Travel Tales from Uganda’s Far Horizon

WHL Group
25 August 2010

Every month, we delve into the travel experiences of people in the extended WHL Group network. This month we talk to Nicola Swann, who works as Marketing Manager and general whiz for The Far Horizon, the whl.travel local connection based in Uganda.

A self-confessed globetrotter with a passion for all things travel, Nicola came to Uganda in 2008 as a fundraiser for a disability NGO. She was snapped up by The Far Horizon a year later, where she has been able to put her travel knowledge to good use. A keen photographer, Nicola has found plenty of opportunity to hone her skills since moving to Uganda and her favourite photographs are soon set to feature on a range of postcards entitled Africa Close Ups – watch this space for more info!

Quad biking along the banks of the River Nile in Jinja, Uganda

WHL Group: Which is your favourite WHL Group destination and which would you most like to visit?

Nicola: My favourite WHL Group destination would have to be Uganda! I’m a big wildlife fan and Uganda has a wonderful diversity of animals, not to mention its bird life. In addition, tracking the Mountain Gorillas in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest was a truly unforgettable experience.

I would most like to visit South America – ever since someone suggested riding a horse across Argentina, it’s been on my ‘to do’ list.

WHLG: What would you never travel without?

Nicola: My camera.

WHLG: What do you miss most about home when travelling?

Nicola: Flat roads – everywhere I go seems to be laden with potholes!

WHLG: What’s the most interesting trip you’ve ever taken?

Nicola: In 1999, I took an overland trip from Lhasa, Tibet, to Kathmandu in Nepal. My friend and I spent one week in a battered old Land Rover driving through the Himalayas. We got stuck in the mud several times, passed yaks, prayer flags, remote monasteries and even Everest Base Camp. We experienced altitude sickness, met some of the friendliest people I’ve ever come across on my travels and photographed some spectacular scenery.

I also spent a year working in Japan, a place which I now consider to be one of the most fascinating, weird and wonderful cultures you can immerse yourself in - I recommend!

Travelling in style on a 12-hour road trip from Cambodia to Thailand!

WHLG: What is your funniest travel experience?

Nicola: One that springs to mind is a trip I took in the back of a pick-up truck from Cambodia to Thailand. I was in my early twenties at the time and was travelling with a Swiss guy, a Norwegian girl and several Cambodians. We bought a crate of beer and some straws and thought we were set. We rocked up on the Khao San Road, Bangkok, some 12 hours later, having bumped along one of the worst potholed roads I’ve ever experienced; we were covered from head to toe in orange dust, but we’d had a great time. A sure way to travel in local style!

WHLG: What is your scariest travel experience?

Nicola: In 1999, I found myself stranded on the small island of Koh Tao, Thailand, due to heavy monsoon storms. Eventually, close to 400 travellers – also marooned – signed a petition, which resulted in the intervention of the Thai military. A huge navy ship was sent in but in order to reach it we had to be transferred from the shore on little Thai fishing boats. The sea was extremely ferocious and several people were almost washed overboard by freak waves. All was well in the end and the whole incident apparently made the front page of the Bangkok Post!

And… in 2004, I was charged by a hippo in the Masai Mara Reserve in Kenya. It was an incredibly close call. Ever since, my travelling motto has been: ‘NEVER get out of the jeep!’

WHLG: If you could go on holiday with anyone famous – living or dead – who would you take?

Nicola: Michael Palin or Charles Darwin (especially around about the time he visited the Galapagos Islands).

WHLG: Describe the best and worst accommodation you’ve ever stayed in.

Nicola: Best: One of my favourite lodges in Uganda is the Apoka Lodge in Kidepo Valley National Park. It overlooks the waterhole and you are often rewarded with the spectacle of zebras, giraffes, elephants, buffalo and warthogs coming to freshen up.

Worst: Bed bugs, mosquitoes and the largest spider I’ve ever seen on a bathroom wall, led to a pretty uncomfortable night in a guest house somewhere in Thailand once.

Nicola Swann (right) at the mighty waterfall at Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda

WHLG: Describe your earliest travel memory.

Nicola: I have fond memories of taking a bus to London when I was five years old with my grandmother. I must have driven her crazy by insisting on keeping a tally of all the black taxicabs we saw from the window.

WHLG: Please briefly explain what you think local travel is.

Nicola: Getting up close and personal with the people, taking public transport, spending money locally, learning some of the lingo and finding out what really makes a place tick – rather than just visiting all the usual touristy hot spots.

WHLG: In what ways do you see local travel benefiting the country in which you live?

Nicola: Uganda is renowned for having some of the friendliest people in Africa. Local travel means that travellers really have opportunities to meet Ugandans and to experience something of their daily lives.

Local travel also has several benefits in the following areas:

• Increasing environmental and conservation awareness
• Maximising awareness of local culture
• Supporting the local economy, i.e. creating job opportunities for local people and building capacity through voluntary initiatives
• Creating a better understanding of the challenges facing people in the developing world and inspiring change in people’s attitudes

The whl.travel local connection in Uganda, The Far Horizon, is pleased to introduce travelers to the beauty their country through responsible accommodation and tours aimed at protecting the local environment and improving socio-economic sustainability.