Hi! i cant believe i have been overlanding (its a verb!) for nearly 2 weeks now. the time is flying by and if i had written at the start of my trip it would have been filled with tales of yucky toilets at petrol stations, cold showers and the pain of putting up a tent in the dark. BUT 2 weeks on and i am totally into the routine of it.
i have so much to tell you all but as we now know, internet is a gift out here not to be abused so this will be brief...i think my first job when i get back to tanzania is to update this fully!!!
so far i am loving it. After the first few nights camping it gets easier. i cant say i love camping but if its not raining its not so bad. it takes getting used to as you hear EVERYTHING outside which can be freaky. it is just dark and pokey and for someone like me who likes to have their things organised and see what is in her bag, it's a pain!
you will be glad to know i am keeping clean - showers are mainly cold and drippy but at least there is water. when you get a hot shower its like heaven. i am in a permanent state of semi grubbiness but you stop caring very quickly and everyone is the same so no one smells any more than you do! some of the camp sites have basic facilities but the views and the surroundings make up for it..we have stayed on the banks of the nile, at lake naivasha, in a wild camp in queen elizabeth ii national pak in uganda....its been incredible.
so to give you a whistle stop tour...we went from kampala to rwanda via lake bunyoni where we stayed for 1 night (v pretty but cold and wet). rwanda was AMAZING. really incredible history and people. and i got to see the gorillas. see the separate entry for that...
and would you believe we went for a night out in rwanda and ended up in a bar with a load of locals who were dancing away- they are such a friendly bunch! we went for dinner to a local guys house (he invited us we didnt just show up!!) he arranged our gorilla permits for us. he then took us out and we had such a good time....it was strange looking around a packed bar and thinking im in rwanda!
the people are just amazing- so gentle and softly spoken- they all have incredible history and stories to tell but they aren't bitter. we met a girl whose family was wiped out in the genocide, apart from herself, her parents ans her sister. they hid in a swiss lady's house for 3 months and so we saved, but she lost everyone else, her aunts, unlces, grandparents, cousins....its hard to comprehend. and incredibly she wasn't angry or bitter- that was even harder to understand.
we also visited the genocide memorial centre which was heart breaking. v sad but so well put together. it is so eloquent and i was in awe as i walked around at not only the stories of people, but the effort that has gone into putting together a history that will teach people what happened, and help them learn from it.
while we were there, there were two funerals of victims whose bodies had been discovered. it brought home how this is still not over for rwandans. we also drove past what must have been a prison for the people accused of carrying out the genocide- they wear pink uniforms and there are still local trials in villages where people are made to detail their involvement and piece together what happened. its strange as for some people its more a way of finding out what happened to their loved ones, than it is a way of seeking revenge, as our courts of justice have become in the west. i didn't really know what to make of it all- it is so hard to understand how the people are so gentle and kind after living such horrors....it should teach us something about forgiveness and acceptance.
all in all its an amazing (sorry to keep using that word but its true) country and one i would visit again in a flash.
the orphanage i wanted to tell you about-i will dedicate a separate entry to this with photos as i plan to hit you all for some money for this place. if there is anywhere that makes me want to come back and do my bit, it was here. the orphanage is a small, independantly run place with 3 women teachers/ carers and maybe 30-40 children from the age of 18 months up to school age. it was the most pitiful place you can imagine...the rooms were dark and pokey, the walls were falling down in places and cracked, there were 15 children to a room, the matresses they slept on were dirty and torn...they had no toys (we saw one fire engine truck) and no learning aids...yet they were so friendly and happy. some of the kids saw us, grabbed on to us and would not let go. we sang songs with them, played games (which consisted of running round in circles but it made them laugh!), helped build a wall (which I am sure they re-did when we had left) and played football with them. they were totally obsessed with having their photos taken and mobbed us, and each other to see themselves on the screen. they are more deserving of help, funds, love and a future than any of the other projects i have visited so far. so watch this space as there will hopefully be a web site and a way of donating money...
from rwanda we came back to uganda and spent another night at lake bunyoni. we took a boat out to visit some of the surrounding islands and it poured just as we got in the boat to come back...so we got soaked. it rained A LOT in uganda. maybe why the country is so green!
we spent 2 nights wild camping in a national park - queen elizabeth II national park. there isn't much game to be seen as most has been poached, but as it was our first taste of wildlife (excuse the pun, we didn't eat any honest) i got pretty excited. we saw one elephant and a few buffalos, lots of gazelle, the bigger game is in the masai mara. this park was more for the hippos and the views. and we got an eyeful of hippo. one came up to our tents one evening and hung out with us. it was surreal!!!
we got told loads of crazy facts about hippos...how the females kill humans and are the more aggressive of the sexes, but how the male hippos kill their young sons to eliminate competition for the role of the dominant male in the group. interesting !!
we did a boat trip down the kazinga channel which was great - we saw loads of hippos. our guide also told us how a lion once killed 13 people in the space of 3 months in 1989 in the local kazinga village, including his friend. that helped us sleep well that night...
then we came to jinja in uganda on the nile. we got there hot, sweaty, dirty from wild camping (though in the park there was a great shower but you are just permanently grubby) and got offered the chance to upgrade to rooms. which i jumped at! it turns out the only one free for us was a luxury family cottage so 5 of us took it...it had a western toilet !, hot shower, balcony, pool, (yes a swimming pool!!!) and hammock...it was heaven! and it helped ease the hippo trauma :-)
we spent 3 days in jinja and it was so relaxing. there are loads of westerners who have settled there and you can see why, its very laid back. there is loads to do on the nile, like white water rafting.
NEWS FLASH - i did the zip line across the nile! where you are attached to a wire and fly across the nile. it was a lot of fun though it helps if you have a bit of meat on you as then you weigh more and go faster.
in jinja we also visited the soft power education project which i emailed you about before i left. it was really well run and organised and made me cry a little for the orphanage in rwanda as they could do with the same kind of help. soft power is a great example of how money and structure can help in a local area, at grass roots level. the project helps renovate and rebuild, and oten build new classrooms in schools. they work with the government and the result is impressive. i forget the numbers now but they have helped rebuild/renovate a large number of schools in jinja and are reaching out to neighbouring districts. while we were there they were finishing the renovation of a school...the paintings on the wall, the brightly painted chairs and benches and swings in the play area were sucha a stark difference to rwanda. we helped out for an afternoon putting the finishing touches to the school before the official opening, though their hard work the 3 months gone were already in evidence. gregg and I (see Gregg, you got a mention!) varnished the swing rather beautifully so i feel proud that my handiwork will be appreciated!
from jinja we drove a long route to kenya and did the masai mara. there will be a whole entry on kenya.
that leg of the trip ended in kenya and has been great so far. it is lonely at times but we are so busy moving about and putting up and taking down tents, cooking, etc. that you never have time to sit and think so that is great for me! the group is really good - i have drifted to the irish and english so we hang out..though there is a lovely couple from ottawa, canada here and one from edmonton too! who are lovely...a few ozzies...actually everyone is nice and there are 20 of us so there are alwasy enough people to talk to!
its easy to pass the time reading, there isnt much relaxing time as a lot of days are spent driving long distances - i love it though as the truck is like home...music, a library on the truck, food...its great! and we had someone bring out trashy magazines so we are SO sorted!
i am a true camper now....i even camped by myself a few nights! i can take down my tent is 5 minutes flat and we even cooked a meal for the cooks one night by ourselves (we did chilli and rice and guacamole and pancakes for dessert).
im going to hit send before the power goes...so i will write more soon.
L xxxx
