Blogs from Western Region, Uganda, Africa - page 35

Hello again! There's so much to tell, and judging by the speed of this computer most will have to remain until I get home. It hasn't even been a week since my last blog yet so much has happened I feel we have been away for months. The Kabale part of our visit was rounded off by an extraordinary partnership ceremony which was like a mix of cabaret -cum -prize giving, in which our "blessed Liz headmistress" was called upon to pray for the students. We were given gifts (personalised t shirts bearing the crests of both institutions) & certificates of attendance, and Twino and Liz swapped UK / Uganda flags. (Earlier, Phil had been wearing our Union Jack round his shoulders in a Tebbet/football hooligan style!) Everyone here has been incredibly generous to us; ... read more

It's Good Friday and I find myself at an art exhibition (the artist is Edward, husband of Penninah, the head of English at KHS) held in the White Horse Inn so have popped into the manager's office to borrow the (dial up connection) internet again! The last two days have been so eventful there's not a hope I can tell all here. In brief, yesterday I went to the Wisdom Day Care nursery started up 2 months ago by my English teaching partners Penninah and Enid, helped by a 3rd founder, Peter. They have cleaned out and painted some outbuildings and gathered a few sticks of furniture to make a nursery with the aim of rescuing some slum children from nearby. The most impressive thing about these women is their determination to achieve this, their ... read more

You can be forgiven for not having heard of this mountain range because it seems few people have. But I don't know why. It is the highest mountain range in Africa, containing Africa's third highest peak, and has the biggest ice caps left on the continent. Since the mountain range straddles the equator they get a lot of sun, and being downwind of the Congo basin, also a lot of rain. Consequently the vegetation is really bizarre. There are are forests of heather six metres high, giant lobelia and lots of other plants that look familiar but are enormous. So bugs and animals that usually eat them are scaled up as well. Overall you get the feeling that you are trekking somewhere like Middle Earth. There are jungle elephants here too, but we only saw the ... read more

Well my friends the time has come - our final travel blog. You'll probably be reading this as we arrive back home in London and we'll soon be in touch to arrange a drink or 2. We can't wait to see everyone again. Our last adventure was in Uganda, which began with tracking gorillas in Bwindi Forest and ended at a village near Fort Portal working with the community. First to the gorillas. The journey from Kampala was a long and bumpy route but made unforgettable by the lush scenery and hordes of children waving, smiling and shouting "How are yoooooou". The trek itself, to see the family of 12 apes, took 2 hours of huff and puff through dense forest but when we eventually found them it was an overwhelming moment. The playful babies rolled ... read more

28th July Friday DAY 7 LAKE BUNYONYI to NKURINGO Up early again but as we were leaving our tents and the truck it was a quick morning to get ready. As soon as the Matatu mini vans arrived the girls jumped in one and the guys in the other. Some of the group went to Bwindi (2) and Rwanda (3) as that was how the permits worked out. The rest of us were headed to a different area of Bwindi and that was Nkuringo. We went into town first to grab snacks and water. The drive was through some beautiful mountainous scenery and the little villages along the way were so cute with awesome mud brick houses. The road was the bumpiest I have ever been on; taking us 5 hours to do about 70km’s with ... read more