Week 15
15/04/13-21/04/13
Monday
Week 15 is our week off so we had a lot of fun things
planned for this week. We visited Ginger and went on safari which allowed us to
see a lot of new things in Uganda.
On Monday we travelled to Ginger so that Thomas could go
white water rafting and the rest of us could go horse riding along the Nile;
yes very awesome indeed. On our way I realised I had forgotten my memory card;
oh well it would give me a good chance to just relax and enjoy the time instead
of feeling like I should be taking pictures of everything and I was able to get
pictures from everyone else anyway. When we got to ginger we had some time to
kill so we walked to the markets which were fantastic. I purchased two African
shirts that were very colourful and we discovered an incredible painting shop
so we all pulled out our bartering skills and we were able to decrease the
prices quite a lot. I bought a very nice painting of a village of kids playing
with a sunset, it is very basic style but its business just captured me so I
bought it for 40’000 UGX which is about $16; which was an awesome price
considering they were asking 80’000UGX which is about $32. We then walked back
and jumped on the back of a Ute that transported us to our luxury resort
overlooking the Nile. Ok so it wasn’t a resort in the least more equivalent to
a one star back packers hostel, but it was clean, great food and was in one of
the most beautiful places in the world, plus it had free Wi-Fi.
We then took a boat ride to the other side which was in this
cool large wooden blue canoe; it was a very cool boat. We then hiked up what
seemed the largest hill (probably because we had just had lunch) and made it to
the horse place. We had planned to do a 3 hour ride but were advised to do a 2
hour instead and thank God we did because whoa by the end of it I was sore to
say the least. It was really nice as I got to ride a black horse through the a
very simple farming village and was privileged to see Hannah’s horse stumble
and see the fear on her face as she hung onto the horses neck for dear life. We
also rode along the Nile for a while; my horse was very slow and I had to kick
it so hard to make it move that I even felt pain, but I did what I had to. We
then went back across the river were we hung out at the bar using the Wi-Fi and
eating tea on the veranda that overlooked the Nile. Then as we were sitting
Callie looked over and said wow that looks like Peters car, then the guy hoped
out and Callie said wow that looks a lot like Peter. Buy this time we are all
looking and then bam their is Esther and Joseph getting out of the car. The
three of them had all driven down to Ginger just to say hi. It was really cool
and then using my Ipad we looked at everyone’s face book photos. We then went to Bed and I had a really good
sleep.
Tuesday
In the morning at Ginger I was given the knowledge that
there were monkeys outside, so I grabbed Callie’s camera and spent the morning
stalking red tailed monkeys (no that is not a an actual name) and even got one
cleaning another’s butt; a very successful morning indeed. We then went out of
the hostel place and bought Chapatti and had a look at some craft stores. We
then spent that rest of the morning using the Wi-Fi and then our van arrived to
take us home, we then slept and packed for the next part of this week’s
adventure.
Wednesday
The morning of the long waited safari awaited and thus we
were not bummed to be waking up for a 4:00am departure with the Andrew the man
who would be taking us on safari whom we had only briefly met. As it was so
early it was interesting to see Kampala at night and as the morning awoke we in
the presence of an incredible sunset exploding with the warm richness of a
volcanos reds, oranges, yellows and pinks. We arrived at around 11 or 12 maybe
so we had some time to settle in before lunch. It took about an hour to drive
to the five star resort that we actually stayed in so we got to see a lot of
baboons and jungle foliage. Lunch was a
three course meal in which we had to choose what we wanted and in simple terms
was a new experience for me. We then had a swim in a beautiful looking pool
that felt like acid. My skin did not like what was in the water so I felt like
I was in a bath of slimy acidic lemon juice, if ya get meh. After that it was a
shower and off on our first safari trip.
We then boarded our bus, picked up our tour guide Sarah (who
is absolutely amazing and the only female ranger on the park) we headed off on
the search of the magnificent African animals. Not far out we saw a herd of
elephants. So we stopped and took a bazillion photos of them and apparently it
was a very chance to even see elephants sometimes so to see some not even 15
minutes in was what we believe Jesus hand and a huge blessing from the king of
kings (even king over the king of the jungle). I can’t even try to describe the
safari because it something that can’t be described. I videoed some of it but
at the same time, I mean what can I say it was simply being in the presence of
the most beautiful creation of Jesus’ that I have ever seen. We did get to sit
on the top of our bus roof rack which again isn’t usually allowed so again a
huge blessing. The second safari was just as incredible so I will list the
animals we saw and you can see some pictures on face book if you so wish. We
got to see Elephants, baby Elephants, Giraffes, baby Giraffes, a heap of
antelopes, one lion (which is again very rare), Hyenas, Jackals, (also both
rarer to see than a lion), hippos, mongoose, some cool birds and my favourite
strangely Wart Hogs. It honestly was the most beautiful place to be sitting on
that bus rack with all these animals, a warm breeze and watching the sun set
over the Nile with the blue mountains in the background, and the clouds
saturated in the most amazing palate of colours...indescribable. A cool note
though, on our way past the lion a second time as it lazily slept under an
acacia bush the bus driver apparently was more unimpressed that it wasn’t doing
anything more than us, so he jumped out of the bus and started provoking it
which it worked and then it got up snarled, growled and then ran away in which
I yelled out ‘Pussy’ (double meaning) and then everyone laughed. We then went
home high on life and Jesus and were greeted by the world’s most delicious
buffet and then slept on the worlds comfiest beds. And then all Gods people
said yes and amen.
Thursday
Thursday was an early morning safari which again was just as
great as the first one, but even though we actually got to see a lot more
animals it didn’t have the same magical atmosphere as the afternoon one. We
then went home for an incredible buffet breakfast which then ended in another
trip to the soft heavenly bed. I then woke up for lunch which again was basically
a feed lot moment for me again and after lunch I looked at some memes on face
book (using the free Wi-Fi) before we headed off for our boat cruise. The boat
cruise was amazing like the safaris except on water. We got to see hippos, baby
hippos!!, crocodiles, some very pretty birds like finches and kingfishes, some
baboons on the shore and a family of elephants on an outer crop of land having
some fun which we also enjoyed. We then stopped about 100m of the falls as the
water up closer was very choppy and got to see a community of finches on an
island in the middle of the river, nest and all and got some selfies in front
of the falls. We then headed back; the end of our safari basically and then
again picked out at the gourmet feed lot. After dinner we had a debrief and
went to bed.
Side note, as you walked to our rooms there were these
things flying around so fast you couldn’t see them and the first night I
thought they were just moths. The second night I took my camera and as they
flew past I took a picture and found out they were tiny bats (probably chocked
up rabies) flying all around us.
Friday
On Friday we had breakfast and headed home, taking the fairy
to the other side in which we took a really cool video talking about how we all
felt about the safari. On our way home we stopped at the top of the falls and
stared in awe, took some selfies, took some group shots, took some videos and
then boarded our bus ride for the long ride home. We stopped at Java’s on the
way home as we had some left over money and Andrew left us which was really
sad. Andrew was an awesome guy and I got some cool footage of him singing
Hukoona Mutata. We then went home and slept after such a big adventure.
It was such an awesome experience and until you go on a
safari yourself you cannot understand the indescribable awesomeness of God that
I experienced out on hat savannah. All I can say is praise Jesus.
Saturday
Today we had our seed project which included cleaning up a
market as a part of a bigger picture of cleaning up Kampala. I did some
sweeping and with the many hands the work was very light and we got to go
within in two hours. Then we went out for lunch and then Hannah and I (cool
note every time I reference myself and some else, I always write Me and _____
but thanks to my friend Clare I always remember to write it _______ and I, so
thanks Clare ha ha) went to get our Disney day supplies. We then went to church
and ounce home Hannah and myself got to work with Disney day; until 1:30am.
Sunday
Today was the big day of Disney day, the idea behind it was
simply that everyone has put together special days like Easter or valentine’s
day so Hannah and I who hadn’t done anything decided to put the best together
and choose our own Holiday Disney day; we also like to win.
We had previously made a giant Disney castle cut out, some
awesome posters and a few other things. We started in the morning preparing
food and then at lunch we kicked everyone out so we could set up our obstacle
course and our mad Hatters tea party. I had made a top hat to be the mad Hatter
but that didn’t work out so I became an Indian coinciding with Hannah who was
Pocahontas.
When everyone came home we all got ready with their costumes
that represented the movie they had been assigned. So Thomas and Emily dressed up
as the beauty and the beast, Thomas being a busty and bouncy beauty and Emily
the beast. The little mermaid Danielle who painted herself red as Sebastian and
Natalie who was the little mermaid; I personally felt like they had the best
costume. Jess and Esther were Cinderella, Esther was the god mother and Jess
the slave Cinderella. Tangled was Callie being Repunzel and her mum Miss
Dinette was the mother, we planned the day so that Miss Dinette could be here
as this was her last full day.
The activities started with painting one member of the team
in colours of the wind; Pocahontas. Then came an obstacle course, Elephants
graveyard which was constructed of mattresses and bed frames; Lion king. Then
came a maze in which one team member was blinded whilst the other lead them
threw by voice commands; didn’t think of a movie for it but maybe Tarzan being
like a maze in the jungle. Then came lady and the tramp in which one contestant
had to eat spaghetti of the ground like a dog; however unfortunately the ants
started the game early and cancelled that event. Then the last game was poison
apples in which one team member had to choose a toffy apple and the one who got
the poison apple would win; what was the poison apple you ask? It was a toffied
onion and yes someone bit into it Muhahahahahahaha. Natalie was the lucky
winner and the theme was snow white. After that we had our mad hatters tea
party which we had a lot of food and all the cutlery was uneven, like some got
a bowl while another had maybe five teacup saucers and another may have had two
teacups so it was cool. I had made a mad Hatters hat which was really awesome
and everyone just looked incredible. After that Calvin ad Sherly came just in
time for Princess and the frog which coincidently was their movie. As we
watched the movie we had jelly and ice cream and a yummy pineapple cake that
Sherly made. It was really nice that they could be there; I don’t know they
just added something cool to it.
So it was defiantly and awesome day and I am really thankful
everyone put 100% into the day and their costumes. The winners were Callie and
Miss Dinette with their quick times and they won two snickers bars, a bag of
prized Australian beef Jerky and got to (had to) wear two Disney party hats. It
worked really well and Hannah and I dare someone to take us on.
