After a quick stop in Doha, our Africa tour was ready to begin! First stop, Rwanda. Although we were almost the last ones through passport control, it all went smoothly and we obtained our visas and were ready to go. Luckily the hotel sent someone to get us and as we drove through Kigali I was reminded of Asia. Motorcycles were everywhere and signs are purely a suggestion.
We were thankful to be tucked away at our hotel, Yambi Guesthouse, where the room was spacious and our bathroom was way better than expected. The back had a little oasis filled with plants and seats. The in hotel chef was fantastic and had a variety of yummy eats.
The next day we had another food tour. Unfortunately, this one didn’t measure up to our Doha experience. Our guide was an incredibly interesting guy who was on his way to a competition in London for helping refugees obtain strong higher education. The area that lacked was the food. We started with some rice and beans and moved on to a lemonade/ginger drink. After this I tried anchovies, heads and all! This was mixed with a bread type ball and dipping sauce. I was not a fan of the texture. We had some very good skewers and flatbread and a few tasty fruits. All in all it was fine, but probably not worth the money.
We met someone at our hotel who would be joining on our tour and spent some time getting to know each other. The next day our Absolute Africa Tour would start!
In the morning we had a fantastic breakfast from the chef and met two others who were joining. The five of us crammed into a tiny SUV and had to load half the luggage on the roof to even fit. This was the start of our four hour drive to Uganda. I have to admit I was a bit nervous. I was in the middle with no working seatbelt just holding on trying not to slam into the girls next to me. Our driver spent most of his time talking on the phone. And when he wasn’t, he was turning up the volume to his talk radio to drown out our conversations. The roads started out nicely paved and turned into giant potholes toward the end. The entire trip there were people on the side of the road. Either walking to school or working on cleaning the area.
At the border we met our tour guide and went through customs yet again. Luckily the next drive was quick, and in a larger vehicle.
Our new hotel was simple and great! We had lunch at the nearby cafe. The power was out, but they made it work with grills and fire pizza ovens. Next we walked to the tiny market and stocked up on supplies. Just the five of us overfilled the two aisle store. Lots of interesting things to look at!
Later, our guide gave us the lowdown on doing a budget overland tour. Everyone pitches in and cooks and cleans and has jobs. The big yellow truck was incredible!
That night, everyone had dinner together. Total we have 14 people on the bus. Most of which are doing 60 days or more! They will make their way down to Cape Town. Rebecca and I are only in it for 5 days. Then we let people pamper us a bit!
We crashed early to be prepared for the big day ahead. Time for the gorilla trek!!!!
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