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Day 12 - Wednesday 2nd July
Up early this morning, as we have a looooonnnnggggg day of travel, from Rwanda, back into Uganda.
The border crossing was interesting - we had to stamp out of Rwanda on the Ugandan side. As usual, Jade provided a job description of 'Public Servant' - rumor has it, Rwanda doesn't take too kindly to visits from constabulary of other nationalities. Upon departure, the immigration official questioned her in quite an aggressive manor, and she tried to tell the whole truth, without telling the whole truth.
The road between the border and our next stop was fairly horrendous. Traveling backwards up and around windy hills on dirt tracks is not enjoyable. Speaking of not enjoyable, we stopped at that horrid dairy farm in the middle of no where for lunch again. I didn't even bother to get off the bus, as the food was unappealing and it was out in the blistering sun.
I also seem to have had an allergic reaction to this bee sting on my knuckle, as my entire index finger and a quarter of my hand has swollen up and gone bright red. Lucky we have 4 nurses and a doctor on board, and the lovely Mel massaged it down for me, which seemed to give some relief.
After lunch, we make the journey to Lake Mburo National Park, which takes us another 3.5 or so hours, this time on nicer roads. I've taken an anti histamine and a cold and flu tablet, so I sleep most of the way there.
We arrive around 430pm, and head straight off on a walking safari through the national park. It's the only semi savannah park in Uganda, and features a few of the big five, but mainly bird life and impala. Our guide Laurence was lovely, although quiet, but it was nice to get out of the truck and walk around. I was hoping for a Leopard sighting, but unfortunately no luck. We did however add a Topi and a Mongoose to our lists of animals.
John returns to pick us up, and we head to our campsite which is also located within the Park, right beside the lake itself. The sun was setting as we arrived, John and Jakob had set up our tents and Juma had a campfire blaring and made us popcorn! It was quite a lovely setting (although the toilets left much to be desired), and we even had the most friendly warthogs just grazing nearby. I was on wash up duty, but everyone also feasted on marshmallows over the fire.
Koom-bay-ya indeed!
Day 13 - Thursday 3rd July
We managed to get a nice sleep in this morning (although the ground was very hard and rocky). The Baboons were quite daring, and managed to sneak into our camp kitchen and steal our rice cakes (Noooooo not the rice cakes!), so the boys had to keep guard and fend them away whilst we finished breaky and packed everything away.
We departed Lake Mburo around 8am, for another long day of driving towards Jinja. We stop at a nice street of curio shops and a lovely cafe/gallery for lunch, which was also located on the equator. We all bought quite a few souvenirs and presents and I decided to eat lunch at the cafe, opposed to the Intrepid lunch - after all, no rice cakes anyway! I had a nice grilled cheese and tomato sandwich with nice bread!
Not much happened between the equator and Jinja, except a few naps and potentially Jade and I just talking smack.
We arrived in Jinja around 430-5pm, at Adrift Jinja Campsite and Resort, a lovely setting on the top of the cliff overlooking the River Nile. There was the option to upgrade, they had dorms, or cute permanent safari tents. We decided just to camp for the 2 nights, as the setting and gardens were nice and there were no private bathrooms in the upgrades anyway.
At 6pm, we were met in the bar by Ruth, the manager or owner of Adrift Jinja, who explained the adventure activities available to us, most of which are operated by Adrift. Jade had been eyeing off the White Water Rafting and was super keen, so even after my last near death white water experience in Bali, I thought I would give it another go and join her. I had also been toying with the idea of the Bunjy Jumping - and it was discounted down to $70 if you booked it alongside a full day of rafting - how could I say no?!
So after the hour long explanation, we signed our lives away to a full day of exhilaration tomorrow!
Day 14 - Friday 4th July
So I'd been awake since 4am, quietly packing dacks that I am bunjy jumping at 830am. Jade wakes up and kindly reminds me that I am plummeting to my death this morning, to which I ask for a little support!! We head over to breaky, and I eat light - just cornflakes.
After breaky, the majority of us head over to the bar, which has an amazing view over the Nile River, and prime viewing for the Bunjy. We all register and pay for our activities and I meet the Bunjy master Cecil, who is excited for me.
We hang around for a while, and I was feeling slightly nervous, but not enough to back out. Eventually my time comes, and I head up the stairs and onto the long platform that hangs over the Nile below. The Bunjy is only 44 metres high, so not the biggest, and the height doesn't really bother me. Cecil is here and also Jonas, a massive Ugandan, who preps the ropes and ties me on at the ankles. They first wrap a towel around my ankles, followed by a thick flat blue rope a few times. They attach the bunjy elastic (which honestly looks like it's been crafted from a million rubber bands), and attach me by clips at the ankles and then also a back up longer harness around my waist. They continue to explain each process and talk about the safety - which again, wasn't really worrying me, as I had researched their safety record at home anyway, but for the purposes of the explanation, they were very thorough. They explained what I needed to do, and to aim for the arrow that was painted on top of the bar - where about 30 odd people were watching from and cheering me on.
Once I was all tied on, I hopped to the edge, and held my arms above my head onto the roof railing. Cecil explained what I should do when I let go, but man was it hard letting go of that railing. I put one arm down, and couldn't move the other. I was so unsure that I could actually leap off that edge, so I put the other arm back up. I could hear Cecil in my left ear saying "Teniesha, do you trust me?" ... "Do you want to Bunjy?" .... "Yes!" I said. So down went my arms, a few deep breaths, and then he and Judas counted 3 .... 2 .... 1 ..... And off I went. I honestly am not sure what it felt like, all I could see was the water below me, and I'm sure my heart was in my throat. I was silent pretty much until I hit the first bounce, and then you can imagine the profanities that came out of my mouth after that! I could hear all my group cheering me as I continued to bounce mid air. I was unaware at the time, but the girls said I bounced back almost as high as I fell.
Once the cord had stopped bouncing and swinging, the 'rescue boat' paddled below me and the guy reached his oar up for me to grab a hold of - but I missed it and was spinning so fast. The rope around my ankles was absolutely killing me, and I was thankful once I managed to grab a hold of the oar and be lowered into the boat. Phewf! Niesh 1 v Fear 0. Best $70 I've ever spent, and I was sure I could go straight back up and do it again, but writing this in hindsight and after seeing the video - never again, I'm a crazy person!
So after that exhilaration, I climbed back up the stairs and back to the bar where everyone was waiting. We then had our prep meeting for the White Water Rafting and were boarded into a bus to travel about an hour up the Nile to the base of the rapids. We arrived at the base, where we had a light breakfast (banana and stale muffins), sun screened like it was going out of fashion, and got our life jackets, helmets and oars. Quite a few of our Tour group were rafting, and we managed to fill 2 boats, with a few ring ins. Our team - team Tutu - was myself, Jade, Barbara, Regina, Alex and then 3 other people - Scott an American guy and another guy and girl from Holland (can't remember their names but they were cool). We met our Rafting Guide Tutu (hence the team name), posses for a photo, and head on down to the riverside.
I called NOT to be in the front so I stayed at the very back right of the inflatable raft. Miss Adventure Jade, was at the front left. Our first task was to learn the correct directions - paddling forwards, backwards, in circles etc. We also had to practice how to get back in the boat with our mates helping us in by the shoulders of the life jackets. Our next step was to practice capsizing the boat, and getting back on the correct side - so basically fall out, flip the boat and duck under. Well all did this and got back in the boat. All seemed to be fine, until Barbara thoughts he had hurt her shoulder. Tutu carefully pulls her into the boat, and it's quite evident it's been dislocated! We called for another Raft Guides help, and pulled out boat over to the rocks, where the other Guide jumped on board to help. The guide Matt explained that he needed to pop it back into place (ahhh!) and Barbara was really quite calm. I looked away, but it seemed pretty painless as she said it felt like it was back in already. Unfortunately though, she had to jump into the safety boat (which we were advised never flips), and go down the first 4 rapids until she could be taken to a doctor. So our boat was down to 7 plus Tutu. I swapped onto the back left. Pretty much straight away we hit the first 2 rapids, both Grade 5's. Tutu explained that if you don't paddle hard enough, we can't make it down the second Grade 5 Rapid and instead we go down a Grade 3. I was quietly terrified we were going to capsize and drown, but we "paddle paddle paddled" and we made it down the 1st Grade 5, and then the Grade 3 all without falling out of the boat! Yep, that was awesome!
We continued downstream, and came to our next rapid, maybe a grade 4 and suddenly we were out of the boat!! I panicked and could feel the water pushing me in all directions, but thankfully the water was deep and I could feel the life jacket eventually bringing me to the top of the water. Somehow I still managed to hold onto my oar, as we all floated downstream until the kayaks came to rescue us!
Back in the boat and we have about a 30 minute ride downstream, so we take off our helmets and dive into the calm, clean and very warm Nile! It was so nice just floating and swimming, and it was possibly the cleanest we had been in 2 weeks!
We came up to another rapid, but because it was huge (Grade 6), we had to get out of the boat and carry it across the mainland, where we got back in and tackled another grade 4 rapid. After that, we then stopped at an island (inhabited by Bats) for lunch. Lunch was amazing - salad wraps... It was the freshness we had been dying for!! Our American mate Scott left us here as we was only doing a half day. And then there were 6!
After lunch we tackled a few more, and had another swim and relaxing time downstream. We decided to try stay in the boat, as it made it more enjoyable. As we came to our last rapid, Tutu asked if we wanted to fall our or stay in. We opted to stay in, but of course when we got there, I'm sure he did every thing he could to lead us straight into the fury - the raft flung backwards face first, and we were all thrown off and into the rapids. I didn't panic this time, which made it more enjoyable, however it took a few minutes for us to get washed away from all the waves. We were carried downstream a fair way, until the Tutu rescued us in the raft. Of course, neither of us would come away from our adventures unscathed - Jade almost dislocated her finger and cut it open, and I have myself a fat and cut lip.
We returned back to camp after a long hour and half drive listening to the most annoying young American girls. I raced into the showers and then grabbed myself a vodka.
We catch up with Barbara who since lunch time, had been driving around the city to various doctors, to find that she has broken a bone in her shoulder/arm, and is now in a brace. She still seemed fairly okay, and thankfully we have 4 nurses and 1 doctor on our tour, who have tried to help her with appropriate pain relief and medication.
Juma made another local meal tonight with Ugali, Jacket Potatoes, spicy tomato sauce and BBQ Goat. Suffice to say I haven't been daring enough to touch any meat whilst here ....
All in all, a great day of fun!
Day 15 - Saturday 5th July
You guessed it - up early this morning as we have a big drive and a border crossing. My upper body is aching from the white water rafting, and my thighs have become a personal heater from sunburn. I feel pretty exhausted from burning so much energy and adrenaline yesterday, and it's evident I haven't been to the gym in 3 weeks!!
Once again the day is spent snoozing on the truck and speaking crap. At around 4pm, we arrive back at Naiberi Riverside overland Campsite, where we had stayed on our way to Uganda at the start of the trip. Most people decide to upgrade as it's the end of the tour for a few of us, but we still set up camp.
I'm on cooking duty tonight so myself and Bob along with Jakob and Juma are cutting Veges and prepping a Beef Stew. This campsite has lovely showers so I managed one of those and a lay down before dinner was served around 8.
Day 16 - Sunday 6th July
I've had a s***ty nights sleep as I was really cold and couldn't warm up, and then I woke up with the beginnings of a cold & flu.
Had a big yummy fried egg and French toast breaky this morning, as we are not stopping for lunch today (thank god). We depart our lovely Eldoret campsite at 630 this morning, as we are wanting to make headway to get back to Nairobi before the Sunday rush, and avoid any potential political unrest, that is rumored to happen tomorrow (Sunday 7th).
After a 6 hour drive, we arrive back at our 'simple' hotel Kivi Milimani. Of course there's no hot water but HakunaMatata. We treat ourselves to a restaurant lunch and dinner, and spend some more time with our new friends before we all leave on our next adventures.
Xx
- comments
Shazz Reeves I love love love your blogs Niesh ❤️
Louise Wonderful yet again x
Mary I'm on the edge of my chair reading this Niesh. It is all so exciting and amazing (and dangerous!!). Hope your lip is healing and your cold and flu hasn't progressed. XX
Joyce I'm most envious - except for the Bunjy jumping. You are obviously having the trip of a lifetime.
Helen Neish you had me crying with fear and exhilaration when you wrote of your bungy jump. You are so strong , brave and articulate. Love x