Though our guidebook promised us that we could travel from Kabale to Kisoro by minibus taxi, we’re buggered if we can work out how. Perhaps we missed a trick, I don’t know. At Edrissa they recommended we pick up transport from outside the Highland Hotel at the western extent of town, and that we shouldn’t pay more than 11,000Ush each (£3.75). As soon as we reached the vicinity of the Highland we were besieged by private taxi drivers, and we thought we must be starting to look a bit more seasoned as they only wanted 10,000 for each of us. Then they tried the old trick of piling three in the front and four in the back, and this time we were having none of it. Apart from anything else, it’s a two and a half hour journey, and it’s one that you can actually enjoy if you’re not fighting for space every inch of the way.
The taxi drivers thought we were crazy when we refused to travel and wanted our bags out of the boot. “It’s just how we do it in Uganda,” they said. “We value our lives,” we said. So, inevitably, it cost us 20,000 each to take the wimp’s option – two in the front (inc driver) and three in the back. We did think the other passengers could have been a bit friendlier, given that we were paying for them to travel in luxury, but they seemed to think we were crazy too.
Arriving in Kisoro was initially daunting, mainly because of the UN-badged refugee camp on the edge of town. It’s another stretched out, ramshackle, Wild West-style place, but when the sun came out the next day it suddenly had quite a friendly feel, with a green area in the middle that’s used for goat and cow grazing.
Kisoro
The place comes into its own on Fridays for a lively market, and there’s also fairly quick internet from a cafe near the Batwa office in the west of the town.
We asked our taxi driver to take us to the Golden Monkey guesthouse and he knew it, so that was easy enough. Good thing, too, because the place is a gem. The staff are friendly, the food, though slow arriving and best booked on arrival, is excellent (the vegetarian chilli with chapatti comes particularly recommended), and there’s a good view of the volcanic Virunga mountains in the distance:
Wreathed in cloud, Muhavura looks a volcano to the tip of its 4127m peak
As with most places that we’ve stayed, the rooms were basic, but at least our twin was impeccably clean. The shared facilities are fine, though don’t get your hopes up when you read the shower instructions that promise “hot”, “relatively warm” or “cold” water. Only one of those settings works – guess which…
Interior of the Golden Monkey; Kenya was our twin room
The wildlife murals are all part of the vaguely DIY but really welcoming ambience
USAid tins turned into flowerpots - a nice touch!
Overall, this was one of our favourite places to stay so far. It’s a great place to relax, and we met some friendly people, including an English zoologist called Sandra, who works on the golden monkey conservation project in the national park and has a really cool pet dog. We’re hoping we’ll get the chance to stop here again before we head home.
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