UGANDA’S HIDDEN TREASURES – A VISIT TO THE KABWOYA WILDLIFE RESERVE
(Posted 29th August 2014)
(The UWA ranger and management camp at the edge of the reserve)
When one looks at familiar travel patterns of Ugandans and Uganda’s expatriate community, only a handful of destinations stands out, such as the upper Nile valley from Jinja downriver for adventure and leisure activities, the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary, the only place in the country were rhinos can be found in the wild, gorilla tracking in Bwindi and of course Queen Elizabeth and Murchison Falls national parks. They will maybe even have heard of Mt. Elgon and Sipi Falls, of Lake Mburo and perhaps even Kidepo or following a series of feature articles a year ago about hiking and canoeing in Uganda’s South West from Kabale to Kisoro and on to Nkuringo with Lake Mutanda in between. But who can honestly say they would know, off hand, where the Kabwoya Wildlife Reserve is located, how to get there and where to stay.
Uganda, beyond the 10 national parks, also features a number of game, wildlife and community reserves, many of which have their own charm, some with endemic birdlife and others, like Kabwoya, with that very unique setting. A recent visit to the Lake Albert Safari Lodge, which is set literally at the end of Uganda, allowed some insights into what has been happening there since the lodge was opened in 2007 at which time the reserve was literally bare of game and, apart from the spectacular setting of the lodge on top of the cliffs over Lake Albert there was little reason to travel there.
(Bruce Martin, owner, host and guide par excellence during my visit)
Introduce Bruce Martin, a key figure in building the MTN mast network across Uganda, who discovered the location many years earlier and decided to have a go at building and managing a lodge in conjunction with also taking on the responsibility of looking after the reserve and most important, restocking it with game.
Many I spoke with over the past days, including staff of the former Game Department and of Uganda National Parks, before the two were merged to form the Uganda Wildlife Authority, confirmed that Kabwoya was for all purposes gone as a game rich area and among those considered for possible degazetting, to make land available for grazing cattle and goats or find suitable crops to grow to spur agricultural production beyond subsistence farming.
When Bruce however entered the scene, degazetting was quickly off the table and in a deal with the local community, a crucial element to ensure long term sustainability and the Uganda Wildlife Authority it was agreed that he could build a lodge and begin the restocking of game with added numbers brought in from other parks to allow for a faster reproduction rate of the species previously found there.
(Uganda kobs are ever present when venturing out on game drives or guided walks)
Today, the reserve is teeming with thousands of kobs, often seen in very large congregations and making for those experiences of a life time when the game drive vehicle approaches, comes slowly to a halt, the kobs all eying it and its occupants leaning out over the roof hatch. The tension can be felt in the kobs, their ears quivering, before suddenly on turns to dash away, leading hundreds of others as their hoofs begin to drum the soil, have birds fly out of the high grass and from the thickets and soon get joined by duikers, bush- and waterbuck, other commonly found species in the reserve.
Buffalo numbers too have gone up and seeing thirty, fourty and even more at a go is no longer a rare occurances.
Warthog families roam freely and there is evidence of leopards again, as after all they can find prey with ease and no longer need to feed on the goats kept at the fishing villages which are right down at the shore of the lake.
Official records show that Kabwoya today is home to about 460 species of birds and many can be seen even with the untrained eye, from colourful sunbirds and bee eaters over the ground hornbills to many birds of prey.
The Lake Albert Safari Lodge comprises 12 cottages but more are planned to cater for growing demand, which are all set in a line along the top of the cliff offering spectacular views across the lake into the Blue Mountains of the Congo, unless haze obscures the sight across the water.
(Sunrise over the reserve as seen through the doors of the main building and a feeding sunbird caught unaware)
It is the quiet setting of the cottages along the cliff which lets one hear the surf crashing into the beach 70 metres below as the silence of the night begins to settle in, only disrupted by the sound of crickets, perhaps some frogs, a few night birds and the wind rustling the leaves of the trees. In the morning, before dawn, it is the sound of the birds which is most noticeable, as one after the other they begin to make themselves heard, a sure sign that the night is about to be over, and it is time to get ready for the day as nature already does outside. Both sunset and sunrise are magic times of day in the African wilderness when the first and the last rays of the sun give that mellow glow to the surroundings, before at dusk night settles in to reveal a stunning star studded sky above or else see the sun rising as if pulled up on a string – once over the horizon she rises fast and the light spiel is just what photographers are looking for to capture their favourite scenes in different light settings across the day. The rooms are simply furnished, with twin or double beds and in some cases with a third bed in the room, mosquito netting protecting all of them for an undisturbed sleep. The rooms are lit using inverter batteries and hot water comes from solar water heaters using renewable energy sources wherever possible.
(Main building and cottages, all with thatched roofs made of grass from the area)
The main building, like the cottages under thatch, houses the main bar, the restaurant, a very comfortable lounge with free Wifi – bring your own USB modem to provide connectivity in the cottages or else use SIM card based smart phones or tablets to stay connected from there – and opens into a small garden where a pool is found, sunbeds and all, again just metres away from the 70 metres high cliffs.
The lodge also has a small meeting room in an adjoining building including an outlook lounge on the upper floor, which equally invites for just reading a book or gazing into the distance.
When asked during one meal how I liked the food I had to give them the thumbs up sign as speaking with a full mouth would hardly have been in order, though dining is very informal and guests can sit around a large communal table or else opt for some of the smaller ones if they prefer to just keep to themselves. Breakfast is served by order, Marmite, honey, jam and marmalade readily available on the buffet where tea, coffee and even hot chocolate can be brewed, the fruits are found and where large mugs made me smile, a better choice than those small fancy schmanzy cups otherwise put on the table which are empty after the second gulp of that important hot morning beverage of one’s choice. Lunch is very informal, taken either on a dining room table or else carried out to the pool or eaten from a plate while lounging in one of the sofas surfing the net or uploading pictures to show distant friends what they missed when they declined to come along for the trip.
Dinner however is a sit down affair, and three courses are served every day, soup, main course and a dessert, with the dress code being very informal as it should be. The service was swift, even at the one night when the lodge was fully booked, and a well-stocked bar and the availability of a decent selection of wines made every dinner an occasion of sorts. Tales of the day are traded over dinner, perhaps the latest news watched on the flatscreen TV before going to the table discussed or simply life anecdotes exchanged as the guests tuck into the tasty meals. No one tries to copy Michelin star rated food but guests can look forward to well-cooked and presented home cooked meals, which still the hunger one develops during a day out in the bush.
(Horse riding, a unique way to watch game in the reserve)
Talking bush, the range of activities on offer at the Lake Albert Safari Lodge include horse riding, with a trained guide of course, walks across the reserve in the company of a guide and an armed ranger, visits by foot or car to the fishing villages at the lake shore, day and night game drives and, last but not least, bush dinners which are arranged on request. Starting with a sundowner guests can enjoy the sunset over the lake before sitting down to eat with candles and storm lamps providing illumination while a camp fire crackles not far away, ready to have the guest gather around it for post dinner drinks before making their way back to the lodge again.
I know, the next question will be how to get there and how long it takes, now that I have hopefully whet the appetite of readers to follow my footsteps and plan for a visit themselves.
(A section of the new ‘oil road’ and the airstrip near the lodge in Kabwoya Wildlife Reserve)
A brand new super highway, as far as Uganda has such super highways, is in the final stages of completion, leading from the town of Hoima, also the seat of the Bunyoro Kingdom, to the village of Kaiso, and some of the locals have aptly titled it the oil road, but more about that in a more extensive follow up feature, which will also look in greater detail at Lake Albert itself, the adjoining Kaiso Tonya Wildlife Reserve and the unfolding activities of the oil concessionaires getting ready to begin pumping the black gold from deep underground. The new stretch of road makes the trip from Hoima itself to the lodge take just over 1 hours while the overall journey time from the capital Kampala was 4 ½ hours, give a little if traffic leading to the outskirts of the city is heavy.
The added option to get to Kabwoya and the Lake Albert Safari Lodge is by air into a murram airstrip of some 1.000+ metres length located not too far from the lodge, requiring, depending on aircraft type, just over an hour’s flight from Kajjansi or Entebbe.
Located in between Murchisons Falls National Park and the parks around Fort Portal, Kibaale, Rwenzori and Semliki does Kabwoya and the Lake Albert Safari Lodge today make for a perfect stop over point, some 3 ½ hours’ drive from Murchisons, about the same to Fort Portal and around 5 ½ hours to the slightly more distant Queen Elizabeth. Yet, going by my own experience, and given the solitude found at the reserve with only the other guests out on game drives, many might feel regret to have spent only one night ‘in transit’ – my advice would be two nights at least and better three, to fully experience what safaris in the old days must have been like. There may be no lions, elephant, giraffes or zebra in the reserve but what is there is worth watching all the same, away from the crowds and away from those well beaten paths the Ugandan expatriate community seem to follow, making a visit truly special and unique.
(An emphatic thumbs up for the Lake Albert Safari Lodge)
More information can be found by clicking on www.lakealbertlodge.com or visiting www.ugandawildlife.org. Additional destination information is accessible via www.visituganda.com
