TO THE MIDDLE EAST

View from my room in the Cairo Sheraton

Bumper sticker in my Ugandan taxi
My guide Latif and I
Ugandan tea fields

Sitting here at the Cairo Sheraton Hotel and Casino (last part to be checked out when I'm finished here). Arrived this morning very early on a flight from Entebbe, Uganda where I'd been trekking for mountain gorillas. Always nice when you arrive at your hotel and the taxi isn't allowed to pull up to the entrance until the dogs have had a chance to sniff for explosives.

So my trip to Uganda was very shot, but quite satisfying. Flew in one night and was picked up at the airport and given a scary ride to my scarier hotel ("Tourist Hotel") where my tour was to begin. The next morning I was picked up and found out it would just be me in my "group" driving to the staging point to go looking for the gorillas. Lots of downtime to try to make small talk with Latif, my driver/guide. Crossed the equator and got to "prove" that water really does swirl in opposite directions on either side of the imaginary line...and not at all right on the line. The ride there took nearly 10 hours, but included some terrific scenery. Once at our camp, I got to sleep and the next morning mixed in with seven others and hiked up the mountain for about two hours until we came upon a family (is that the right term?) of nearly extinct mountain gorillas. There are just over 700 in the world and only in Uganda, Rwanda and Congo. We were able to sit and watch them for about an hour and it was definitely worth the long ride.

The next day we drove back to Kampala where we'd begun and this time I stayed in the Sheraton which was like night and day compared to the Tourist Hotel. After 10 days or so of virtual camping, it was very nice to have a good meal, some gin and a nice, soft bed.

Tomorrow I begin my final tour (Egypt and Jordan) of this first part of my trip. Most importantly, it's time for anyone reading this to start thinking of people who might wish to buy my car when I return in a few weeks!