Easter with the Elephants!

Over the Easter weekend, 14 USP students went to Murchison Falls in northwestern Uganda on a safari! It was great fun and a nice break from schoolwork! We had a 4-day weekend (no school Friday or Monday!) so it was the best time to go. We left Thursday night and travelled to Kampala, where we stayed at Red Chile Rest Camp for the night...it was an interesting experience. We were in one big room with lots of other guests. It reminded me of a European hostel or something.

We left early the next morning on our bus to begin the 6 hr drive up to northern Uganda. We stopped halfway in a town called Misindi to eat lunch. After eating, we continued our way to Murchison Falls. We arrived and settled in to our tents for the weekend. We then walked down to the Nile River to walk around. We saw lots of warthogs on the way! We called them ‘Pumba’ from that point on...ya know, from the Lion King???

The next morning we left at 6:30 for the safari adventure! We took a ferry to the other side of the Nile. Somehow our group got on the ferry before our leader (His name was James), so we arrived on the other shore before him! I’ll tell you that we were warned the night before to not eat anything if we saw baboons around because they would come and harass us for our food! Well, it was early in the morning and I was hungry and hadn’t finished my breakfast so I took it along with me. That was the mistake. I was just standing there happily eating my chapatti when one of the girls in our group suddenly told me she saw a baboon and I better hide my food! But it was too late. I had seen the baboon and the baboon had seen me...with my food. So there he came. He began chasing me in circles as I was screaming and for some reason still eating!! One of the guides saw this happening and he yelled at me to give my food to the baboon! But I was NOT going to waste my chapatti on a baboon, so I dug in my bag and threw my banana at him instead. Whew...I was legitimately scared.

Anyways...the safari was great!! We saw antelope, warthogs, giraffes, elephants, and some of the most beautiful birds I have ever seen! I learned that Uganda has the most species of bird life in all of Africa...

Later that afternoon, we went on a boat ride down the Nile River to the waterfall. It was so beautiful! We rode on a double-decker boat, so we could sit on benches on the lower deck in the shade or walk around the top. We saw so many hippos and crocodiles! We also saw some elephants walking around the bank of the river...
The next day (Sunday) we hiked around the top of the falls. I was right at the edge and looked over...again, it was some of the most beautiful scenery! Because of the position of the sun when we were there around 9 am, rainbows were inside the waterfall! Thankfully, the even appeared in my pics! So at some point I will post them on facebook.

We returned back to Mukono Sunday night. I wish I had been able to spend Easter with my family here, but I got to hang out with them all day Monday! My sister Lilly and I went to a “Gospel Crusade” Monday night...that was pretty interesting. It was outside under a huge tent...the praise team was also a dance team. One thing I have noticed while being here is that Ugandans dance at EVERYTHING!! Weddings, church, Bible studies, Gospel crusades, school, etc.!

So that was my Easter weekend! I hope you all had a great Easter with your families! :)