welcome to the jungle

We've got fun and games.

Here are some photos from around Jinja, Uganda, before and after our rafting trip.


Bungee jump platform over the Nile river at the Adrift Rafting HQ. Take it easy, I didn't do it. I have no desire to bungee jump. Well, truthfully, I do have a slight desire to bungee jump but this one wasn't all that high and it was too expensive.


Mr. Matt and Mr. Patrick, before we hit the (croc free) white water of the Nile. Our last day was fantastic, rafting was an excellent way to end our time together. Matt's in Europe/UK now, catching up with old and new friends, and then heading to South America. He's hoping to get work with his engineering firm GHD in Santiago, Chile. "Ever been?" "Why yes! Twice last year!"


Sundowners on the banks of the Nile. A strong finish.
(Tim: Notice I'm drinking with my left hand, and Matt's drinking with his right. Buffalo!!!!!!)


Our boat crew. Me, Matt, Dave, and Juliean


The impressive plaque at the start of the Nile river. Lake Victoria is to my left, and the river goes to the right. Not that you can see it very well, but it is behind those trees.


The Boda Boda. Our preferred mode of transport. Driver, Dave and I, plenty of room, very comfy...


Kayak launch ramp into the Nile at Bugagali Falls. Brady, Andy, Chad are you seeing this?


Sunset over Bugagali Falls, Uganda.

Background:
Dave and I spent a few days in and around Jinja and Bugagali Falls relaxing by the river and planning our next few weeks in Uganda. (as shown above) We were both keen to do a lot of the same things (Mt. Elgon, Muchasion Falls National Park, Ssese Islands, etc) and get on well, so we've decided to stick together for a while. Having a qualified safari guide along has many perks, and he's had some limited success with the ladies by dropping "well, actually, I'm a safari guide..." I'm still using the old standby: "All I have are these damn Nepalese coins..." with (not surprisingly) little success.


Up Mt. Elgon
From Jinja we took a taxi for an hour or two North to the town of Mbale, which is the access town for Mt. Elgon. We waited for about five hours at the bus station for the Mbale bus which never came, then gave up and got in a taxi. Elgon is a massive mountain, not so much in height, though it's a respectable 14er. It's sports a 80 by 50 Km surface area, and (~12 million years ago) was the highest mountain in Africa. But around that time it had a massive eruption, as volcanos do, and now has a gigantic crater at the top and is thus quite a bit shorter than it used to be. We would hike up the Sasa route and then down the Sipi trail to the beautiful Sipi falls. We were planning on a 5 day/4 night hike. Dave and I supplied all our own food, and carried our own packs. For food we brought a 4.4 pound bag of rice, a pound of pasta, one loaf of bread, 4 cans of tomato paste, 3 cans of tuna, 2 cans of pineapple chunks, peanutbutter, jam, 8 chocolate bars, and a couple bags of cookies. This served us well, but we ran out of everything but the rice and bread by the last night, and it turns out Dave's not the biggest rice, PB&J, or tuna fan... I think he was pretty hungry by the end of it.

The friendly gal at the Mt. Elgon National Park visitor center, where we secured our permit and paid for our (mandatory) ranger/guide and porter, convinced us that we were 'strong' and 'not old and slow people.' So we opted to save a little money and do the hike in 4 days/3nights. This would be pushing it a little, but seemed well within our abilities. Since the altitude wasn't all that, I was confident in the shorter schedule as was Dave. We met our park ranger/guide that night and talked it over with him, no problem, easily done he said. Mike was his name and he was a head guide at the park, we were in very good hands. The porter, Elisa (male), seemed keen and we went to sleep that night at the base of the mountain at a cool little guest house with great food called "Rose's Last Chance."

The next morning we got up, had breaky, and met up with Mike and Elisa. Mike was decked out with is olive green ranger uniform, rucksack, and AK-47. He was looking rather militant. The AK seemed a little excessive, but he insured us it was for our protection from wild Buffalo, Hyeena, etc. All he would do is shoot it in the air if something came to close, just to scare them off. I guess that's the cheapest noise maker the Uganda Wildlife Service could find? Anyway, it was kinda cool having an armed escort up and down the mountain for four days. Not that we came across any buffalo, hyeena, etc.



The trail up was a beauty, through lots of small villages full of little kids yelling "Mzungu, how are you?" Mzungu = white person. Lots of fun as a few kids followed us up for a little while.


Mike our commando looking park ranger/guide. He was great, very friendly and full of insights about the parks enviroment(s).


A nice junglish start.


Almost to the end of the first day, we made it thorugh the jungle/rain forest into the mooreland and then to the heath zone. Something like Kili. You can see the ranger's hut in the background of this shot.


Mike and Dave atJackson's Pool, early in the morning on summit day (day 2).


Jackson's pool an the rim of the crater ridge in the background.


Mike and I at the summit, Wagagai Peak.


Summit shots.

Dave and I, on "top rock."

Dave's blister, ouch! This is back at camp after coming down from the top. He popped it and powered through the next day, which we had a 35km hike way across to the other side of the mountain and back up over 4000m. Day 3 was way harder than summit day (day 2), but went through some awesome landscapes with perfect weather.


Day three. lots of up and down as we worked our way across Mt. Elgon to the Sipi trail. This section was recently burned in a brush fire. We saw a couple of fires the night before we started, and then saw the evidence whist on the mountain.


Dave and Mike in another wild landscape.




Our armed guide and porter, Elisa carried a machete the whole time. But it was only used for cutting firewood, and our sweet custom bamboo walking sticks. We cooked over an open fire each night at camp, these guys are pros.


a typical section of trail, day 3.


The cave we slept in day 3.


same cave. awesome camp!




Day 4. down to Sipi falls.







sorry, ran out of time, I'll finish the captions and update you all soon! hope all's well back home.