Uganda (Rachel)

The bus ride from Nairobi to Kampala (stopping in Jinja) was long and uneventful, over unpaved roads most of the way, passing the most beautiful landscape we'd seen so far on the trip. Western Kenya is beautiful, but I was surprised at how developed Uganda was. We arrived in Jinja in the evening, and after avoiding getting ripped off by a taxi driver who complained about "muzungus" (white tourists) the whole time, we settled in at Nile River Explorers, the backpackers' we stayed at for two nights in Jinja. We ordered some food, had a couple of beers, and went to bed early.\

In the morning, the boys went white water rafting (I can see Andrew's screen and he's writing all about it) while I went to see the source of the Nile river with another traveler in the hostel. On the way, we stopped for the Ugandan street food of choice, the rolex (no clue if that's how you spell it), which is an omlet (eggs with veggies, including avocado if you're lucky) wrapped in chapati (fried bread, like Indian roti). The source of the Nile was ... anticlimactic, especially after we learned that you have to take a boat to actually see it. Luckily, I got some good info about how to get a cheap boat, and I passed that along to Justin and Andrew, who went the next day. After Daniel and I took a boda boda (motorcycle taxi, sorry mom!) back to the hostel, I hopped in a truck to go mountain biking around town while I waited for the boys to be done rafting. As I rode about 20 miles around town, everyone called out "hey muzungu!", and one man asked me to marry him and bring him to America (I said no). After a couple of hours biking, I headed down to see Bujagali falls (which the boys rafted down), then off to the campsite to read a book. The boys got back around 5 and we had dinner before heading back to hang out at the backpackers. That night, Andrew went out with some people from the hostel while Justin and I retired early with our books.

The next day, I went kayaking on the Nile while the boys went to see the source on a boat. The minute I met the instructor, I informed him that I would not be going upside down in the kayak. His response was, "as an instructor, I'm supposed to try to push you to do it even if you're scared," and I said "thanks, but seriously, no." I proceeded to paddle around in circles (somewhat unintentionally) for three hours while he taught other people how to roll over, and I was perfectly happy with that. Later that evening (after I dragged Justin on a boda boda rolex run), we headed off to Kampala on the free shuttle sponsored by the hostel. I sat right in the middle of a group of Christian missionaries heading to Sudan to build a church, and they spent a good part of the trip trying to save me (I knew I was in trouble when one guy asked: "Rachel, let me ask you a question: as a Christian, how do you think you're going to get into heaven?"). When I heard them asking Andrew the same questions, I figured they just do this to everyone. Awkward!

We arrived very very late to Red Chili Hideaway (our backpackers in Kampala) and spent two hours wandering the dark streets of Kampala searching for rolex or something else to eat for dinner. We eventually took boda bodas to a restaurant and ate french fries, but I stopped and got a rolex on the way home (I'm turning one dimensional).

The next morning, we got picked up early for our 8+ hour drive down to Kisoro, our starting off point for our silverback gorilla trek the next day. We have all been very excited about the trek, though it made us sad to reach this point in our trip because it means it's almost over! Our driver picked us up with the fourth member of our group, a Czech man living in Paris named Ivan. We took the long, long drive to Kisoro, arriving at the Traveler's Rest (our hotel, and Dian Fossey's second home while she was studying gorillas and writing Gorillas in the Mist) early in the evening. After dinner and a few drinks by the fire, we turned in.

We woke up early and headed out for our 90-minute drive to the park, then headed in with our group of four trekkers, plus four more. We hiked (mostly downhill) for about two hours when our guide told us that the trackers had found the gorillas. A few minutes later (after walking up a few vertical, muddy slopes and slogging through inches-deep mud that almost took my shoes off), we were standing in a clearing and a silverback walked out of the bush. To say that the 90 minutes that followed were incredible would be an understatement. We saw sixteen gorillas, including two babies, eating leaves, hanging out in trees, beating on their chests, caring for their young, and -- almost -- interacting with us. We took about 500 pictures between the three of us and left completely amazed. The trek back was exhausting, all uphill, all muddy, and we were all drenched in sweat from the incredible humidity, but it was an amazing day. After dinner that night, we crashed early.

The next morning, after heading in town so the boys could get their boots cleaned, we headed out of Kisoro and toward Lake Bunyonyi, a three hour drive through the beautiful green rolling hills of southwest Uganda. We arrived at Bunyonyi Overland Resort and relaxed for the rest of the day, drinking beers on the patio overlooking the lake, when a friend we had met on the bus from Nairobi to Kampala walked up. Bec is an Australian living in London, volunteering at a local school for a month. She sat down with us (hi Bec!) and we hung out all afternoon and through dinner.

This morning, Justin and I went canoeing on Lake Bunyonyi, starting with a paddle out to Punishment Island, a tiny island where Idi Amin used to send unwed pregnant women to die (pleasant, right?). We then headed to an island resort, where -- after some troublesome maneuvering -- we parked our canoe and headed up for drinks and lunch. After lunch, we headed back and ran into Andrew paddling out to see the islands. We came back to the hotel and headed out for dinner at Acadia, a gorgeous new (but empty) hotel with fantastic views of the lake.

We've had a fantastic time in Uganda and we're sad to be leaving tomorrow. The people here are incredibly nice, and the children are adorable (they wave at us and shout "hi muzungu!" as we drive/walk/ride by). We've had some great conversations with some of the people we've encountered, and all the places we've stayed have been fantastic. Tomorrow, we're off to Rwanda (though we have no idea, as of 10 pm, how we're going to get there) for some more adventures, but in a week we'll be on our planes back home! Yikes!

Rachel