Mount Elgon National Park Day 3

Our program today is to get to Kajere camp, 20km away. Yesterday I covered 16km to the summit and back. I get up at 7 and eat my Wheatabix cereal. It was the only cereal I could find that was somewhat healthy, too bad it doesn't taste that good! I finished my milo/coffee and began packing up my tent. I'm ready at 8 and we leave on the same trail as yesterday. We reach a junction and branch off to the left. It's sunny and clear again. I can see scars of fire on the bases of the giant senecios and other plants. Fred told me a fire accidentally raged here in March. Other than the burnt branches, it was hard to tell as the ground was covered with grasses and flowering plants. Regeneration comes quick to Elgon. We stop at a viewpoint and again can see our epic route in the horizon. I really feel small traversing these huge distances on this mammoth mountain. We descend and ascend many times, with only some level ground to take the edge off. We descend into a valley at 1pm, at the base of which is Kajere camp. I can see why it was chosen as a campsite, its one of the only flat areas around with water source. The sun is blanketing the floor of the valley and for once, it's actually warm. I take off my socks and the pungent stench of my sweaty feet and boots permeates the air. I put on my sandals.There are flies and hoards of sweatbees, which I take as a good sign, it's warm enough for them here. There was nothing at Mude camp. I wasn't sure the sweatbees were that at first. They were landing all over everything but especially savoured the salt on my socks and in my boots. I let them land on my feet to be sure of what they wanted. I watched them lap up the sweat on my feet, no harm done. They were extremely ticklish though and I couldn't let them go on for too long. They got up my shirt and down my pants somehow but I never got stung. I don't think sweatbees do sting. Can anyone back me up on this? I guess I can look it up later but too much to write now. I've seen sweatbees one other time on an epic 6 day trek through the rainforest in Peru. I put my socks and the ground and within minutes I couldn't see them anymore, due to a dense gathering of sweatbees. There were getting annoying though so I got in my tent to read and relax.

I was super surprised to hear other voices in camp around 6pm. A guide and 2 porters arrived carrying the packs of 2 Canadians, Barbara, in her sixites and Katy, in her twenties. They had a long day and were glad to finally be in camp. I help them set up their tent. They are both in Uganda doing volunteer work, as most mzungo ( white people) are here to do. It's weird that almost everyone I met in every African country I've been to ( Ghana, Cameroon, Gabon, Madagascar, Swaziland, South Africa, Kenya) has been there to do some sort of work. I give them credit because I'm not one for volunteer work and prefer to have freedom to travel and not be in one place for an extended period of time. I have hardly met any true backpackers, I always get asked by mzungo if I'm here to work. Nope, I'm 'just' travelling.
I eat my noodles and tuna for dinner again. I sit outside, it stays warm until the sun goes down, but even then it's not as cold as Mude. Katy and Barbara have rice with veggies for dinner and graciously offer me some. It's the best food I've had on the mountain. Too bad I'm not going their way they tell me, they would have shared their food with me. By 8pm we're all in bed. I have another not so nice sleep as it's cold and the smoke from the cooking hut blows right into my tent all night. So much for fresh mountain air tonight!