Holiday or Disaster?

Since 15 months we have not been on holiday together. Either the pizzeria or construction work is taking our time or Heleen is on tour. We have been travelling with family and friend, but -no offence- this is different from spending time together away from home.

Despite the rainy season, we have rain every day, we decided to take a break for FOUR whole days! Aim is to visit Kabwoya Wild life reserve on the shore of Lake Albert. None of our friends have been there. But Lake Albert is the warmest place in Uganda and we like to explore.

First I will start with all the things which went wrong. We got stuck in the vicious mud of the park twice. First time with our own car for 4 hours. Our dinner was at 22.30. Next day we got stuck with the landrover of the lodge. This took only one hour. On our way to Hoima a shock absorber of the car broke. We had to stay an extra night in Hoima. The new shock absorber and mechanic had to come from Kampala and did not arrive at 14.00 like agreed, but only at 18.30. The repair took 3,5 hours instead of 40 minutes. During the extra day in Hoima we did not dear to drive the car and the whole afternoon it was raining.


This all sounds like a disaster, but actually we had a great holiday. The construction and pizzeria were hardly discussed! We had a excellent three days in a gorgeous, hardly visited park. The very luxury lodge is build on the edge of a cliff looking down on Lake Albert. The days is the park we did not have any rain.

The getting stuck in the mud was a great experience of how to get out and which tools we need to bring next time. It also gave an opportunity to see a duiker, oribi and buffalo in the park. We went horse riding in the park and surprised warthogs, Uganda cobs, bushbuck by our presence. Michel brought home many souvenirs from the fossil hunting in the park.

The visit to the nearby fishing village was also very good. Friendly fisherman explained about drying and selling the fish and making boats. The anxious children really tried not to interfere Michel photo’s of the nets, but failed completely. It was also good to see that the oil company working in the park, did not seem to have a bad influence, only better road and more business.

We were even lucky to have an excuse to extend our holiday, because of the car break down. And we have found a good car mechanic , who is willing to bring spares from Kampala and install them right away.

We relaxed completely and did not feel like going home. But even the log trip home was nice. The new shock absorbers improved the performance of the car on the bad road. Arriving home we were lucky. No cooking, but a good pizza was waiting for us. We are planning our next trip...