Travel highlights – from across Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, Ethiopia and Turkey

If 2011 was busy, 2012 looks set to be busier still! Here are a few of 2011’s highlights for Diary of a Muzungu, Uganda travel blog …

Nairobi to Lake Naivasha Relay – local Maasai watched bemused as 100 Hashers ran through Hell’s Gate National Park

Travel to Kenya

The annual Naivasha Relay (84 km from Nairobi to Lake Naivasha) is one of the highlights of Nairobi Hash House Harriers’ calendar.

40 Ugandan Hashers travelled from Kampala to Kenya for the week-end  party (I mean run!) I ran my share of tghe relay- 3 km to be exact  – ‘good enough’ as we say in UG.

The weekend started with a 12 hour bus journey: The real ‘boda boda’ experience – travelling sidesaddle into Kenya.

Travel across Rwanda

A full day’s travelling by bus across Uganda, through Kigali, and onto the fabulous  Volcanoes National Park (Parc Nationale des Virungas) to stay at Le Bambou Gorilla Village in Kinigi.

The muzungu travelled with her personal physician

Rwanda’s reputation precedes it in many positive ways nowadays.

The smooth tarmac in Kigali made a pleasant change from Uganda’s potholes; the legal obligation to wear a helmet on a boda boda (motorbike taxi) in Kigali came as a bit of a shock after Kampala’s very relaxed attitude to road safety!

A flight to South Africa via Nairobi

TIP: next time you fly, look at the map before you select your seat – choose a window seat, check which side of the plane to sit and have your camera ready. Some of my most memorable travel moments of 2011 have been from on high (and I haven’t even joined the Mile High Club yet!)

• Mount Kilimanjaro through the clouds;
• Traversing the seemingly endless azure blue of Lake Malawi;
• Skirting around the edges of Tanzania’s Ngorongoro Crater;
• Seeing volcanoes emerge over the horizon as we approached Nairobi;
• The shot of Kilimanjaro – en route to Johannesburg – is a favourite. Sigh …

Daybreak at 30,000 feet – Mt. Kilimanjaro in the distance

Johannesburg, South Africa

U2′s ‘Beautiful Day’ will forever remind me of a great ten days in Johannesburg, with a great friend and her beautiful daughter, and something deeper – retracing my political and musical roots:

South Africa – Under a blood red sky with U2

Thank you Holly! For the trip, for the friendship and for being a part of my journey as a Voluntary Service Overseas volunteer.

Ethiopia

Hashing – the ‘drinking club with a running problem’ – led me on a very merry dance (hic!) around Ethiopia for two truly memorable weeks. I can’t stop reliving and writing about Ethiopia, here’s one of my posts:

Africa Hash, Ethiopia – Feeling IRIE in Addis Ababa

Traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony overlooking Tissisat Falls

A stopover in Istanbul, Turkey

On a trip back home to the UK, I stopped over in Istanbul for a day. Istanbul looks like my kind of place.

A day in … Istanbul got me thinking about how much I’d like to be travelling and writing about travel full-time.

Travel across Uganda

This year, I was excited to take part in the Uganda Wildlife Authority’s new tourism experience: Walking with Mongooses, a really fun and informative day out in Queen Elizabeth National Park. You may have watched the BBC’s ‘Banded Brothers’ TV series, all about these fascinating fellas.

Muzungu with Mongooses at Mweya, Queen Elizabeth National Park

This year has been a year for:

WRITING – articles for The Eye Magazine Rwanda, Uganda’s Business Today magazine and writing and producing Uganda Matters, the annual newsletter for the Uganda Conservation Foundation.

Diary of a Muzungu has been featuring on Lonely Planet since 2009 (PHEW! no wonder I’m knackered!)

Diary of a Muzungu was a Lonely Planet Featured Blogger from 2009 to 2012

CONNECTING  – with published authors, Lonely Planet bloggers and the global travel blogosphere. Thanks in particular to Todd Wassel at Todd’s Wanderings, for the beautiful and fantabulous Around the World with 40 Lonely Planet bloggers ebook; Mazarine Treyz of Wildwoman Fundraising for her boundless creativity and energy; Wandering Trader Marcello Arrambide who dropped by Kampala and shared some awesome tips on travel blogging. Writing and blogging can be an introspective way to spend your spare time – but you guys keep me motivated. Thank you so much!

CHANGING CAREERS – I’ve always said that in Uganda, “business is social and social is business” and I like it that way…

After two and a half years as a VSO volunteer for the Uganda Conservation Foundation, it was time to move on and employ a local man to take over my role. I’m so proud to have been part of UCF (work trips to the Bush – safari yeah!)

A big achievement. Launch of the Pan African Conservation Education training manual, Ggaba PTC, Kampala with the Uganda Conservation Foundation team and Voluntary Service Overseas,

Despite the global recession, UCF’s donors continue to support our work with the Uganda Conservation Foundation. The Uganda Wildlife Authority is so pleased with UCF’s work in Queen Elizabeth National Park that UCF is now working with them to tackle poaching and human wildlife conflict in Murchison Falls National Park. (Damn, that’s one trip I missed out on!) As you can see, I still talk about UCF in the present tense and I’ll continue to do as much as I can to promote this fantastic charity.

Life as a VSO volunteer in Uganda has certainly had its ups and downs. It’s been a truly incredible three years so far. I love life in Uganda – but it does sometimes get the better of me:

Shotgun wedding – a surreal and intense day

Here’s a bit more about life as a volunteer in Uganda –

Still counting myself lucky! 2 years on …

So why am I still in Uganda? Here’s one reason – one of my favourite blogs from last year:

Early morning sights and sounds

Happy New Year everyone!