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Published: June 29th 2015
Nairobi
Crowded streets of Nairobi, and the chaos of bus stationsWe crossed the border into Uganda 10 days ago and were greeted by a very "friendly" man at Uganda customs who did not like the looks of our $20 bills - we had to pay for our visas in US $ - he told us to go back to Kenya. We persuaded him to take 5 of our finest bills and after the line grew to 10 people he grudgingly accepted. Welcome to Uganda!
Our first stop was Jinja, a town famed for housing the source of the Nile River. While the sight of the source was not super impressive, in concept we found it pretty cool. We spent a day getting used to things in Uganda, rode a boda-boda, ate delicious local food and did what we do best - wander aimlessly. We ended up booking a rafting trip on the White Nile for the following day - holy cow was that amazing! We paddled, swam, and even drank (unintentionally) some of the Nile. Of course, I wanted to sit at the front of the boat - this meant I got to control the pace of the strokes and see things truly head on. Seriously exhilarating. We were rewarded
Jinja
Our charming room in Jinja with both survival and a cold beer at the end of the trip. We went on that evening to Kampala, the capital city in Uganda. We spent 3 nights in Kampala - we were planning on 2, but someone (Andrew) left his rain jacket in Jinja and we had to wait for someone to bring it... That was pretty awesome and really speaks to the kindness of Ugandan people - someone came from Jinja (at least 2-3 hours drive) to bring Andrew his jacket. Anyway Kampala was nice - big city, huge markets for exploring, a big national Mosque, a ramshackle national museum and some of the loveliest people. After Kampala, we headed to Lake Bunyonyi - a really lovely lake surrounded by hills near the Rwandan border. Before getting to the lake, we made a last minute decision to add Rwanda to this trip, thus spent over an hour in a dusty transit town on the slowest internet ever sorting out our visas and tickets for onward travel. With that completed, we continued on to Itambira Island in Lake Bunyonyi. We stayed in a geo dome (think thatch roof shelter in a circular shape opening onto a private deck
Jinja
Jinja town (the sounds of Sunday church were all around us) facing the lake with no front wall) - amazing. The only thing separating us from nature was a mosquito net. We relaxed, went around the lake in a canoe, jumped in the freezing cold lake, and relaxed some more. One little side story - there is a small island, about 5' in diameter, that we rowed to. This island was once used to abandon pregnant, un-wed women to perish. I thought it would be cool to step on the soil. So Andrew directed us in through the reeds and swampy area and off the front of the boat I jumped, and into the nasty, stinky, knee deep, root covered sludge I sunk. Not my finest moment and I believe I said to Andrew, "Get me out NOW!" So I clambered back to the boat and we rowed out past the reeds where I washed of the nastiness. Worse yet, that meant that I had to brave the cold water shower later that evening.
The following day, we crossed into Rwanda. And this is where I changed my name. After 17 days of being called "Mzungu" (foreigner), it reached an all time high during this border crossing and I turned
Jinja
The start of the mighty Nile (at Lake Victoria) to a man in line at the border crossing and said, "yes, I have changed my name on my passport to Mzungu." Thus the title of this blog. This border crossing was easy and I was able to pass off some of my less than perfect bills that Uganda just would not accept. We waited on the Rwandan side of the border for a mini bus to fill up and transport us through the countryside to the capital city, Kigali. Beautiful, hilly countryside, green with farms and rivers flowing through. We arrived to Kigali and were determined to find the city center on foot (most big bus stations are located on the outskirts of cities). Oh boy do they have hills here! Not as steep as home, but much, much, much longer. After about a mile of a climb, we found the shabbiest and also most expensive place we have stayed in on this trip. We dropped our bags and started exploring. If you do not know the history of Rwanda stop reading this blog and look into it. We walked this beautiful capital city, walked the grounds of the Hotel des Milles Collines, walked to the monument and place
Rafting the Nile
Practicing how to get back into the boat - an important skill to master! where the 10 Belgian UN officials were shot - bullet holes, grenade damage in tact, we went to the Kigali Genocide Memorial. And then, walking in the city, seeing the local people, talking with some and thinking that anyone over the age of 21 lived through the atrocities that happened in 1994. Despite the recent tragedies, the capital city is the finest we have visited on this trip: sidewalks, cars that stop for you to cross, tree-lined streets, a feeling of security walking around at night - pretty neat.
So tomorrow we are flying to Tanzania. Normally we do not fly, but I think we are getting old. We opted for a 1 hour 25 minute flight over 30 hours of buses... how lame. Flying also allowed us to see Rwanda - which was definitely a good decision. Next stop Arusha, Tanzania and on July 1st we will start our climb up Kilimanjaro!
Happy birthdays: Noto, Kylie (hmm I think that is it)
Alyssa and Andrew
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Dad
non-member comment
What an adventure
Hi Alyssa and Andrew, I really enjoyed reading about your experiences in Uganda and Rwanda. And if there was a "like" button below each picture, I would have "liked" them all.. The rafting on the Nile looks very dangerous.. I really enjoyed the pictures and will read more about the history of that part of the world... Be careful and have fun climbing the mountain.. Dad