Tsavo East: Days 11 - 13 of our Kenya Overland Trip

We left the truck stop campsite after breakfast and headed to Ndololo campsite in Tsavo East. The park was a muddy mess and we slopped through the mud, spotting some animals, mostly elephants, here and there on the way to the campsite. The campsite was a mud pit as well. We found a dry spot and set up camp while the boys promptly took to the mud.

Ndololo is a public campsite attended by a couple of helpful Maasai men who helped us identify the strange sounds we heard at night (hyenas vs elephants) and ward off the vervet monkeys. There was a screened-in kitchen available to keep our food, should we need a safe place away from the monkeys and baboons. We were relaxed about the primate competition at first, until the monkeys surrounded us from the ground and above in the trees, jumping onto our table as soon as I turned my back while cooking. One took a precious squash and ran up the tree with it while I threw a fit down below. We dug out Leo’s slingshot and found some pebbles, shooting them at any of the pests who dared get close. From above, two monkeys fought over the squash and they dropped it, which I proudly retrieved. Half of it was still good. Leo worked on making a monkey trap out of rope.

Primates were not the only wildlife around the campsite. A herd of antelope came through in the middle of the day and on our second night, I heard several snorts and sighs outside our tent. I shone my flashlight out the window to see 6 elephants not 20 feet from us. Those were the times I was grateful our tent was high on top of our car.

On the second day in Tsavo, we toured the park. Tsavo is a huge park, known for its elephant population, still recovering from poaching wars, and for its stunning landscapes. We drove from one landscape to the next, enjoying the opportunities to get out of the car with the kids and walk near the Luggard Falls on the Galana River and on top of the huge Mudanda Rock. The scenery was truly incredible and it made for a fun day exploring with the boys.

Despite all the beauty and exploration, Eric and I were becoming more exhausted every day. I wasn’t getting much sleep at night, thanks to the strange sounds, (several which seemed concerning), and mosquitoes who mysteriously kept finding a way into our tent, yet seemed to only target me. My eyes were also causing me problems and they hurt like hell every time I put in my contacts. I cleaned my lenses several times and changed them, but nothing seemed to help except wearing my dreaded glasses for a while. By the time we left Tsavo, we were tired of the mud, tired of packing and unpacking, and just plain tired. We were ready for the beach.

Ol Pejeta: Days 6 - 9 of our Kenya Overland Trip

We had a long day of driving between Lake Baringo and Ol Pejeta, made to feel even longer by an air conditioner that wasn’t keeping up. We drove through Nakuru, where Eric dropped the kids and I off for lunch and took the car in to investigate. We had a leak in the air conditioner gas, which couldn’t be fixed quickly, so we simply topped up on the gas to give ourselves some relief for the rest of the day’s drive. These long drives were one of the hardest parts of the trip, with the boys, being children, anxious to move and expel energy. But we had to push on or else we wouldn’t made it to our destination, Ol Pejeta, before the gates closed.

We flew into the private conservatory in a flurry, with only a few minutes to spare, and racing the setting sun to get to our campsite before dark, whizzing past a beautiful elephant by the side of the road and a mama + baby rhino on the other side. There was no time to enjoy them. We were tired, hungry, and needed to set up camp.

Due to so much recent rain, the whole park, including our campsite, was quite muddy. We stayed at the Hippo Hide campsite, on the lovely Ewaso River. We had reserved a different site, which we were told was unusable due to the rains. Thankfully, the conservatory has a restaurant that can deliver meals to your campsite, so we didn’t need to hassle with dinner on the night of our arrival. We had two cranky children and I couldn’t imagine trying to cook AND set up camp in the dark, fighting hundreds of unknown insects flying into our faces constantly. Not to mention, we had climbed significantly in elevation, now at the foot of Mount Kenya, so we were suddenly quite COLD after the sun went down. So we received our pre-ordered meal with a great deal of gratitude and by WE, I mean Eric and I. The children wanted nothing to do with our overpriced meal. Perhaps they had already filled up on digestive biscuits meant to keep them moderately content during the drive.

We didn’t do much to set up. We unflipped the tent, dug our pjs out, cleaned up after dinner, and collapsed into bed, layering up in all our blankets and warm clothes.

The next morning, we awoke to the sounds of the birds and the river and peeked our head out of the tent to see the dew still chilled on the grass around the campsite.

We spent the entire next day around the campsite, getting acquainted with our surroundings and keeping busy with all the work that camping entails. The site had a large tank of water for our use and a long-drop toilet, but otherwise we were truly bush camping. The sun was brutal and we moved our chairs around the bushes throughout the day, squeezing into any shade we could find while washing dishes, doing laundry, and cooking. Leo kept busy “helping” in these tasks, which mostly meant stealing my basins to use in his puddle, where he took a cue from the elephants and soaked his entire naked body in the mud - natural sunscreen!

I had my camera by my side while I washed and Leo would often call to me from his puddle: “Mama! Mama! Look! Something beautiful!” And sure enough, he had spotted another lovely butterfly. I would snap a few photos and return to work.

On that first evening, while I cooked dinner and Eric played with the boys on the bank of the Ewaso River, I looked up and saw an elephant right on the opposite side of the river. The boys and I rushed over to watch it. It was stunning to be so close, on foot, to such a huge, beautiful beast. It was a reminder that we were not at any typical campsite, but truly in the wild.

I had arranged a night drive for Leo and I that evening, thinking he would appreciate the adventure and novelty of being out after dark. He insisted that he wanted to go and insisted I wake him up at 9:00, when the drivers came to pick us up. He is never an easy or pleasant child to wake, but he let me haul his sleepy body into the van, tried to perk up, and quickly dosed right off again. When we came close to some elephants, including a mother and her calf, I woke him again and his eyes lit right up. Those were the moments that made it all worth it - to see the wonder in my boy’s eyes at the magic of East African wildlife. He informed me that I could wake him again if we saw anything else nice and he dozed right off once more, bundled in two shukas. The rest of the night drive was quite uneventful. I enjoyed seeing a striped hyena, but otherwise saw only some hares, jackals, and a hippo from a distance. I was so tired myself by the end of it that I, too, fell asleep on the drive back to the campsite. Considering our level of exhaustion and the price of the night drive, I’m not sure it was worth it, but at least I got to put the new spotlight to use that I got for my birthday.

The following afternoon, we got away from our campsite and explored the conservatory a bit more with an arranged lion tracking drive. On our way to camp headquarters, where we were to pick up another family, we spotted a stunning cheetah, gazing through the tall grass. This was my first cheetah sighting ever, so I was a bit enthralled.

On we went on our search for lions. Our guide had a radar, which would beep if a collared lion was somewhat close. We looked and looked and looked. The boys were bored. I hadn’t brought snacks. The sun was starting to set. And then we got stuck.

Our tire fell quite decidedly into a hole and our guides hopped out, doing all they could to get us unstuck. The entire party had given up on any chance of seeing lions, but I told myself that at least Leo got to watch how to get a car unstuck. He quite enjoyed that.

Once unstuck, our guide lost his shovel and spent another several minutes looking for it as the sun sank lower and lower. I assumed we would head straight back to the park headquarters, but alas! Lions!

It was a welcome sighting and cheered us all up a great deal. We spotted 4 cubs, who seemed a bit alarmed at our presence without their mothers there to watch over them. We later saw their mothers prowling through the tall grass on the top of a hill, searching for dinner to bring back to their young.

On the day of our departure, we toured the conservancy on our own after having breakfast. We enjoyed the scenery, with wildlife in the foreground and Mount Kenya looming in the background. We made a last stop to visit the special rhinos of Ol Pejeta, before taking our lunch at the restaurant and going on our way. First, we visited Baraka - a blind black rhino who is a beloved member of the conservatory. One of the fantastic guides helped us feed him and pet him.

We then took a short drive around a large fenced-in area where we could see Fatu and Najin, the last 2 northern white rhino remaining on our planet - both females who are unable to carry a pregnancy. The last male, Sudan, died in 2019, leaving this species on the verge of extinction. There are great efforts being made to use Sudan’s sperm and the egg from one of the females to do in vitro fertilization, using a southern white rhino as a surrogate mother. However, as we left the conservancy, we were aware that this may be our only chance to glimpse the particular manifestation of Wonder that the northern white rhino offers our world.

Lake Baringo: Days 4-6 of our Kenya Overland Trip

After our initial first few days on the road, we headed for our first “real” destination: Lake Baringo. The scenery quickly became awe-worthy as we left the guest house in Bungoma and drove down into the Great Rift Valley, slowly savoring the stunning landscapes and pulling over here and there for a better view. The road trip we had been waiting for had found us.

We arrived to Robert’s Camp on the shores of Lake Baringo around lunchtime and did our first unpacking and our first tent set-up. It was real now. This was it. We were doing the camping and overlanding thing. And what a great place to break ourselves in! Robert’s Camp was calm and inviting, with a restaurant, bar, and good water access. But when I say it was on the shore of the lake, I mean it was RIGHT on the shore. Similar to Lake Nakuru and Lake Naivasha, both of which we visited earlier in the year, Lake Baringo was flooded bar beyond its natural banks. In all three lakes, you could see dead trees reaching out of the water far before you, their skeletons still seeming to call for help. Nobody really knows why the lakes in this region are so flooded, but one of the dominant explanations is that deforestation has caused so much soil erosion that all the dirt has washed into the lakes, filling up their beds, and overflowing their banks in recent years. This, matched with the unusual amount of rainfall throughout East Africa in the last couple of months, and the restaurant of Robert’s Camp was only a few feet away from being flooded itself.

The kids entertained themselves easily in the dirt with their buckets and shovels as we set up. After dinner, we tried out a new bedtime routine, which included s’mores around the fire. After getting Pax to sleep, I struggled to hoist him up a ladder without waking him or injuring either of us. I realized I needed a new method. From then on, I pushed him up into the tent, still awake, and, usually after a period of time getting his final energy out by wrestling and pretending to be monster trucks with his big brother, I rocked him in my lap to put him to sleep.

We didn’t realize it at the time, but Lake Baringo was our most relaxed stop on our month-long trip. We had a free day, which we started with a family boat ride. We passed the ruins of buildings affected by the flooding, with water up to their windows or roofs. We spotted all kinds of birds on our boat ride, including the Northern Masked Weaver, which is endemic to the area. Later, I took another bird-watching walk with a guide.

We wiled away our time cooking and cleaning, washing dishes and diapers, and watching birds in the process. Leo giggled as hornbills, starlings, and weaverbirds hopped up to him while he ate his lunch, anxious for a crumb or two. I even had time to write the only blog I ever wrote on our trip about our packing list. We didn’t realize just how relaxed we were. Compared to the rest of our trip, we had a great deal of free time at Lake Baringo.

In the middle of our free day, I walked out of the shower and back to our rig. The children were playing beside the car with Eric nearby. I went to put my toiletries away when I saw a sudden splash into the lake: a crocodile - no, two! - jumped into the water after sunbathing on the grass, startled by my approach. They weren’t large - about the size of Pax, but they were crocodiles nonetheless, and they were disconcertingly close to my small children. From then on, we pointed to a tree by the lake and forbade them to go past that tree, not that Pax understood a word of my forbidding. At night, we could hear hippos all around us. I had an rumbly stomach one night, but didn’t want to leave the tent on behalf of the hippos to find my way to the bathroom. I held it in, which cost me a restful night of sleep.

We got into the rhythm of the work of camping - cooking, cleaning, and handwashing laundry, including cloth diapers. We quickly realized that it was worth the reduction in work to wear clothes until they were unbearably filthy, although admittedly I had a different standard of what “unbearably” meant than Eric. I’ll let you decide who had the higher standard. We also allowed the kids to be naked as much as possible, since cleaning skin is much easier than cleaning clothes.

It all helped me realize how and why my African friends manage to stay incredibly clean while living much of their lives outside, even in the dry, dusty season. They will often click their tongues at me if I sit down on a dusty rock, for example, or even a chair without dusting it first. Now I realize, with embarrassment, that it’s my privilege of having 1) a washing machine, 2) a maid who uses the washing machine, and 3) plenty of clothes, which allows me to laugh about dirtying my clothes without much of a care. Even if my Ugandan friends have these same privileges now, I can see how past generations set up habits of cleanliness because there were consequences and work to be done when you got things dirty. No wonder they are meticulously clean in their appearance. So while camping, I was afforded none of my typical privileges. We became more cautious about getting things dirty while simultaneously accepting of the inevitable, riding out our grossness as long as we could. After all, we had no one to impress.

Knowing we had a long drive ahead of us on the day of our departure, we opted for breakfast at the restaurant so we could take off early in the morning. We headed to Ol Pejeta, via Nakuru, also knowing something wasn’t quite right with our air conditioner, which we would have to further investigate along the way.

The things we carried: Packing to overland Kenya with children

Eric and I began to plan our Kenya overland trip early in the year and it has taken us months of researching gear, thinking through fine details, and doing a trial run to decide what to buy, pack, and add to our rig. We’ve had a running list, constantly being edited and discussed and we weren’t even entirely sure of the final list until we pulled out of our driveway. Then, five minutes down the road, we realized we both forgot our razors, so I can’t say I’ll be entirely beach-ready when we reach Watamu. Oh well.

We’ve been thankful to learn from other bloggers who have done similar trips in order to give us an idea of what to take along. I didn’t find anyone who had overlanded in Africa with such small children (which certainly gives me pause), so I thought we would share our packing list in case someone stumbles here looking for some direction. No doubt, amendments will be needed to this list, but here is what we left home with, all packed thoughtfully and carefully in the back of our Land Cruiser.

We packed most of our things in action packers, divided inside by a piece of plywood. We had one action packer for me and Pax, one for Leo and Eric, one for our pantry, one for our kitchen supplies, and one for other rarely-used items like car safety and meds.

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The rig

We did a lot of research on which tent to buy, knowing this would be an investment in our family for years to come, but the options are limited when you are looking for a tent for more than 2 people. We considered buying two 2-person tents, but settled on a 3-person tent with the annex, knowing the annex could be very versatile. If we should have another child, we figured a couple of us could sleep in the annex. We are very glad we invested in it, as it provides a lot of privacy and a place to put our things at night for easy access.

On our trial run, we learned just how heavy our vehicle was with everything packed up, so we had to upgrade the suspension system so we didn’t break an axle. In order to save weight and not unnecessarily stress the vehicle, we won’t fill up the fuel and water cans unless we are going somewhere very remote.

Eric worked with an electrician before we left and built a dual-battery system so we have one deep-cycle battery dedicated to off-grid power, which can keep our refrigerator going for about 4 days and charge other gadgets if needed. But we also charge

Car:

Vehicle: Toyota Landcruiser Amazon - 100 series (model year 2000)
Engine: 1HD-FTE (4.2L 6-cylinder turbo diesel)
Suspension: 400kg payload upgrade (TJM shocks + Dobinsons coils/torsion bars/bushings)

Gear:
Eezi-Awn 1800 T-top exclusive rooftop tent with full annex
Eezi-Awn 100 series awning (2 meters)
ARB 50 quart refrigerator
20-liter fuel can
25-liter jerry can for drinking water
25-liter jerry can for washing water
Maxtrax

 Electricity and lighting

USB rechargeable lantern
2 Headlamps
2 small solar lights
Cigarette lighter plug adapter
1 outlet adapter
12v power inverter (500w)
100ah drycell deepcycle battery with 350w inverter and 300w charger

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Cooking

For our cooking situation, we took 2 small propane tanks and used a 47-liter (50 quart) refrigerator to keep our food, in addition to our “pantry” box. On top of 2 action packers, we put a piece of plywood covered in canvas so we could use them as small tables without things sliding off. We also put plywood and canvas over the tailgate so we could put hot pots and pans on it and so it wouldn’t get so dirty. We debated for a long time whether to bring our large fold-out table or not, but in the end, we are glad that we did. It provides us a lot of space to set things out of Pax’s reach, which is very useful

Food

Marshmallows (priorities)
Digestive biscuits
Chocolate
Rice
Quinoa
Oats
Chickpeas
Lentils
Black beans
Curry powder
Cinnamon
Cumin
Paprika
Chili powder
Mixed herbs
Salt
Hot sauce
Pasta
Gnocchi



Pesto sauce
Spaghetti sauce
Coconut milk
Canned corn
Almond milk
Honey
Peanut butter
Soy sauce
Tea
Coffee
Olive oil
Lemon juice
Eggs
Trail mix of nuts and raisins
Crackers
Chips
Fruits and veggies
Chicken breasts
Hot dogs
Bacon 

Cooking supplies

Skillet
Pressure cooker
Small pot
4 plates, cups, bowls, and silverware
2 travel coffee thermoses
2 dish cloths
5 hand towels
oven mitt
sponge
steel wool
dish soap
Tupperware
Immersion blender
2 cooking knives
vegetable peeler
2 wooden spoons
serving spoon
spatula
whisk
can opener

strainer
matches
aluminum foil
cutting board
French press
Camping grill
Basket for veggies
Water bottles
Fold-out table
Travel high chair
2 fold-up adult camping chairs
1 fold-up child camping chair
2 gas cookers

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Entertainment

I packed almost no “toys” for the boys. Anything I brought for them was with the intention to get them to interact with the environment around them. I gave them hand shovels and pails as a Christmas gift before we left and took along a blank journal and crayons for Leo, hoping he will draw pictures of the things he sees.

Toys:

2 metal pails
hand shovels
crayons
blank journal
kite
slingshot
stuffed animal
2 board books for Pax
balance bike for Leo
children’s books

Nature exploration:

child binoculars
catch-and-release aquarium
children’s books about the ocean, safari, geography, and poetry
Reference books on birds, insects, and shells
Adult binoculars
Small containers to keep nature finds
Camera gear

I think I’m most proud of our children’s book selection. I’m such a sucker for children’s books and a fair portion of our weight and space was taken up with them, but again, I chose books that will orient them to their environment, so they include story collections from Africa, safari-, ocean-, and geography-themed books, and a couple of Christmas books.

Story compilations

East Africa/safari-themed books

Board books for Pax

Geography and ocean books

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Christmas

We plan to be on the ocean during Christmas day and I brought stockings to fill with a few treats we will find along the way. This will be all they open on Christmas and they will have a few presents waiting for them back at home. We also took a star ornament that Leo picked out to put on top of a “tree” that we plan to figure out when we arrive at the beach. As a lover of Advent, I planned to tell Leo a Christmas-themed story each night of Advent, so I brought along a wonderful book of these stories, along with print-outs of other readings for me and the O Antiphons to sing during the week leading up to Christmas. I also threw in our Advent wreath at the last minute, seeing that Leo was really enjoying lighting the candles each night before dinner.

Christmas and Advent observance:

Stockings for the kids
Star for the top of a make-shift Christmas tree
Book of Advent stories
Print-outs of readings and songs
Advent wreath and candles

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Health and safety

 Medicine and such

First aid kit
Thermometer
Band-aids
Ibuprofen
Child’s fever reducer
Malaria prophylaxis
Azithromycin tablets and suspension
Antihistamine cream
Oral rehydration packs
Antibiotic cream
Antifungal cream
Insect repellent
Sunscreen
Teething tablets and gel
Hand soap

 Car safety and repairs

Duct tape
Multi tool
Ax
Recovery/tow rope
Jumper cables
Toolbox and tools
Hazard triangles
Reflective vest

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Laundry and beddings

Laundry is what I am looking forward to the least. I am not good at hand washing and do not enjoy it (who does?), and to top it off, we have Pax’s cloth diapers to add to the mix. To help me out, we bought a little hand-washing bag we saw a good review about.

The beddings will always be kept in the tent and can thankfully just be folded into it when we pack up, so we don’t have to take those in and out.

Beddings and linens:

2 adult sleeping bags
1 child sleeping bag
2 sleep sacks for Pax
3 pillows
2 shukas (thin blankets)
3 kikoys (scarves)
Hammock

Laundry:

Scrub bag
Clothes line
Laundry bag
Detergent
3 basins

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Personal items

Me:

2 novels and 1 book of poetry
journal
bath towel
swim suit
rain jacket
hiking boots
sandals
hair clips
toiletries
3 leggings
comfortable bras, socks, and undies
2 sweaters
1 scarf
2 jeans
2 shorts
8 blouses
linen pants
4 tank top undershirts
sunglasses

 Eric:

Bath towel
Swim suit
Rain jacket
Toiletries
Running shoes
Sandals
2 shorts
1 pair jeans
4 t-shirts
2 other shirts
undies, socks
hat
pj pants
sweater

 Leo (4 years old):

Bath towel
Swim suit
Hat
Sweater
Rain jacket
Rain boots
Sandals
Tennis shoes
2 pants
6 t-shirts
4 shorts
4 pair pjs
socks, undies

 Pax (1 year old):

Cloth diapers, wet bags, and wipes
Bath towel
Swim clothes
Hat
1 pair shoes
4 pjs
5 pants
6 shirts
2 sweaters
6 socks

Other:

Kenya guide book
Toilet paper
Baby carrier
Umbrellas
Back pack

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Kibale Forest and our camping trial run

For my birthday weekend, I desperately wanted time in nature. I had heard about Silver, an ex-poacher who has turned into Uganda’s foremost butterfly expert, and I wanted to track him down and take a butterfly tour. Since it was only a couple of weeks before we were due to set off for the month-long trip, we figured we would combine my birthday weekend with a camping trial run. I arranged the tour, we finalized our packing, and we set off on Friday morning for the edge of Kibale Forest at a very special place called Sunbird Hill.

It’s a good thing we did this trial run. We learned so much.

While my tour and time away in nature for my birthday was absolutely exactly what I had in mind and I loved every minute of it, our camping test-run was a bit of a different story. Again, we learned so much.

Primarily, we were reminded just how much work it is to camp - to set up, take down, take out, make dinner, clean up, etc. And doing this with two young children who want to play in our precious water and investigate every small thing we had carefully selected and packed was a bit of a nightmare, not to mention finding a way to climb a ladder with a sleeping baby in my arms to put him to bed.

We learned that the kids absolutely cannot stay clean and, therefore, neither can we. So we realized that we either take more clothes or just let the kids be naked as much as possible. We tend to opt for the later choice, which is admittedly nothing new, but that also has consequences with a 1-year old. On the plus side, I saw my first dung beetle.

After finally getting the kids into bed the second night, Eric and I had a very serious discussion about whether we can really survive a month-long camping trip with kids so young. “They won’t even remember this!” we told ourselves. So we went back to the basics and asked: “Why are we doing this, again?” Ah, yes. We are doing this to spend time together as a family, to have fun, to play and be happy together. So once we had re-established our goal, we re-evaluated our set-up and our itinerary. What can we do to help us have more fun and minimize the “NO STOP DOING THAT!s” and the “DON’T TOUCH THAT!s” and the plethora of 4-letter words muttered under our breath.

We learned there is really no need to be hard-core. There is no need to be entirely self-reliant. Let’s loosen up the reigns a bit and allow ourselves to order meals if we need to, hire out our laundry to be done if we need to. I had also predicted the hardest part of the trip would be the long drives, so I originally worked out our itinerary for short drives, with just 1 night at most stops. But with all the things to set-up and take down, we realized that we can do longer drives (It was about 6 hours to Kibale, with a stop for lunch), and we should stay no less than 2 nights at each place. If we are to stay just 1 night, we decided we should get a hotel and order meals.

We also learned how grateful we are that we decided to get the tent annex that zips around the bottom of the tent to make an extra room (heretofore fondly referred to as the “safari barn”). We thought, at the time, that perhaps it was a bit too much. Were we just being those typical Americans who have to have everything BIG and luxurious? The hardcore overlanders rarely have annexes. But after a lot of thought, we figured we would use it enough now and in the future to make it worthwhile and we are very glad we made the investment. It provided a lot of privacy, a place to get out of the sun and rain, and a place to put our stuff at night.

So the plan is still in action. We are still going. Whether this is going to be epic and amazing or miserable and super difficult is still to be determined. Likely, it will be all of the above.

In the midst of this test-run, I escaped the campsite and the kids for most of the day on Saturday while tromping about through the delicious Kibale forest.

It was my birthday and what I wanted most was time in nature without children. I came for Kibale’s incredibly diverse population of birds and butterflies and any other small and spectacular fauna, and I was not disappointed. My guides and hosts were incredible. They have studied the species around Kibale closely and they know so much. They are doing important research, even finding new species all the time, so I knew that even with all I saw, it was just a taste of what this incredible forest has to offer. I felt honored to walk along beside Silver and Nick, learning from them along the way, so we ended up eating my birthday cake together!

butterflies

birds

Hairy-breasted barbet

Black bee-eater

Copper sunbird

Collard sunbird

White-spotted flufftail

Yellow-breasted apalis

insects, reptiles, and amphibians

Most people find their way to Kibale forest to trek the chimpanzees. This little corner of Uganda is home to one of the world’s densest populations of primates, the chimpanzees being the most popular. Most people stomp right on by the other, more subtle fascinations of the forest. But I’ve often had the experience that when you begin to notice one thing in nature, you will be shown so much more. And so, as a birthday bonus, I had a glimpse of the chimps - humankind’s closest relatives. Happy birthday to me!

It’s clear that Kibale has much more to offer and I do hope it won’t be long before I’m back. I will go straight back to Sunbird Hill, where Julia (the owner) and her team work with a passion to share their love and knowledge of the flora and fauna with the locals and visitors alike. I had only a glimpse of the swamps - enough to call me back to explore them more thoroughly. In a country that caters so much to tourists coming to see the big game, most guides know a few simple facts about the popular animals and not much beyond that. But now I’ve found a place where kindred nature-lovers move forth with all senses open and look beyond the surface to the abundant richness below that can be infinitely known and loved.