More Uganda pictures

Tropical sunset in Uganda after a very long day on the bus from Nairobi.  

The next morning, hanging out along the Nile before heading off to rafting.  A great view here with lots of birds to watch.

A class 6 rapids, so not one we went on!  Our start point was just to the left of this photo.

Putting the raft in.

No pictures of actually riding the rapids, as the camera was not waterproof!  But between rapids we jumped in the water and flooded down the Nile, which was great fun.

Evan trying out a kayak

The drive to Kampala after getting out of the Nile, a typical scene in rural Uganda

How true...  (Muzungu's are white persons)

Kampala bus station, the usual chaos of a city bus station!

At Kilembe, the start of our trek in the Rwenzori's.  We watched the sun go down over mountains we would start climbing the next day.

Porters that carried our packs for the 4 day trek - thanks to them!  (forgotten their names, unfortunately)

With our guides, David and Remegio

Walking out of town, which was an old mining camp (copper mostly)

Walked several miles through coffee fields etc., before entering the forest of the national park

Amazing chameleons were located the first day, this was a real highlight for us

Male with the horns on the left, female on the right

Starting at 1500meters, we were in the tropical forest zone, with lots of tree ferns that reminded us of New Zealand

Impatiens (we were told, they looked different from impatiens that we knew)

Sine hut, our first night which was at 2500 meters, so we climbed about 3000 feet the first day.  A beautiful location on a ridge in the forest

Alex desperate enough Nescafe ("no es cafe", the Spanish pun).  He had a slight calibration problem which didn't help the taste - putting the top 3/4 inch of the bottle into one cup!  Unfortunately, Nescafe, Supaloaf (no es bread), and Blue Band (no es butter) is a beloved African breakfast.

Into the bamboo zone at around 2800 meters the second dam.  A bit wet but beautiful!

Looking towards Queen Elizabeth National Park on the plains (covered in clouds).  The Rwenzori's were the fabled "Mountains of the Moon" of the early European explorers, who were obsessed with finding snow covered mountains on the equator.

Rwenzori orchids, one of many amazing plants only found in the Rwenzori's

Up and up...many ladders on the trail

In the heather zone above 3000 meters (10000 feet).  

Bizarre plants like these giant lobelia's.  The landscape was like from another planet, with fog rolling in and out and dead silence.  

Individual flowers on each leaf

Mutinda camp at 3700 meters, around 12000 feet.  It was cold for our bodies so 3 of the family immediately climbed in their sleeping bags!

The morning climb up to Mutinda lookout at 4000 meters.  They needed ladders on some of this trail!

Although rainy at night and often cloudy in the day, we had great luck in having clear periods while on the mountain.

Great view of the mountains looking towards the DRC.

At 4000 meters on the summit

Remegio hung out with the boys, they were the fast team!

And the slower team...

Snow and ice in the plants

Our last camp, at 3200 meters on the way down

Giant earthworms are found in the Rwenzori's - hard to capture in pictures how impressive these are!

While in the area we went to Queen Elizabeth National Park, known for having lots of leopards, an animal we had not seen yet.  Sure enough a leopard was in this Euphorb tree.  He's hard to see, not visible on the picture!

Ugandan kob, a new antelope for us

Palm nut vulture (actually an eagle), on a Euphorb tree

Our first time seeing a hippo out of the water.

On to Chimp's Nest, a lodge at Kibale National Park, known for having more primate species than any other place in Africa.  Checking out the mammal book was a usual activity for the boys.

African blue flycatcher, one of many great birds in the rainforest

Papyrus swamp nearby

For some reasons, a species of butterfly was in great abundance all over the place.  It got overwhelming after a bit!

Great Blue Turaco, an iconic rainforest bird in the region

Central African red colobus monkey

Weaver birds are always interesting

And more butterflies, on the patio of the lodge

We did a night walk, where we had a great time seeing dozens of bushbabies (which we couldn't get photos of very well).  The large bright red eyes hopping around in the tops of trees were fascinating!  Also saw a green snake on a branch over the trail, not sure what kind so we kept our distance...

Tea plantations on the edge of Kibale National Park