Wed, July 4 - Driving to Masindi

View from Our Room

Hotel Lounge

We got up and packed for a leisurely breakfast at seven.  I hated leaving the lovely lagoon with our large porch overlooking it, but at 8 AM we set off.  We’re in the big van with the Brits with Paul driving..  We’re heading north to Murchison Falls National Park, stopping on the way for two nights, at Masindi where the famous (to birders) Royal Mile is located,  This is a 2.5 KM-long road that has a large bird list, and I hope, is level and easy to maneuver.

Blue Monkey

Paul and Eriab drove the vans several miles and stopped at a level stretch of dirt road to bird.  

At once we could see at least three species of monkeys: Red-tailed Monkey,  Guereza Colobus, and, one I missed yesterday, the Grey-cheeked Mangabey, and after a while the Blue Gentle Monkey.  There were also several new bird species.  Unfortunately, there was enough truck traffic to cause a lot of red dust to be blown up and we were soon pretty well covered as well as breathing it. 

Red-tailed Monkey

 We continued on, driving through endless villages and agriculture - small swamps of papyrus being the only native vegetation left.  We ate our  box lunches of chicken wraps, and came to turnoff where the World Bank and China are financing a highway to replace the dirt road.  From there on we traveled on intermittently completed stretches of new pavement to detours, flag people, earth movers, etc!  The tiny villages are, of course, loosing the business that they previously enjoyed as the new road is higher or lower than the level of the stores and inconvenient for travelers to access.  Also traffic moves at a much higher speed creating more danger for the many locals who use the road on foot.  Anyway that’s progress and I’m sure the road is being built to transport oil or minerals rather then help the people, anyway.

Birding a Papyrus Marsh

We hit some rain which settled the dust thankfully, and after 170 miles we reached the town of Masindi and the long-standing Masindi Hotel.  It was built in 1923 and has welcomed Bogart and Bacall, and a battered Hemingway and Mary Walsh after their planes crashed (twice) while visiting Murchison Falls and they recuperated for several days here.   We got assigned the back rooms without working wifi or the other amenities advertised, but we’ll survive for two nights as long as we can get some laundry done!!   

For you Hilton Fans..

We met for dinner and it was decided to do the List first....it takes a full hour to do it as there is controversy over each species as to how many the group saw.  Fortunately I had a Nile beer to keep me company - and also a man imitating John Goodman in the Big Lebowski giving a religious lecture in a loud voice at the next table!

The Masindi Hotel Porch