Updates from Brent via sat phone
16 August - Day 14 - The eagles have landed!
Enjoying a cold Nile Special overlooking the Nile headwaters.
Paddled in on a glassy lake under dark thunder clouds. Met up with support team and set camp at Nile River Explorers,
mecca of rafters and kayakers. Great journey, great company, fantastic lake. Hoohah!
15 August - Day 13 - Ugandan cuisine - euh!
Huge electrical storm during the night. Had minimal sleep! Morning was calm though so we did good time.
By noon the storm back so we pulled into a village for lunch.
Ate local dish of boiled chicken pieces with slimy brown stuff.
Something out of Fear Factor and feel ill just thinking about it!
Friendly people though we talked about the lake etc.
Cold wet afternoon, we paddled to a site just 15 km from .
Raining so in our tents for early night.
One more day to go!
14 August - Day 12 - Ugandan arrival
Realized that sometime during yesterday's fight with the wind that we has crossed the Equator.
Today we entered Ugandan waters. Did 43 km of island hopping. Notice there are a lot more trees in Uganda.
In fact we pass their boats loaded with charcoal to sell in Kenya.
Tonight we're camping in a village. Drew huge curiosity on our arrival which took a few hours to die down.
We're bow settled in at the village and the drums are starting. Fun people.
13 August - Day 11 - Hard going!
46 km with crosswind. With wind, if it aint with you it's against you! Couldn't get a good rhythm today.
We're stiff and exhausted! Last 6 km was case of trying to meet up with support vehicle which had set up on the far side of the peninsula!
We're in a place called
Tomorrow we enter Ugandan waters and camp on islands all the way until .
12 August - Day 10 - Easy going
Leisurely morning, did some minor repairs and emailed a few pics from lodge.
Set off at 2 PM and paddled to an island 20 km to the north. Cross wind made it tricky, but we felt strong after the morning break and
made good time.
Camping on a pebbly beach with a few curious villagers and a yapping dog tied up in someone's hut.
Fires died down and lying back to catch end of meteor shower in the night sky.
11 August - Day 9 - Beware of hippos
Did a 20km paddle this morning to
. Wind straight in
our faces despite blowing the other way yesterday!? As we passed under
an outstretched tree we noticed a hippo leg dangling from a branch
over the water. The locals told us they put it there to ward off other
hippos. We reconnected with our support team and were given a beaut
campsite by the friendly Rusinga Island Lodge, they even offered a
hippo guard to watch our camp at night.
We witnessed our first insect
cloud as it moved across the lake, looks like a huge ploom of smoke,
and if one passes over you apparently you're picking bugs out of every
orifice for days
10 August - Day 8 - Monkeyland
Up early to buzz of thousands of insects hitting our tin shack. Big fisherman's breakfast
of chapatis, eggs and beans then paddled 20km to Kirewa Island for lunch.
After last night's dodgy boiled fish and today's breakfast we waiting to see if stomachs
hold! Did another 20km and found beautiful camp shared with troop of monkeys.
Campfire, swig of Scotch and early night.
9 August - Day 7 - Crazy island
Crossed into Kenya today. Paddled 25 km into lake to tiny . It's one acre
of rock that both Uganda and Kenya . Completely covered in tin shacks, some on stilts.
Used as fisherman's stop. We met Ugandan police and have managed to get a shack for the night.
Full of beer halls, restaurants and whores! People here from Tanzania,
Kenya, Uganda, even DRC and Somalia, all living, working and partying happily together on
what feels like no-mans land. Magingo means rock in local .
8 August - Day 6 - Leaving Tanzanian waters
27kms up to , last town in Tanzania. Spent two hours searching the immigration officer -
but he's out of town!? Watched people come and go into Kenya right past closed immigration office?!
Tomorrow we paddle to for the night.
It is controlled by the Ugandan military but Kenya says it's theirs. Our test will be
to see whose beer they sell.
7 August - Day 5 - Hard progress
Like an ocean, this lake can turn on you in a second. Started on flat water, then straight into
head wind and slow progress, but by afternoon it had swung around westerly and got big!
Rough conditions that took all our strength to control, and at one point it threw us out
and we had to scramble to right our kayaks and get back in. 37km of hard graft.
Met support team and had relaxing night in peaceful camp. Tomorrow is a short 25 km paddle
to last town in Tanzania.
6 August - Day 4 - One very large gecko
2 x 20 km crossings today. Bays so wide you can't see land to the left or right! Beautiful day, wind calmer. Lunched on an island under a giant fig tree and watched a 5 foot monitor lizard climb onto our kayak.
Found a small quiet camp for the night. Have some fish on the coals and having a sip of whiskey, as full moon lights up the lake.
5 August - Day 3 - Weird naked guy
Only a few hours of sleep last night, the music in the village didn’t stop all night,
then got louder in the morning! We paddled 50kms today, with unpredictable winds –
it seems the seasonal South-North wind we were depending on makes an abrupt turn to North-South by mid morning.
We arrived in around 18.30 to a big welcome led by the village chief.
Unfortunately we also caught the attention of the village ‘madman’ who ran around our beach camp naked chanting and holding up our kayak
4 August - Day 2 - Kisoria village
38 km today, into wind again in the morning but calmer in the afternoon. Cruised ,
no bandits, just lots of water. Freaky paddling into horizon with no land in sight but it slowly appeared
and we slowly got there. Met up with support vehicle at Kisoria village and all camping on beach.
Huge welcome from village.
3 August - Day 1 - Moving out
We arrived in to a warm welcome.
We got organized and in the kayaks just after 2pm, straight into a headwind for five hours of paddling.
We passed an abundance of bird and marine life, though spent a lot of the time with our heads down trying to make progress in the choppy waters – any time we stopped paddling we immediately started drifting backward.
After navigating our way through some boulders and marsh, we found a place to camp and get some sleep.
The wind has dropped down a bit so we’re hoping for calmer weather tomorrow.
We’re about 7kms short of where we wanted to camp, so will have a long day tomorrow and a large bay crossing.
We were warned by local security to clear the bay in daylight, owing to the local pirates who control the water and attack fishing boats after dark.
We’ll be waking up early tomorrow!
2 August - Ready to go
Springboks 31, All Blacks 19... a fine send off!
Met with Winnie and Owen this afternoon, our volunteer support team who'll be following our progress from the shore.
A great team who'll have their own serious safari just trying to follow/find us.
We hope to connect with them on Tuesday night.
Packing for our flight has proved challenging, besides the weight limit, whatever we fly in with, we'll have to take on the kayak.
So we're travelling with a multitude of colourful drybags - at least I know we have the essentials... gps, PFD and a wee drum of Scotch.
Nick and I - bags are packed!
Last minute planning
1 August - Flight delayed
Nick arrived from Dar es Salaam last night. Today our kayak kit (PFDs, dry bags, etc)
arrived from Lamu island (C/O Sand Dollar Kayak Expeditions) and we got stuck into some last
minute shopping and tying up loose ends.
Major set back was the sudden news that our Sunday flight
to Mwanza is no longer on, so we've been forced to take a Monday morning flight... which doesn't play well
into the tight time frame we have to complete the journey.
It will, at least, give us a little more time in Nairobi to double check and be sure all is in order.
31 July 2009 - 2 days to go !
Well it's two days before we fly into Mwanza and I'm starting to crap myself.
The inevitable "panic stations" - too much to do and not enough time...
combined with today's lake report of 'blustery winds' and this nagging feeling that
we've set ourselves an overambitious challenge.
The pre-planning is exciting and I know there's no better feeling once you
push out on the water and take your first few paddle strokes, but
these last 48hrs is when reality kicks home, the clock ticks and little details
can make or break the trip.
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