Thirteen years ago we visited Fort Portal; I remember it being a nice little town and it still is. The Ruwenzori mountains dominate the view, streets rise and fall with the hills and valleys and there is a locally famous Toyota Authorized service dealer in town, the “Stitch and Sew” Toyota shop. Fame comes from a stint on a TV show where the staff at Stitch and Sew outfitted an overland vehicle with beds – the travelers were tired of cheap lodging and bed bugs. Yes, sleeping in the truck has its advantages. We just need welding done, the spare tire mount and the truck bed frame have cracked, easy stuff for Tadeo the welder. The shop is quite capable and we decide to have the second big service done here – looks like we will be in FP for a few days.

There is one campsite in town, not very inspiring, so we drive around to see if the guesthouse we stayed in on our previous visit is still operating- it was run by a Dutch woman and faced the mountains, that’s about all we could remember. After a couple false turns, the Ruwenzori View Guesthouse appeared before us. Score one for our memory. Ineke Jongerius just celebrated the 20-year anniversary of the guesthouse that she and her husband began as a project to give something back to the community. Rather than work for an NGO they decided to start a business and employee people. Success shows in the photos of all the long-term employees and managers. Joseph the manager who was here back in 2004 is still here. The food is still wonderful – it is served communally – and the gardens have grown even better. The house dogs new. All that is missing is a cat, by my meager standards. The birding is excellent.

The Scarlet Spectacled Wattle-eye is about the most aptly named bird I have snapped on this trip. It is a tiny little guy but was most cooperative, a new bird for me. This Black-headed Waxbill is new  as well. A few feet from our room, just standing still in the garden, I added three birds to my list in about 10 minutes. After much searching, I’m ready to declare this a Shelly’s Sunbird – my bird book has 11 pages of sunbirds and none exactly match this one for details and range. Anyone is welcome to correct me! What a lovely bird.

Back at the Stitch and Sew, Alouys can put a new compressor in the refrigerator, hopefully finally fixing our frig issues. The work will take a couple days so we head out to Semeliki Hot Springs on a fresh new road. Years ago it took us all day to drive to Semeliki – today it only takes an hour. I cannot decide if that is good or bad – nothing like a good dirt road to eat up a day. The hot springs are impressive, the steam alone makes you think of the roiling magma down below us – and what’s to keep it all down there anyway? We boil three eggs in the water, it only takes a minute. That hasn’t changed.

The Ruwenzori View is a most pleasant place to be when it rains and they know how to make it rain in Fort Portal. Great streams of water are dumped over the town as our stay is winding down. The rainy season has begun in earnest. We head south, not to escape the rain (that is impossible) but to visit the chimps in Kibale Forest National Park. It’s a short drive on a good road and that is ok.