Dear
all,
Had
an amazing, exciting, scary and totally awesome weekend. Caught a bus
over to Uganda on Thursday night with 7 other people so there was a
decent sized group of us. Would have been fine except I had severe
food poisoning or something so the traveling was probably one of the
worst experiences of my life!!! That combined with bumpy roads made
for a very uncomfortable 12 hour bus ride...but my weekend was
definitely still worth it. We arrived in Uganga about 7am and caught
'boda bodas' (motorcycles) to our accommodation which was right on
the Nile. Riding on the back of a motorbike through the most amazing
countryside as the sun rises I can tell you is pretty amazing. Seeing
the Nile for the first time was definitely a highlight.
The
accommodation we stayed at was really nice. The bar actually looked
out over the river, I've put photos up but you really had to be there
to fully appreciate it. We all shared a big bunkhouse which was fun,
especially the monkeys waking us up in the morning by running over
the roof!!! The first day we went to a resort and lounged around by
the pool all day, nice relaxing day, definitely needed after
traveling for so long.
The
second day started out with bunji jumping!!! Ciara : I've decided
that sky diving is much more enjoyable this was literally the
scariest thing I've ever had to do. I thought I would be ok but
freaked out at the end a little bit. When you have your feet hanging
off the edge of a platform and only your ankles are strapped up its
pretty intense. The bunji guy pushed me off cos he could see I was
hesitating a bit lol. White water rafting down class 5 rapids was
next. There was a massive group of us just jumping off the boat and
swimming in the river, tipping the raft over and being carried by the
current. Going down the rapids was awesome, I would definitely do it
again, hopefully next time I won't be as nauseas from being sick
though!!!
I
wish I had my camera with me to show you how gorgeous it was to
drift down the Nile with the mountains and stunning scenery
surrounding us. There are people on the riverbanks washing clothes or
bathing, little kids running and waving to us and guys in boats with
fishing nets. The mountains are so lush and green, everything is so
colourful and vibrant, even the soil is red – my feet were stained
for a few days!! The drive back from the rafting was an experience in
itself. Being able to witness how these people actually live in mud
huts with cows and goats running around on the streets. Women with
babies tied to their backs or carrying massive loads on their heads.
Naked children running barefoot with excitement all over their
beautiful faces when they see us drive by. This is what you expect
the countryside in Africa to look like and it is stunning. Even
though the way they live is so primitive to what we are used to, they
seem happy and content enough. They have food, clothing, shelter and
each other and they seem satisfied with that – we could definitely
learn a lot from them!!!
So
that was a massive day which ended with a drunken night down at the
bar. They have a canoe strapped to the ceiling that we all managed to
get into which was fun (see photos). Partying with a bunch of
Americans and New Zealands was definitely fun.
So
now I'm back at the home stay writing this for you guys and putting
up photos. Was an awesome weekend and we've already booked our next
trip this coming weekend down to Mombassa which is on the coast.
Looks absolutely amazing, can't wait. Missing you guys so much,
starting to get a little bit homesick so you all need to keep me
updated on whats going on in Australia.
Miss
you guys – hope your all taking care, love you all to little
piecesxoxoxoxoxoxxoxoxxoxox - ki
