Osiibe Gye from Kabale, Uganda! It is amazingly beautiful here and we are already blown away by what is to be our home until early August while we are doing volunteer legal work for Edirisa (a really awesome organization promoting education, creativity and cultural exchange in Uganda– check them out at www.edirisa.org).
We arrived in Kampala, the capital of Uganda, on Sunday evening and were treated to a performance by the N’dere Dance Troupe, which was invigorating albeit a little long (over 4 hours) given we had traveled over 14 hours from Paris to Dubai to Addis Ababa to Uganda. Kampala is a bustling, dusty, chaotic city. Imagine insane traffic (including buses, motorbikes, bicycles balancing towers of bananas, lots of people and the occasional goat all moving in any direction they individually see fit) , a few modern highrises interspersed with lots of ramshackle brightly colored chicken joints, telecom providers and assorted but very specifically purposed booths (such as radiator work and phone charging), all covered in a thick layer of red dust.
We headed out yesterday morning at 6 AM on a six hour bus trek over mostly unpaved roads to Lake Mboro National Park. Immediately upon arrival we climbed into a small crowded boat and not ten feet away were greeted by a pack of sleeping hippos. Hippos are very large. Very very large (as in nearly the size of our boat) and also very light sleepers. They didn’t seem to mind us too much, but each kept two very large watchful eyes on us which made all of us slightly nervous to say the least. However, we forced to overcome our fears because, as it turns out, the lake was INFESTED with hippos. We also spotted a crocodile, majestic African fish eagles and several playful baboons. Our campsite was on the banks of the lake and habited by a number of warthogs which are very common pests in Africa (like racoons or squirrels in North America except with big scary tusks). After initially feeling cautious, we learned to shoo away the warthogs by making loud noises or simply to ignore them altogether. We slept in tents (Jill’s first ever camping experience… in the African bush!) after a delicious meal cooked over the fire under a full moon– BBQ beef, avocadoes, pineapple and bread with honey. Note that after 16 years of avoiding beef, Heather devoured our skewered feast with pleasure. Hooray!
We awoke this morning before dawn for a 2.5 hour nature walk/walking safari. Lake Mboro National Park has very few large cats so the wildlife authorities permit guests to walk in the park so long as they are accompanied by an armed guard (essential not only for a rare lion spotting but also to protect us from the many buffalo who call the park home). PS: AK-47s are scary. Our guide, Samuel, was very friendly and knowledgeable and pointed out zebras, impalas, gazelles and several other antelope-like creatures as well as the remnants of several of such animals’ carcasses. We were able to come within about 20 feet of the zebras, which were breathtaking and unforgettable. After a light breakfast of local bananas (called “yellows” to distinguish them from the abundant green plaintains grown throughout the country) and the universal traveler’s delicacy of peanut butter on white bread, we boarded our bus for another six hour ride southwest into the verdant mountains bordering Rwanda. The weather has been consistently beautiful and today was no different so we kept all of the windows open and heads out to enjoy the green valleys, acacia trees, excited waving children chasing our bus down the road (we are mzungus after all– white people, aka aliens) and huge swirling clouds of dust from the primitive dirt roads.
We have arrived this afternoon at the Home of Edirisa, a hostel in Kabale Town and we will return here after our multi-day canoe trek on nearby (and apparently magical) Lake Bunyoni– according to Lonely Planet, if Uganda is the Pearl of Africa, Lake Bunyoni is the mother of the Pearl. We are tired and dirty. Even our teeth are dusty.
Dinner is being served and there is a mouse in our wastebasket. Time to go. More (including photos) soon. Miss you all.
Uganda in brief (so far):
Heather loves– Excited waving children (see above) and the universal response to ”I’m American” being ”Ahh, Obama!” (our image has been remade!)
Jill loves– Fresh fruit. All. The. Time. and waking up with the sun (my mother will not believe this)
Things that will take Heather some time to get used to– Mice in wastebaskets (see above) and squat toilets
Things that will take Jill some time to get used to– All God, all the time (everything here is church-based, church-owned and church-governed) and squat toilets
Love,
Jill and Heather
