On the road to Turkana (and the road wasn’t as bad as Isanga 
Bay, by the way) we crossed paths with a local woman and chatted for a bit. Laura operates the Salada Womens Camp outside of the town of Ngurunit; she said we’d like it for the beautiful scenery. We hadn’t a plan to go that way but why not? It is the beauty of not having a plan. Despite a mighty rain storm that washed out both the road to the camp and the piped water the camp is still open and we find it shady and comfortable after wild camping at Turkana. We are the only campers. And our luck in Kenya is still holding; we were lucky to meet Laura on the road because on the way to her camp, we witnessed an extraordinary sight, something we couldn’t have imagined.
Rounding a corner on the rocky road, we spot several vultures 
flying low to the ground. More are coming down and we coast up to the source of their interest, a camel carcass already blanketed with huge birds. The birds, Ruppell’s vultures, extend their naked necks and create an unholy racket fighting over the freshly dead beast. Loud growls, screeches, snapping beaks and vicious wing flaps drive away the smaller birds; the noise makes me think of a 19-century insane asylum. The biggest vultures come up from feeding with their necks red from blood and then they fight their way back into the center. Look at the cover photo of the vulture attacking the bird underneath it, grabbing neck skin with that brutal beak. Ouch!
It is a scene from an older time. We watch for an hour. A village dog comes racing in out of nowhere to scatter the birds and take off with a piece of meat. The birds quickly return to feed and fight. Various birds of prey arrive to get a taste. The small Hooded vulture hangs at the perimeter, picking up the scraps thrown out by the infighting. Finally we drive away and when we go by again three days later there is not a sign of the camel nor the birds. It’s like it never happened. Nature ca
n be tidy like that.
In comparison, the elegant Vulturine Guineafowl sports a bare neck like a vulture but with stunning cobalt blue feathers front and back, lilac edging on the wing feathers and long trailing white neck feathers. It makes a racket but in a funny way, not the caveman’s nightmare of the Ruppell’s vultures. I’ve yet to find a blue feather from this lovely bird but I won’t stop trying.
Merciless winds. Rocks. Heat. Desolation. 
Undrinkable water. Terrible roads. This is how I imagine the aggregate of Lake Turkana, where some of the very oldest human fossils have been discovered and where early hominids, habilis and robustus, roamed for more than 2 million years. My imagination proved not far off. It is hot. The windblown sand scours skin. There is no water for us to drink or use for washing. Since leaving Loiyangalani we have seen no other white people, no travelers. Lake Turkana is windy, barren and inhospitable, difficult to drive to and dangerous, all of these things are true. It is also wild and beautiful and the people who somehow manage to live here are tough as the rocks they walk on. They live in small squat huts 
built of branches and covered with whatever is available – plastic sheeting, cardboard, old fabrics. Anything to hold back the relentless winds and sand. Early hominids did not have these. They did not build or create houses. They used one tool – the rock shard – and only that one tool, unchanged, for a million years. Imagine there is only one iPhone and it is used for millennia. Talk about stuck in a rut. But when you find something that works, stick with it right?
So how did early hominids even get to the point where they 
walked upright on this ragged landscape, using their single tool? How did the quadrupedal creature evolve into the bipedal? We may never know. We do know that in Africa thirty-five million years (!) ago a creature called Aegyptopithecus evolved with ape-like characteristics and eighteen million years after that, Proconsul evolved with a somewhat ape-like anatomy. Then another seventeen million years spin by with little fossil record until Kenyapithecus came into the picture. The earth followed its trail around the sun for still another fifteen million years before 
the hominid forms appeared, these creatures who so graciously left us their bones and footprints fossilized on the land. There are more questions than answers now and the answers lay here in Kenya at Lake Turkana, if anywhere.
In case you were wondering, the time it took us to grind our way over the rocks and out of the lake valley was three hours – a short time span compared to the millions of years this lake has been a part of mankind. Above the lake, on hilltop after hilltop, bright new wind turbines stand tall. The wind is so strong I can hardly open the truck door yet 
none of the turbines are spinning. Someone must have forgotten to plug them in, we laugh. As tools go, these aren’t being used today.
Eldoret is about an hour east of the Ugandan border; the town has a busy fabric production industry and an agriculture base with wheat and cane crops. Traffic is nuts as is often the outcome of people being able to afford vehicles and no time or money available to upgrade streets. Robots (traffic lights) have been abandoned, hanging in pieces at intersections. Roundabouts are more efficient anyway and traffic policing creates jobs, a handy band-aid. By all appearances Eldoret is a twenty-first century Kenyan city, if a bit bedraggled. Here on the eve of the latest Kenyan elections the atmosphere is tense; there are very few 
tourists. People tell us tourism has been dismal since August, and we are warmly received at the Naiberi River OverLand Stop for a four-day stay.
Created by Raj Sarat, a Kenyan-born Indian man whose family has been in Eldoret three generations, each Overland campsite features covered areas with lots of room, expanding our real estate by about 100 percent – a big plus since it is raining cats and dogs periodically every day. There is a place to hang damp clothes under cover and a clothes line out in the sun should the sun shine long enough. We pull in, level the truck, unroll the Fiama awning, and set up dinner in about 15 minutes. The neighboring campers are just returning from Lake Turkana, our next 
destination, and they have excellent road information; we talk about the huge dam being built in Ethiopia that will impact the northern tribes. It would be interesting to return here in 10 years to see how it all falls out – the dam, the elections, life.
In no hurry, we stay four days at Overland Stop then take off for Lake Baringo. Without any preamble the road climbs to the summit of the Great Rift Valley then drops us down into the valley floor with a thud. Leaving behind the rain and greenery we have now landed in the arid tribal lands of Northern Kenya. Welcome to the Great Rift Valley. Running from Israel to Mozambique, the rift will in time push the massive chunk of Africa to its east off of the continent and into the Indian Ocean. 
Where we will be when that happens? Maybe colonizing Mars. One can hope.
At Lake Baringo the shore is cluttered with drowned trees and the ruins of resorts, boat docks and houses. The lake has risen to bury 100 meters of land and everything on it under water. Where men herded their cattle, they now guide birdwatching boats for tourists like us. The rise was gradual but inexplicable, caused by water seeping up from the Rift, aided by heavy rains and climate change. The lake is still lovely but the only way to see the shore is from the water, there’s no beach to walk along. Birding is good as the boat can maneuver into shallow coves and hidden places. The guide procures a couple of fish from a local and we chum for Fish 
Eagles – the eagles know the boat has a treat and they put on a show. Two other couples are camped with us and we all sit down one morning with our maps to share road information and stories, then everyone goes off in different directions. Our direction is to Lake Turkana, and back in time we go.
Leaving Uganda, we will miss something found here and nowhere else. The Rolex. It is Ugandan signature street food, cooked at stands along the road in every town. There will be a small wood stand, usually with a cover, a stack of eggs and next to it a charcoal fire with a flat beaten skillet on it. There will be people lined up at a good Rolex stand and certainly guys hanging around shooting the breeze with the cook. The cook will roll out chapatis (made African style, thick and o
ily) and fry them up fresh, then scramble two eggs with tomato, onion and salt until they are cooked, top them with the fresh chapati – sometimes using two chapatis – and roll it up for you, sealing it into a plastic bag by brushing the plastic over the hot skillet. Good thing this is an open-air kitchen. We ordered up a Rolex everywhere we went. Hungry? Rolex. Almost Hangry? Get a Rolex. There’s one right there, pull over. Let’s eat.
Our experience with Ugandans was a pleasure, especially at the parks. Rangers, guides, and administrators were very happy to share their knowledge of life in the park. Local people like to talk politics – there is a move by the president to raise the presidential age limit so that he can continue to rule forever – parliament dissolved into fisticuffs on national TV – and they asked us repeatedly how Trump is doing. The uniquely Africa custom of greeting someone with long handshakes, smiles and hugs (even if you’ve just met) makes you feel special. And a smile always goes a long way, as is customary. Custom and tradition rule here even more so than President Musveni. As politically volatile as 
Uganda is, though, Kenya is a hot-bed of tension right now with a “fresh” national election coming up on the 26th – the August election was declared a fraud. We are keeping our heads down and staying in the western provinces where the situation is somewhat more stable. We will see what happens next.
Travel guidebooks, websites and forums will give you advice on how much to tip whom in Africa and how much you might expect to pay for services. They all caution against over-tipping and in some cases that is true, such as when a huge tip might make for little incentive to continue working. But while Jim and I tip whatever we feel like (and after nine months we have a feel) there are situations that cannot be covered by a guidebook or a forum. When this happens you are on your own.
Traveling south after spending a very rainy night in Kitoro we pass over soggy gravel/dirt roads and cross rivers over makeshift bridges without any problem. Then ahead of us we see a long expanse of running water and a lot of men gathered around. Before we could make sense of this we are surrounded by tribesmen. Turkana, Samburu, Maasai, and others crowd three deep around the truck. “We will push you across” the English-speaking tribesman says. “First take the air filter out, then shut off the engine and we will push you through the water.” 
Do what? How deep is the water? They indicate it is up to their waist. We roll up our windows to confer privately and watch as more men walk across – obviously the current isn’t too strong. Yet, anyway. We decide to risk it – to go around is at least a couple days out of our route. Using the engine here would be a disaster, water would surely soak the electronics. Push it is.
As we move about the truck to prepare we are literally embraced by half-naked tribesmen who have no sense of personal space but it is not uncomfortable. This is Africa. There is a confidence coming from them, they have pushed rigs across before us. “How much will this cost?” 50,000 shillings for each of the two channel crossings. OK, now how do we know if that price is too high or low? Do we dicker? Guidebooks aren’t going to help with this. How much are we willing to pay? What if we make it 
across and the car dies anyway should the electronics get wet? We’d be royally screwed at that point. I tell Jim, I bet they get us half way across and then raise the price. Sure enough, the price went up to 75,000 shillings for a total of 150,000 as we reached the far bank. That is about $42USD and worth it, the Beagle is 2,200+ pounds and the far bank was all uphill. I couldn’t believe 15 guys could get a good enough grip to move the truck through the water much less uphill. And the engine starts right up. Success is had and the price paid. This is what money is for.
But another group of local travelers did not fare so well. The engine on their Toyota would not start and we towed them 40 kilometers on the dirt road to the next town. A good deed, with many god bless yous given for our time. Hope it turns out ok for 
them. On we go, this time on a paved road. Boy, are we in dire need a car wash and we will tip well for it. Why not? This too is what money is for.
Road travel north of Murchison was quite challenging until a short time ago. The path to Kidepo (Ka-DAY-poe) National Park through the towns of Gulu and Kitgum were once dominated by the vile Lord’s Resistance Army. Despite its religious-sounding name, the LRA was just another bunch of terrorists too lazy to do anything but rob, rape and murder in the name of who knows what. The tribespeople who fought them weren’t much better and after years of brutality and horror (and gobs of money spent) the government made deals with both groups, offering jobs and amnesty to those who gave up their weapons. Aid has since poured into the province, roads are new and well-built and 
towns are thriving. So what was the warring about? The government of Uganda came out ahead, with an unmatched military arsenal now at its disposal. The president, who claimed he would submit to general elections 14 years ago, has held onto to the throne and recently flew his air force jets over a town just as the (completely meaningless) primary elections were taking place. Guess we know who is in charge here.
But I digress. Kidepo Park is well worth the visit. The two 
campsites there are spaced nicely along the Narus River Valley, the wetter side of the park. Further east in the Kidepo Valley it is drier and there, we are told, the tsetse fly rule. Tsetse flies have ruled many an acre in Africa, making land uninhabitable for cattle and causing governments to declare the lands a park since little else could be done in the flies’ presence. Maybe the tsetse aren’t so pointless after all.
We arrived at the park in late afternoon with time for a swift 
recon drive and camp setup before the rain started. A French couple we’d met at Murchison were camped near us and they asked us to tag along with them for a morning drive. Good for them we did, as their rental Toyota Rav4 high-centered on the muddy track right away. Jim opened his bag of tricks (the recovery gear) and quickly had them out of the mud. Presently we drove right up to this handsome lion – a young male who had been mating all night and was exhausted. Or was that the reason he was so tired? No, he is limping terribly. His left front paw is swollen and misshapen, it is a wonder he can walk. Hard to see this creature in his prime so sorely injured. At the ranger po
st we are told he broke his leg two weeks ago, maybe a zebra or buffalo kick, and he has been recovering slowly. Two other male lion and a lioness are apparently seeing that he has food and a vet has come out twice to tend to him. Yes, odd as it sounds, the lion are taking care of each other. No one wants to see him suffer or die, his presence and his genes are needed in the park.
Kidepo boasts four of the Big Five and by 9:45am Jim and I 
have seen all four – lion, buffalo, elephant and fantastically, a leopard. Movement in a tree caught our eye and the leopard looked at us and jumped down, disappearing in the long grass. To spot one is a real prize. Spotting an elephant sounds easy but yesterday there were none in the Narus Valley. Today there are over 100. Where did they come from? Out of nowhere there is a huge herd in front of us and they are not particularly relaxed. This bull is called Bulbul 
and he is notorious for claiming the road for himself. He thrust his tusk into the mud and stood on three legs with his one hind leg extended, just to show off, I think – quite a sight. We tried sneaking by him after waiting half an hour for him to move off and he charged – I jammed it in reverse and we turned around to find a different route. That’s what reverse is for.
Our Kidepo adventure continued; we became mired in the 
mud and were helped out by another Land Cruiser. The kids in the Cruiser took a video; hope that doesn’t go viral on YouTube, haha. Jim and the Beagle have never been so filthy dirty. In comparison these exceedingly handsome Abyssinian Hornbill graced the road, posing for photos. Look at those eyelashes! This zebra is a tough guy, missing the top of both ears from fighting with other males and with deep fresh scars on his hind quarters from a lion attack. 
Finally, we even missed our gate exit time, and they waved us through – very obliging of them – and we headed south through the tribal lands toward the Kenyan border, the intermittent rains pouring down and creating dramatic skies.
Over dinner at the Ruwenzori View Guesthouse the conversation turned to the experience of driving to Murchison Falls National Park from Fort Portal. Two couples had done the more straightforward route, but it took them 11 hours. After considering just how many things can go wrong on an 11 hour drive we decided to break it up by driving south then turning north.
After Jim miraculously fixed the battery cable that broke (and stopped us dead in the water) we drove half a day south of Kibale to Lake Mburo National Park. 
The area surrounding the lake resembles the big hobby farms of the western US. Ankole cattle, the unique Ugandan breed with enormous horns, are raised here in huge numbers and only the really rich could possibly own this many cows. The line between farm and park is fluid as we have seen in much of Uganda. The lake is lovely and birdlife is prolific.
Moving on, it took another three days to reach Murchison – Lake Nabugabo and the town of Masindi provided the stopovers. At Lake Nabugabo the noisy Black-Casqued Horn bills squawked repeatedly and loudly from dawn to 
dusk. They would have been annoying if they weren’t birds. However, in Masindi town at the long-running Masindi Hotel (famous for Katherine Hepburn residing there while filming The Africa Queen) birds were not the problem. It was the ridiculously loud speakers on the street that rang out terrible pop music from 6:30am to well after midnight. An assault on the senses that drowned out the song birds, this relentless barrage of bad taste made us grit our teeth and leave town as quickly as we could. We’d been warned that Ugandans love their loud speakers but this was beyond the 
pale. Even the out-of-tune screeching of the call to prayers in Zambia held no candle to this. Too bad, Masindi is a lovely town but you’ll want to be deaf to live there.
At last, we came to the Nile. The Nile dominates Murchison Falls National Park. One of the world’s seven great rivers, here in Murchison all of the Nile’s water pours through a crevasse only 24 feet wide and 80 feet deep forming the park’s namesake. 
All that water channeled into one tight spot – now that is a rock and a hard place. We imagine kayakers standing at the top (and you can stand right at the top of the drop) calculating which run to take. Haha. If the falls doesn’t kill you (and it will) the crocs at the bottom will find you numb and delicious. We traveled up the river by boat to experience another view of the falls: it is quite spectacular. If the Nile is running very high the falls become washed out but on our visit the water was showing the best drama. That will change. The rainy season is upon us.
Only the campsite locations detracted from thoroughly enjoying the whole of this Park. There is camping allowed in two places, both of them at the southern end of the park. Being Uganda’s largest park, it is problematic to game-drive it and make it back to camp before dark. We spent most of our visit near the Nile and did the far end of the park on our exit day. We encountered so many giraffe that morning, we nearly stayed another day just to play with them. Still, there is more to see in Uganda so on we went.
While tramping through the Kibale forest the emphasis was on primates. Birds 
could be heard but it takes a concentrated effort to see them and not something to combine with a chimp trek. However, not once did anyone mention snakes. I know I never gave them any thought, while following Toti and Black and the rest of the chimps. So imagine the feeling we had when we found this creature. It is a Gabon viper and it lives in the forest alongside the chimps and birds. Also called the Rhino viper because of its horned head, it has the longest fangs and the highest venom yield of any snake. Any snake. Anywhere. And here it is, freshly squ
ashed in the road with the eggs it would have laid scattered about its body. Holy cow! (or words to that effect). We’ve never seen anything like it and I for one am glad we saw it after spending the day in forest. We did take another photo but really, it is too graphic. Some things are better left to the imagination.
We found the snake on our way to the Bigodi Swamp where locals lead birding walks into the swamp (and there are many snakes). This community effort has been ongoing since the Kibale was gazetted. Cottage indus
tries have sprung up around the Bigodi, there are craft shops and a new restaurant, as well as a museum showcasing Bantu cultural items and offering village cultural walks. The museum is run by Jared, our chimp guide – as I said there is little he doesn’t know about the area and he has created a terrific cultural center. There is so much to do in Kibale and the camping is inexpensive – we stayed four days and did it all.
Owen is my birding guide in the wetland and while we did not get an early start we still saw plenty of creatures. The African Blue Turaco is a regular in the swamp and so is this African Dusty Flycatcher. Primates live here as well and the chimps often visit although they do not stay long. Baboons are a problem, they rob the nearby fields. This Grey-cheeked Mangabey looks like it has tumors but actually he is storing food in his cheeks for later. Owen shared that he doesn’t like the Mangabey “because he is grey.” Owen much prefers the striking Black and White Colobus. Yes, the Ma
ngabey is unattractive but they are really smart for what that is worth; I thought the Mangabey was a cool guy, to use Jared term for primates he likes.
Back at the cultural center my continuing search for chameleons was rewarded with this fellow. He is shedding his skin – fascinating that he is even more camouflaged than ever with his skin flaking off. He matches the colo
r of the Yellow Oleander branch so closely he was difficult to locate after I put him back on his perch. Lunch and a guided tour of the cultural museum rounded out the last day in Kibale Forest National Park. Uganda has done a terrific job with this park and the locals are benefiting. Now it is on to Murchinson Falls and the Nile River.
Did you know that female chimps initiate sex with the males? The female see a male with an erection and in five seconds or so the job is done, the female is off to find another erection and the male is left to tidy himself with some leaves. Chimps do things differently than gorillas or baboons. Females mate with any and all males and female juveniles move off to other groups to avoid incest. Male babies are still at extreme risk but female babies are welcomed. We saw this, and more, on our day-long habituation trek with Toti’s group of chimps. All hail Toti – on the left, to the right is Black. Toti is magnificent, the undisputed boss of his 200-member group.
Here in Kibale chimps have been habituated since 1992 and tracking them all day is good for their continued habituation. Jared, our Bantu guide, has been with the chimps since the park was gazetted and prior to that he hunted food in the forest. There is little he doesn’t know. The three of us, me, Jim and Lisa from Portland Maine, are lucky to have him. Jared cautions us that Toti can get physical. We aren’t allowed to get more than 20 meters from the chimps but no one tells the chimps how close they can get to us – as we will find out.
It is bright and clear at 6:30am and if nothing else, it’s an excellent walk in the woods. Soon we meet the first few chimps of the tribe. From the tree tops where they built their nightly nests, they come down to relax, groom and socialize. Almost instantly we are surrounded – not by chimps but by other chimp watchers – at least 18 people plus their guides and guards. What have we gotten into? The mad rush to photograph every chimp makes for a mob scene and one by one we back off to the perimeter with Jared. It is astonishing that the chimps don’t mind the mob. These people only have one hour with the chimps, similar to gorilla trekking. An hour with chimps is not like an hour in church – the chimp hour goes much faster.
Jared motions us to follow him – “let’s track this cool guy” he says of Black, one of the mature males. Presently we leave all the other people behind and it is just us and the chimps and the forest. Black climbs a tree – how does a creature that big sit on such a tiny branch? – and begins calling to his friends. Chimps have 52 vocalizations, all of them are loud and wild. Some calls appear obvious such as when the small male left behind began crying loudly, like a kid lost in the mall. He was quickly answered by the tribe and found his way to them. Black’s calls attract a female, the two mate and then, just as Jared predicted, the others show up. We sit down in their mids
t and watch them play and groom and we all converse about evolution, fidelity, chimps and humans. Why not, we have enough vocalization for that.
But Toti wants some action and he rouses the others into a frenzy by rushing about and hooting. Other chimps join him, surrounding us, then Toti leads a charge right at the four of us. Now what did Jared say to do when this happens? Oh, yeah, stand up and stand still. But this puffed-up primate is hurling himself at us as fast as he can – which is pretty f’n fast – and it is all we can do to breath. Toti swings past Jim and slaps him on the thigh, the rest of the chimps rush past and we all take a breath. “He is just showing off” Jared says. It was deeply impressive, especi
ally when Toti did it again, this time slapping Lisa. I was starting to feel left out. Jim said he’d show me how it felt but it’s not the same thing.
As the day goes on rain starts bucketing down. The chimps go into another frenzy, howling and screaming. They don’t care for the rain (yes, they live in a rain forest, but many people who live in snow don’t like it, right?) We try to wait it out but it is clear that we have no chance, we are soaked and the chimps are in hiding. The trail is a river of mud. Time to declare the habituation over. On the way out, slogging through rain and the wet mud we meet the last group of hourly visitors, just starting out for the chimps. Hope they had a good time. We certa
inly did. If you go, do the all-day habituation. You will not be disappointed.
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 Blac
k-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 th
e chimps in Kibale Forest National Park. It’s a short drive on a good road and that is ok.
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