Holidays in Uganda

First, we traveled on a bus (Kampala Coach) for 12 hours to Jinja,Uganda.  First we spent the day in the little town that is home to the source of the Nile River.  The next morning, we started our two day trip and I rafted down the Nile River, and even boogie boarded through some of the rapids. Imagine being on a huge river in the middle of Africa with only a raft protecting you from the rough waters.  It was an awesome experience, going through grade 5 rapids and getting the chance to do some river boarding (boogie boarding) as well. 

Next we went to Sipi Falls and hiked to three waterfalls. . .

I spent nearly four hours on Christmas day in a rural African village church where there were about 4 sermons, a dance party, balloons, visitors from Kenya, and songs in three languages.  They also had us get up in front of the congregation and introduce ourselves.  Quite the Christmas!  

From there we went to Kampala, the capital, where not only did they have skittles, hair conditioner, and cereal (They have cereal here, but it is honestly about $15/box!  It was only about $5 there), but also BOWLING.  I got a great score of 68 and we got stared at for being the only white people in the alley.  They also had motos that fit two people and monkeys running around the outside of the place we stayed.  It felt weird coming from Sipi Falls (we stayed at a lodge with no electricity) to a city that felt nearly like America.  It felt awkward and kind of unsettling, but fun to stay there for a night.

Next, we went to Queen Elizabeth game park where we went on a driving safari and one on a boat too!  I saw elephants, hippos, water buck, alligators, awesome birds and a pride of lions.  We also saw hedgehogs, buffalo, and mongoose (mongeese?) in the our hostel area!  Nothing like starting the morning walking out the door to be greeted by hedgehogs and then have little mongoose friends run by your feet while eating breakfast.  Although we stayed at a cheap hostel, there was a beautiful lodge just a short walk away where we spent most of our time.  We learned that you are not supposed to drive through game parks at night (the man told us he was risking his life by letting us in) and that they don't like if you leave 45 minutes after your 48 hours is up.   The gate people didn't like us much, but we really enjoyed ourselves.

Finally, we ended our trip at Lake Binyonyi, where we stayed one night in tents on stilts on the mainland, then another on Bushara Island.  It was here where we stayed in dorms and in our room, there also lived a family of birds in their nest.  They flew in under the door when we were sleeping.  I guess when it’s $10/night you get what you pay for. 

I will try to load more pictures soon... the internet has just been SO slow lately!


As usual, thanks for the love and support!