A Trip Within A Trip: Part 6 Welcome to Fort Portal

Out of all the places we visited during our stay in Uganda, Fort Portal was by far one of our favorites. It has great energy, good people, and delicious food. It was clean. It had several successful ecotourism businesses/campsites run by Ugandans. All in all, there was lots of fun to be had and the Rwenzori Mountains created a beautiful background that offered tons of adventure and stunning sunsets. When we arrived we didn’t have any plans for what to do but based on what we had read and heard about Fort Portal we knew we weren’t going to be bored. We had a guide book but we only used it for general information, partly because it was old and outdated, and also because we wanted to have our own unique adventure, go places that white people rarely roam and let our hearts and eyes be our guides.

During the majority of the day we would go on our various outings outside of town and we explored the city in the late afternoon and evening, which is really the best time. We arrived in town at 11:15pm and the place was hopping. Before this we had never experienced a night life in Uganda. (Bududa might have a night life but I imagine it isn’t like that of the city and it may even be more dangerous. Not to mention we usually go to bed around 9pm.) Fort Portal has a main street that has several bars, restaurants, banks, internet cafes, food markets as well as several other businesses and a traditional outdoor African market. The sights and smells were the same as any other market we have been to in Uganda except across the street was this huge, lavish restaurant called the Gardens. We thought about eating there but instead we decided to be kinder to our wallets and we ate at Master Snacks down the street. We paid about $2 per person versus $5 or $6, and it was more filling and more locally grown. You know you have been in Africa for a long time when you would rather eat at a local joint than a comfortable, predictable restaurant with a Western menu. However when the menu included made to order brick oven pizzas we couldn’t resist.

Mike has already talked about our interesting bike tour so I won’t get into that. Except I had a blast, I am almost more happy that we got lost because we got to see and experience a part of Uganda that otherwise we wouldn’t have seen. We were never actually lost, but Ugandans use that word to explain why you aren’t where you are expecting to be or when you arrive somewhere late. The ride up the hill was a bit reckless but it saved our legs and I didn’t realize how dangerous or terrifying it was for Mike until afterwards. I had the common sense not to sit on the tail gate but inside the back, since I consider my life more valuable than the bike. It was interesting that even though we stopped about 3 times to ask for directions everyone said to keep going. So it wasn’t just a bad map but also a thick language barrier and our attitudes of “this is beautiful, let’s keep going” that factored into a remarkable bike ride.

We woke up early the next day to go check out an area that is known for having lots of crater lakes. We got on a piki and drove for miles and miles and already we could tell it was going to be a great day. The hills were endless until we got to that top of one and took a sharp right hand turn and right before our eyes was this massive crater lake with steep banks on every side. Then less than a ¼ mile down the road there was another one, then another. The piki dropped us off in a tiny village called Kabata and instantly we were surrounded by a dozen kids who couldn’t stop staring at us. They all wanted to be our guide but we kindly told them we were just here to walk around, unfortunately they did not understand us and several of them followed us part way down the road. We did not know exactly which way we were going but we had an idea of where we wanted to end up. Along the road our first pleasant surprise hit us via our nostrils. The smell was soft, sweet and intoxicating and it didn’t take Mike long to figure out what it was… vanilla. A giant vanilla plantation nestled in the rolling hills of western Uganda; is there anything that they can’t grow in Uganda?

Occasionally on the road we were passed by local people with fishing poles and bundles of fresh fish they caught in a nearby lake. After walking for about 40 minutes we saw another massive crater lake which helped us figure out where we were. This is when the real adventure started because we turned off the road and for the rest of the day we trekked on the paths that winded through the jungle covered hills. Many locals just stared at us as we walked by. They were probably surprised to see us since we travel a different route than most mzungus. At one point this little kid, no older than two, looked at me and let out this loud and horrifying scream and instantly had tears running down her cheeks. It could have been the first time she saw a white person and based on her scream I probably looked like an alien or monster to her and thought I was going to eat her. We had a full day of trekking that included swimming under a water fall, two river crossings (once a little above the waterfall and once where the bridge was taken out), walking through a giant banana plantation, swimming in a crater lake (400 meters deep!!), and checking out a local ecotourism spot.

The next day was similar in that we saw more of the countryside and more crater lakes but this time we hired a guide and saw more cool things. We hiked through a jungle that was so thick we almost had to curl on our hands and knees and in some place the mud would have come up to our knees if there weren’t planks laid in the path. We trekked through caves, behind a waterfall, up and over hills and down dirt roads that rarely have cars pass. The cave we saw was Ambere Cave and our guide told us the history and legend of the cave in wonderful detail. I don’t remember most of it except that it had to do with this ancient woman’s breasts that were cut off and she was banished to the caves and to this day you can still see her breasts hanging from the roof of the cave. You can take my word for it; the stalactites actually look a bit like breasts.

The thing that we were most impressed by during our stay was the presence of African run ecotourism businesses. They dotted the area like bars dot a ski town in the United States. They offered a variety of tours and activities for every kind of tourists and every budget. The first day we rented bikes from one. The next day we stopped to have drinks at one, and the last day the caves and surrounding area was run by one. It was relieving to see that these businesses were doing well, they were well lead and organized and in many cases they were run and owned by Ugandans. Not only that they were giving back to their local communities by building schools or donating to schools in exchange for having students come and volunteer there. Many of them seemed to also have a more conscious environmental ethic. The local people were taking care of the land and since it was owned by Africans that prevented Westerners from coming in and building giant resorts. Some of them had even been recognized by the government as community development organizations. It was the opposite of what we experienced in Sipi Falls. Now if only that business model was used all over Uganda, including Sipi Falls area, within a few years Uganda could become the tourist center of Africa.