The Foot of the Rwenzori Mountains

Porters waiting outside the office at RTS

Yesterday I hired a car and left the dusty noisy streets of Kampala for the Rwenzori Mountains.  I am staying at the Rwenzori Trekkers Hostel in the village of Kilembe (1450m elevation).  The single rooms are quite small but the bed was very comfortable.  The food is simple but good.  The staff is exceptionally professional and friendly.  I finally slept well for the first time since I arrived in Uganda 5 days ago.   The HMFIC of the Trekking business, this hostel and the backpacker's hostel in Kampala is an Aussie ex-SOF guy by the name of John Hunwick who's been in country more than 20 years.  He lobbied the Uganda government for over 10 years to gain the guiding concession for the Rwenzori's and is primarily responsible for the Rwenzori's becoming a well known trekking spot.  He manages the multiple businesses with the able assistance of his wife Catherine, a lovely Ugandan woman who maintains a watchful eye over the operation. 

My room: small but a comfortable bed with a mossie net! 
The duffel is from Nepal and still has my race number on the side

Tomorrow I begin my eight day trek and climb of Mt Stanley.  Up to this point I've felt a bit off balance, here in Uganda.  Back in Entebbe, at Susan's Air BnB, I felt a bit isolated.  In Kampala I felt isolated for different reasons.  Driving the six or so hours we passed countless fields growing: tea, bananas, mangoes, potatoes, pineapple, etc.  The villages seemed to be more prosperous the closer we got to Fort Portal.  It was interesting watching the landscape shift, from verdant lowlands to drier areas, past vast tea estates, over a road that varied from fresh black top to poorly maintained hard surface to red clay and back again.  It was interesting but I was still a bit off balance wondering what I was doing here, in Africa.  Then arriving at the hostel I was initially anxious finding there wasn't internet, and therefore I can't contact my driver, post to this blog or contact the outside world.  That lasted for a hot second when I realized how much better I felt being here, at the edge of this magical mountain range. 

If my posts so move you, and you think you may want to see this place one day, best consider a trip soon.  There is a Chinese run copper and gold mine close by and apparently the Chinese would like to install a tram or stairs to the top of Mt Stanley.  It would be such a crime to deface this Word Heritage site in such a way.  It would be like building a tram to the top of Half Dome from the Yosemite valley floor.  Of course, there is speculation that there my be diamonds in the Rwenzori's.  And building a tram would require a large amount of core sampling...