lunch and started making our way towards Lake Albert. After backtracking on those perfect gravel roads we hit the tar and turned west. Driving in this part of the country was relatively relaxed. The road was in good shape, the traffic mild and importantly the roads mostly had shoulders for pedestrian and bicycle traffic.
After passing the sizable town of Hoima we turned towards the lake road. Surprisingly the road was a large new tarmac road. There seem to be a lot of new roads in Uganda. We sailed along this thoroughfare with ease, hardly any traffic and a tolerable amount of speed bumps.
This was all going fine until the road diverged from the map on the GPS. It was sorta in the right direction, but there was definitely no road where the GPS said there was, only a large new highway to somewhere. It lead us down a steep escarpment in big graceful bends across the blank space on the GPS. I tried maps.me, OSM and Googlemaps and all agreed that the very real road we were on does not exist. (To my annoyance I later found Gaia GPS maps does have this road, but from what data source I don’t know. I don’t like Gaia because it requires you use an app on a phone or tablet for offline use.)
But hey, it was going in what seemed the right direction and it was perfectly smooth, so we weren’t complaining. There was a small booth at the side of the road, marking the entrance to the Kabwoya Wildlife Reserve. One is supposed to pay $10 dollars to enter, but the man on duty said that the person who takes the money was not there, we could pay on the way out. Fair enough.
After the gate the road still did not match the map very well, but it did eventually bring us to the turnoff for our destination, the Lake Albert Lodge. This lodge is known for having a fantastic view of the lake and having camping.
Jenny had contacted their booking office and they responded with a confusing email, but did confirm they had camping. Our arrival was greeted with more confusion. A very shy member of the staff, not wanting to give us bad news, whispered that they were fully booked and they couldn’t accommodate us.
When we clarified that we didn’t want to stay in the lodge, just to camp, we were told there was no camping. No camping? The boss was summoned and a white South African in a huff came over and explained that they hadn’t had camping in a couple years (irregardless of what their booking office and website say). He was pretty unhelpful on where to go, but when we asked to at least see the view he was welcoming.
On our way through the lodge to see the lake we saw his clients, and then it became clear why this was all a bit strange. The whole lodge had been booked by a hunting group, UWA apparently allows hunting in the reserve. We walked through a small throng of guests, all strapping men with sun burn, bush attire, gaiters and spats. Around the lodge were rifle cases, and later when we departed we saw the vehicle that hauls the slain animals back to camp.
The view was great, but the hour was late and we needed a place to stay. Jenny is great at this sort of thing, so I took the wheel while she started looking at maps, iOverlander and Tracks4Africa. There was a plausible guesthouse nearby, but it seemed more just a place to sleep, we thought we’d try for more.
We settled on Kikonko Lodge, back up the escarpment. They are building a campsite, but in the mean time allow informal camping. As usual we were the only guests, but the staff were very nice and happy to have someone around.
Fort Portal
Our plan was to head down to Fort Portal, which is sort of a hub in western Uganda for various activities. On the drive the scenery changed, finally to the Uganda of my imagination. Banana plants and rolling hills cultivated in every corner. It was very lush, green and had lots of great topography full of lumpy hills of forest and farms. It rained on us during the drive, but otherwise it was smooth going.
Fort Portal is a busy medium sized town, but has no sights for tourists, it is more of a hub. Andrew Brother’s is a small grocery and we stocked up there on a few odds and ends before heading to our campsite, the well regarded Kluges Guest Farm & Campsite.
Kluges is a well known stop for overlanders. The road there is a bit rough, and after the rain it was a little slippery, but the 4×4 handled it with no drama. Arriving we rolled through the gate to a beautifully lined drive. It is so lush here it must be a challenge to keep the weeds down, I imagine everything grows fantastically well.
After checking in we settled into the campsite, a green lawn on a terraced hillside. It was early afternoon and we spent some time birdwatching. There were juvenile casqued hornbills, cinnamon breasted bee eaters, sunbirds, green pigeons and more.
An hour or so into camp time we heard a squawk. Looking under a nearby tree there was a puff of feathers floating to the ground and all the birdsong had ceased. It was quiet. Then in another tree we spotted a raptor holding one of the green pigeons in its talons, tearing into his dinner.
That night we ate at the restaurant, having goat curry and matoke. Matoke is a banana that is not sweet, cooked by boiling. We had matoke fingers, where the banana is boiled whole and peeled afterwards, sort of like a plantain. They’re also served as mash, but the staff told us they like the fingers better. Bananas are a staple in Uganda and there are different kinds of bananas for different purposes, for matoke and sweet bananas and bananas for fermenting waragi banana moonshine.
Bananas are interesting plants, as I understand it they must be cultivated by humans, they will not survive in the wild. A huge problem is the there is a banana blight, which is actually happening world wide, but this is a particularly acute issue in Uganda and Rwanda, where bananas form 30%-60% of the daily calorie intake for the rural population. Efforts are underway to remedy this, with genetically modified banana plants and by substituting more resistant species of banana.
Matoke went well with goat curry. I would rate it higher than other ubiquitous staple, maize meal (ugali, nshima, posho), but I don’t think it’s going to be my new go-to food.
Kluges was a nice stop and we decided to spend a second night here, doing a little hand laundry and just enjoying the surrounds. Jenny went for a run and I worked on the blog, but come afternoon the rain set in. It rained a lot, but we managed well, sitting in the shelter by the campsite and using the protection of our awning when we cooked dinner.
One of our big Uganda goals was to go see chimpanzees. There are several places you can see chimps in East Africa (Mahale, Gombe, Kibale, Queen Elizabeth, and more). But Kibale National park is nearby, and has one of the first chimpanzee groups ever habituated. Also Kibale National Forest has forest elephants, though they are rarely seen. Who knows, maybe we’d get lucky?
This was a relatively lazy day, moving to a campsite near Kibale. There are numerous choices, but we settled on the Nkuruba Community Campsite. This part of Africa is densely populated, so the drive is transiting through farmland punctuated by village after village along a decent tar road. Our speed rarely went over 60 as we watched the farms pass by our windows, rain pattering on the windshield and wipers pumping away.
The original plan was to try for the chimps this afternoon, but rain threatened again and we postponed. Instead we passed the afternoon in camp bird and primate watching.There were four kinds of monkeys in this camp. Each troop passed through and we enjoyed the antics of the little ones and watching the different characteristics of each monkey.
The Vervets are nearly silent as they pass from tree to tree, light of finger and foot. Black and white colobus have the gnome like faces of old men and crash from tree to tree in big messy leaps of confidence. The red colobus (there are many sub species of red colobus, I forget which these were) had baby monkeys brimming with confidence who would happily head into a new tree on their own. Red tailed monkeys went from tree to tree and almost defecated on the cruiser from above.
Birds here were excellent and one of the staff was excited when we asked about birds. Sadly the rain kept the best sightings away, though we were still impressed with turacos, barbets and bee eaters. I have been trying to see a black bee eater, endemic in this area, but he told us that they don’t see them when it’s raining.
Since we decided to postpone the chimp trekking this actually meant that it was time for us to get ready to head back to Jinja. Back to Jinja? Yes. It was time for a rendezvous with Jenny’s sister. We’d have another go at chimpanzee tracking when we returned.
To Morocco
This was a plan hatched pre-covid, to take a trip with Jenny’s mother and sister to Morocco, a bucket list destination for Jenny’s mom in particular. The original plan was to fly to Morocco on March 15th, 2020, which you might recall as the very day that many international borders and flights were cancelled in response to the pandemic.
The tour company generously allowed a one year deferral. Then a second year, to 2022, but no further allowance was possible. The plan was to park the Cruiser, fly to Morocco for a two week guided tour and family rendezvous, and then come back to Uganda and continue our trip. Unfortunately Jenny’s mom couldn’t make it, this time, and a friend is coming instead.
It was strange, hopping in the Cruiser to drive back to Jinja. We’d been on the road for over five months, spending only three nights outside the tent. People sometimes think we are roughing it here, camping so many nights in a row, but really the Cruiser makes camping comfortable. We were mostly looking forward to seeing Jenny’s sister, and also letting someone else do all the figuring out of when and where to go. And of course to see Morocco, such a different part of Africa than where we’ve been so far.
There was more rain on this drive, but we put on an audio book and ate the best rolexes we’ve had yet as the kilometers passed by. A great thanks to the Kampala expressway. This ring road makes getting through Kampala practical. What used to be a formidable undertaking is now pretty easy. It still drops you onto the Jinja road with a ways to go, this last two hours is tedious and full of hair raising traffic.
Arriving back at The Haven was a small homecoming though. There was the tail end of another rain storm when we arrived, but staff members Pricilla and Ali greeted us with big smiles and the wet was forgotten.
Fortunately the next day we were spared the rain and this allowed us to get the Cruiser organized, bedding aired out and clothes packed up for our flight. The Haven has vehicle storage and on the day of our flight we put the Honey Badger to bed under a covered shed, locked the doors and jumped in the taxi. It was strange sensation to be leaving the Cruiser but not be going home.
The Nitty Gritty
Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary
Entry, camping and tracking are charged separately. We thought this stop was really worthwhile. If you were visiting on a budget then just camp here, it is very likely rhinos will come by the campsite. That said the tracking experience was great, and comes with all the information you learn from the experienced guide.
Ablutions here were new, with solar hot water. The mens side had no shower curtains, but I think they weren’t even done putting in the final fixtures. Separately there is a cooking enclosure and covered shelter with a few picnic tables. We were warned that monkeys are a nuisance here, but they never bothered us.
Entry is $20 pp (per visit? per 24 hrs? We were only charged this once). Camping is $20 pppn, and the rhino trekking is $30 pp and can be arranged at any time of day, though they recommended early morning or late afternoon. If you’re on a budget just come and camp and you’re likely to see rhinos from the campsite.
The Royal Mile
There is a community campsite near Budongo, but we could not establish if it was open or not. If birding is your thing I think staying closer is the way to go, and prearranging your guide and permits. I tried to do this and after several phone calls and emails didn’t make any progress, so we just showed up. This worked, but was slow, and thus we went birding later in the day than is ideal.
Raymond the bird guide can be contacted at +256 (0)777 319 865. He can also arrange for the people from the Forestry Department, that issue permits, to meet you at the gate. This would speed up the whole process quite a bit.
Kikonko Lodge charged us $15 pp for informal camping in their not very flat car park. This is sort of expensive for camping in the parking lot, but in every other respect this place was great. They had a pool, a nice view, welcoming and friendly staff and the chalet they gave us the keys to for a toilet and shower was beautiful.
Kluges Guest Farm is an old standby for overlanders. The restaurant has an ala carte menu, and someone had told us it was the best food they ate on their whole trip. For us the food was plenty fine, but not outstanding. We later learned that their old cook had quit, so that likely explains it. Ablutions were spacious and clean, hot water by solar heater. There is a shelter with picnic table and a covered dishwashing area.
Nkuruba Community Campsite was really nice. The campsite is on a lawn fairly high above a small lake. The one downside is the staff quarters are on one side and the restaurant and office on the other, with the campsite in the middle. This makes you feel sort of in the middle of a lot of back and forth, but it wasn’t too bad and the staff were nice. There is also a short hike to the lake and you can swim, though we did not.
Showers here are rustic but fine, with a donkey boiler for hot water. They made a fire for us here when we asked. There are also bandas here.
Ziwa > Royal Mile: 92km, 1h 49m
Royal Mile > Lake Albert Lodge > Kikonko: 209km, 4h 18m
