Whilst Uganda can definitely live up to its name, the ‘Pearl of
Africa’, unfortunately we didn’t get off to a good start there.
That night we ate at an Indian restaurant called Haandi, supposedly the 11th best
restaurant in Kampala. You could see the chefs creating their magic in the
kitchen which tasted incredible too – from the chilli paneer entrée (the chef’s
special) to the mixed veg korma to the extra cheesy naan. YUM!
In Jinja, a group of us went whitewater rafting. They’ve dammed
the Bugugali Falls since I did it in July 2009, but it was still a great day
out – you just start further downstream.
Right outside our gorgeous campsite,
And at the campsite next door, there was a rope swing off into the
lake which we made good use of.
We also prepared a local meal with the help of a local lady,
Fati’a. Dinner was matoke (mashed plantain steamed in banana leaves), sweet
potato also steamed in banana leaves, meat, and groundnut sauce with rice – delicious.
Uganda may have started out badly but it definitely ended on a high note.
Whilst staying at the Little Ritz in Kabale, (where you apparently
get electric shocks whilst taking a shower which I didn’t think worth the risk)
three of our group had their bags and other valuable items stolen from their
tents. Two of the tents the robber/s simply unzipped and one was slashed, all
without waking anyone up. Fortunately though none of them lost their passports,
and no-one got hurt which is the main thing. Lesson learnt – don’t keep any
valuables (or anything you don’t want to lose) in your tent.
From that point though, there was only one way to go. Up. And
quite literally too – we headed North and crossed the Equator.
In Kampala, a few of us had a day out in town shopping, getting
beauty treatments and eating good food.
I had my eyelashes tinted and a pedicure,
and before I knew it the beautician had grabbed my flip-flops, took them
outside and scrubbed them clean too! How embarrassing! Getting back to our
campsite was an adventure in itself as Emma and I rode on the back of a
motorbike together. I was behind the driver and she was behind me. We had no
helmets and no padding and just bumped along over the huge potholes and up
rocky dirt roads, laughing hysterically. Freaky but fun.
Our group consisted of Garrett,
Andrea, Dom, a lovely Irish girl called Sinead, myself and two instructors. Overall
we capsized three out of eight times but I think my scariest moment was in the
training. Alex, our guide, told us to make sure we grabbed onto the rope on the
side when we were in the water simulating what would happen if we capsized and
he needed to flip the boat back up. I didn’t hear him (or more likely didn’t
listen properly!) so under the boat I went. I panicked a little as there were
no air pockets on the underside and my very buoyant life vest made it quite tricky
to manoeuvre under it until I popped out on one side (the opposite one to
everyone else…oops!)
Our first rapid was a Grade 5 and we went over the first part successfully
but then got stuck on a massive rock. All of us moved to the front and then the
back and vice versa as instructed until we managed to dislodge ourselves and
then went over the large waterfall drop which was a total rush – we made it –
woo hoo! This rapid is the only one of the eight for the day that the
riverboarders can’t do as it’s too dangerous. Lucky we didn’t capsize then!
Our second rapid was only a Grade 4 but this time we capsized and
got sucked around and thrown about like a washing machine.
Another rapid contained a Grade 6 so we had to get out of the
rafts and rejoin the rapid a little further on where it was only a Grade 5.
There were long stretches of mirror-like water and we paddled
until our arms hurt and then rested.
At one point we noticed tonnes of bats
flying in formation like in Mulu National Park, Borneo (though not nearly as
many). The bats were chattering away and everyone was nervous about having
droppings land on them but we only had one land on our boat. We had some juicy
fresh pineapple from the supply boat moments before so luckily we ate before
reaching them.
The clouds got darker and darker until it started raining, thundering
and lightning. We capsized on another rapid and then on the last one I saw our
guide simply dive out of the raft. Clearly he wanted us to capsize just for
fun. We had made the first part of the rapid safely, but then we were smashed
by a huge wave. I thought I could hold on and stay in the raft but couldn’t and
got knocked out. I was sucked under and swooshed around again like a washing
machine on overdrive but I was surprisingly calm, trying to hold onto my paddle
and thinking that I had enough air to last me for a while. When I popped up, I
gulped a fresh breath of air and then got smashed by another large wave and
then again and again until I finally got spat out of the rapids. When all of us
finally re-joined the raft, we were surprised to see Sinead on there – she was
the only one who managed to stay on the raft and even she didn’t know how it
happened!
Towards the end, I started getting really cold and my teeth began
chattering out of control. But soon enough we got to our exit point and then
had a delicious hot meal waiting for us.
Aside from the rafting, we visited Jinja which was great for shopping
and had this funny sign.
we had an incredible fish curry near
this building…!,
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