Road Trip to Lake Albert!

Hands down one of my favorite shots. You know me and my attraction to minimalism. Lake Albert certainly delivered in terms of opportunities. Very happy with the red and green contrast here. That's Congo faintly in the background. View large!

This was an immense day!! It was basically the climax of our longtail project. Luckily this time we managed to wake up on time and we headed to Colin's to fabricate a replacement bearing and pack up for our road trip. We mounted the longtail on the roof of Steven's matatu and packed in there with Colin, Judith and a bunch of others ready for some tourism. We stocked up at Andrew's, of course, then took the West Road towards Congo and along the beautiful Rift Valley. Then through a national reserve with kob and other wildlife. Three hours later we made it to Ntoroko village on the shore of Lake Albert. We got permission for our experiment, hired a boat from a local, clamped the longtail on board and then all got in. Under the hottest sun ever, we were off! Our longtail was ultimately successful and we cruised on the water beautifully. Every once in a while, we'd go back to shore, change propeller and go off again. The craziest was when a particularly large three-bladed prop snapped two of its blades off midway across the water. It started cavitating immensely but we manage to make it back to shore with only one blade!
I'll keep this entry as short as possible. This is already a hugely summarized account of the day. It was an absolute blast and one of the highlights of Uganda. We took the 3-hour long road back through dark firefly-infested savannah and made it back to Fort Portal to crash. Meanwhile, Team Alan had been avoiding work all day in favor of good times and went out to cause havoc as usual! That was the only night we declined to go out. Trust me it was needed...

peace