Paraa Lodge old runway coordinates
 

Good day,
Are there any ex East African Airways captains,who used to fly the Twin Otter out of Entebbe back in 1975, out there?
I was on an R&R out of the copperbelt back in May 1975 and stopped off in Paraa Lodge on the way out. The captain buzzed the lodge and then dropped us off on the grass strip. We sat in the cab of an old fire truck parked under a rondaaval for two hours waiting to be picked up by lodge staff(seems like they forgot about us)
The strip was surrounded by heavy bush and I have been looking recently on GE and cannot spot it, nearest one currently shown is Pakuba (PAF) but appears to be too far away from the lodge and also there is definitely not enough bush around it.
Is there anyone out there who remembers the old strip? or can advise me where to look to find the coordinates of it?
Had many photos of it but had the film confiscated on the way back,having been caught taking pictures at EBB (HUEN)


Thanks for any help

Found?
 

I am not at all familiar with Uganda but I did spend many years aviating in southern Africa, flying small to medium piston and turbine aircraft. I know how quickly old bush airfields can disappear, when Mother Nature is allowed to reclaim her territory. All the more so in equatorial Africa, I reckon!

In any event, I believe I may have found your old Paraa Lodge airstrip! Copy and paste these coordinates (2.291267, 31.558284) in to Google Maps satellite view and you will see that the view is centred on the remains of a south-west to north-east oriented runway, that was probably at least 600 meters in length. Look carefully!

It wasn't too hard to find, as I just stuck to the principle that it wouldn't be far from a road, and these African bush roads don't tend to change much. I initially followed the road going north-east from Parra Lodge but the general vegetation didn't seem promising when compared to your "surrounded by heavy bush" description. I then tried the other road that soon heads north from the Lodge, and there it was, less than a miles west of the Lodge, as the crow flies! But as I say, I have experience of recognising bushstrips from above, even abandoned ones. ;)

I accept that the surrounding bush is not now as dense as you may remember it, but the reason for that is obvious. The Google Maps satellite view clearly shows the many livestock/human tracks through the bush here - the trees are steadily disappearing as the local population deforest it (woodcutting for cooking) and overgrazing with their livestock. It might be within the Murchison Falls National Park, but there is clear evidence of settlement all over the place, hutted villages aplenty, as well as the 'hard' accommodation near the Lodge for the staff. Zooming out in Google Maps satellite view makes it clear that the dense woodland is disappearing!

Anyway, hope this helps rekindle your memories! :ok:

PS: ou toppie, with a Pprune alias like that, one might assume you have African connections a little further south, perhaps closer to the Limpopo River? ;-)

Thanks, that looks like it might be it but I don't remember the river being that close.
Have just been digging out old passports and the relevant one shows that it was May 72 not 75 so another 2 years of water have gone under the bridge making the memory even more out of date.
From the lack of responses it looks like there are not many EA Airways captains around anymore. The guy who few us in was, I believe a Canadian.

Re ou toppie. Yes, after 45 years of the Far East, South America and my favorite continent of Africa I tried retiring below the Limpopo in 2000 but, after 10 years moved here, a little closer to my birth place.

ou toppie, I cannot solve you problem but I cannot resist the opportunity to welcome you and say that I flew for Central African Airways (later to split and become Zambia Airways, Air Malawi and Air Rhodesia), a little south from East African Airways.

Those were golden years in my aviation memory! Viscounts, DC3's and Beavers which unfortunately, I did not get to fly.

I am still south of the Limpopo!

I think you will find that it is another 3 years, rather than 2, ha ha! Memory and advancing years, not always a faithful combination? ;-)

Thanks MrBernoulli, another Senior Moment! seem to be getting more frequent.


Whenwe Remember, on one of my regular trips Ndola-Kasaba Bay on the ZA 748, the r/h em/exit was whistling rather loudly all the way to Kasaba. Some pax were getting worried till the Captain came back and gave it a kick or two to convince them it wouldn't open in mid flight.


The said Captain wouldn't have been you ?

No, only flew DC3's on the Zambia routes.

I might have flown the ol' DC3 for a bit around Zimbabwe and Mozambique! ;)

Now, I just fly bloody great twin-jet airliners for a living - boring! :bored: