Safari and Such

We have made is safely back from our safari and what an incredible adventure it was. It involved a great deal of driving, along bumpy, dusty roads, through traffic jams like I have never seen and we even managed to avoid a gigantic herd of elephants as it crossed the road. I can't recall ever having to slow down to avoid a herd of elephants!

On Monday we went on the Nile River tour. It was a beautiful afternoon and was lovely to be out on the water. Our journey began with an immediate viewing of a herd of elephants along the shore. These are massive creatures and beautiful to see. When their ears flap, especially on the big ones, it's as though you can feel the air move. The little babies are kept in the middle of the group and the entire herd was looking out for them. We watched them for a bit and then rode in the boat for 2 hours. Along the way we saw school after school after school of hippos. They are sometimes called schools here and sometimes pods. Either way, they were lazing around in the water and occasionally raised up their heads or  splashed on another one in the pod. We saw one who had little ones on her back. There were 3 crocodiles along the way, one who had its mouth wide open, looking for a snack. We didn't get too close to that one! It was hot and everything was moving slowly. We also saw an incredible number of birds, all beautiful, each unique. We got off the boat at Murchison Falls. What an impressive sight this is. You can google it to see how amazing they are. We were the adventurous group who had decided to walk up to the falls, the other tourists rode back in the boat. It was good to get off but a little weird because our guide was not there. However, since the boat was gone we  had no choice but to forge ahead. And there we were, marching through the hot, humid jungle of Africa. Very cool! The scenery was incredible and luckily, the path was easy to follow. We avoid stepping on the marching ants and the orange and gray lizards. Fortunately we didn't see any snakes! At the top of the falls we cooled off with the spray and met our driver Carlos. From there we went to our lodge for the night.

\It was fabulous! We had two little cottages with mosquito nets and a real bathroom. This is an important feature for sure:-) The generator runs for just a few hours a day so we pre ordered dinner and it was ready when we arrived. A fantastic 3 course meal. After dinner we sat outside under the African stars and were treated to a light show by the Fireflies with a few buffalo and warthogs in the background. It truly was spectacular. Then it was bedtime.

We were up at 5:00 to give us time for breakfast. We then drove to the ferry and crossed the Nile. The land safari began. Oh my goodness, there we were bouncing along dusty, bumpy roads in the middle of the African Savannah.  I don't know how many types of deer and antelopes we saw but there were hundreds. Big ones, little ones, ones with gigantic antlers, ones with teeny, tiny antlers and some without any. One was called a Jackson and they are known for their stupidity. Apparently they will run away from lions, forget why they are running and stop to eat. Guess what happens then! Yes, dinner for the lions. Our driver Carlos and our guide Sam were the best. We had told them we really wanted to see a lion so Carlos drove off road and there she was. |A beautiful lioness, nestled in among the sticks and grass. She got up and sauntered off but we got to see her! We also saw one hyena and it was so impressive. It came out from the grass, posed for a photo op and ran across the road. We were so lucky to see it. We saw elephants and more elephants, breaking branches and trees as they eat. We knew where they were because they leave their calling card in gigantic mounds on the road:-) We saw a few giraffes and they are absolutely majestic creatures. There is so much to describe but I will leave this part there.

On the drive home baboons and monkeys were running down the side of the road and we learned you must be very careful because they will jump in the windows. Our driver kept shooing them away. We stopped for lunch at the Rhino Sanctuary. It was there we saw real live rhinos out in the wild. Uganda has been trying to rescue their rhinos and now have a place for them. It seems to be working because they are having babies and their population is increasing. We walked on the rhino tour and luckily they were sleeping. They can run up to 45 km /hour and none of us were interested in having one chase us. But the massive creatures were flopped in the shade. They truly are gigantic. Their ears move all around, all the time because they are listening.

From there were drove for 4 hours to get home. Oh my goodness, people all over the road, little children coming home from school, hundreds, if not thousands of them, vendors, bicycles, motorcyles, cars, busses, vans all weaving in and out. It was incredible. For me the heart wrenching part was seeing how many little children were lugging gigantic containers of water along the road. Men and women did this too but they are heavy. There seem to be many places along the way that have hand pumps for fresh water. This is a blessing to the people but takes much of the day for some. We are pretty lucky in Canada. It was good to arrive home safe and sound.

This morning I taught a multiplication lesson to the grade 2 students. There were 36 of them in the class. Oh my! But they were well behaved, I played a couple of games with them and it was fun. I left the class and gave them one pencil each. The teacher keeps these and I think it was a good thing to give since before the lesson, I noticed many had to share pencils.

That's it for now. We continue to spend time with the children, Chuck is working with the adults around trauma, Ceara is in the clinic at this moment, looking like a doctor and we're all continuing to build positive relationships. Thanks for your prayers. They are always welcome.
Taryn