Lake Mburo Wildride ATV Safari
24th – 27th July ‘07

September 6th, 2006

It’s our first commercial run in Lake Mburo National Park, one of Uganda’s prettiest game parks. Lake Mburo has the extra attraction, from a quad-bike point of view, of having no elephant or lion (the last ones were poisoned by local farmers several years ago). Many other large mammals are found within the park boundaries and there are various geographic features to the area that make it a very interesting and unusual place to visit. Riding through the park and in the surrounding buffer area on a quad bike, makes for a very unique trip in the heart of the African continent.

Brian, Dominic and Julian Smith had been on safari with us before on our 3-day safari that follows the route of the old Busoga Railway through the hinterland of the Victoria Nile to Namasagali. They specified that our foreman, Godfrey Okoth should accompany us – didn’t want to have to put up with me by themselves! This was Godfrey’s first visit to a game park, so in addition to being an opportunity to show him the basis of the ‘WildRide’, he also got to see animals such as zebra, topi, buffalo, etc. for the first time. The small size of the group made it feasible to trailer the quads the 320 km through Kampala, across the equator and out west to the park, instead of trucking them from Bujagali Falls.

We loaded up the Vauxhall pickup and trailer with 2 Honda TRX250TM quads, a Suzuki LT-F160 and my old XLR250 bike. A TRX400TM quad fitted nicely into the back of the HiAce van. Godfrey and I left our base at Bujagali Falls late Sunday afternoon, back upstream to the main highway and almost to safety at Kampala Backpackers 2 hours later. We hit Uganda’s capital city just after dark when everyone is either coming home from a day out or going out for the evening. A struggling mass of cars, trucks, bicycles and bodaboda motorcycles, pedestrians everywhere, every man for himself. Goddy’s first experience driving in Kampala took an unfortunate turn when he got arrested for knocking the mirror off another car. Another hour and an exchange of money saw us on the road again and eventually bedded down for the night.

Up with the sun, fuelled up and we’re rolling out of Kampala early the next morning. We stopped on the equator at the AidChild Café for African Tea. Lots of boiled milk and a few spoonfuls of sugar put a dose of energy in the day.  Pulling a trailer slowed the journey and we cruised to a halt at the park gates just ahead of the Smiths. We entered together and drove the final 10km to Mantana Camp. A smattering of zebra, waterbucks and warthogs lined the road in – nice start.

We unloaded while the Brian and guys got some lunch. Small problem – one of the newly fitted heavy ply tyres (strong enough to roll over acacia/camel thorn without puncturing) had broken the seal between the tyre edge and the tubeless wheel rim. We needed a big compressor to inflate the tyre with enough pressure to reseat the bead, the nearest being in a trading centre back along the main road to Kampala. Godfrey took the wheel off for repair while Brian, Dominic, Julian and I went on a sighting lap, firstly to Sanga gate and then along the ‘Eland Track’ in the late afternoon. As an introduction to game viewing by ATV it was great. Sun going down, air cooling, lots of different animals and birds along the way. Cautious use of the throttle enabled us to idle along the tracks – “take only photos, leave only tracks” – hey we hardly even left tracks!

Mr. Godfrey was back with the repaired wheel when we returned to camp. The quads were parked up and then it was hot showers all around followed by a visit to Mantana’s mess tent to refuel. A big steak and a solid sleep did the trick.

A full English breakfast all around started the day. We fired up and headed west, around the lake stopping to visit the fishing village on the western shore. The number of fishermen on the lake is controlled so as to prevent over fishing – seems to actually be working too! They share the lake with hippos and crocs without many problems, but no one goes swimming. Most women and children are only allowed to visit on Saturdays. It is an admirable workplace, neatly set out with accommodation and fish processing areas. The site supervisor, Emanuel gave us a great tour around; the landing area, a weighing station, a shop and bar, a drying kiln and various sun drying racks, 4 blocks of sleeping quarters and well maintained washing and toilet blocks. There were rubbish bins and a neatly mowed grass area between the accommodation and the processing areas at night the hippos come out and graze this space.