Uganda, November 2015
The drive from Fort Portal to Katunguru turned out to be adventurous. First, I took a Boda-Boda from Pastor Bosco, where I spent the last days, to the minibus station of the small town of Fort Portal.
I was mortally afraid while driving through. The road was extremely bad. As if that was not enough, my driver had to keep talking excitedly with me all the time, regularly turning his head back to me, causing us to get off the track several times.
In addition, his motorcycle had some problem, and the engine died constantly in the steepest places. As a bonus, we finally drove in the middle of a huge mud puddle. I was splashed with dirt from top to bottom. I would have liked to say my opinion to the young man. But according to his expression, the situation was now very unpleasant for him, and he apologized several times. I tried to take the event with humor.
Luckily, he finally brought me to the Matatus, which are heading to Katunguru without a further incident. There was already a Matatu there, but unfortunately it was empty. Oh dear, that meant I had to wait until it gets full. In the end it took three hours to get started.
The other passengers asked me in astonishment what on earth I wanted in Katunguru. That was just a small fishing village and other than that would be nothing there. Well, since I often chose my destinations randomly, I could not give them a correct answer to that question.
If I were only following my travel guides, then I would only ever see the typical tourist destinations, and that is exactly what I do not want. Besides, somebody had told me that there should be hippos in the village, which was right by a river. I really wanted to see them.
The Matatu ride was very exciting as we drove through the stunning Queen Elizabeth National Park. I was so excited that I could not keep my face away from the windows and looked into the vastness of the savannah. A few dry bushes and a few barren trees were scattered across the land. The air flickered with heat. Also in the bus it was sweaty hot. Again and again, I wiped my face dry with my T-shirt.
Then suddenly I saw the first wild antelope of my life. They were grazing just a few meters off the road. The other passengers were totally unimpressed. They would see something like that every day, they said. Nevertheless, I could barely hide my joy. That is exactly how I imagined the true Africa.
When we arrived in Katunguru, I realized that this hamlet was really tiny. It did not take long, and I found a small and simple inn. There was no running water and no electricity, but I did not care about that.
The owner of the property spoke almost no English. First, she wanted to give me a room for the equivalent of ten Euros each day. That was a bit too much for the circumstances.
I already wanted to continue searching, but she suddenly said that she had something more favorable. Then she took me to a tiny room with a mattress on the floor for 1.50 Euro per night. That was perfect.
Some kids in the neighborhood immediately followed me to my room and begged for money. They all seemed to be between two and five years old. I wondered if they were really already interested in money at this age or if their parents sent them.
After a short rest, I went to the river, which flows directly through the town. There, I finally wanted to see my first hippos in the wild.
Some women were washing their laundry on the riverbank, and a few fishermen were on the water with their wooden boats. I found a small, narrow path and walked it along the shore. Close to the path, dense shrubs proliferated. I felt like I was in the deepest jungle. For the fear of any dangerous animals such as bats or spiders, I moved along very carefully.
When I was on my way already for a while, I suddenly heard voices. I slowly slipped between the bushes to the shore. A group of men was bathing. As I looked closer, I noticed that they were all naked. Ups. I grinned, but quickly made my way back before they could spot me.
I always watched the river from a safe distance. After all, I was here to see hippos. Although I was not sure if there were any at all, as far as I knew, the animals were very dangerous. So how could the men bathe and the women wash their clothes in the river so carelessly?
A little further on, I suddenly saw something appearing in the water. As I looked closer, I realized that it really was a hippo. It was only a few meters in front of me. Wow, I could not believe it! As a precaution I stepped back a few steps. Unfortunately, it immediately disappeared again in the water. I stopped for a while. And behold, it popped up again for a few seconds to catch air.
After watching it for a while, I moved on. Later, on my exploration tour, I discovered a few water buffalos in the distance, and I saw giant lizards sunning themselves along the way.
At a nice spot by the river, I sat down and enjoyed the breathtaking scenery here. I could even spot another hippo lying comfortably in the water. I was also fascinated by the incredible biodiversity of birds. They were available in all imaginable colors and sizes.
When I returned to my room in the evening, the landlady lovingly brought me a candle. When I set it alight, a swarm of mosquitoes whirred around the light. I sprayed myself thoroughly with my insect repellent spray and tried to sleep. It was a sweaty hot night.
After a typical breakfast the next day – Chapati and African tea – I walked right down to the river again. I just thought it was incredibly exciting what I could discover there. Today, I wanted to go in the other direction than yesterday.
After a short time, I came across a small bridge. I sat on it and watched the river below. A few minutes later, I was able to discover a hippo in the water. Upon closer inspection, I realized that it was a mother with her offspring. They lay very calmly without moving much in the river. Too bad they were so far away. I would have liked to take a picture of them. But it seemed too dangerous for me to be too close to a mother with her offspring.
A young man promptly tore me from my rest. If I wanted to do a national park tour, he asked me. Initially, I was very shocked by his presence. I did not expect anyone to find me here. Then I kindly explained to him that I was traveling with very little money and could not afford something like that. He said that was no problem at all. He would take me there for a ridiculous price, because he had his own vehicle. The only thing I would have to pay would be the national park fee and something for the gas.
That certainly sounded like an adventure. With an agency I did not want to do any safari anyway, because the prices were really insane. I also set myself the goal of seeing all the wildlife without an organized tour. After all, I had enough time.
After a moment of reflection, I tried to negotiate the price a bit, and I succeeded. The young man also seemed very nice to me. His name was Eddie. I took a closer look at him to be sure that he seemed trustworthy. My gut feeling clearly told me: Yes. I gave him a handshake. We would start at lunchtime.
To my astonishment, he picked me up almost on time with his car that looked like it was ready for the scrap yard. At the entrance to Queen Elizabeth National Park, I had to pay the entrance fee. Then we continued through an impressive steppe. I asked Eddie to slow down, because I wanted to see everything very carefully.
We passed a horde of giant baboons. I did not know that these creatures could become that big. They did not seem particularly bothered by our presence and continued to stay at the edge of the road as they studied us curiously. I asked Eddie if I could get out to see the monkeys at close range. He looked at me quite confused and asked if I was crazy. Baboons are dangerous. Well, you never stop learning.
Eddie told me about a boat tour in the national park. If I wanted, I could do one and he would pick me up in two hours. The small fee would pay off in any case, because you can see a lot of wildlife. It was clear to me that he would certainly take a commission, but I agreed anyway. The price did not sound too high and I was already here, so why not?
And he really had not exaggerated: The boat trip was a dream. I saw crocodiles, hippos, water buffalos, the most beautiful birds, and much more up close.
Together with other tourists, I was on a boat. But they all seemed to live in some fancy safari lodges. They could not believe that I was traveling through Africa on my own with my backpack. When I told them about the young man, who drove me through the park with his somewhat battered-looking car, they found this almost careless. Once again, I realized that my way of traveling was fundamentally different from other tourists. That did not hurt me. I just love this adventurous way of traveling.
Eddie was already waiting for me after the boat tour. We went on. Suddenly he stopped abruptly and yelled excitedly, "Jaguar!” Unfortunately, it was already too late and I could not see the animal anymore. It had already disappeared into the bushes.
Now, I got a little bit concerned about our car. If any of these wild animals attacked us, then that thing would just break apart – and it would have been over for us. On top of that, the windshield had so many cracks that you could not really see well through it. Beside that, Eddie had cranked down the window because of the heat.
Not only once did I hear media reports of stories that an animal had jumped through the car window during a safari and killed a passenger. He only laughed when I told him about my concerns. His vehicle was still in top condition, and locals would sometimes even drive through the national park with mopeds. In addition, the adrenaline kick is so much bigger than in a boring safari jeep. He was even right.
We then went past antelope herds, elephants, warthogs, and buffalos. Some of the animals were only three meters away from our car. I would have loved to see some lions, but as far as we were concerned, we had not been lucky so far.
We almost wanted to give it up when we spotted a jeep standing on the side of the road. Eddie thought they would have seen a lion. Fortunately for me, he was right.
The pack of lions was too far away, but with the binoculars you could watch them well. Unfortunately I did not get a usable picture of them. Eddie suggested he would still be able to show me a salt lake in the national park. It turned out that this was another highlight. The lake was so breathtakingly beautiful that you could almost believe it was not from this world.
That evening I fell on my mattress dead tired but overjoyed. What a great day was coming to an end. For me, the tour had more than paid off in any case.
The next day, before I wanted to continue my journey, I walked through the village Katunguru one last time. Once again, I had to deal with some annoying young men, of which one of them would have loved to marry me, and it was hard to get away from this wishful thinking.
The men finally wanted to persuade me to spend another night here in the village. They told me that apparently the hippos always walked up from the river after dusk and then slept behind the church.
They added that the animals on land are much more dangerous than in the water. Therefore, I should only dare to go to the church in their company. Too bad, I would have loved to see this spectacle. But I had already decided to move on. It also became clear to me why the people in the river were not very afraid of the hippos. The reason was probably that the animals are mostly peaceful in the water.
