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Camp Terrace Bar
Nile Special? Yes please!!Uganda
Border crossing We departed
Eldoret just after sunrise in order to make the border crossing with Uganda before it got too busy. We packed sandwiches and bananas in the morning to have on the bus whilst we were on the road. We got to the border just before lunchtime and spent the best part on an hour there. Marietjie gathered up all of our passports and our money for our Ugandan visas and sorted the paperwork, while we all waited on the bus with the windows closed, to stop the crowds of people trying to sell us things outside (we were told we had to keep the windows closed when we stopped). Since the temperature was hovering around 30deg, the bus soon became a sauna as everyone inside started to get sweatier and sweatier as time progressed..not even a cosmo magazine could keep the men amused...after a while we broke the rules and opened the windows! Sweet relief!
Jinja After a trouble free border crossing, we drove on towards our home for the next three nights,
Jinja. Apparently (and I can't think why...) this town is very popular with ginger-haired people. We stopped briefly in the
Jinja Night Out Pt I
Albert, Glen, Marietjie, Brent, & Cath town for a currency exchange (Ugandan shillings) and a supermarket stop (more beer, water and chocolate please!) before we got to the campsite, situated right next to the Nile, with beautiful scenic views. We then settled in with a beer or two in preparation for White Water Rafting on the nile the next day. The Jinja area (and other parts of Uganda) is characterised by very red coloured soil, which we soon found out gets EVERYWHERE. We were also told in other parts the soil goes almost black.
Despite not being a waterbaby, nor a competent swimmer, I opted to join the group in rafting.... must have been too many "Nile specials" the night before. In the morning we were all taken to the tour base, fed a nice cooked breakfast (lunch would be eaten on the rafts!) and suited up with a tight fitting life jacket and helmet (hmmmmmm!). We were then taken down to the start of our 32km stretch of the nile, which included about three grade 5 and grade 4 rapids, some grade 3's and 2's. After about half an hour of safety instructions (go forward, go back, GET DOWN, HOLD ON!) we were let
Jinja Night Out Pt II
Local Cusine in Uganda loose.
The morning went really well, we managed to navigate through some very hairy rapids without flipping the boat and I only managed to drink about 3 litres of the Nile in the process. The boys were having the time of their lives, whilst I was glad to be alive! After a few rapids in quick succession we had a stretch of about an hour in which were were just floating or paddling along. So out came the pineapple, which over here was soo sweet and delicious, and also the glucose crackers (all the paddling was hard work!!). And a switch over in seating..Brent who had been up the front for the first part, moved to the middle infront of me (who was still clinging on for dear life at the back). Then after lunch we approached our first rapid, a waterfall about 3-4 metre drop. We were advised NOT to fall out on this one as there were many rocks. As with most rapids the guides know an easier route and a more difficult route to take, some which are more likely to flip you over an some not. Unfortunately it was not plain sailing for our boat
Satellite TV
Local kids entertainment on demand as we had the indignity of getting stuck on the rocks after the first section!!! Our guide actually had to get out, stand on the rocks and pull us free as we scrambled around the boat to give him leverage. Then, as we were no longer in a position to choose we went down the difficult route (unlike the other two boats which took the chicken route). Our boat survived but I fell out at the bottom! In fact, when we saw the video later on, I bounced up and did a complete backwards flip off the boat...!
We then navigated a few more hairy ones before coming up to rather easier looking grade 3. We should have known better not to be off our guard..it all happened so quickly...our boat flipped to the right, with Brent & I the first ones to hit the water. It happened so fast we did not have time to get a breath. Both of us did the one thing I was most afraid of and got stuck under the boat. Brent, who had more experience in this, did not panic and was able to get a breath under the boat before getting
to the surface. I had already swallowed water on the way down and had no breath in me. When I tried to get to the surface, I had the boat on my head and I couldn't get a breath in. I then swallowed a whole heap of water before I finally got to the surface, coughing and spluttering, trying to get the water off my lungs. Although I surfaced a little before Brent, the lack of a breath had me winded for quite a while.
I should probably point out now that we were always accompanied by a "safety boat" on the trip along with a whole host of people in kyacks, which come and rescue you whenever you get tipped out. So while getting caught under the boat was a terrifying and horrible experience, I would have been pulled out pretty soon had I not been able to get to the surface (or so I hope!!).
After my "near death experience" it was then decided I sit out the last rapid, having spent another 10 minutes coughing and spluttering and trying to catch my breath. We had to go to the shore and walk around a grade
Public Transport
Air Con Included... 6 rapid anyway..so I continued on walking to the truck, whilst Brent & the boat navigated the last grade 5 for the day. Then it was back to camp for a big BBQ, beers and enjoyable viewing of our trip video at 9pm. A few days later I still have a rather impressive set of bruises spanning my legs, stomach and arm!!
The next day we spent with a charity called "Softpower Education" helping at a local school to paint buildings. We each donate US$30 to the charity which goes towards and upgrading the schools involved in the programme; the running costs of the two pre-schools; running the Amagezi Education Centre; continuing the work in Murchison; buying building materials and paying for Ugandan labour and staff. Our mode of transport for the day was to stand on the back of a truck. Whilst holding on tight it gave some lovely relief to the heat of the day! To start the day we went along to a local school where the younger kids (I'm guessing age 4-6) learn how to be at school, how to sit quietly in a classroom and take lessons. We walked into each of the three
Manual Labour
Looking like I'm doing something! classes and the kids sang a song to us, it was very cute! Then we went along to another school where we learnt a little bit more about what Softpower does and had the opportunity to kick/throw a soccer/rugby ball we had bought along to play with the kids. At he third school it was down to work. We were divided into 2 teams - the first with the red paint, -- which we had learnt was very very hard to wash off clothes! - which were painting the wavy designs on the new classroom blocks. The second team (using the nice water-based white paint!) were turning an old derelict room into a temporary office for the school principal. We spent a couple of hours using rollers (and rollers on sticks to reach the high walls) painting a white undercoat. We then had a nice local lunch supplied, before applying the second coat. It was hard work, but a rewarding experience and the kids were really fun to spend time with.
The next day it was goodbye to Jinja and onwards to Kampala, the capital city of Uganda, where we would spend one night and meet up with an additional five people who would join us for the Gorilla trek.
Up early again the morning, Brent noticed a red dotted rash on his neck and arms. It looked very much like heat rash (having had it many times myself!) at first. So we hopped on the bus for the quick two hour journey to Kampala. On arriving at the Red Chilli Hideaway Brent noticed his rash was getting much worse, spreading right across his chest and on his back and his neck had turned into welts and scabs. After discussing this with Marietjie, we decided to see a doctor in town at the local surgery. At the doctor, she examined Brent and then uttered the fatal words...."have you been in contact with children"...Yes..we replied..lots. And then "have you ever had
chicken pox?" ....NO we replied...the terror growing in my eyes....
Back at camp we discussed the situation...Marietjie had never come across a contagious disease while on tour...previous people had suffered malaria and broken bones, but not this. So she contacted her boss in South Africa, and it was decided that we would have to leave the tour until Brent was over the chickenpox. Anne-Marie at Red Chilli (we cannot praise her enough!) was awesome, sorting us out accomodation for the night at a local hotel (as our tour was leaving at 5am the next day!) and then sorting us out a good deal at a place called Africana Hotel.
So we are now at the hotel, where we have spent the last three days..waiting for Brent to get better and hoping that I do not get it as well. Then at some point we hope to rejoin the tour somewhere down the line.
In the meantime, we hope to make the most of our exile in Kampala. It's a lovely modern city, where the people are really friendly. We a situated near to a big mall, with a supermarket, cinema and bowling alley, and health permitting hope to see some of the local sites while here.
Bye bye for now
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David Couch
non-member comment
Hello from Us
Hi. We just read your blogs in bed with a cup of tea. What a great adventure you are having. CC, well done on facing your fears and going rafting. Remember it is that very trip where Tracey almost broke her leg and had an injury that took months to heal so it can certainly be dangerous. We hope Brent is feeling better.