25th January - Simliki via the hot springs

We were supposed to leave at 8am this morning, but again, had issues with paying by card which was eventually sorted.  But the real hold up was caused by the camp manager forgetting to tell the kitchen staff to sort out packed lunches for us - this caused a 45 minute delay and Shindishi was not happy as he’s a very organised guy.

On Top of the World

On route to Fort Portal, we took a diversion to visit the “Top of the World”, where we had magnificent views over 3 crater lakes.  It was quite hazy so the photos don’t do it justice, but we thought it a very peaceful and beautiful spot.

Banana Sellers

We then continued our drive back to Fort Portal and had 45 minutes in a nice tea shop/restaurant whilst Shindishi took the car to a mechanic as it had developed some electrical faults.  I had a delicious ginger, cinnamon and honey tea as have developed a sore throat and nasty cough, and it seemed to help.

We then had a 2 hour drive to the hot springs in Semuliki NP - “The True Birder’s Haven”.   We stopped off in a village on route to try and buy some eggs and were immediately surrounded by a large group of many women who had baskets of bananas on their heads and wanted us to buy some. We declined so they immediately shot off to the next car that pulled in to try again. 

We drove along a winding road towards the DR of Congo border with a huge and very steep mountain range on our left and a valley on our right.  Due to the locals burning the land, what would

The Lady Spring

have been spectacular views were masked by the hazy smoke.  Eventually, we arrived at the hot springs and were assigned our guide, Florence, who was dressed in thick khaki fatigues and wellington boots - she must have been boiling, but looked as cool as a cucumber.  We had a short 200 metre walk through the forest to the “Lady” spring.  Wow - what an alien landscape.  It was totally flat and consisted of lots of pools of bubbling water including 2 much larger fissures that had built up cones of minerals and masses of steam hanging over everything.  There were some board walks over the landscape which was coloured white, red, green and brown.  We walked to the right 1st so that Florence could it our eggs in a bubbling pool to boil them.  We then went to look at the largest cone from where you could take some great photos of the hot springs with the mountains in the back ground.  After 10 minutes, our eggs were cooked and we retraced our steps.  There were masses of different butterflies everywhere all attracted by the mineral salts - I’ve never seen so many in one place before.  Just beautiful.

The Male Spring

As we were short on time and Mum has lost a lot of fitness with her latest chest infection, we drove to the “Male” spring, where we had a 1km walk to get to it.  Again, we set off through thick forest before walking on a good quality board walk over a swamp full of bubbling pools to the main pool which we could see in the distance due to the steam enveloping it.  We admired the pool from a small shelter to one side of it where we ate our freshly boiled eggs - ooh, they were yummy and we really enjoyed them.  It was hot walking over the boardwalks and around the pools so we were quite glad to get back to the relative coolness of the car.

The main lodge

After dropping Florence off at the main entrance, we then drove for about 1.5 hours to our lodge which is set in the Simliki game reserve.  We were greeted by Noreen, the South African camp manager and shown into the main sitting/dining area which is a vast space full of comfy chairs and big chunky tables open to one side so you have views over the bush below.  It is decorated with local artefacts and has a lovely ambience - it’s more like the sort of lodges we’re used to in Kenya/Tanzania and is most welcome.

Our room is jaw droppingly amazing.  It’s huge with a large thatched roof which is completely open so makes it feel even more spacious.  We have a sitting area, a large mosquito netted bed with a chaise langue at the end of it and then a vast bathroom.  It’s all wooden floors too instead of the drab concrete of other lodges.  Outside, there are 2 raised wooden decks joined by a narrow walkway.  The one outside the sitting area has a large day bed and 2 deck chairs on it plus a bird bath and the other outside the bathroom has an outside bath, which I am dying to use at some point as will feel very decadent!

The fabulous bath

We settled ourselves in and then wandered over to the well stocked bar for a drink.  Later, we moved down to the campfire and chatted with Noleen, who told us how she was in the middle of applying for a British passport like most South Africans who are eligible to do so.  Her husband, Tony, is half Swiss so already has a Swiss passport.  Eventually, the other camp guests arrived back from their game drives and we had a delicious dinner of satay chicken, pork belly and a passion fruit dessert washed down with some red wine.  Chris and I took a glass of red wine back to our room and enjoyed it whilst sitting outside listening to the noises in the bush and watching a fabulous display of fireflies.  We eventually switched our lights off just before midnight which is incredibly late for us.

We have been offered a choice of activities for tomorrow.  We could get up at 5.30am and have a long drive to the bottom of Albert lake and take a boat trip to try and see the elusive shoe bill which we are desperate to see.  Or, we can take it easy, have a lie in and enjoy the lodge in the morning and go for a game drive in the afternoon.  There was absolutely no contest (especially as my cold is starting to stream now), and we all elected for the leisurely start tomorrow!!  We have one more chance of seeing shoebills on the way back to Entebbe airport on our last day.