Mountains of the Moon

This past weekend, I visited Fort Portal - a little town in western Uganda. It was great to get out of Gulu and see another part of this country. It always amazes me how small my mind is: I was constantly surprised at how different this area of the country is from the northern region that I'm used to. Western Uganda is very, very green and hilly. Actually the Rwenzori Mountains (located right near where we were staying) are some of the tallest in Uganda. They are called Mountains of the Moon because they have so many beautiful craters and crevices.

Since the roads in Uganda are bad, we had to drive 4 hours south to Kampala and then 3 hours northwest to Fort Portal. On the way down, we split the drive and spent all Thursday night partying in Kampala. Let's just say an Irish club called Bubbles O'Leary, a casino called Simba, and the big city factor got the 11-person group home around 6 a.m.

The next day we drove up to Fort Portal - round the winding roads, through the foothills, and past the blazing sunshine of the north. I was in a group of 7 expats (3 from Britain, 1 Scot, 2 Irish, plus me), and we met up with about 8 other Irish folk. I don't I've ever been around so many redheads drinking so much beer and shouting 'ye man!'

Fort Portal (Kabarole district) is filled with crater lakes - leftover volcanoes that have filled with water. For the most part the lakes are free of bilharzia - the dreaded still water disease you get from swimming recklessly in Africa, but you can't be entirely sure. Despite the possible disease & definite bacteria, the lakes are really beautiful - green reflecting the mountains surrounding them. And the fact that you are standing where volcanoes used to erupt - how cool!

Saturday we spent bumming around the crater lakes. We visited Ndali lodge, which is at the top of a mountain overlooking a deep valley on one side and a crater lake on the other side. The air is so clear I wanted to breathe it forever. We also ran across some Calabash Monkeys, who were very entertaining... We swam at the lodge's pool, ate a huge lunch (including honey lemon pancakes - who knew?!), and then escaped down the side of the mountain in a torrential rainstorm. Down to the security of the little town, and the next day allll the way back to Gulu.


Anyway - a great weekend, and props to my friend George for driving the entire 15 hour trip!


*Disclaimer: I was lazy the whole weekend, and didn't take any of these pictures.