This bus is leaving right now? Yes! Now. Like now? Yes, get your bags quickly!

We arrived into Uganda by hired car in the pouring rain - mostly to avoid public transportation, though Rwanda's has been the best. The border crossing was quiet and muddy; we crossed on foot and were the only foreigners around. The uniformed officer was quite efficient, almost pleasant. Didn't even threaten to deport us. He mused aloud about Owen being a brother of President Museveni's; after all, they are both bald(ing), he pointed to the portrait hanging overhead to offer proof. We each paid our 50$ and were on our way - by foot toward Kisoro. A mob of money exchangers and moto-cabbies descended upon us like buzzards on a gut-wagon (for those of you who remember ALF). We fended them off for a while, but finally chose a driver and negotiated a price. 18$ to drive 14 kilometers. Capitalism is killing Danusia.
We hired a driver from Kisoro to Lake Bunyoni. He was pulled over by the police and after more than ten minutes of negotiating and pleading in Chiga (local language), we were on our way. Apparently, he was not driving with a license, but he assured us that he did have one. We arrived to our overland resort pretty much by goat-path, which runs along the lake - apparently a short-cut. The drive was possibly the most beautiful drive we've had. Here we spent two great days, canoeing, enjoying the mountainous scenery, and hanging out with two KLM pilots who were doing an overland drive from Holland to Cape Town. The freedom of their own well-equipped car... I don't know if at that point they truly appreciated what that means in Africa.
They generously drove us to Kabale, about 10 kilometers from Bunyoni and we were off again (reportedly this would cost 20$ with a hired driver).






In Kabale, we booked another safari, this time for three days, to Queen Elizabeth National Park. Luckily, this was much cheaper than our previous safari. Sadly, though beautiful - and affordable - QENP was no Serengeti, et al., and James was no Victor. Our first day was promising (despite the ridiculous "road" to get to QENP - see below); we saw a tree-climbing lion in the first twenty minutes within the park. These were to be the only animals for the day - save some little gazelles. The next three and a half hours were slow and painful. Furthermore, our guide was partially mute. Under certain circumstances (in D417), this is entirely welcome and celebrated; but not on this occasion. His response to any question began with, "Sure, sure..." and sometimes, that was it. Hard to get a straight answer in this part of the world, even when you pay for it.