We left Saturday morning at 8:30 on the Post Bus. Apparently the Ugandan postal service realized they could make a little extra money by using old charter buses to haul people and mail around the country. Although the bus makes frequent stops, it is a very cheap - and fairly clean - way to travel around the country.
Location of Sipi Falls in relation to Kampala
After about 7 ½ hours, we arrived in Mbale, the major city in eastern Uganda, where we were to meet Sarah (a friend from Wisconsin) who had gone ahead of us a few days earlier. There was a 15 minute window when we were out of the Post Bus and waiting for our friend with the next vehicle to continue on our way to Sipi Falls. Naturally, during this window is when it started to rain.
Supposedly January is the peak of dry season in Uganda, but apparently Mother Nature missed the memo this year. Since I came back on January 21, it has rained almost every day. Most of the storms had been drizzle and light rain up to this point. Not this one.
It started with a light rain, and Justin, Sheena (a friend from Cincinnati), and I moved under a few small trees for added protection as I opened up my umbrella. In hindsight, we should have paid more attention to all of the Ugandans across the street that had moved under a building overhang that provided sturdier shelter. After a couple minutes, the rain picked up. We debated whether we should cross the street to the building, but decided that Sarah would be there soon enough with the vehicle and that we could just wait. Bad choice. The rain continued to get stronger…and stronger…until we were in the middle of a torrential downpour. Then the winds picked up, which made it seem like it was raining horizontally and, to top it all off, it started to hail. For what seemed like 20-30 minutes (but was probably only about 5 minutes in reality), the three of us huddled together, using our two umbrellas to protect us from the hail as we battled to keep the wind from ripping them apart. Then, as quickly as it started, the rain stopped, and we were left standing there, absolutely drenched.
The Ugandans across the street thoroughly enjoyed the show, and I can’t blame them. I’m sure the three of us looked ridiculous during the whole episode and we all agreed that there wasn’t much else could do besides laugh at ourselves along with them. About five minutes later, Sarah pulled up in the taxi, and couldn’t help but laugh too, since she had taken the wiser route and sought shelter when the storm came. As we drove through Mbale, we saw that it had been a fairly serious storm. A couple roofs had been blown off of buildings (one landed on a car), and some plastic calling booths had been blown over.
Thankfully, the rest of the weekend went up from there. We arrived at the Crow’s Nest, a nice budget-level lodge in Sipi Falls, about an hour later and were greeted by some absolutely stunning views. The next two days at Sipi Falls were highlighted by a breathtaking 5 hour hike that took us to three separate waterfalls, with drops ranging from 78 to 100 meters; through several banana and coffee fields; and up and down a few valleys. Additionally, we spent both evenings on a peak near the Crow’s Nest where we watched the sun set over the plateau below us. The rest of the time was filled with the four of us catching up, meeting a 5th friend who came on the second day, a little reading/research, and relaxing in general.
On Monday we checked out and went back to Mbale and then further south to Tororo, where the 5th one of us, Patrick (a med student from UCSF), was based. We checked out his worksite during the day, ate some delicious roasted pork that evening, and then crashed at his place that night. Nothing too crazy that day besides an interesting mutatu ride from Mbale to Tororo where I was sandwiched in the back seat between the side of the van and a woman very publicly breast-feeding her child (a common occurrence over here). My backpack was in the very back of the vehicle so I kept turning my head to make sure the door didn’t fly open and let it fall out (the door, naturally, was tied closed using only a piece of twine). I realized when the ride was almost over that it probably looked like I was constantly looking at the woman…hopefully she knew what I was actually looking at! Oops!
Today we got up early and jumped on a bus headed back toward Kampala. This one was a little bit quicker than the Post Bus and, for the first time since I came to Uganda, had seat belts for us to wear…a very welcome addition for the travels! I arrived back in Kampala a little before noon and then went straight to the office instead of taking a couple hours to make my way home and back into town again. My backpacking/hiking clothes are a little departure from my usual slacks and dress shirt, but I think the others in the office understood!
Now it’s time to get back to work. My classes supposedly start next Monday (I’m not going to hold my breath), and I just got some more equipment for my research. Here we go with another Makerere semester!
Cheers!
-Chris
P.S. I've included a couple pictures from the weekend here, but couldn't fit all of them. I've posted all of my shots from the weekend on my Picasa sharing site - http://picasaweb.google.com/cwdeal/SipiFalls#
Not a bad view to start off the morning
Posing with one of the smaller falls
The base of the main falls...more shades of green than I had ever seen before!
Enjoying the sunset with Justin & Sheena
Boda-boda's were originally bicycle taxis, and a few of the bicycle variety are still around Ugandan cities. The four of us (Justin, Sheena, and me in this picture) decided to take the "greener" route while we were in Tororo...and give the drivers quite a workout!
