In the morning, after a breakfast of chapatti banana pancakes and honey with papaya and African tea, we went on our village walk led by Margaret. We visited Margaret’s village and saw a traditional blacksmith and a village woman who delivers babies. We saw lots of children in ragged clothes and big smiles. They loved having their pictures taken as long as I showed them the pictures on my digital. So I was always behind the others trying to catch up. The kids seem to be attracted to me. the saddest part was seeing a very young girl maybe 10 years old at best, visibly pregnant and may well not even survive labour. We wanted to weep.
While Luweero is dirty and full of garbage, this village was clear of rubbish and well maintained with rustic bandas made of mud and ash with grass thatching on the roof. The thatching lasts about 2 years and is waterproof even in rainy season, before it is replaced. It is swept every day and even though huts are well spaced out with a fair distance between them of long grasses and trees. The difference was very marked for me. The kids were in rags but their environment was clean. They were full of smiles and laughter and eager to see the mouzoungos. The blacksmith was amazing. He produces spear and arrowheads and knives for the village with very basic tools. He is over 70 years old and is teaching 2 young boys as apprentices. The other person we spoke with through Margaret interpreting was a villager who delivers babies. She told us of her birthing practices and their cultural traditions including those around the death of twins who are buried together with placentas in an iron cooking pot and sealed with another pot and then buried. Very sad. I made the mistake of taking her photo and she didn't like it at all. I took no more. Hope it turns out!
We left for Paara and Murchison falls around 11 and had another hour of driving to Paara for our Nile river boat tour. Martin was trying to arrange for hostel accommodation on the north side of the river because that is where the game safari reserve is and we need to be up and in the truck for 6am before lions go to sleep for the day. They sleep 20 hours a day and the males are lazy as the lionesses do all the hunting and they just eat and sleep. What a great deal.
We stopped and picked up packed lunches of ham and cheese sandwiches and rice salad for Jim to take on the boat at Red Chili rest house. We got on our boat while took the car on the ferry to arrange our accommodation for the night.
When we got on the boat, we could see a herd of elephants on the north side of the river. As we moved down the river, we saw lots of hippos, crocodiles, white cranes, warthogs, more elephants, ibis antelope, and baboons. We stayed on the top deck with no shade. It was a hot sunny day at midday until after 4 when the boat docked again. Yes...Mom.... I wore my sunscreen and did not burn but I'm still peeling from the first one. And I wore my hat while shooting pictures with my long lens.
When we docked, Michael was waiting for us with the car. He had arranged for us to stay at a hostel near the ferry dock. We came across the Paara Safari Lodge, a swanky high-end hotel. We decided to have Michael stop and we would all have cold drinks. Wine for everyone and juices for me as I woke up with a head cold in the morning and was feeling a bit crappy.
We laughed and took pictures of the sun going down which was gorgeous from the veranda overlooking the Nile. Very Hemmingway if you ask me. Wonderful!
We left for our accommodations at the hostel by dark. And we were planning to have supper there. But there wasn't much to choose from and we were worried about food safety and the water quality in particular. So we asked Michael to take us back to the Paara safari lodge to have supper there. We were quite grubby with hotel guests showered and in clean clothes. We had drinks (more juices for me....a Cinderella it was called and I'm still getting teased about that) and buffet at a hefty cost of $30 us and two bottles of wine for the group.
Michael picked us up at 9 and we went to our hostel which was pretty brutal and not too clean. The girls slept in a room with 3 beds with nets while Michael and Jim shared a room. We had quick cold showers and a trip to the pit toilet in the dark (not fun). Went to bed with cell alarm set for 5am wakeup for game drive! More later....
While Luweero is dirty and full of garbage, this village was clear of rubbish and well maintained with rustic bandas made of mud and ash with grass thatching on the roof. The thatching lasts about 2 years and is waterproof even in rainy season, before it is replaced. It is swept every day and even though huts are well spaced out with a fair distance between them of long grasses and trees. The difference was very marked for me. The kids were in rags but their environment was clean. They were full of smiles and laughter and eager to see the mouzoungos. The blacksmith was amazing. He produces spear and arrowheads and knives for the village with very basic tools. He is over 70 years old and is teaching 2 young boys as apprentices. The other person we spoke with through Margaret interpreting was a villager who delivers babies. She told us of her birthing practices and their cultural traditions including those around the death of twins who are buried together with placentas in an iron cooking pot and sealed with another pot and then buried. Very sad. I made the mistake of taking her photo and she didn't like it at all. I took no more. Hope it turns out!
We left for Paara and Murchison falls around 11 and had another hour of driving to Paara for our Nile river boat tour. Martin was trying to arrange for hostel accommodation on the north side of the river because that is where the game safari reserve is and we need to be up and in the truck for 6am before lions go to sleep for the day. They sleep 20 hours a day and the males are lazy as the lionesses do all the hunting and they just eat and sleep. What a great deal.
We stopped and picked up packed lunches of ham and cheese sandwiches and rice salad for Jim to take on the boat at Red Chili rest house. We got on our boat while took the car on the ferry to arrange our accommodation for the night.
When we got on the boat, we could see a herd of elephants on the north side of the river. As we moved down the river, we saw lots of hippos, crocodiles, white cranes, warthogs, more elephants, ibis antelope, and baboons. We stayed on the top deck with no shade. It was a hot sunny day at midday until after 4 when the boat docked again. Yes...Mom.... I wore my sunscreen and did not burn but I'm still peeling from the first one. And I wore my hat while shooting pictures with my long lens.
When we docked, Michael was waiting for us with the car. He had arranged for us to stay at a hostel near the ferry dock. We came across the Paara Safari Lodge, a swanky high-end hotel. We decided to have Michael stop and we would all have cold drinks. Wine for everyone and juices for me as I woke up with a head cold in the morning and was feeling a bit crappy.
We laughed and took pictures of the sun going down which was gorgeous from the veranda overlooking the Nile. Very Hemmingway if you ask me. Wonderful!
We left for our accommodations at the hostel by dark. And we were planning to have supper there. But there wasn't much to choose from and we were worried about food safety and the water quality in particular. So we asked Michael to take us back to the Paara safari lodge to have supper there. We were quite grubby with hotel guests showered and in clean clothes. We had drinks (more juices for me....a Cinderella it was called and I'm still getting teased about that) and buffet at a hefty cost of $30 us and two bottles of wine for the group.
Michael picked us up at 9 and we went to our hostel which was pretty brutal and not too clean. The girls slept in a room with 3 beds with nets while Michael and Jim shared a room. We had quick cold showers and a trip to the pit toilet in the dark (not fun). Went to bed with cell alarm set for 5am wakeup for game drive! More later....
2 comments:
You are made of good stuff Chris - I don't know how you all are doing it. You will certainly have a lot of memories
Love Gail
while things may sound hard...there is a rythmn to our day here and it grooves along quite well. the shipping container beyond AWOL is frustrating because it is so hard to plan anything beyond day to day. but we are all well and we laugh alot about the silliest things. xoxo
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