I have mastered my aim with the death trap toilets here; they make short-calls while camping look like child’s play. This weekend involved a girl’s safari trip in northern Uganda. This part of Uganda is definitely better funded through tourism as people are attracted to the national park and Murchison falls. The drive from home to Murchison took 6 hours, as there are no major highways. Half of the roads were beat up dirt roads and the others were two lane roads with drivers on kamikaze missions passing one another. It was early evening by the time we got to Packwach and located our hotel. At this point Basil let’s us know that he has to go and try to find someone to fix the vans battery. We had no idea there was something wrong with our only means of transportation; adventure 1 for the trip. Adventure 2 was upon waking up, we discovered the bridges into the national park that were only 5km away were completely flooded and impassable; so we had to rush in the early morning to speed down the road 40 minutes away for another entrance. The point of an early morning start was so we would have a chance to see lions at the watering hole. We made it into the park at which point the three of us stood with our heads out the sun roof like a couple of meerkats staring in awe at all the different varieties of antelope. There were giraffes on the horizon and wart hogs bouncing through the grass with their tails pointed straight up giving away their location. By the Nile River we came across a herd of elephants and hippos sleeping in the water. Adventure 3 was having an elephant charge at our van when he thought we were separating him from the herd. We continued on and finally came across three lionesses hidden in the brush. Absolutely breathe taking.
Next comes adventure 4, baboon vs. me. In order to get to Murchison falls we needed to take a ferry across the Nile. We all started to get our things organized and stretch our legs. Leah and Morgan ran for a short call leaving me alone by the trunk of the van sifting through our bag with curious baboons lurking around. I began to zone out and not pay attention to anything going on around me when I see a little black hand reach next to me to grab a pineapple cutting, I immediately yelp and jump causing the thing I thought for a split second was a little black child jump back as well. The little black child was actually a baboon, as we stared at each other for what seemed minutes I realized he was possibly going to try and steal items from my bag. At this point I reached quickly in to the trunk to zip up my bag, at the same time the baboon reached in to grab at my bag, this caused a knee jerk reaction from me… I smack the baboon on its head gaining myself a few extra seconds in the race. I got the bag zipped before the thief reached for the full packet of chocolate cookies on top of my bag, I again tried to fight a wild animal and grab the cookies back. Wild animal put me in my place with a threatening hiss and a quick reminder in my head that I do not have health insurance at this time. I gave up and let him take the goodies. He ran a few feet away and tour through the packaging, devouring every cookie inside while I finished in the trunk and slammed the door, glowering at the jerk for wining the fight. Every time I saw a baboon afterwards I looked at it with distrust and contempt. How dare that fool steal chocolate cookies!
After lunch we got on a boat for a river cruise up the Nile to the bottom of the falls. There was various wildlife along the way. This led to adventure 5, a hippo coming full speed ahead in the water and charging our boat, with a woman in the back almost bursting into tears from fear. There was no way the hippo could touch us but she was in complete panic non-the less. We made it to the falls without incident and hiked up to the top. I was in rapture watching this incredible site; two massive waterfalls converging… with a dead hippo caught in the current (really Mother Nature! Thanks for that!). Once you got used to the corpse and were able to block it out the absolute beauty of what we were seeing was able to be absorbed.
There was so much magnificence to see but nothing compared to our welcome home. I couldn’t wait to get back to Buziika after our weekend. As soon as the van pulled in to the center many of our children came careening at us, barley letting us out of the van, enveloping us in hugs letting us know we were missed. I was home, during the weekend I had started to get anxious with some teary eyed moments thinking about this being my last week here, once I got home all I felt was peace and joy. The girls were so happy to have us home that they took all our wash from us and powered through the dirt and grim with a fervor. We attempted to jump in and help but it was futile. These children are professionals at hand washing clothing, so we acquiesced and let them at it. I am now safely under my mosquito net, on my twin sized foam mattress bed, listening to the sounds of Buziika. The cow still sounds like a dying man, the street activity at night has become soothing with the crickets in the background. I actually look forward to hearing the masque announce it prayers at the un-godly hour of 5am tomorrow to start my day finishing my task of bring food to the hungry. I will also be bringing food to our children here at Canaan, through some generous donations we have ensured each child gets lunch for two terms (6 months) at school. I am beyond excited to get to Jijna on Tuesday to withdraw the money and present it to the administrators here.
“Life is not tried, it is merely survived, if you’re standing outside the fire”
Gypsy RN
