Crater lakes and tree-climbing lions

Nathan and I left Kampala behind for good. I am sad not knowing when again I will see the lovely people who welcomed me here, but we were leaving Kampala for better places.

We left for Fort Portal on Monday morning at 715am, stopping for some final errands and goodbyes at Mulago Guest House and the hospital. We reached Fort Portal by 1230pm, and it was much less eventful a ride. Most notably, there were no dead children on the roadside, nor any overturned or axle-deprived lorries. We checked into a swanky hotel Fred, the driver, recommended. Although somewhat over our price range, it was worth it compared to our place in Kampala. The Raja Excelsior Hotel was off the main road, had a large room with a poster bed, and a clean bathroom. The poster bed is instrumental. Nathan has been struggling with sleeping under the mosquito nets which are suspended from the ceilings. The nets on the four posters make for restful sleep. Shifting around does not disrupt the hanging of the net, and the net does not persistently fall on your head throughout the night.

In Fort Portal, Fred brought us to one of the many crater lakes. I was at first concerned because the one we were heading to was not in any of the guide books. Within 20 minutes of driving on dirt roads, we climb a mountain (volcano) ridge. Eventually we notice a crystal clear lake maybe 100 meters below us. In front of us appears this agglomeration of wooden cabins with thatched roofs. They are all connected with wooden ramps and stairs, and they rest on the upper lip of the extinct volcano. Not seeing any signs about how to view the lake, we climb up. It turns out Kyaninga Lodge was built buy a British man 6 years ago. This luxurious, more or less hand-built, resort overlooks the most beautiful lake. We toured the property with Matt, the manager. The main lodge has a gorgeous dining room, all with hand-made furniture, an open fire-place similar to one you’d imagine in a posh ski lodge, floor to ceiling windows, multi-levelled decks, a pool overlooking the lake, and eventually the pool will be accompanied by a sauna.  

We asked if we could walk down to the lake. The path wasn’t finished yet, but yes we could. It just involved a ladder descent.  Could we swim? Yes of course, Matt swims there everyday. “It is the cleanest lake from here to Mombasa.” Matt even supplied us with towels. Oh, did I forget to mention the rate for a night at this lodge, with full board of course, is 435USD per night? I guess he hopes we return with more money. Once at the bottom of the lake, I gracefully slipped on some mossy rocks right into the water. It was amazing! The lake is 220m deep and clear! The water is quite warm, and even warmer at the bottom, because the volcano is still slightly active.

Adequately refreshed, we returned to the top, thanked Matt, and went for dinner. We returned to the delicious pub Dennis and Patrick took me to last month. We had muchomo goat, roast pork, fresh avocados and tomatoes, and boiled matoke. Nathan, thankfully, agreed that the food here is scrumptious and tops any roast goat and pork we have had.

The next morning it was off to Queen Elizabeth National Park, by way of Kasese for a final goodbye to Dr. Wefula from Kilembe.  Within 1 minute of entering the park gate, we came across a family of four elephants including an baby and toddler!

Unfortunately, going without a tour group or going without paying the bucks to stay in the park, means your time is quite limited. We were unable to secure a proper game drive and all the boat cruises were too late in the afternoon. A park guide suggested we just drive ourselves through the reserve on the main roads, see what we could seem and head to the area called Ishasha so that we could grab a guide for a chance to see the rare tree-climbing lions. On the way to Ishasha, we saw many more elephants, Uganda kob, baboons, buffalo from afar, and warthogs.  

The lions however, stole the show! Although these lions climb trees, they are indifferent from any other lion you would see in Africa. The lions climb trees in Ishasha because it is cooler for them, they can spot prey from them, and because the park is home to a kind of fig tree which is easy for them to climb. Only in Tanzania is there another group of lions which does this. We lucked out and saw three females and one male cub in a tree. We even watched one climb up the tree! The lions were absolutely fascinating and humbling!

These cats are so stunning. They photographed like models too!

And up she goes! Watching them climb the trees was surreal!

In case we weren’t yet through with tracking obscure animals weighing around 400 lbs, we drove over the Virunga mountain range to make to Kisoro in time for our mountain gorilla tracking the next morning in Mgahinga National Park. The drive was my least favourite of any so far. Although the mountains were stunning and the views were breathtaking, the roads were pothole-ridden dirt one-laners. To make matters worse, the fuel light went on somewhere in the middle of nowhere in the mountains. By the time we exited the range 90 minutes later and found a paved road, we learned we still had 56 km kilometres to go and the rains had started. At the 31km milepost, Nathan whispers to me: “I’m so glad we saved the good roads to for the end.” Not more than 5 seconds later, the paved road runs out and we are back on dirt roads, in the pitch black with rain, and probably 40 minutes more to go on an empty tank. Not a single fuelling station in the entire 56km, but we somehow made it to Kisoro. Our hotel, despite reasonable recommendations in the guide books, was in poor state. At least the service was good and they fed us well. We will ignore the esthetics and attempt sleep in preparation for the next day’s hike.

Xox

Maryse and Nathan