Continuing with my travel experiences:
In Uganda we went to Lake Bunyonyi. It is a beautiful lake with tons of islands in the middle. We camped on one of them at a beautiful resort surrounded by hundreds of brightly colored birds, flowers and hand dug out canoes. We then moved on to Kampala. We went out for a night of dancing at the National Theater’s open-mic hip-hop night. I was nice to be in a big city, with its fast internet and cultural activities.
The next morning we caught a shuttle to Jinga, Uganda: The source of the mighty Nile River. After a short safety briefing I spent the day White Water Rafting class 5 rapids on the Nile river! I was a little unsure about the whole situation but I really enjoyed it. I spend part of the day on what I will call the Team Upright Boat. It really is the rescue boat which was amazing because I was literally the very first person to go over the rapids and then got a front row seat as the other boats tumble over them. I also got to help rescue people by pulling them into out boat after their boats flipped. I went over rapid that had a 6 foot water fall in the middle. The best rapid was called Silverback in which I was flipped out of the boat but managed to hold on to the rope on the side of the boat throughout the remainder of the rapid. I was intense, not something I would want to do often but I did enjoy it especially after I got the water out of my lungs.
We then headed to Sipi Falls near Mount Elgon. Sipi is one of the most beautiful places I have been. The views are amazing and there are 3 huge waterfalls. We hiked to the base of one of them where it began to storm. We hiked back up in the mud using banana leaves as failed umbrella and then explored a dry cave while the storm calmed down. That night we stayed at a lodge at the base of one of the waterfalls. We then headed to Kenya where we stayed in Nakuru. We traveled to the Menengai Crater where we did an intense 3 hour hike to the crater floor. We then headed to Nairobi and went to see a movie in a real movie theater! I not a big movie person but it was super nice to go to a real movie theater and see one of the many movies I haven’t even heard of currently playing in America. We then rounded out our trip together with a wild goose chase for a Sushi Restaurant in Nairobi.
That afternoon I headed back to TZ. On the drive back the bus passed herds of Zebras and even two Giraffes crossing the road. They were completely wild not even in the boundaries of a national park. I really enjoyed seeing them because I hoped that when I came to Africa I would encounter wild animals (while is a car of course). I was disappointed when it seemed that they were only in national parks. But no, they really are cool animals living all over East Africa with out the influence of humans. Overall it was a great trip. I have so many surreal experiences now I will have a ton a stories to tell my grandkids someday about how there grandma as once a crazy world traveler.
So now I am back in Moshi wrapping up work, Honesty will be having his pins removed on Thur and then hopefully starting physical therapy soon after. Then I will be doing some last hiking in Lushuto and then heading to the coast near Pangani for some relaxing. I am excited to be heading back to STL soon but of course now I am learning of all sorts of events that will be going on here when I leave. I guess with setting a date to leave the reality that I will miss this place comes with it.
