Our first stop was in Jinja where you can go rafting and Bungee Jumping. It took us about 9 hours to get there from Kitale but it was well worth it. First we tried to go bungee jumping but the bungee master had already gone home for the day. So we went to Nile Rivers Campsite where we booked our rafting trip and stayed for the night.
This is a view from Nile River's Campsite. We could walk down by the river where they had some docks you could walk out on.
As we were eating dinner we got to watch the sunset
The next morning we got ready for a crazy trip down the Nile. It looks really calm in the background but I promise you that the rapids were not like that. We went down 1 class 5 rapids two class 4 and about 3 class 3 rapids. The class 5 rapid was so fun! it was at the end of a class 6 which looked insane, I was pretty glad that it wasn't the one we were going down.
This is a picture of me rafting.. I'm not sure if it actually attached because to me to just looks llike a blank box. Well if the picture is actually there then it is of me and the guide in the "Bad Place" it is the class 5 rapid and was so much fun! somehow I didn't get knocked out of the raft when everyone else did. the guide and I ended up staying in the raft for about 45 more seconds until we flipped. It was so scary and fun! the guide said that I had the best expression of fear on my face. Randomly throughout the rest of the trip he would start laughing and say that he got a flashback of my horrified face.
This is me infront of Lake Buyonyi which was about a 10 hr bus ride from Kampala where we had stayed with one of Lindseys friend the night before. We tried to get all the way to Bwindi but of course the bus too way longer than expected. We got to Kibale where we planned to get another bus to Bwindi but they weren't running anymore for the day. We looked in the guide book and it said Lake Buyonyi was like the terraced hills in Nepal so we figured we might as well stay in Nepal for the night! I was so glad we did because it was absolutely gorgeous. We stayed in a safari tent which overlooked the lake.
Here is the sunset over Lake Buyonyi. I swear the sunset got better and better everywhere we went.
So the next day we got a ride to Bwindi. It was the most ridiculous transportation ever! We traveled 4 hours in the back of a pickup truck packed with people and potatoes and bananas and wood. At one point there were 16 people in the back with all of this stuff. The drivers get very greedy and put way to many people in the cars or buses. After the truck dropped us off in a different place than they told us we had to get a moto to go the final 32 km. Turns out that after all of the time outside traveling my face turns the color of all of the dirt. Everything is soo dusty here because it is the dry season. I looked like an Umpa Lumpa once we finally got to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. My backpack was black too but it is pretty much brown in the picture.
This is the view at our hotel. Bwindi is the most dense forest I have ever seen. This is a great park to come and do a gorilla trek because there are so many gorillas in the forest. We didn't do one because we didn't have the extra $500 it cost to do it so we settled for two nature hikes through the forest. The first hike was to see some waterfalls. This hike was supposed to be a favorite among the visitors, but the waterfalls were pretty small so we weren't very impressed. We hoped the hike in the afternoon would be better. Before the hike we talked to a ranger and he said that we should have done the afternoon hike in the morning because you can see a lot further into the distance. We were not happy because we had specifically asked our guide which one we should do in the morning and he said the waterfall one. Oh well, I think he was a new guide... Anyways we got the second hike for free because they felt bad.
The second hike was so much better than the first. It took us up into the tops of the mountains where we could have seen volcanoes in Congo and the Rwenzori mountain range. But because it was pretty foggy we couldn't see any of it. It was still beautiful and we got to step into Congo! At first our guide told us that Congo was 5km away and once we got to the top of the mountain he said we were standing in Congo!
The great waterfall
Lindsey and I standing in Congo
On every hike we were accompanied by a guard incase there where any animals that tried to attack us. Don't worry he didn't have to us the gun.
On the way back through Uganda we stopped in Jinga to try and go bungee jumping again! Once we got there Lindsey decided she didn't want to go because she had gone once before so I had to jump by myself! I was so scared once I actually got up there. Before the bungee master came I had to wait an hour for him to get there so the entire time i was thinking about what I was about to do. That was probably the most nerve racking part. At the top of the stand they explain to you how many tons the rope could hold and I figured I don't way a ton so it had to be fine. As you are about to walk to the edge he says don't look down. I tried so hard not to look down so I was just looking where Lindsey was standing taking pictures. I thought I was going to fall off of the edge just because I was shaking so much.
all of a sudden he tells you to jump on three and starts counting. I knew i had to jump right away or else there was a good chance I wasn't going to go. It was SO much fun I wanted to go again once I got into the raft at the bottom. If you are ever in Jinga, Uganda you HAVE to do this and rafting!
Stink. Keep the updates coming. Looks like you are having a great time. Those are some incredible activities and trips. I am happy for you. Have a great time.
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