Dirks fabulous adventures in Uganda: game drive on the way to Gulu

As we wanted to drive to the Kidepo Valley in the very north of Uganda we had to leave early in the morning and stop over in Gulu. We ordered a packed lunch the day before and left the lodge after breakfast. On the way out of the park we did another game ride and spotted again many, many animals like hornbills, eagles, vultures, buffalos, giraffes and elephants.

Just before we arrived in Gulu we stopped at Nelsons father’s land where Nelson grew some pine trees. Nelson had some guys weeding the place and wanted to check it. He was thinking of selling them already as it takes about 15 to 20 years before the trees are fully grown and can be harvested for making furniture or timbers but we advised him to keep the trees until they’re fully grown to have enough money for his kid’s education, in case they wanted to study at the university. He thought this was a good idea. We then picked our packed lunch and pick-nicked in his small forest. Later we proceeded to Gulu where we stayed at a hotel. Nelson then drove his car to the next garage to fix that battery problem that made the car break down and him step out of the car when we were surrounded by lions the other day.

After some resting time we went to the market to buy food for our stay in Kidepo as it’s very remote and there’s no food available. There’s a beautiful lodge one can book but the rooms cost 700 US$ full board which seems way too much in my opinion. Anyways, it was a very nice market and as I became a bit of a farmer during my stay in Uganda I’ve learnt about market prices and could therefore negotiate hard with the saleswomen as they try to sell everything at Mzungu-prices, even to Nelson as he was there with Mzungus (white people). We bought nice vegetables, eggs, bread and fruits. Then we went to the supermarket to buy some cooking oil, tea, salt, pepper and other stuff we needed to prepare the meals. There’s security checks at the entrances of supermarkets, banks etc. And they didn’t allow Nelson to enter the supermarket with his Swiss Army Knife we had given him whereas I could enter easily even with a bigger version of such a knife in my pockets. They checked me as well and the tool they used beeped at almost every pocket the hovered over with it. They still let me in, though… When it comes to queuing at banks or at the hospital or security checks, Mzungus are definitely in advantage… It was already late when we came back so we had supper at the hotel and then went to bed.

hornbills