Still, since we had the five days and had purchased our bus tickets, an ordeal in and of itself, we took a taxi downtown and awaited our large Easy Coach that would carry us over the border in the middle of the night. We knew we were in for a treat when the waiting room at the bus station was filled with comfortable bus seats. Realizing that we would be sitting for the next 14 hours or so (FOURTEEN HOURS!) we thought it best to stretch our legs outside. We watched a bus drop off passengers, some of whom carried of boxes of chickens. It was great people watching. Before loading the bus we used the squatty potty, just as fun as it sounds, and showed our hand-written tickets to the attendant.
We were pretty close to the front so we got to greet our fellow passengers climbing aboard our enormous bus. It was a treat to see downtown Nairobi nightlife for a minute, watching the bright lights of matatus and mini-buses weaving through crowded cities streets. I was able to doze a little when on the paved roads, but about five hours into the ride we hit road work and it was gravel roads with holes the size of a tire. That, plus our squeaky breaks, made for an interesting drive. We had a few stops along the way, including crossing the border. There weren't really any clear directions and I had the feeling that if the bus was ready to go and we weren't on it they wouldn't bat an eye about leaving.
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| Uganda |
Once the sun came up in Uganda we were treated to beautiful landscapes. Uganda was green, lush and a welcoming sight from our weary travels through the night. After crossing the Nile River, we arrived in Kampala and grabbed a quick bite to eat, some Ugandan shillings, and a shuttle to our hostel.
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| Ugandan shillings |
At the Red Chili Hideaway, or as I like to call it the Red Hot Chili Pepper Motel, we happily made our way to our little room and explored our new surroundings. It was still under constructions, so the pool wasn't exactly patron-ready. Still, the shower was great: water pressure AND hot water. It was a blessing.
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| our cute little room at the hideaway |
Once clean, we were ready to venture out to the city of Kampala. We found the National Theater and the market tucked away behind it. Our math skills were put to the test with converting from Ugandan shillings to Kenyan shillings to American dollars to determine the price of items. Basically you get about 85 KSH to a dollar and one KSH gets you about 30 Ugandan shillings. Needless to say I pulled out my handy-dandy iPhone and calculated.
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| shopping |
I left the market will a couple paintings, some awesome elephant pants, an African shoulder bag, and a handful of headbands. Just like in the States, shopping can work up an appetite, so we found a restaurant and ordered some Ugandan food. We learned from one of our taxi drivers that there are four types of bananas in Uganda: the sweet little ones, regular bananas, plantains, and matooke. We had some matooke for lunch along with some other starchy staples. Unfortunately they were all out of g-nut sauce made from ground nuts- a very Ugandan dish.
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| lunch: ugali, matooke, avocado, beans |
We explored more of Kampala, but headed back to the hideaway shortly because the next day we went rafting on the Nile River in Jinja. Our bus left Kampala at 8 am, an hour and a half later we were in Jinja. After a quick bite of coffee, fruit and Rolex (chapati with scrambled eggs rolled in) we headed out in an open truck to the river.
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| homes in Jinja |
We drove past villages, schools, shops, and open countryside. I was surprised to see tall pine trees along the road and kept my eyes peeled for Katie Davis and her girls. We twisted and turned back into some tighter back roads and before we knew it the Nile stretched in front of us.
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| Pine trees in Uganda |
Growing up in Florida you learn to lather on the SPF, but it is especially necessary when you are on the equator. Excited, we buckled on our life vests and fastened the chin straps of our helmets ready to face the rapids. I soon realized we had to slow our role to listen to our guide explain all the horrible things that could go wrong out there on the fierce Nile and what we should do in those situations.
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| Before the Nile... |
Minutes later our listening skills were put to the test when our guide put us through a series of exercises practicing turning and stopping and crouching down. The last loop we had to jump through before we could float on down the river was successfully tipping out and getting back in. We counted down, flipped over, and like clockwork we all bobbed back up. Since it was just for practice one would think that it was no big deal, but upon returning to our yellow raft we noticed that a member of our rafting family had taken an oar to the face and had a bloody nose from her glasses. A good sport, once she was bandaged off we had the ok to take the first rapid.
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| Our first rapid |
It was so much fun! It was scary, swift, and a little dangerous. I got to sit in the back with our guide. In between rapids we chatted about our travels. Our rafting family was from all over: South Africa, England, Germany, America, and Uganda. Along the river we spotted lizards, piglets, weaver birds, and egrets. Sadly no Nile crocodiles were seen.
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| Getting ready to take on the Nile. |
Our raft took on class five rapids, but had to get out and walk around the class six. One of the kayaks went through it and we ooohed and ahhhed as he maneuvered his way in and out of the rough waters. After one of the class fours we were treated to chopped up pineapple as we floated in some of the calmer water.
The rapids had fun names like Overtime, Hair of the Dog, Vengence and Nile Special. The Nile Special is so famous, they named a beer after it; it's brewed at the source from Lake Victoria in Jinja.
We only flipped in our raft twice. While I was bobbing up and down in the rapids I was thankful for the tutorial earlier in the morning. Heart racing, I made sure to float on my back and open my eyes before I took in a giant breath of air. Within seconds a kayak was in front of me and I grabbed hold as I was instructed. As luck would have it, the rubber-band I was supposed to hold onto snapped and I was adrift among the waves again. It totally felt like the wave pool at Adventure Island, except your floating quickly and the aren't perfectly timed. My kayak hero was back again and told me to hold on to the back. I'm pretty sure I was supposed to help kick, but I was too busy looking around to see if anyone else had popped back up.
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| I'm in the water at this point. |
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| Hitching a ride on a kayak. |
Downriver we managed to pull everyone back into the correct raft. I was pulled into the family raft and later transferred to our raft. With the water calm we were able to take off our helmets and even jump out and float or swim as we pleased.
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| I was hanging on in the back! |
After the Nile Special (we flipped on that one, too) we floated a ways and got off the river.
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| We survived! |
Waiting for us was a delicious lunch of chicken, veggies, baked potatoes, and iced cold Stoney (carbonated ginger ale goodness).
We headed back to the camp, had a slice of chocolate cake for dinner and went to sleep. Rafting took it out of us!
The next morning we woke up early and I grabbed a nutella-banana chapati for breakfast. We rode the truck into town, hopped a boda-boda to the mini-bus/matatu station and rode the mini-bus back to Kampala. Once again, it was a great people watching opportunity and we had to wait until the bus was full until we could leave the station. Another two hour drive later, with numb backsides, we were back in Kampala.
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| Kampala |
Once again it was so nice to be back at the hideaway to relax. We went on another drive around town and made it back to enjoy an early dinner since our Easy Coach was leaving town at 7am. In true African fashion, we didn't leave on time. But when we did it was daylight and we were on our way to Nairobi.
I thought the ride to Uganda was a long rough one, but it seemed that the drive back was even longer. It was fun to see most of the drive in the daylight, but I was much more fidgety. Customs was much busier during the day and people were everywhere! Remember how I mentioned I felt like the bus would leave without us? Well it left a couple ladies, but to their good fortune we picked them up just down the road.
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| At the border |
When we arrived back home in Nairobi we calculated the amount of time spent in transport, and I'm pretty sure it was the majority of our trip. Still, it was awesome and I'm so grateful for the opportunity to explore this beautiful continent.
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| driving through Kenya |
I look forward to returning to Uganda to visit Jamie, Paul, and Eli! Join me in praying for this special family.
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| On the Nile |
