Uganda
Mafubira

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    • Day 18

      Otters

      October 27, 2023 in Uganda ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C

      I gave myself some time chill this morning, as I had the tent to myself because Jack had upgraded. This made a sleep in a bit easier. I then resurfaced, with not too bad of a hangover, because I had slowed down the drinking by the time it was evening. I recovered, called friends, did some journals, and had a big breakfast before I tried to figure out what to do. I had originally planned to do nothing today, but because we missed tubing yesterday afternoon, I felt obliged to do something. As a result, Jack, Lisa, Vic, and I thought we would try SUP boarding. I had never done it, so I was quite nervous about it, but I figured it couldn't be that bad, even if I'm shit at it. One thing we didn't consider was the strong current that is flowing down river. As such, it got us in a bit of strife. Jack and I started with the kayak before swapping with the girls quite shortly after starting. Swapping wasn't too difficult, but battling the current was very hard. I was struggling at first but just decided I would get close to the islands to avoid the stiffest part of the current. Eventually, I started making progress, but Jack had much less luck and couldn't stay balanced. Constantly falling in meant that he was flowing downstream. Given that I had never tried SUP boarding, I left it to the girls to rescue him since they had the kayak. But things did not get easier for them. I ended up cruising around the islands looking at different wildlife, while the other three were battling the current the whole time instead of adopting a similar strategy to me. I still felt kind of helpless as if I went back, I would also then be stuck struggling against the current. To get themselves out of the situation, the girls had to swap one of their paddles with Jack so he could double paddle out. But it meant they were stuck with a double paddle and a single paddle in the kayak. It's not helpful when trying to go straight. I almost went to shore to get someone to go save them. In a funny turn of events, they were apparently worried about me because I had gone off course, but they didn't know I was just avoiding the heavy currents. While they struggled, I kept going upstream as I was actually having a lot of fun. Eventually, they went back to shore, and I thought that may have meant that we were out of time. Turns out they were all just tired as fuck from the constant paddling, but given I didn't have my phone I couldn't know the time. We then did the slide again because Vic wanted to do it but not alone. That was really fun again.

      This was some good physical activity before our final event. A sunset cruise of the Nile, which was once again a bottomless drinks event. This was really cool as we got to see parts of the Nile we would never have been able to see, with another guide who loved to explain the history of the Nile. We then saw the dam that controls the flow of water as well as Otters. Something I did not know existed in the river, but I was very happy to see as they were very cute and not something I had ever seen before. Nick and Laura had decided to bail on the cruise and instead do paddleboarding. It was funny to see them on the river and let Nick punch three beers while he sat on his paddle board attached to the boat. We obviously wanted to make the most of bottomless drinks during the 2 hours, but I was very drunk by the time we got back. I remembered the cruise and dinner, but everything after that was a blackout. People asked me what the score of the rugby game was before I went to bed. I was embarrassed when I couldn't even remember the game they were talking about. One good note was that I had decided to upgrade to a big tent with a bed for the last night. It was looking like rain, and we were not keen to deal with that. It was a God sent and a needed good sleep.
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    • Day 60

      Rafting!

      March 1, 2016 in Uganda ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

      I guess 140$ goes a long way here... At least considering prices elsewhere. Confirmed via email the day before, Nile River explorers picked us up at our hotel, brought to their rafting headquarters/hostel in Jinja, fed us breakfast after a briefing (I asked for a second breakfast and got it!), followed by 3.5ish amazing hours on the river, a snack along the way, and a BBQ to end it all with free unlimited drinks. Yep, free beer. That never happens here. Usually they know it's their opportunity to make money so they charge even more then regular price because you're isolated. But here, free! We even arranged for our night in their dorm to be free! They used to do it but stopped in July last year apparently. But because we "asked nicely" according to our emails, we got a night for free!

      Their camp side hostel is absolutely beautiful. Restaurant and deck overlooking the river from on top on the hill, outdoor themed showers, there's a slide and zipline at the water... Just beautiful. Complete with a view of monkeys.

      The rafting was great! 8 grade 3-5 rapids, we fell out once and the boat flipped once... Good times! Bright sunny day, of course our legs got burnt despite sunscreen... They aren't used to being exposed! There was a lot of "dead" river between the rapids, so lots of rowing... Arms kind of tired... My workout of the week! Working out is easy when you just think back on your week!

      This morning we're off to our last stop in Uganda... I'm sad to leave but I feel quite satisfied with our time here. I feel I have a good idea of what Uganda is, and who Ugandans are... Almost time to move on.
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    • Day 1

      Jinja

      July 5, 2017 in Uganda ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

      Been a busy couple of nights with James on cooking duty, buying and cooking dinner, breakfast and lunch with two others followed by Louisa doing dinner and breakfast with a different cook crew. It was a quite a challenge with 20 meat eaters, 5 vegetarians, a small budget, three coal burners to cook it on as well as the hot water for washing up! We crossed the border yesterday and instantly noticed the difference as it looks quite tropical with fruit trees, rice paddies and many mud round houses in the rural areas. We have had quite a few storms as the wet season has come late (it's now the dry season). We are having a couple of nights on the banks of the River Nile, supposedly the source as it flows out of Lake Victoria. This morning, before the storm, we used a cut out kayak to slide down a ramp that launched us 10 foot in the air! Whilst travelling along we get so many waves from everyone along with massive smiles - such a great reception.Read more

    • Day 20

      Day 20: From Kenia to Uganda (Jinja)

      February 21, 2019 in Uganda ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C

      Today was my first ride in the Nomad truck. It’s a custom build overland truck for Trans Africa tours 🚌 Its quite nice actually, seats like on a normal bus, USB chargers on every seat, lockers for our luggage, seat belts etc. It fits over 20 people - but we were only 8, so lots of space for everyone 😉 it’s name is Karen, by the way 👌

      Anyways, we were driving from Kenia to Uganda today ... it took about 12 hours to get to our final destination. But I didn’t mind. I enjoyed looking out of the window, observing the landscape and waving to local children (they were pretty excited about the big truck passing by). So far Uganda is really beautiful ... such a green country ... I’m super excited about the upcoming days 🇺🇬🇺🇬🇺🇬

      I’m staying at Lake Victoria tonight by the way (close to the city of Jinja) - the source of the river Nile. Look it up on the map, it’s pretty big 🇺🇬🇺🇬🇺🇬
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    • Day 117

      Jinja en Ouganda !

      March 2, 2019 in Uganda ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

      L'Ouganda, c'est un peu notre pays bonus, celui pas prévu initialement mais qu'on a eu envie d'aller voir de plus près. Liberté permise par le temps qui s'offre à nous et notre itinéraire qui s'écrit au fur et à mesure du voyage.

      C'est aussi notre pays "vacances", sans RDV ni projets à visiter ! Nous commençons par Jinja, petite ville située au bord du lac Victoria, 2ème plus grand lac au monde derrière le Lac Supérieur entre le Canada et les USA ! C'est également le point de départ du Nil Blanc, une des sources du Nil et surnommé ainsi du fait de ses nombreux rapides. Amateurs de rafting, accourez !

      Nous on a opté pour une version plus tranquille et économique, et avons parcouru en kayak une zone calmée par la construction d'un barrage en amont. L'occasion d'approcher une végétation luxuriante, de nombreux oiseaux, chauve-souris, singes et loutres.

      Pour nous y rendre, nous sommes restés fidèles aux matatus. L'occasion de vous proposer le juste prix africain ! A votre avis, combien de personnes (adultes, enfants et bébés confondus) fait-on rentrer dans ce type de minibus prévu initialement pour 14 personnes ?
      On cuisine un rolex (l'incontournable en-cas ougandais fait de chapati + omelette) à la personne qui propose le nombre le plus proche ! On vous laisse répondre directement en commentaire. :)
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    • Day 28

      Day 28: Jinja

      March 1, 2019 in Uganda ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

      Remember Jinja? I have been here before. Only this time I had half a day to spend in this nice town. So I have decided to get a local guide and take a tour through Jinja village 🇺🇬

      The guide was the sweetest man. Very, very smart!!! Actually he knew more about what is currently going on in the world than I do 😂 And he taught me about his culture and believes 🙏

      You will find some pictures of the town. I will make another post just about the children I have met today - they were very sweet 💛
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    • Day 6

      Kayaking and River Cruise on the Nile

      November 30, 2019 in Uganda ⋅ 🌧 20 °C

      I slept quite well for the first time and.got out of my tent as a troupe of vervet monkeys walked and bounded past the tent – I love how these little creatures behave – mischievous and lively – there was a mother with her little baby hanging onto to her stomach.  I organised to kayak with a ncie guide, Abraham, up the Nile from a lovely campsite with beautiful views over the Nile river. It was early morning and the river was full of birds such as kingfishers (small blue malachite and larger Pied), cormorants (great and smaller reed), hamerkop, kites, a fish eagle, crowned hornbill and many more. We saw monitor lizards by the bank. We looked for river otters and eventually found about 3 otters along the bank which was wonderful to see! I enjoyed talking to the guide about wildlife in Africa and England and comparing the two. The guide gave me a gin and tonic before we started to paddle back to the campsite. We passed rocks across the river which used to be a walkway for locals across the river before the new dam was built and the river rose to more of a lake. We paddled through the river islands which were full of birds and paddled back to the jetty. I nearly fell into the river as I was getting out of the kayak! Then I went on a river cruise on a larger boat up the same stretch of river all the way up to the upper dam. It was sunny as we started and took photos of the river and fishermen in their boats, but then the clouds darkened dramatically and we sheltered from a big storm for almost an hour. The weather began to clear and the boat staff hauled up the tarpaulins. It was an anxious moment when the boatman couldn't free us from the muddy river bank where we had sought shelter. After a few minutes and a lot of heaving with an old oar he managed to extricate us and we sailed back down the river. We saw river otters on the way back as well as the many birds including kingfishers and evrets. It was an eventful but still enjoyable second outing on the Nile. In the evening I had a nice conversation with Kristin (an American girl that will travel with us all the way to Johannesburg) about visiting the earliest sites of human evolution in Africa during our trip, early cave paintings in France and American politics. Kristin susports Bernie Sanders which I liked about her – we agreed to continue our conversation during the trip. I watched Liverpool FC beat Brighton (just!) on the bar TV and talked to Linda (daughter – Heather). I then got an early night with a misty crescent moon and chirping insect calls as I got into the tent. PS – I met a Frenchman who is cycling through Africa as part of a ‘self-powered' trip around the world. He walked across Alaska and Russia – swimming across the Beiring Straight.  He will cycle across Africa to Namibia and then row to Brazil! Read more

    • Day 11

      Jinja Nile Camp

      June 19, 2017 in Uganda ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

      This little resort is right on the River Nile and the views are amazing. Jess and I couldn't be bothered setting up our tent so we paid the extra $5 to be put into a door with four other girls on the trip for the two nights.

      The bunk beds were three beds high but we each had our own insect net, the beds were comfortable, there was wifi in the bar, the showers were HOT and the toilets flushed!

      I am just glad I didn't have to put up and take down the tent in the dark, I will have plenty of time for that in the up coming forty days!
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    • Day 14

      White water rafting and horse riding

      December 18, 2019 in Uganda ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

      Today Ant went off to do a full day of white water rafting which sounded like a terrifying experience and I was super relieved that I had chosen the horse riding activity instead.

      We met the owner who was a guy called TJ from Newcastle, Australia and has been in Uganda for 16 years. I was helped onto my horse called Southern Comfort and had a guide called Henry. In the group was also Ciara, Florien, Nancy and Stef. We rode through the villages and then along the Nile. Just as we reached the end, the tour leader, Moses had a problem with his horse and Moses was thrown down the bank of the river. Luckily he was unharmed and we were relieved to reach the end.

      In the evening we all went on a sunset cruise on the nile.
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