Mountain Biking in Uganda, at Sipi Falls...

Over the last year we've been exploring the hills and valleys around Sipi on our mountain bikes. What we've found has been incredible.

Accessible from the main road there are almost endless spurs of land that reach out over the plains below. Almost all of these have great single track downhill routes. We've found a couple of rides that are our favourites - and they're awesome! Long sections of downhill with the odd section of technical rocky stuff to keep you concentrating!

Once you make it down to the lower plateau of ground there's some challenging climbs, mixed up with more downhill.

There never seems to be too many people on the tracks and you really can fly along at speed. If like me below you get a puncture, or if you merely don't want all the uphill you can jump on a boda-boda and zip back to the Lodge!!

At Sipi River Lodge we don't yet have bikes for hire - although it is something we're trying to do. If however you're a keen mountain biker and have your own bike why not load them up and come and stay with us for a few days! We'll be happy to show you the routes and give you some ideas. Some of our favourite routes are around 20 - 25km long and take 2 - 3 hours.

WARNING!! Some of the mountain biking here is fast - you want to make sure you're coming prepared - your bike needs a good fork and very good brakes, or you'll struggle on some of the harder routes. That said there are easier routes that will suit the less extreme rider and you can head out for either short or long rides!!

Thanks to Lauren and Steve for use of the photos.

Give us a call +256751796109 for more information or bookings at the lodge.

Nyero Rock Paintings

This week we went for a drive to visit the Nyero Rock Paintings. They're about an hour and a half away from Sipi, on the road from Mbale to Soroti.

The area is amazing - rocks and boulders litter the earth - red aloe plants cling to the rock and tucked away amongst all this are three sites of ancient rock art.

This is the view from the third set of rock art - this whole area is like this - an amazing place that would be really cool to spend a few days camping, exploring and bouldering - if you don't have a tent you can just sleep under the overhanging rocks!

This Aloe grows all over the place and gets huge!

This is the first site the guide takes you to. A few sets of circles and a crocodile on this one, plus some more recent 'art' that the kids have drawn on with chalk.

The second site has the most drawings - a lot of them badly faded, but very cool - lots more sets of circles and a couple of canoes are on this one. The guidebooks don't hold much data on the origins of this rock art - all they can say is it is at least 300 years old and probably much older. Our guide William had some theories, and also told us that archaeologists had been here and found human remains as well as other artifacts which they took away to be analysed. They are still waiting for the results, and so when we learned that these archaeologists came not recently but in the 1940's, we decided those results probably are not ever going to come! Another classic African story!!

The third site has just one drawing - but it was my favorite - this Sun and Moon drawing is on the ceiling of a low cave in the side of the rock. You have to lie on your back to see it.

-The Sun and Moon drawing at the third site.-

After visiting the Nyero rock art we drove a little further down the road to look for the paintings at Ngora on 'Tank Rock'. We were losing light as it approached sunset but we found what we thought was the site. The rock itself is awesome - sat on top of a big rock platform it is an impressive setting to watch the sun go down.

-The edge of Tank Rock and a view of lake Kyoga in the distance-

-The kids like to play up for the camera here-


-Ancient and Modern scribblings collide-

The Rock art on Tank Rock was hard to find - mostly because the whole rock was covered in horrible recent scribblings - the worst kind of graffiti - not something we were expecting to find in rural Uganda. We eventually did find it, literally having been painted over with mindless nonsense. What a shame!

Well, it was a fun afternoon adventure and it's well worth a visit if you're in the area.

Photo's copyright Will Clark.

Coffee Tours in Sipi Falls...

We have recently set up a 'Sipi Coffee Tour', and we've been getting great feedback from everyone who's been.

Sipi Falls is home of Bugisu Washed Arabica Coffee - one of the finest coffee's in the world! On the tour we take you to visit local farmers and their plantations and you learn from them the work involved in making great coffee. You will see the different stages in growing the plant and may even get to help out in some of the work. We take you to a nursery first and afterwards to a mature plantation.

At the nurseries you get to plant your own coffee into what will soon become a big new plantation. Sipi River Lodge is working with local farmers to develop a new nursery and plantation specifically for education purposes.

-A mature coffee plant growing in Sipi-

Even out of season there are a few berries left on the trees, so we'll show you how to pulp the coffee and extract the beans. Another chance for you to get involved...


We tie in the walk to the plantations with the main waterfall walk, so you also get to see the stunning scenery of the area along the way.

-Sipi Falls-

After a little break and some lunch at the lodge we'll take some of our coffee and show you how to prepare it for roasting. Then we'll get a fire going and roast the beans in the traditional way.

-Roasting the coffee over the fire-

You will get to take away a bag of coffee you have roasted yourself - and a great story to tell friends.

We've only been running these tours for a few weeks but they've already become one of our most popular activities. The emphasis on these tours is to run them as a community project, so we give a good donation from the cost of the tour to the farmers who you will meet on their plantations, as well as paying our guides well. As we continue to develop the tours we are working with the local farmers to help show you the many skills involved in coffee farming and to help them benefit from passing their knowledge on to us.

More information can be found on our website...