On Saturday we returned from another of our road-trips around Uganda, this time with Glen's sister. Over the 9 days we were away we drove 1,600 km = 1,000 miles on a round trip which took us to the extreme South West of Uganda and then back via Queen Elizabeth National Park (QENP) and Fort Portal.
Once again our little RAV4 coped with everything we asked her to, including sections of murram track around Bwindi and in QENP, degraded tarmac with multiple pot holes, mud, roadworks, steep climbs and drops and animals in the road, including some elephants just outside the park!
Our only problem with the RAV on this trip was a puncture when we picked up an old piece from someone's gearbox. It was fixed in the local village in very scenic surroundings and a complete lack of the modern tool kit available to the tyre workshops in the UK.
Over the past 18 months with our RAV we've tackled:
- Stickly mud during a rain shower. This covered the tyres so that grip on the track was non-existent. Glen said afterwards that it felt as if the wheels were completed detached.
- Roads with so many pot holes there was hardly any road at all
- Ugandan roadworks, the road is not closed, you just drive straight through the roadworks
- Kampala traffic!
- Cows, goats, elephants, bodas, bicycles and pedestrians all over the road
- The Nile ferry at Paraa. We have seen many vehicles struggle getting on and off this beast, but no problem for Rowena (and Glen!)
Our RAV4 will be 21 this year and has over 300,000 km on the clock but somehow she just keeps on going, with a lot of help from Glen and various mechanics all over Uganda. When our sons visited a year ago Alastair named her 'Rowena the Rattly RAV' but I think she deserves a better title - 'Rowena the Remarkable RAV'
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