After a solid 2 weeks at work for Emma, there is a long weekend already as it is Martyr's Day on the 3rd June in Uganda. So, even though we have only been in Kampala a matter of days we had to take advantage of the time off and get out to see something of Uganda. Emma fancied checking out a rhino sanctuary we had read about near Masindi that are doing good work trying to re-introduce the white rhino back to Uganda.
I was tasked with booking accommodation, activities and transport (and now apparently writing about it all in between cooking and cleaning!). I managed to contact Francis at the sanctuary and booked a basic room ($15pp) at the campsite and the rhino tracking and shoebill canoe trip.
www.ziwarhino.com info@ziwarhino.com
We’d heard the safest and most reliable form of public transport in Uganda was the Post Bus. Yep, the bus takes the mail from Kampala to various towns around Uganda and you can travel on them, no doubt a black and white cat comes along too. Sounds good, I went down to the main PO on Kampala Rd and tried to buy tickets for the next day’s bus to Masindi or Gulu which should be able to drop us off at Nakitoma, 7 km from the sanctuary. I finally found counter 18 in the post office where they sell tickets but no sign of life. Someone told me to go round the back and after several attempts I finally found it. Even asking a security guard who was stood next to a ‘For Post Bus Only’ sign, where I may buy a tickets from, he of course had never heard of the post bus. Anyway, once I’d found an office amongst the parcels and they sold me a ticket (10,000 shs).
We arrived the next morning and after having our bag sniffed by a friendly canine (for security reasons not cos they honked) we got on the bus and set off just after 8am. As it happens, if you just rock up at 7.30 am you can buy a ticket for any of the buses that leave around 8.00 am. The journey out of Kampala was quite slow but once we passed Bomba, the road was good tarmac and we sped along, stopping occasionally to deliver some letters and parcels. The countryside in Uganda is beautiful with lush green trees and fields everywhere, so it was a pleasant comfortable journey and the conductor soon told it was time to jump down at Nakitoma.
We were immediately pounced upon by boda boda (motorcycle taxi) riders and somewhat stupidly agreed to a fee of 15,000 shillings, as we later found out the real price of 5,000 pp. Never mind, we were soon bumping along the orange dirt track to the sanctuary gates and in no time pulled up at the HQ. The office, guesthouse and restaurant are set in a beautiful, peaceful area with lots of birds flying around. They were expecting us and showed us to our digs for the night, which though basic were better than anticipated. The shared loos and showers were clean too. We popped into the office to see if the rhino tracking and shoebill activities had indeed been booked and we were told, no problem, come back at 3 pm for the rhino tracking and 6 am tomorrow for the shoebill trip. “Do you want us to fill out any forms or pay?” “No, not needed”. Ok, so we went to the restaurant for a brew and pottered around the grounds until 3 o’clock. As well as the rhino programme, they rescue any animals that need help and there was an obiri (a type of antelope) hanging around. It was free to go where it pleased but sometime rescued animals like the safety of humans. Apparently one obiri had gone wild after rehabilitation but came back to have a baby as she felt safer.
We were then waiting outside the office just before 3 when a guide said “why are you here?” We explained we were going rhino tracking at 3 pm but he reckoned it was better to go at 4pm because the rhinos would be more active. Ok fair enough but why not tell us 4pm in the first place? We duly came back at 4pm and were then told to fill out forms, we’d had 4 hours to do that, why now when we are just setting off? Oh yeah, this is Africa.
After a short briefing on safety and history of the programme from our guide we set off on foot into the bush to track wild rhinos, this is what we had come for, very exciting. I had understood that you go on a jeep drive to try and find the rhinos and then approach on foot. This was not the case as the rhinos are monitored 24/7 and they know exactly where they are. We had hoped to try and see some other wildlife that calls the sanctuary home and I did spot a bushbuck, but this was all about the rhinos. We didn’t have to walk for long before the guide said he had spotted a group of 6 rhinos. I was impressed by his tracking abilities until later we found out about the monitoring and his radio conversation in Lugandan. To approach a group of 6 rhinos on foot was amazing. We were told not to get less than 30 m from these magnificent beasts but our guide brought us much closer. We did however beat a hasty retreat when the dominant male took an interest in us. We stayed within close reach of the group for about an hour and the guide was very informative about the animals and their behaviour. We learnt a lot and got some totally awesome clicks before heading back to camp.
The white rhino and indeed the black rhino were totally wiped out in Uganda during Idi Amin’s reign and the war with Tanzania. The last one was shot in the 80’s so the Rhino Fund along with the Ugandan Wildlife Authority set up this sanctuary to try to re-introduce the white rhino. They got some rhinos from Kenya and zoos in the USA and created a safe haven for them. Luckily the breeding programme has been quite successful and now they have 16 rhinos. In fact the staff were very excited as a new baby had been born the night before we arrived. However, we could not track the mother and calf as the mother would be very protective. They think it will be about another 15 years of breeding before they have a big enough pool of rhino to try to put them back in the wild, probably Murchison Falls NP. They also hope to try the same with the black rhino in the future. We really enjoyed getting up close and personal with these amazing creatures and the sanctuary staff are doing a great job.
Back at the camp we had dinner which was a bit disappointing as the food was expensive (20,000 shs) not great in quantity and was left over from lunch time. Still they had cold beer, well they had enough for one round before they ran out! We met the guide for the morning shoebill canoe tour but they were very cagey about it. It turns out they wanted more money for the tour and another $25 for a vehicle, hey none of this was mentioned before, so it was turning out to be too expensive so we decided to give it a miss. We got the feeling they didn’t really want to do it, so why advertise the tour? So an early bath and dreams of rhinos.
Breakfast was much better in terms of taste and value and we spent a leisurely couple of hours drinking coffee and watching the birdlife before setting off. We wanted to walk the 7 km back to the road but they said it was too dangerous due to wild animals so we had to get a boda boda. The animals are a lot less dangerous than a boda ride believe me! Anyway a boda turned up and this time it was 15 thou but to the Masindi junction a few ks further up the road, seemed like better value and he dropped us at the junction. We were assaulted by a herd of vendors selling indescribable meat on sticks (we passed) and we were soon bundled into a shared taxi (Emma and I in the front seat) and on the way to Masindi.
It took less than an hour to get to Masindi and it took us a while longer to find New Court View Hotel, just north of town. They didn’t have my booking but had a banda spare so we checked in. Masindi is a nice small calm town which people usually use as a stop off to or from Murchison NP, as we had done in the past. This time we thought we would stay and check it out. We had heard of a small forest reserve near town which has many primates but no one had heard of it and the UWA office was closed. Oh well, we decided on a spot of luncheon at The Masindi Hotel which is an old colonial railway hotel with lots of history. Hemmingway stayed there as well as Katherine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart when they filmed The African Queen. Well if it is good enough for Humphrey then it is ok for a Humphreys methinks.
After a nice lunch we walked it off on the Masindi walking tour. The New Court had given us a leaflet. The walk was nice enough but the sights indicated were not the most exciting, for example a run- down church and primary school. Still it was a pleasant stroll around. We also checked out the market which was interesting and the prices were far cheaper than in Kampala. We stopped off at Traveller’s Corner for some tasty chicken stew and a couple of beers before heading back to New Court. There we got chatting to a couple who were helping out at a local school, they were from Glossop! How far do you have to go to get away from home?
On checking out of New Court after a tasty brekkie I was dismayed to find the room bill 20,000 more than the website said. A lesson learnt on our first trip out of Kampala, always confirm the price. We walked back to town and were soon on the Link Bus back to Kampala and the end of a great first foray into Uganda.
We would highly recommend visiting the Ziwa Rhino Sanctaury as it is a great experience to track rhinos on foot and to get so close to the rhinos. Staying over seemed like a good idea as we wanted to do some of the other activities and make the most of the visit to the sanctuary. In reality it is only really geared up for rhino tracking and as this lasts only 1 and ½ hours it might be better to call in on the way to or from Murchison. Masindi is worth a stop overnight to experience a small Ugandan town, again as part of your Murchison trip.
