Uganda The Pearl Of Africa

This trip, the very last in the series of stories from Dan Grec’s two-year Africa round trip, details a scary mishap and some extraordinary wildlife encounters

- Dan Grec

I’m out solo, exploring an isolated gravel track in Uganda when the stunning Lake Albert comes into view over the crest of a hill. I strategically park the Jeep to get the best photo possible and walk away with camera in hand.

As I climb the rock bank for a photo, I see the Jeep move. Almost before I can react it has travelled an entire Jeep length and is picking up speed fast. I desperately scramble after it, hoping without reason there is a way I can fling myself into the driver’s seat to stop it. Seeing the inevitable I keep clear, utterly helpless.

Within three or four lengths it hurtles out of control into the ditch on the left before striking the rock wall, very hard. The tyre takes the full impact, violently flipping the Jeep over onto the passenger side before it skids to a crunching stop.

I crumple to the ground, terrified that I may have just ended my African Expedition, and with no idea what to do.

Into Uganda

A few weeks earlier, I completed another straightforward border crossing from Rwanda into Uganda. After finishing the paperwork and starting the Jeep, I think for a second before turning off the engine and walking back to the armed military man guarding the boom gate.

“Which side of the road in Uganda?” I ask.

“Keep left,” he says, “not like Rwanda.”

After swapping sides multiple times now, I figure it never hurts to double-check, and the lack of signs makes me not trust my own memory of which country drives on which side.

Mgahinga mountain gorillas