Camping in the wild is not for the faint-hearted

 

President Museveni During Kidepo NP Golden Jubilee

Until recently, I had successfully dodged it. Not that I am a coward; I am actually adventurous. I have done almost all nerve-testing activities such as bungee jumping and white water rafting. But somehow, I had never warmed up to the idea of sleeping outdoors. Maybe because I am Ugandan and roughing it out is not adventure for most; it is the way of life.

Besides, we only sleep outside our houses around bonfires when we have lost loved ones, not for adventure. Camping, therefore, is considered a Mzungu thing; the guys who missed the opportunity of sleeping badly.

However, the bubble burst on me when celebrations to mark Kidepo Valley National Park’s golden jubilee finally made it to Karamoja. These celebrations were held last year at the Kampala Serena hotel. This caused uproar among members of parliament from Karamoja sub-region who argued that the festivities should have been held in Kidepo.

Of course, UWA’s defense was that there was no way Kidepo would have handled an event of that magnitude – especially as far as accommodation was concerned. And they were right, as we attested to it earlier this month. With just a few guests, the park was clearly overwhelmed.

The only up-market accommodation, Apoka Safari lodge, could take about 18 people. The UWA bandas (rudimentary mud-and-wattle huts, really) were fully booked and several dignitaries including MPs on the committee on Tourism, Trade and Industry ended up in tents. So, the press that traveled with UWA staff in a minibus ended up camping.

No one prepared us for it. We left Kampala at 7am with no idea we would end up in tents. Because this was my third trip to Kidepo, I carried no jacket, due to the semi-arid conditions in Kidepo. But on arrival at about 6.30pm, it was not comfort as usual. It was survival for the fittest as everyone tried to figure out where to sleep.

Our team leader, UWA publicist Jossy Muhangi, wanted us to pitch tents around the bands, but the park’s tourism head Leslie Muhindo did not want the venue for the main event the following day littered with tents. He proposed a camping site about 6 km deeper into the park.

Camping In Kidepo NP

Well, after a day’s journey, the last thing one expected was to be told to drive another 6 km. All we craved were a bath, food and sleep. As the haggling about where to camp continued, some of us stormed the hostel bathrooms where we lined up with the ladies for a bath. There was no time to ask about soap. If you were lucky to find a piece on the floor, you were good to go.

Before we knew it, supper was being served. But because of the long queue, many of us went hungry that evening. But after the refreshing shower, it was enough to send us to sleep. We got into our waiting minibus for the campsite.

The campsite, a cleared corridor on top of a small hill inside the Savannah park, had two grass-thatched huts, a toilet and two fireplaces. One-man tents had been beautifully pitched at the edges. In the middle were two fireplaces on which our lives depended – to scare away the animals.

More scary was the fact that we could see the animals nearby just by flashing a torch into the bushes. Thoughts of an elephant trampling over my tent or a lion ripping it apart in search of my tasty blood, kept going through my mind.

In fact, I slept with one eye open in my solo tent, hoping that my neighbors were also half-asleep and would come to my rescue in case of trouble. Clearly, they were effortless sleepers; I felt trapped between two generators with the snoring from the tents on either side.

Good enough, I had bought a small torch from some UWA staff in the park. We had been told that in case one needed to step out for a short call, one needed a torch. Light or flames in the dark keep the animals at bay. But even with my torch, I could not dare move out of my tent. I only slightly unzipped my tent, pushed the relevant half of my body outside and peed right there while flashing the torch wildly above my head.

And I was the courageous one. Some of my colleagues painfully slept on full bladders until dawn. The tents came with mattresses but one had to have bedding. Some of us pleaded for bed sheets and they were provided, but many went without. That morning cold must have worked on them, because even with the bed sheets, we still needed a jacket or extra shirt.

Well, the first camping night went by without trouble. The animals seemed to have liked us. It is the second night that surprised me. You know the park had been opened up to hundreds of natives. UWA had bought 200 jerrycans of local brew for the local people to spend the night partying. There was even a live band and disco hired from Gulu town.

There was goat roasting for the MPs at Apoka Safari lodge, which got my attention in that by the time I came back from the festivities at 11pm, the minibus had already dropped off my colleagues at the camping site.

The driver, who was too tired to take me back, preferred to secure for me an empty tent nearby, which had been used by the female MPs the previous night before they were shifted to Apoka lodge. This was sheer luck; this is where we had wanted to spend the previous night, and above all, I had secured a blanket from one of the bandas.

There was also a lively campfire where people stayed until late jazzing unlike at the camping site where people went straight to their tents. I wanted to spend some time here to interact with more people before going to bed. But on strong intuition, I asked someone staying in one of the bandas to keep my bag, which had a laptop and clothes.

I remained with my phone and wallet. After about 30 minutes at the campfire, I was ready to retire. I did not know my tent was next to Iganga municipality MP Peter Mugema aka Panadol’s.
It was only when I heard him complain two hours later that I realized he was my neighbor.

Apparently, he had survived being strangled when he fought a man who made off with his two phones, iPad and camera. At first, I did not pay much attention because I was so tired. But when he continued complaining and threatening to walk to Apoka lodge to demand to know from UWA’s Executive Director Dr Andrew Seguya why he made them sleep in insecure tents, I woke up.

To check around me, my phone and wallet were gone. Unbelievable. I turned the mattress over several times in vain, until I saw the inner zip of my tent open, yet I had closed it before sleeping. It dawned on me that I had been robbed and that is when I got up to speak to my fellow victim.

In the morning, there were several similar stories; for one driver, the thieves cut his tent open, but he was awake and fought back. I missed our campsite because there were no such stories there.

Being robbed in a remote park like Kidepo is not something anyone foresees. One can only hope UWA does something about this, because Kidepo is hands-down Uganda’s most beautiful and natural park.