Fort Portal and Semuliki National Park

I headed to the west from Masindi. It's 12 hours of journey from Masindi to Fort Portal. Moving from one city to the other is of a trial. I first took 9 hours of minibus ride to get to Hoisma and another minibus ride to Kagali and then a boda (motorcycle) ride to another town and another shared taxi ride to a town near Fort Portal and another minibus ride to Fort Portal. The rides are usually insanely crowded and rough.
West of Uganda is amazing! The terrains are mainly lavish rainforests and mountains. This region offers the world class chimpanzees and gorilla safari and therefore it's a main tourist area.
Fort Portal is sitting in such a sublime scenery. Based in Fort Portal, I wanted to take a side trip to Semuliki National Park. The scenery en route to Semuliki National Park is breathtaking. The best part of any trip around the park is the magnificent views over the rainforest and savannah of the Semuliki Valley and DRC beyond. I slept at one of the bandas at a campsite. I felt the humidity of a rainforest and heard tropical birds. I climbed up to a tree house, eating my apple. The forest is so quiet and noisy. Another human on the same camp site is Afle from Israel. He is a quiet guy.
The sound of drum and songs broke through the quietness of the dark night in the distance. The African rhythm was soft and conforting. I woke up and listened for a while. It's like meditation for me. It traveled through from somewhere far away. Out of curiosity, I followed the sound all the way to the foot of a hill. It was a small church with broken brick walls, where a group of people were singing prayers at a vigil to their deceased pastor.
I took a 4- hour guided tour in the Semuliki National Park. It was extremely humid in the forest and I felt awfully sticky. I saw a good variety of birds and a few moneys.I started to feel sick since the night before. After the tour, I decided to skip the afternoon program and head back to Fort Portal. There's really no proper transportation between the forest and Fort Portal. I caught a pickup truck and sat in the truck through the winding and dusty road all the way back to Fort Portal. I was hold my breath and hanging on to the edge of the truck and praying that I don't get tossed to the valley on this crazy dangerous ride.
Back to Fort Portal and checked back in "Visitor Lodge" , While sitting at the Garden restaurant, I met Alfe again. He had been traveling for nine months.
I officially caught cold that night.