THE MIGHTY NILE

I know that I keep coming up with excuses for not writing much, but today's is the best of all.  Sadly I woke up this morning barely able to stand upright as my back has 'gone' once again.  I managed to make it to the Cathedral for church this morning, but had to leave after half an hour as it was so painful.  So, having already spent most of this afternoon at the computer preparing next week's lessons I really can't sit here for long now as it is the worst possible posture for my back.  The really upsetting thing is that yesterday I had one of the best days I have had so far in Uganda, travelling a couple of hours North to the Kalagala and Hypoxia falls on the Nile, and then today I have had the worst.  Hopefully, tomorrow I will be upright again.

Jacintha and myself at Kalagala Falls.
You can just see the Wild Waters Resort
accommodation in the background (we didn't know
that's what they were when this photo was taken)

Anyway, to cut down my time typing I am going to give you yet another photographic description of my trip to the Nile.  I set off in the still unamed Landcruiser (come on we can do better than 'Levi' I'm sure - not that Levi is a bad name, it's just that the badger Ronnie has with her in Juba is called Levi so it might get a bit confusing) at about 9:30, picking up two of my colleagues Jacintha (newly arrived) and Sherrie (arrived March last year).  The plan was just to visit the Kalagala falls and find somewhere for lunch.  We did not expect to stumble on what must be one of the most amazing resorts in East Africa - the Wild Waters Lodge.


Having driven around for a while trying unsuccessfully to find the falls we eventually paid a boda boda driver UGX 5,000 (about a pound) to lead us there!   We were then guided down to a viewing point where a number of locals were swimming, canoeing (the men) and doing the washing (the women).  

The falls were a spectacular sight, and to be honest we would have been content with just that.  

However, when we asked for directions to somewhere to get something to eat, we were pointed towards the Wild Waters Lodge about a Km further back along the track.  In fact we had passed the entrance earlier and not noticed it for what it was.

Once we had negotiated a day visitor's fee of $15 each (it normally caters for residents who stay in one of 10 'huts' on what proved to be a paradise island in the middle of the Hypoxia falls) we then parked the Landcruiser and were escorted down to the river.  There we were helped into a wooden canoe which took us across to the island.  

Sherrie and Jacintha enjoy the canoe trip

As do Mark and myself

After a wonderful lunch of local fish (and a few chips!) we spent the rest of the afternoon exploring and chilling out.  The other two swam in the pool and lay on the sunbeds whilst I stayed in the shade, enjoyed the view and I just read a book (oh okay, perhaps I snoozed a bit too!). 

Hypoxia Falls from the resort

Looking back across the pool to the restaurant

And back from the restaurant to the falls

The journey back was great fun too, passing through lots of small villages as we took the back road rather than the main Jinja road which gets very congested, and the sun was setting as we reached Kampala about 7pm.

The ubiquitous Jackfruit

A typical local dwelling - basic but always neat and tidy

All in all it was a terrific day out and I certainly intend to return, perhaps for an overnight stay with Ronnie, as their dinner menu looked impressive! 

Right, I'm afraid the layout is terrible today and the text is probably full of typos, but I must finish before I cannot get out of my seat :-( 
Please pray for my back and for a quick recovery.  Ronnie plans to come down to Kampala for next weekend so prayer that her trip is able to happen would be helpful too.