Experiencing the wild side of Africa

While our group works hard in the community from dawn til dusk every weekday, on the weekends we’ve been able to do some pretty fun activities. Here’s a few:

Visited the famous “Source of the Nile”- where Lake Victoria narrows and becomes the mouth to the river which gives life to much of Eastern Africa. Near the source there is also a monument to Muhatma Gandhi, who wrote in his will that he wanted his ashes scattered at the source of the Nile to represent the continual flow of peace and non-violence throughout Africa. Being the silly sentimental person that I am, I wanted to buy a necklace there at Gandhi’s monument- and in the process convinced the girls I was with to do the same- so that I could have a “Gandhi necklace.” You can buy the same ones anywhere in Uganda, but now it’s got that added memory.

All in one day, I bungee jumped 150 feet into the Nile River and then rafted 17 miles down the Nile. Yes! It was quite the adventure. Several of the rapids are level 5 (6 being the highest possible), which is the highest that amateur rafters are allowed on. The majesty and power of the Nile was just remarkable. At one point as I viewed the massive waterfalls and lush tropical greenery around me while crashing high speed through crazy rapids, I thought to myself, “This reminds me of a ride at Disneyland.” And then I realized “OH, this is what the ride at Disneyland was meant to replicate!” Silly Westerner.

We went on a safari at the Murchison Falls National Park. Another example of first associating the real experience with the contrived zoo one. Riding in a safari truck where the roof pops off, we went through the grasslands territory and were able to see dozens of giraffes so classically eating from the tops of trees, several hippos bathing in a shallow pool to keep out of the sun, little antelopes (called “kobes”) prancing through the grasslands, families of elephants chilling, crocodiles sun-bathing with their mouths wide open (I can’t remember why they do that… but there is a reason…), water buffalo, baboons, and… we were able to track FIVE lions (and they said that some days they don’t see any). Yeah, we pulled our vehicle up to this tree where 3 of them were resting- we were so close we could hear them panting! We camped in the park, and every morning there were warthogs just chilling outside of my tent. And I figured out that I already know a bunch of Swahili: pumba = warthog, simba = male lion, nala = female lion, rafiki = friend, and hakuna matata means- yup, you know it- no worries…