African Pearl Safaris - an Award Winning Ugandan Tour Company

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Its always Good to win Titles, and as said, ‪‎Winners‬ Never Quit. ‪‎African‬ ‪Pearl‬ ‪Safaris‬ - An Award Winning Tour Company is here to serve you for all your ‪Uganda‬ Safaris,‎Rwanda‬ ‪‎Adventures‬, and Over all East African Tours

By Bruce Amp

Uganda as beheld from the skies

Meansering rivers as seen from the skies.

You can never know Uganda is truly the pearl of Africa unless you have had a bird’s view of it through an aero adventure.

The aero experience offers you myriad splendors you would never see during ground expeditions because unlike the ground experience, it knows no boundaries.

More to that, it is the only way of experiencing over 13 climatic zones, so you can enjoy the sun, rain, and snow among other conditions. Here is my experience.

One of the crater lakes in Queen Elizabeth National Park

When Aerolink a domestic airline with a reputation for offering life enriching trips to National Parks around Uganda-offered me a courtesy flight to Western Uganda, I was oddly confused. I didn’t know whether to punch the air in excitement or be teary.

Yes I so badly wanted to pursue the adventure however, on learning that the plane was going to fly over LakeVictoria; fresh images of the lost Malaysian plane blew-up my mind. 

A sky view of the hills in Bushenyi

Knowing I couldn’t tame the adrenalin rush that was quickly building in me, I tagged along with a bottle of strong wine for the Monday morning flight which was destined for Bwindi ImpenetrablePark and later Queen Elizabeth.

According to plan, first I would take the drink, then the drink would take the drink, then the drink would take me. That way, I would be too high to know a thing in case the plane decided to dive into the lake for a swim.

A view from the cockpit

Damn it, it was such a hot slap in the face when the wine did not make past the checking point as no drinks are allowed aboard the planes.
 

Luckily, I bumped on Otim, a Civil Aviation Authority Engineer who confirmed to me that the airlines flights are highly recommended by their standards-because it pays top notch detail and attention to safety, my fears begun to naturally vaporize.

A sky view of the georgeous islands of Lake Victoria

Indeed, going by the confidence and positive attitude of the flight Captain-Brian Ndegwa who was aboard 5X-BXW, I knew there was nothing to fear.

Before me were 11 comfy leather passenger sits each of which was situated next to a window to enable the excursionist soak in all views of the flight.

I randomly sank in the one behind the captain as Oscar the other traveller opted for the back sit and at 7:45-we were off the run way.

A snapshot of the clouds

Flying airborne at airspeed of 161 knots (approximately 300km/h) felt like I was in a lift that was hurriedly elevating to the top most floors of a sky scraper.

The higher the altitude, the more I was able to get soothing views of Islands that dotted the vast Lake Victoria drop-dead gorgeous.

From an altitude of 10,000 ft. above sea level, each plus its clustered settlements looked like a vast chunk of floating hyacinth. It was pure magic to my eyes. The continent below was an intoxicating expanse with a scale that was grander and impressive landscapes.

Before take off at Kasese airfield

The flight was great; the two folks in the cock pit were doing the narrating in turns as, they kept switching roles.

At some point, one would control the wheel and throttle levers as the other did the paper work and recordings from the systems information display screens.
 

Twenty minutes later, the plane hit an altitude of 12,000 ft. and we happily got lost in thick clouds-which looked like big balls of cotton.

Save for the roaring of the plane’s engine, everything was as dumbly silent as they stretched towards me with their transparent rosy wings-that were floating like feathers of a giant flamingo. According to Brian, that’s how clouds great each other.

For a second, I thought I was in cloud nine forgetting I was literally on the clouds. How I wished I could just sit on them all day and watch them drift by.

One thing though, it was getting pretty cold inside because we were at the freezing point. However, there was nothing to fear because the weather was perfect with minimal wind and clear views.

There was no thunder screaming across the sky or slapping the clouds into a heated turmoil.
 

When the plane dropped to about 8,000 ft., there ahead, all I could see, as wide as the world, unbelievably green in the sun was the country side of Bushenyi that boasted of a delightful set of interlocked dilating hills at whose valley feet were calm rivers with branching tributaries that looked like the veins.

Like me, Oscar found himself staring at the most extra ordinary scenery he had seen for years.
 

“I don’t know if beautiful is the correct word to describe this splendor” he remarked before adding that traversing over the hills felt as rewarding as hiking each of them to their peaks, something he would not have climbed in his lifetime because there are no clear ground routes leading to them.
 

Not so far from these hills were sweeping forested plains and banana plantations, overlooking them were two meandering rivers that looked like lazy giant cobra taking a nap.

Adding extra beauty to this scenery was a rich profusion of wild flowers which was intermingling with the edges of the rivers. My camera worked over time here but still, not a single picture could do them justice.
 

Two hours later, the plane touched base at Kihihi Airstrip in Bwindi impenetrablepark to pick five tourists who had just concluded their gorilla tracking expedition.
 

A little while later came the most exciting bit of the expedition-experiencing an aero adventure over queen Elizabeth national park in a twenty-minute flight before the plane could zip across to Kasese Airstrip.
 

From the unrivaled rift whose vast horizons were dotted with life and impressive landscapes to Lake Albert, everything in the park was a wonderful paradise to die as each had a distinct “awe factor”.
 

For almost every blink, there was something new to discover and the pleasure was all mine to investigate its unfamiliar areas. Among the a million things to smile about, the crater lakes were my favourite. They were as eye catchy as a newly erupted geyser and yes, it was worth a lifetime view.

Most exciting, I was able get an upclose with a heard of about 12 elephants and 8 buffaloes-which are my favourites among the big five.

As the sun begun shine during my return flight to Entebbe, I was aching for a rainbow with every fiber of my being as the icing on the cake but too bad, the weather suddenly became moody.

Actually, the nimbus clouds had clogged our route so much. Every time the plane tried to slither through, it shook mildly like a car traversing over a stretch of endless humps.

To be frank, it was quite scary but good enough, it all happened so fast hence did not grate my nerves.

Travel tips

• With or without a passport, you can still fly aboard Aerolink. All you need is a valid identity card.
• Flights to most national parks cost between $240-270(between 600,000shs-675,000sha one way payable in either currencies-the dollar or the shilling. For details, check on Aerolinks website.
   
• Don’t bother carrying foods or beverages to the plane, none is aloud aboard.
   
• Photography aboard the plane is allowed so be sure to bring your cameras and extra batteries to capture moments that will disconnect you from stress and re connect you with what is important-nature.
   
• No ammunition is allowed aboard.

 By Bruce Amp

Tempting Rwenzori

A fat wallet and physical fitness demanded of a climber are a couple of reasons many people have not been able to behold Margherita – the highest pick of Mount Rwenzori, standing at over 16,000ft above sea level. But there is hope that you can still witness the awe of this majestic peak by braving a three hour trek to the top of Kyangembe / Ruboni Hill. Atop this hill, 7.200ft above sea level, in the south West of MtRwenzori, one can get a close view of Margherita and its snow white glaciers.

Courtesy of a farm trip organized by Uganda Tourism Board under the inclusive Markets in Tourism-Projects, supported by  United Nations World Tourism Organization and the United Nations Development Programme, I took the hike on a chilly Friday morning. With me was John Bell, an award winning travel journalist, two guides – Felex and Enock – and two East African Travel journalists, Rafsanjan and Tentena.

My alarm rudely wake me up on an icy morning at Ruboni community Camp at the foot of Mt. Rwenzori. My bones felt frozen. Thank God for the hot coffee and stove with burning coal at the restaurant – our sweaters would not have done the magic alone. As if to make light of chilled bones, the skies released a heavy 30 min shower. But to our delight, the rain seamed to wash away the chill of the morning, giving way to warmer weather.

By 10: 00 am, the once misty air that had clogged the lodge covered things.  We could now see up to three kilometers ahead. Armed with our trekking sticks and a positive attitude, we hit the road. The first 15 minutes was a walking through Rubona village, on a curvy earth road meandering amid sparsely populated eucalyptus trees and farmland. Flowing in narrow trenches was crystal clear water from the steep slopes of the adjacent dwarf mountains and their rolling ranges.

Off the road, a few steps from the soft white sand led us to our first challenge – two temporary wooden bridges downstream River Mubuku which gets its water from glaciers on Mt.Rwenzori. Mubuku violently lashed against the boulder and rocks, splashing its ice waters onto us. With the memory of the 20 people who lost their lives in 2012 when the river burst its banks, this part of the excursion was a little scary – one could not help but wonder about the horror of being whirled away like a leaf in a tornador. The trick was to look everywhere else but the river.

In a move to ensure that the hike would not be strenuous, the slowest members of the team set the pace from the rocky foot of the hill and we followed. The first 30 minutes were incredible and promising. There were well defined tracks to follow along the mud and wattle houses and terraced banana gardens on the slopes. The higher we trekked, the hotter we got. Our inner garments getting soaked with sweat. We started shedding off layers of clothing. Every step higher gave us better access to phone and internet network, a luxury we did not have earlier. Rafsanjan was able to post our progress on social media in real time.

But, best of all, we were being treated to better panoramic views of the villages below. The scenary was dramatic. We watched the river dash southwards to pristine swamps before ending up in lake George, which we could also see from about 4,000ft above sea level.

I was on top of the world – quite literally. It was exhilarating to share the world atop this hill with the extravagance and beauty of the lotus flowers and bright orange African tulip trees along the track. Then came the tough part of the climb. The tracks were super steep, muddy slippery. Our thighs were on fire, we were blinded by sweat. At some points, we had to some get down on all fours – I kissed the mud a few times in the process. But we could now see a little bit of Rwenzori’s peak, through still quite blurry.

Tiredness and despair began to set in. By the time we reached the boulders of Kanyambwara, the first official stopover of three, many of us felt we could not go on. Kanyambwarara is 5,919ft above sea level. “Will we really make it?” was a question evident on many faces.

The worst part was that we had not carried any drinking water to rehydrate us. Nonetheless, we pushed on. By noon, we were at about 6,000ft above sea level – we had 1000ft to go to watch our dream of seeing Margherita come to life. Afraid of biting more than we could chew, we made a U-turn back to our starting point.

By Bruce Amp