Her trip started by hanging out in Mbarara with us for a couple of days to get over the jet lag while getting to meet both our expat and local friends. Lynn showed her the hospital and our amazing fruit and veggie market while I took her out to the village to meet some of the kids I coach. We also took her to the famous “Lords Bar” where only goat and chicken is served and the music is either country/western or ABBA’s greatest hits. She loved it! After a couple days R&R we set out on our first journey, and because I have already mentioned the gorilla debacle, I will move straight to the tree-climbing lions in Ishasha. These lions literally lay on the branches of giant fig trees trying to stay out of the sun and usually digesting something. They were amazing! Next, we headed up to Mweya where we were to do a game drive and a boat ride on the Kazinga Channel. The highlight of the game drive was definitely the lions, but we also saw many, many elephants, probably over 100 all together over two days. The boat ride is a favorite because you get to see many of the animal’s cohabitating down at the water. Buffalo chill right next to crocs, elephants share the waterfront with hippos and a variety of other animals and birds cruise around looking for a good time. Mweya is great because we sleep at the cheap (but nice) hostel, yet we spend our free time having drinks by the poolside of the posh lodge a few hundred meters away. We also have sundowner drinks and great dinners at this lodge allowing us to experience the best of both worlds. On our second night at Mweya we were having evening cocktails as the sun was setting when a hippo came walking across the lawn about 20ft from us. The funny thing was is that we did not even notice at first and our bartender had to casually state as he set down our drinks, “oh look, the hippo is coming”. Apparently this same hippo uses the shortcut through the lodge quite often and an employee will just follow him until he has left the grounds. After Mweya we came back to Mbarara for a couple more days before heading off to Jinja to raft the Nile.
We subjected my mom to public transport by taking the bus to Kampala because I figured “what the hell, she survived the gorilla trek”. I would say it was an unremarkable drive, but the fact that there were actually empty seats on the bus is truly remarkable. The 25min taxi ride, though, was different story. The bus park is located in one of the busiest and most disturbingly neglected parts of Kampala as well as being adjacent to their soccer stadium. On this day there happened to be a big match between Uganda and South Africa so the already overcrowded streets around the bus park were jammed with people and vehicles jockeying for square inches of space (it was like being in a Chinese supermarket after work), but our taxi driver got us through even though we think he left a piece of the car behind on the first pothole we hit. So after making a quick stop at the bank, we had not proceeded another 25ft when the front tire hit what we thought was a giant pothole, but when the rear tire went in and didn’t come out, we knew we had a problem. We got out and saw that it was not a giant pothole, but in fact it was a 10ft deep open manhole in the middle of the road, which would be shocking to some people, but not us. The driver looked at the tire and then called to some guys across the street that came over and lifted the back end of the car out of the hole. We jumped back in the taxi and off we went only having wasted literally 90 seconds on the whole ordeal. Unfortunately, the hole had not been kind to the taxi’s exhaust system and we slowly lost power accompanied by a distinct burning smell until the taxi died. Luckily it died about 20yds from the place we were staying so grabbed our bags, thanked him and walked on.
We hopped the rafting bus to Jinja the next morning and had my mom in a raft on the Nile by 10am. The Nile River has class 5 rapids to raft, but smarter people, namely my wife, thought it would be best if we opted for the “family float” as opposed to taking my mom down class 5 rapids all day. The family float is nice because it only lasts a little over an hour and you get to experience monkeys, birds and a leisurely swim in the Nile as well as a couple of class 2 rapids that it is impossible to flip the raft in. We stayed at a gorgeous place called the “Nile Porch” that sits 100ft. above the river overlooking Bujagali Falls. The self contained tents are brilliant allowing spectacular views of the falls from in bed, in the hammock, in the shower, or even sittin on the can. We spent two days, including Lynn’s B-day, at this beautiful spot on the river before heading back to Kampala to meet some friends for dinner and then putting my mom on plane to fly home.
We had a great time showing my mom our little part of Africa and I think she really enjoyed herself also. Most importantly, however, is that she arrived home with the new found knowledge that Africa, Uganda in particular, is not simply a place of wars, deserts, and famine as the media tends to display it, but in fact is a place rich in culture, natural beauty and a resilient people who face up to great challenges on a daily basis.
