Oh, The Shame

The title of this post reflects how I feel about how long it’s been since my last entry. The longer I live here, the less I feel it necessary to chronicle my life; in the way that it would never occur to me to write a blog post about my day to day back in Canada. That being said, I shall now try and sum up the last couple months of my life without boring anyone too much.

I have been learning a lot lately about what it means to let things go. I don’t have a problem with change, where I struggle is when I have an idea (or an ideal) in my head that doesn’t pan out the way I anticipated…”But, but, that’s not how it was supposed to be!!!!” Example A: We (myself and 3 other friends; two of which I am currently snuggled into a 2 bedroom place with) have been waiting for an apartment complex to be completed with the intention of moving in. We were told it would be done in October, the November, then December…you get the idea. My roommate and I have paint colors picked, cushion colors picked, the whole place planned out (I even purchased curtains and decorative pillows while at home) with the intention of moving in when I returned from Canada. That did not happen…I have had to let go. Side note: We should find out today whether we can move in soon or if he is completely screwing us over and giving it to someone else.

That is just one example, but the point is, I am learning…

Besides that distraction, the last couple months have been pretty great…a definite highlight being the arrival of my dear sister, Dana. She came and spent 2 weeks with me splitting time between seeing the sights and just being a fly on the wall, experiencing what an ordinary day is for me…and believe me, there are some pretty intense things we have to deal with but for the most part, my days are pretty ordinary. She was able to meet the kids, sit in on a meeting or two, get to know my friends and see the best of what Jinja has to offer. And then, of course, we just had to go on safari. J

The last time I went, it was to Murchison but this time, we went to Queen Elizabeth. We did a three day safari that included a day of driving, then safari day (a drive and a boat cruise) and then a day of travelling back. One of the great parts of this safari was that there were five of us (Dana and I, and three other friends) and we had the van to ourselves. Don’t get me wrong, I love meeting people while I travel, but this was kind of a treat.

The morning of our safari drive, we headed out with our guide, Assuman (whom we nicknamed Awesome Man), to try and track down the big 5. The day started out rather disappointing and to be honest, I was getting a little worried; especially as I was the one who planned the trip and felt a responsibility towards everyone, as though I had the slightest control over what animals we see. We really hadn’t seen much of all when we pulled into a rest area on the outskirts of a crater of some sorts. Assuman stepped out of the vehicle but before we could even get our things together he hopped back in and rattled off something excitably about there being “something there” and left the crater in a cloud of dust. We flew across the rutted, dirt pathways slowing down just to pass other safari vehicles whose drivers waved us on although time was running out. We arrived at the spot full of excited energy and pulled in beside a bunch of other vehicles. Our excitement quickly dwindled as we realized the lions were a fair bit away and we could just make out the top ridges of their bodies in the grass. Although disappointed, I would have gone home somewhat satisfied with the sighting but our guide had other things in mind. After a while, we looked at each other, shrugged our shoulders and went to find Assuman, who was busy chatting with the other guides. To our surprise, despite regulations and the risk of a fine, he insinuated that we should wait a bit till people leave and go in a bit closer. So, we waited for a bit until he came rushing over, his intentions unmistakable. We all piled in and could hardly contain our excitement as we headed into the bush. Then we saw them…first a couple females and then a male and a female who laid there nonchalantly while we parked hardly 10 feet away and just stared. Not more than a minute went by before we had to continue on but I honestly will not forget that experience for as long as I live. We were all pumped full of adrenaline after that and could not stop talking about it for the rest of the day. Even though we saw multiple hippos, buffalo and even elephants on the boat cruise, it was still the highlight. The only thing that came close was when, on the way back from the boat cruise, we had to stop and let a whole herd of elephants cross the road in front of us.

All in all, the trip couldn’t have been more of a success and it was made even more special by having my sister right there alongside me.

There are probably more things I could share but I filled nearly two pages and it is time to end.

Watch the safari slideshow here.        

Furry Fruit

A week or so after we got back from safari, Alicia, Keanne, Erika, Brecklyn and myself went to a place called The Hairy Lemon. It’s a beautiful little island about 1 ½ hours journey from Jinja (not too close, not too far for some time away). It was a bit of a whirlwind trip as we left on a Monday morning and came back the following afternoon, but it was still long enough to enjoy the peace and quiet. Not only was it extremely relaxing, we were also able to spend some time swimming in the Nile and had the pleasure of sharing the island with a couple British guys who had us laughing late into the night while we hung out and played random games.

The current was really strong in the river which made it really hard to just relax so Erika and I had the great idea to walk up river and ride the current back to where we were stationed on the beach. This turned into an absolute fail as we both underestimated the depth of the water and spent a good 30 seconds caught in the current getting pulverised by rocks. I’m sure Erika looked graceful and poised throughout the entire ordeal, I on the other hand probably looked as helpless and desperate as I felt, floundering and gasping while I tried to get my feet back underneath me.

Tuesday morning, we were woken up by monkeys using our tin roof as a trampoline and spent the day lounging, reading, swimming and just generally soaking up the beauty of the place. 

Because of a connection we have with one of the local rafting companies, we were able to get a ride to and from the island on one of their big trucks as the stopping point is a short walk from where the canoe drops us on the mainland. Shortly after we arrived, a huge storm blew in and though we were under cover, all of us (the rafters and staff included) had to take cover in the kitchen as the wind was blasting the rain in on us and blowing everyone’s salads off their plates. It caused a delay and when we did head back, the dirt roads had us sliding every which way, but it made for some good entertainment.

Other interesting facts about this island? Lots of wildlife. Although they’re around, I have seen maybe 1 or 2 live snakes in Jinja in the whole 20 or so months I’ve lived here. On the island? 2 in the course of 24 hours. And not just any old snakes…very poisonous ones. We also saw a monitor lizard, but they’re just plain cool.     

Taking the short canoe ride to the island (yes, my elbow is in the picture, the redo was blurry)

The path to our cottage

If you look closely, you can see the head of a rather large snake directly to the right of tip of the grassy area. 

The green mamba that slithered out of the water...

The "swimming hole"

It's a giant glowing starfish! Nope, just me. :-)

Pumba & Friends

A bit over a week ago, I went on my first real safari. There are a couple girls, Alicia and Keanne, staying with Ekisa right now who I know from home; in fact, one of them is one of my sister’s best friends and I’ve known her since she was in kindergarten. In regards to the whole Africa experience, a safari was on the top of their list and I figured it was the perfect time for me to experience it for myself.

We (Alicia, Keanne, myself and one of our other volunteers, Hannah) travelled to Kampala on a Wednesday morning to catch a free shuttle from Oasis Mall and had a really great relaxing evening at the Red Chili Hideaway where we’d be leaving from the next morning. It was actually the first time Alicia and I had time to catch up and it was so great to share details of my life here with her and answer all of her questions about Uganda.

The next morning at 7:30am, we headed out and spent the vast majority of the day travelling up to Murchison National Park. The only real break in the day was a stop at the top of Murchison Falls and a consequent hike that took us along falls and around to get a better look. A rain cloud that was looming in the distance took this opportunity to blow over us so all this took place while a light rain fell and thunder competed with the roar of the falling water.

We rolled into camp around 5 that evening and received a quick orientation which included strict instructions to store all food items in a large container at the bar overnight so the warthogs that roam the camp wouldn’t rip through our tents; we also received a quick warning that if hippos decided to join us, we were to keep a very safe distance. After we settled in, we enjoyed dinner and a glass of wine sitting around a fire that refused to light due to the rain; a fact we were grateful for as we instead watched an incredible lightning storm over the park that lit up the sky with sharp, jagged forks of white light.

The next day, we left camp at 6:30am to catch a ferry into Murchison Park and enjoyed a long morning driving along the labyrinth of dirt roads that weave through the 3840 square kms of the park. It wasn’t long before our cameras were glued to our faces taking shots of giraffes, warthogs, elephants, buffalo, hippos and all sorts of antelope.

After a lunch break back at camp, we headed out again, this time aboard a boat that took us on a 3 hour trip to the base of Murchison Falls. We were fortunate during that ride to add alligators and monitor lizards to our list of sightings.

The second night in camp, we played cards and got to know our safari mates a little better (2 Americans, a South Korean and 2 “lady friends” from Belgium), all of us doing our best to hold out until 9pm to retire to our tents given how tired we were from our long day; that was the time we all decided was late enough that we didn’t have to admit we weren’t 17 anymore.

Saturday morning, we headed out early again and braved another 4 hours of driving through the park, the first 30 minutes during  moderate rainfall, before heading south back to Kampala making two stops along the way; one for lunch and one for a quick hike down to Karuma Falls. The journey home ended at about 7:30pm when we crossed the bridge back into Jinja; over 12 hours from when we left Murchison. A long drive and another long day, for sure, but what an incredible time we had.

I recognize this post may read rather point form, but I wanted to share with pictures more than words (a fact I know many of you will appreciate). So, like many times before, click here. Concerning the music, was there every any question? J