Our Trip to Uganda: Part 1

Pam and Melanie here.  We just got back from the most amazing adventure half way around the world to visit our parents in Uganda.  Our trip was full of new sights and sounds, crazy traffic, exotic animals, and getting to meet so many of the people our parents have come to know and love while they have been over there.  Here is a recap of some of our adventures.

After two days travel, we arrived in Entebbe where mom and dad and President James were there to meet us.  We eventually made our way to Kampala.  Once there we went to the mission office and got to meet President Jackson and his wife and a few others.  Then we had lunch, went grocery shopping, took a nap, and had dinner with the Jackson's and the Scott's.

The next day, after car troubles and much delay, we ended up hiring a driver (Bob) and headed to Jinja with President James, his wife Barbara, and their baby Joseph Jackson.  Jinja is home of the Source of the Nile River.  We enjoyed some Nile Tilapia on balcony overlooking Lake Victoria, just before where the Nile begins it's long journey north to the Mediterranean Sea.

Friday we began our Journey north.

A couple of kids at a roadside stand where we bought some produce. They loved having their pictures taken!

We stopped at the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary to see the only Rhino's in Uganda. They were extinct due to poaching and have since been reintroduced beginning with a couple from the US and some from Kenya.  We got to see a mama and her baby.

It was a muddy walk to the Rhino's.  Luckily they gave us rubber boots to trek through the jungle. Our guide Edward was great.

 Then we continued on to the Chobe Safari Lodge which is in the Murchison Falls National Park.

Some kids along the way, drawing in the dirt.

The lodge - an incredible view of the Nile, and a great pool that we swam in (we felt like we were swimming along side the hippos!)

 There were oodles of hippos in the water right at the lodge.  In the evening when we were eating dinner they came up on the lawn and began their nightly wander through the jungle mowing down the grass.  There were also some cape buffalo wandering around the yard.

The next morning we took a guide, George, with us to see some more wildlife.

A huge Termite Mound

 We were right there with the giraffe's!  It was amazing.  They are such majestic creatures.  We just stood there and watched them for the longest time.

We didn't have much luck with elephants (just a few in the distance) until after we dropped George off and headed through the entrance to the lodge.  Then we saw a whole herd of them.  They were mostly hidden in the brush right next to us.  It was so fascinating to sit there and listen to them knock down the forest.  We could see their trunks reaching up into the trees ripping off vines.  Some would come through the brush so we could get a good look at them.  It was very cool.

This was a place we will miss.  Just wanted to take it all in.

Our Trip to Uganda: Part 2 (Travelling in Uganda)

Gulu is the town where my parents live.  It is about a 6 hour drive from Kampala.  It is full of boda boda's (motorcycle taxi's), pedestrians, bicycles, big trucks, taxi's, buses, and pot holes.  The pot holes in Uganda give new meaning to the word "pot hole".  It is impossible to describe what it is like, but we did out best and took pictures all along the roads wherever we traveled.  Here are just a few we picked out.

The women here are excellent multi-taskers. 

There is no such thing as over-loading your bike

The cutest little sewing shop we saw when we were stopped in the road. The picture doesn't quite show it, but there was a cute little girl in there standing beside her mom (who is waving) and the sewing machine.

Trucks and people everywhere.

. . . . . and pot holes

This oil tanker was driving down the road and stopping every so often and people were filling up barrels. We aren't sure how that worked . . . .

A load of people off to markets to sell their goods

Boda Boda's . . . . . everywhere!

Downtown Gulu

A rare stretch of highway that isn't covered with pedestrians and traffic.

A construction sight.  And taxi's.

Our Trip to Uganda: Part 3 (Gulu)

We got to spend only 3 1/2 days in Gulu.  Not enough time to do everything we wanted to do, or to meet everyone we wanted to meet, but we did our best.  We did get to attend church, so that was a great place to see so many.  The rest of the time we spent going around to see a lot of different people.

One of those people is Brenda.  She had her 22nd birthday, so my mom made her a birthday cake.  She didn't know how to blow out the candles.  It was so funny.  It took her 3 or 4 tries to get all 4 candles blown out.  Brenda has been called to serve in the London England mission.  She is set to leave in just a couple of weeks.  We loved getting to meet her.

We had to send her on a bus to Kampala to work on some of her mission papers and getting a visa.  it was sad to say goodbye to her.  She will make a great missionary!

Jackie was another lady we stopped to visit (not in the picture).  Her family all lives together in a village of huts and houses.  Several of them wanted their pictures taken.

This little boy was a poser

This is Esther and Gabriel.  She says we are her sisters now, because she has adopted our parents as her own. She was so sweet. Loved meeting her.

We were so excited to get to meet Dickson and Agnes and see their swamp aka: Paradise Beach.

They were such a fun couple.

Dickson picked fruit from his trees and gave it to us, then they cut down some sugar cane for us to try.  That was a fun, messy, treat.

Pam and her sugar cane.  They laughed at us because we didn't know how to eat it right. 

We also stopped to see President James at his home.  He served us Maize.  It was fun to get to try it.  We saw it everywhere being sold by street vendors, but didn't dare try it.  

Another one of our stops was to see baby Nola.  Okello John and Grace named their baby Nola Woods.  Our Aunt Sylvia made this darling quilt for her, so we delivered it with some baby clothes.  She is such a cute little thing.

Mom has sent us fabric, and has told us so much about the fabric store here, that we had to check it out.  What a riot!  The store was teeny, and loaded to the brim with cuts of fabric.  We had to take off our shoes and climb onto a mountain of fabric to get to the place we were selecting from.

We found our piece of fabric, and took it to Watmon, the tailor.  He saw us in the fabric store and insisted that he make a skirt for us.  We told him we were leaving town and there wouldn't be time.  He promised he would have it done the next day.  Sure enough, he did, and they fit!  Love our new Ugandan skirts!

We were lucky enough to be there for my dad's birthday.  

We had his birthday lunch at the local pizza joint (owned by a guy from Chicago)

We were so busy running around that day that we didn't have a chance to make him another cake, so we put candles in the remaining pieces of Brenda's cake.  It was still good.

Happy Birthday Dad!!  We love you!