Never Confuse Movement with Action

- Hemingway

Rest and Relaxation Uganda-style

Two weeks off, no strings attached after ten weeks in the field. Me and Jeff Mills and Chad from B.C. We were ready for a break, but the chance to eat some good food was probably what we were really chomping at the bit for. We went to a food-court type place called Nando’s for our first post-Sudan meal. Three of us split a pizza and some sodas, then we ate some cake and goodies from the bakery, then we had ice cream and hotdogs. It was a good day. The rest of the R&R I managed to eat Indian, Chinese, Ethiopian, Lebanese, burgers, fries, fried chicken, and more pizza. It was all better than Sudanese. In fact I need to stop thinking about it because I’m about to start crying now that I'm back in the field.

So we stayed a number of nights off and on in Kampala, the capital, and it’s pretty nice. Quiet, not a ton happening, but good food, safe, nice roads. My standards for what makes a place nice have probably dropped quite a bit now. We went rafting the Nile. I went into this with no fear. I don’t know what I was thinking. It was unreal. Huge level five rapids. The first couple I was still having fun. Then we flipped and I got stuck underneath the raft (for like 5 seconds at most). Basically as soon as I sucked in some water I stopped enjoying myself. From that point on I faced these rapids with pure dread. We flipped twice more that day and one time the next. And really it’s not that bad. The river is very safe for how big the rapids are. I just found it incredibly terrifying for some reason. No one else (girls included) found it nearly as terrifying as I did. Regardless, it was huge rapids on the most famous river in the world and I’m glad I can say I did it. I just don’t want to do it again. Ever.

Our only significant road trip then was up to Murchison Falls State Park. The falls are part of the Nile and are spectacular. It is possibly the strongest flow of water in the world, as the river narrows extremely quickly creating an amazing scene. When the water falls it seems to spray back upwards 50 some feet because of the sheer force of it hitting below. Very cool. We took a boat ride and a game drive in the park. Here are the numbers: 200+ hippos, 12+ crocodiles, 4 elephants up close, bunches from a distance, 20 giraffes (maybe, I fell asleep for part of the ride), lots of deer type things and cape buffaloes, and 1 female lion napping next to her most recent victim.

Hippo Story: Me and Canadian Chad were walking along the Nile in the state park. There was a path and no warning signs or anything, so we thought it was safe. There were hippos down and across the river so we were walking their general direction. After a few minutes we turn and see the hippos right across the river from us. Just as I commented on it, we hear a noise behind us. We turn and there’s a giant hippo like 25 feet from us mowing through some grass and bushes and anything else in it’s path. Hippos kill more people than any other animal in Africa. Knowing this we probably should have walked away, which Chad did. But having my camera on hand, I really wanted to have a national geographic moment and capture the perfect shot. So as it continued eating I took a bunch of photos. At one point I lowered my camera and realized, “wow that thing is really close to me.” My best guess is 15 feet. Just then it paused and looked up for the first time, and I backpedaled quickly. Got some more photos from a little further away, but it was quite a thrill. Maybe the highlight of my African experience to this point.