Uganda and now Kenya!

Arghh! last time i tried to post this it didn't do it and i ran out of time. Sooo, this will be a long one!

After the gorilla trek we headed out of Rwanda, stopping at the genocide memorial in Kigali on our way. It was a beautiful testament to all the lives lost, not only in Rwanda but in other similar situations throughout the world in recent history. The people of Rwanda has recovered so well but the videos of survivors make you realize that a lot of people are suffering quite severely though they don't show it. Once out of Rwanda we spent an unmemorable night in Kabale (note: I wrote Kibale before and was confused why there were no chimps nearby where we were. realized after looking at a map that i was confusing spelling and they are different places. doh!). From Kabale we took a day trip to Lake Bunyoni to relax in the sun and see a pygmy village. Sadly the trip wasn't exactly as planned. First, the trip to the pygmies was an hour each way in a motor boat. Then there was a wet climb up a hill to get to the pgymies. Everyone had a rough time climbing the slope in their flip flops...except me thanks to my very unsexy but totally functional Crocs :) I got great photos and video of the pygmies who sang and danced. I was hesitant to do the whoel community viewing thing, but it's a good source of income for this tribe so I felt ok with it. After that the trip got a bit more crazy. Once back on the back the waves picked up splashing us in the boat. Then the wind got colder and it began pouring! I lost my hat and another pair of sunglasses in the wind and we all hunkered down til we could pull over to a small village and hide under a hut's roof for about 30 min til the rain calmed down. Some of the girls whined incessantly but everyone else just chalked it up to travel adventure :) After that we got back to a beautiful lodge on the lake, dried by a fire and had a wonderful dinner of roast pig and crawfish. I think the rain and cold made the fire and dinner just that much better.

From there we headed to Queen Elizabeth park. we had been warned that most of the wildlife was killed during Amin's time but we saw tons of elephants, buffalo, hippoes and hyena and a lion on our safari drive and river cruise. You could hear the hippoes from camp, especially their snorting as they wandered closeby at night. We wweren't allowed outside of camp to make sure we didn't get "chomped" and at night we had to make sure we walked slow and were well lit so we didn't surprise any strays that might have gotten past the poor fences. Also met some awesome women on the boat cruise who worked with an orphanage in Uganda. One woman was adopting her third daughter and they were just a breath of fresh air - so optimistic and happy and not the backpacker type.

After that we drove through Kampala where we dropped off Nathalie and another tour girl. Nath headed to Nairobi for time with Di and some shopping before her flight home. Hoping that all worked out safely and Nath's not too scarred from a month's travel with me :)

From there we stopped in Jinja for some amazing class five rafting. It was grat in a terrifying way. The raft guides were both Ugandan and ex-pat and it was much like being with outdoorsy communities back in the states. We have some great pics (again hope to post some soon!) and maybe even some video. That night the rest of the group got smashed and they all were like the living dead the next day. i went to bed early and got in some internet (crashed before this blog was posted) and clothes washing in. Good stuff. Just nice to read and relax near the Nile and look out of the rapids.

Last night we spent in Eldoret, an unmemorable town but a great campsite. Tax write off for sure as this place is in the middle of nowhere but incredibly plush with a pool and huge cavrnous bar. They made us an Indian dinner (the owner is Indian) and we shared beers around a wood fire that piped through a 20 ft high chimney. Very cool and relaxing. Now today we've driven to Lake Naivasha. The town is pretty ugly but the lake should be great. More wildlife and lazy reading time. Should be back with more tomorrow and maybe some tidbits i left out from this post. Hope y'all are good :)