25 SEPTEMBER 2010 - Lake Bunyoni
South west Uganda is truly beautiful. From the road, steep, verdant green hills plunge down to narrow valley floors, while miniature figures hoe, plow, and plant the terraces.
Lake Bunyoni - in south west Uganda - was a wower.
We went on a boat to see a relocated Pygmy village: mainly for the boat ride, not for the Pygmies. We suffered the obligatory dancing session that people feel they have to put on when mzungu come to town, and as the only one without a camera Steve was singled out to take part. Cringe.
MR
South west Uganda is truly beautiful. From the road, steep, verdant green hills plunge down to narrow valley floors, while miniature figures hoe, plow, and plant the terraces.
Lake Bunyoni - in south west Uganda - was a wower.
We went on a boat to see a relocated Pygmy village: mainly for the boat ride, not for the Pygmies. We suffered the obligatory dancing session that people feel they have to put on when mzungu come to town, and as the only one without a camera Steve was singled out to take part. Cringe.
MR
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27 SEPTEMBER 2010 - Murchison Falls NP
Murchison Falls - the most powerful waterfall on Earth, or so they say. The entire torrent of the White Nile plunges through a narrow gap, sending plumes of spray and jets of water high into the air. From about 5 metres away, it's pretty thunderous!
We developed a very disturbing rattle in the park. Crawling around under the rear axle, we found a mashed up plastic bottle wedged into one of the linkages. Our easiest fix yet! Taking this as a warning, we did an all-round vehicle check, and discovered that a couple of months on the road had almost shaken the bolts on one of our roof-racks free. Disaster - narrowly averted.
SC
Murchison Falls - the most powerful waterfall on Earth, or so they say. The entire torrent of the White Nile plunges through a narrow gap, sending plumes of spray and jets of water high into the air. From about 5 metres away, it's pretty thunderous!
We developed a very disturbing rattle in the park. Crawling around under the rear axle, we found a mashed up plastic bottle wedged into one of the linkages. Our easiest fix yet! Taking this as a warning, we did an all-round vehicle check, and discovered that a couple of months on the road had almost shaken the bolts on one of our roof-racks free. Disaster - narrowly averted.
SC
28 SEPTEMBER 2010 - Pig drumming in Kampala
What a bizarre time we've had in Kampala.
We randomly met a girl from our high school at Red Chilli - Sam Sharpe - who knows a lot of the people we know, is very good friends with the sister of Greer Krige (who arrives in less than a month to make an attempt on Kili with us), and the links go on and on.
Sam helped us invent pig drumming:
What a bizarre time we've had in Kampala.
We randomly met a girl from our high school at Red Chilli - Sam Sharpe - who knows a lot of the people we know, is very good friends with the sister of Greer Krige (who arrives in less than a month to make an attempt on Kili with us), and the links go on and on.
Sam helped us invent pig drumming:
We had been waiting to get to Kampala for a long time. 2 very important packages were waiting for us, poste restante, at Kampala's main post office. Or so we thought.
One, containing our new rego (renewing rego from o/s is looots of fun), had arrived. But some bright spark within the EMS world-wide courier system must have thought that Kampala was the capital of Malaysia, and sent our other package to Kuala Lumpur. This, according to EMS Uganda, was our problem, not theirs. We convinced them otherwise.
I also had the privilege of getting a motorcycle taxi, in the rain, through Kampala peak hour traffic. One of my scariest experiences on 2 wheels.
SC
One, containing our new rego (renewing rego from o/s is looots of fun), had arrived. But some bright spark within the EMS world-wide courier system must have thought that Kampala was the capital of Malaysia, and sent our other package to Kuala Lumpur. This, according to EMS Uganda, was our problem, not theirs. We convinced them otherwise.
I also had the privilege of getting a motorcycle taxi, in the rain, through Kampala peak hour traffic. One of my scariest experiences on 2 wheels.
SC
1 OCTOBER 2010 - Rafting the headwaters of the White Nile
Jinja is famous for 2 things. First, its white-water rafting; some of the biggest and best in the world. Second, the fights at Nile River Explorers. We stayed at Adrift, so can only really talk about that.
And I could talk about it all day.
Instead, to avoid boring you all, I will just say that it was fantastic, and share two of the best moments.
The first was powering through the first part of a Class 5 rapid (the hardest/wildest class of navigable rapid) and then fighting our way across to a 14 foot waterfall. Having been exhorted to paddle hard to get into position, our river guide admitted that we had gone a little too hard, nosed beyond the optimal entry point, and would have to go off it backwards. Hell yeah.
The second was just after we ported round a Class 6 (unnavigable/murderous) and put in again in a small lee. Having briefed us beforehand on all the other wild stuff, this time our river guide 'forgot' to mention that as soon as we were out in the main flow again, we would be hitting the Class-5 called 50/50. It's called 50/50 for a reason.
No-one was quite mentally prepared for it, which meant that rather than cackling with glee the whole way through (as per all other rapids), I was shocked into silence for the half-second it took to go over a lip and into a wall of water. We came out waterlogged but intact. The other boat didn't. 50/50 lived up to its name.
Uganda has been short but sweet. Alas, we must hurry to Nairobi. Lauren Webb flies in on the 4th.
SC
Jinja is famous for 2 things. First, its white-water rafting; some of the biggest and best in the world. Second, the fights at Nile River Explorers. We stayed at Adrift, so can only really talk about that.
And I could talk about it all day.
Instead, to avoid boring you all, I will just say that it was fantastic, and share two of the best moments.
The first was powering through the first part of a Class 5 rapid (the hardest/wildest class of navigable rapid) and then fighting our way across to a 14 foot waterfall. Having been exhorted to paddle hard to get into position, our river guide admitted that we had gone a little too hard, nosed beyond the optimal entry point, and would have to go off it backwards. Hell yeah.
The second was just after we ported round a Class 6 (unnavigable/murderous) and put in again in a small lee. Having briefed us beforehand on all the other wild stuff, this time our river guide 'forgot' to mention that as soon as we were out in the main flow again, we would be hitting the Class-5 called 50/50. It's called 50/50 for a reason.
No-one was quite mentally prepared for it, which meant that rather than cackling with glee the whole way through (as per all other rapids), I was shocked into silence for the half-second it took to go over a lip and into a wall of water. We came out waterlogged but intact. The other boat didn't. 50/50 lived up to its name.
Uganda has been short but sweet. Alas, we must hurry to Nairobi. Lauren Webb flies in on the 4th.
SC
