Uganda (Jinja, Gorillas, & Lake Bunyonyi)

Uganda is awesome! For all you nostalgic folk, I'm sorry to say it is nothing like Idi Amin's Uganda. But for any traveller, I think its an absolute amazing destination.

After taking our 12 hour bus ride from Nairobi to Jinja, we settled in at the Nile River Explorers Backpackers. For all you Ugandan geographically ignorant folks, Jinja is located at the ource of the Nile River. Yes that one! The next day, Justin and I went whitewater rafting on the Nile on some of the most challenging rapids (Grade 5) in the world. For all you rafting on the delaware river in the poconos with Camp Chenawanda that's like a category 0.5. George Washington has nothing on us. Anyway, we went through about 12 rapids in all (about 4 category 5s, 4 category 4s, and 4 category 3. Our first big rapid was the 50/50, where apparently 50% of members in the raft typically fall out. That just so happened to be Justin and myself as we went overboard into the fortunately very deep water. I found that experience a little fun, but that's just me. After swimming in the Nile (for some stretches we went 30 minutes without rapids) and surviving a whole host of rapids, we finally came upon "the Bad Place," a category 5 rapid, where a 200 foot stretch of the Nile was all downward sloping gushing white water. Fortunately we exited our rafts before the Bad Place to avoid the even worse place (a category 6 rapid - unnavigable by raft). As soon as we got back in the raft, looking down at the Bad Place, we knew we were fucked. Immediately after Paulo (our Ugandan national rafting star guide) released us from the shore, we flew down the rapid, thrown 180 degrees with the whole raft flipping from right to left. Justin was sent hurdling under the raft gasping for air. After finally getting out from the boat, he was rescued by a kayak, and then summoned to rescuse some other girl from going into the rocks. After someone fell on me I tumbled under water, ingesting the Nile on not one but two occasions, as i got up for air only to be sucked back down by another rapid. After being told to swim to the rocks (like that was happening), a kayaker finally rescued me. I know it sounds scary, but it was awesome!!! I had so much fun. And the important thing is that we all survived and no one was injured.

Rachel hung around town that day exploring all that Jinja has to offer and Lake victoria. The next day Rachel went kayaking on the Nile (see Rachel's post), while Justin and I had some awesome chapati and hired a guide to give us a boatcruise to the source of the Nile. After exploring the source, we stopped at a new and really beautiful restaurant and soon to be guesthouse called Ginger on the Nile (you heard it here first, this will be the place to stay in Jinja in 2 years). We ate lunch, drank a few beers, and just enjoyed the scenery.

Then we took a ride to Kampala with some Christian missionaries from Texas. Rachel and Justin fought off attempts to save them and just accepted that they were going to hell. I had a nice heart to heart conversation with a fellow American, where we discussed religion, Nietzsche and the fallacy of global warming. (There really was no point in arguing with him, as he believed that the earth actually cooled over the past decade, but I would not relent). I also naturally had to defend the good name of my hero Al.

The next day we left for SW Uganda, home of the mountain gorillas. The drive to Kisoro, showed the best of what Uganda has to offer. I must say Ugandans are the friendliest people on the planet! Everywhere we went, people would wave to us and say hi or mzungu ("white person wandering without purpose") give me money, but in a nice way. The children are so cute, jumping up and down, flailing their arms, and even chasing the car. As we drove further into SW Uganda, rolling hillsides and lakes appeared everywhere. It was so picturesque, truly the "Switzerland of Africa."

We stayed at Kisoro Travellers Rest, a very nice hotel, where Dian Fossey (one of the original mountain gorilla researchers) used to stay. The next day we went visiting the gorillas! After trekking through a very muddy rainforest for about an hour and a half we were told we were only 20 minutes away. Unfortunately that meant we had to climb up a vertical muddy wall (which I almost fell down). Finally, we came upon the gorillas. First, we encountered the lesser Silverback, who was eating only 10 feet away from us. When we came to check out another path, Safari, the boss silverback, crossed right in front of us out in the open just staring at us for a minute. He was extremely impressive, but not afraid of us at all, and didn't seemed bothered by our presence as he passed only feet from us. He then let us watch him eat for almost half an hour, with us only about 5-10 feet away. His facial features were remarkably human, and his eyes demonstrated similar human emotions and states of thought. After chomping through what seemed like the whole forest, he moved out of the way, allowing us to observe three gorillas hanging out in the trees. We walked a little further, where a large female gorilla descended from the tree, standing only 10 feet from us. It was pretty amazing just staring into her eyes, wondering what would be her next move. Fortunately she waited for us to leave. Since our hour was ending with the gorillas, we moved on, only to spot about 8 gorillas, mothers, juveniles, and infants all hanging out together on the forest floor. The baby was so cute and tiny (He actually looked like Eric as a baby). We watched as the baby, no more than 6 months old, attempted to climb a tree vine with his mother carefully watching below. Finally after an hour and a half (more than we ever imagined we'd be able to have with the gorillas), we exited, only to find 2 more gorillas (a blackback and the lesser silverback) out in the open. All in all we saw 16 of the 18 gorillas in the family. The walk back was extremely tiring, but about 2 hours later we made it to the top. It truly was an incredible experience.

NOTE: If you want to go visit them, go soon! We heard rumors that the governments of Uganda, Rwanda, and the DRC are planning on increasing the price of the permits from $500 to $1000-$1500. Possibly by next year!

The next day we set off for Lake Bunyonyi, possibly the most beautiful lake in Africa. The lake is scattered with maybe as many as 50 islands, some large enough to serve as homes and hotel resorts.

I wasn't feeling too well yesterday (not sure exactly what it was, could be food poisoning, could be the water (which I've made a point not to drink), but anyway, I felt like poop. I'm feeling better now, but I'm definitely looking forward to coming back home and not worrying about what I'm eating, except for Thai House II in northern Miami Beach or the cinnamon raisin bagels in Jason & Heather's freezer.

Today, we went canoeing around the islands, going out to "Punishment Island", where unmarried pregnant women were dropped off to die under Idi Amin's regime. Fortunately, a lot has changed since then. President Museveni has done a lot of great things reformingUganda, and it is impossible to see any of the scars left by Idi Amin, at least on the surface.

I also had the added pleasure of helping 4 Ugandan children carry large buckets of water up to their home on the hillside. I couldn't believe that these kids (aged 3 to 7) had to lug such heavy buckets every day, and probably multiple times. They thanked me by playing the drums and performing a dance for me, which I joined it. It was extremely cute, and easily my favorite Lake Bunyoni experience.

That's it for now, hope to give another posting before the end of the trip. If not, I look forward to speaking to you all when I return to the States on September 22nd.

-Andrew