The morning of the 23rd started with two Muzungus and lots of luggage squeezed onto the back of the boda riding into town for our early pick up. Driving out of Kampala on the backpackers shuttle was the usual traffic mayhem but as we got out of town I was amazed to see a straight tarmaced road with no potholes! Yvonne and I were heading to Jinja, where the Nile flows out of Lake Victoria and begins its 6,500km journey to the Med.
The backpackers was basic but eating breakfast overlooking the Nile was fantastic. There was a massive storm soon after we arrived so what better thing to do in the rain; relax with a massage.
I began my Christmas Eve with a horse ride through beautiful villages on the edge of the river.
Then time for some Christmas Eve shopping. Jinja is the second largest town in Uganda but at a tenth of the size of Kampala the small stalls and quite streets were a welcome relief to city life.
For Christmas Eve we took a sunset cruise on the Nile which was beautiful, sailing past the source of the river and into the lake. There was a great party atmosphere with the others on the boat and needless to say the party continued well into the night...
It’s Christmas morning and ouch my head hurts!! Unfortunately while everyone at home woke up to a white Christmas we woke up to rain and lots of it. Luckily we didn’t have to venture far for our Christmas lunch. We’d booked into the hotel next door for Christmas lunch. The rest of the day followed the usual Christmas tradition with a snooze after eating way too much and drinks into the evening.
We spent our last morning in Jinja wondering round Bujagali Falls. This was a must see because of the damn being built nearby which will flood this section of the river and thus the falls. Then for a chilled afternoon swimming and sunbathing overlooking the Nile with monkeys climbing through the trees just a few feet away.
Not quite ready to go back to dusty Kampala I joined Thea and Alison on a trip to Sipi Falls in the East. What a beautiful drive through villages and sweeping up the roads with Mount Elgon in the background.
We spent the next few days trekking to the four waterfalls, eating gorgeous home cooked meals at the lodge and relaxing with a nice glass of wine or two in the evenings.
One of the treks left us a bit battered and bruised... We found out afterwards that the guide had taken us on the wrong route but it was a great sense of achievement scaling the rock face to get home. Those climbers amongst you would have loved it! I ended up with a big egg head after having a bamboo stick thrown on my head while we attempted to get down one of the more difficult sections (accidentally of course.)
One of the best parts of the Sipi trip was watching the sunset, the view was incredible and as we walked up we had a rainbow on one side and the sun beginning to set on the other, beautiful.
A great end to what has been a fantastic year. Happy New Year all, I hope everyone had a lovely holiday and here’s to a great 2011... xx
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