Day 51: man v elephant

Today was due to be a pretty routine day; take my time, have breakfast in the park, leave by my 10.56 am deadline (or pay another $70) and knock off the 129kms to Fort Portal, my destination for the day.

Breakfast view: sun rise over the mountains

I had discussed the problems with the road into the park with the guy running the restaurant last night. He suggested that rather than take the main road I should take the dirt road along the channel instead.

I turn off onto the dirt road and GPS tells me it is 21kms to the main tar road. The first 4.5kms pass without issue until I round a corner to see a huge bull elephant in the middle of the road. No problem, I am about 75m away so I turn the bike around in case I need to make a quick get away, shut off the engine and wait for him to move on.

Bull elephant blocking the road

After a couple of minutes a minibus comes the other way so we both wait it out. Eventually the elephant moves 5m or so off the road and the minibus goes for it at speed. As he gets to me he says it is fine to go, the elephant is facing the other way in the bush. I cautiously edge towards him but as he comes into view he is facing me and not happy, flapping his ears and blowing dust into the air.  Discretion being the better part of valour I decide to retrace my steps and live with the main road monstrosity.

800m back the other way two younger elephants cross the road in front of me but they are moving relatively quickly so I gamble that they are continuing into the bush. As I round the next corner I meet two mothers and 3 even smaller elephants. Mum is not happy and trumpets her annoyance. I quickly decide that crossing between an irate mum and the junior elephants on the other side of the road is a bad plan so execute my second u turn.

I think back to my discussion with Newton yesterday. “Watch out for elephants on the road into the park”. “What should I do if I see one?” “Keep at least 50m back and wait for it to move”. “What if there are elephants behind as well?” “Just don’t get into that position, you have no options”. Great!

I hope the bull has moved on but when I get back he is still 5m from the road and making it clear he’s not a happy boy. I stop for a minute, engine running, and look for an exit route. He’s off the road to the right and the bank to the left is quite low and the bush behind is relatively open. Decision made I ride up the bank and through the bush, hoping it stays open and that I don’t meet more elephants in there. After an 800m or so charge through the bush I manage to find the road again. Crisis averted.

3 or 4kms later my blood pressure has returned to normal and I am smiling at my escape. I round a corner to see 3 more elephants cross left to right in front of me, a mum and two juniors. I am way too close and as I assess my options a 4th elephant also crosses in front of me whist at the same time I see a young male, complete with tusks immediately to my left, 5m away and facing me. I am now literally in the middle of the herd. No time for a chess move this time, I check that there isn’t a 5th elephant about to cross in front of me after the 4th and gun the bike through at full throttle before mum has time to react. I’m not cautiously assessing the road surface now, I am attaching the track at Paris-Dakar levels of commitment. Sainsbury’s have no ‘stay fresh’ formula for this.

I pass two more elephants in the bush in short succession before catching up with two game drive vehicles. I realise that my friend at the restaurant has omitted to mention that the track I am riding, whilst avoiding the deep sand on the road, is in fact the game drive route!

I see a measure of security in following these two vehicles as they are looking for wildlife and will therefore serve as an early warning signal when they spot anything. I follow at 20-30m distance but it is too close and the back vehicle pulls over to let me through. I don’t want to get by; if it all goes belly up I want to get in!

Keen not to make the same mistake twice I stay 100m back from the first vehicle and he takes me through the next 5kms or so. Then suddenly he stops, having spotted a topi. I pull up behind as gently as possible but even at idle the bike engine spooks him and he is off at a charge.

The driver waves me through and I am on my own again, avoiding the topi which is now in a panicked state and charges across the road in front of me.

Thankfully the landscape opens up a little and I get to the exit gate without further drama. As I stop to sort the paperwork the first vehicle pulls up behind. There are 4 or 5 tourists standing and looking out the top viewing window. I take off my helmet, put on my most winning smile and apologise for spooking the topi. They all blank me completely!

The rest of the ride passes without incident as I ride to Fort Portal with the magnificent Rwenzori mountains towering to the left of the road. I had considered pushing on to Kampala but decide to stop for the afternoon and crack on to Kamala first thing tomorrow. This proves a good plan as at the backpacker hostel I meet Moses, a car and bike mechanic. I needed to find a mechanic in Kampala so book my bike in with him for Thursday morning. Result.