My first visitor of the summer!!

I had a friend from Midland, Sarah, come and visit me a few weeks ago. It was really such a nice time. We were still on holiday from school so there was plenty of time to rest/relax/play/tour. I decided that I would tell you the highlights of her visit through photos.

Glenn was gracious enough to be the driver (instead of hiring a driver and a big van). So, since Sarah didn't arrive until the evening, we were able to stop at Lake Victoria and have BIG fish and chips. Mmmm. I had been craving this for the whole week leading up.

THE RIVER NILE:

As I have mentioned before, on the way from the airport back to Mbale you have to cross the River Nile. I won't lie, it still excites me every time. Since Sarah came with a church plant team last year, they were able to visit the Nile, but I wanted to take her to the actual source. And as most of you probably know, but good to state again- the Nile flows north.

It is funny to me how everywhere you go people try to weasle out all the money they can from tourists. The first guy I asked about a boat ride to go to the actual source said it was 40,000/Ush whereas we went to the next boat and were able to pay 25,000/Ush. Plus we got a really lively guide who told us all sorts of things about the Nile and where it meets Lake Victoria and who was the first one to discover the source.

The guide said the Nile comes from a natural aquifer. But apparently someone built a small island on top of the actual "spout" of the aquifer??? That is what he said but I have not yet googled it to see if that is correct. But I was told that this bubbling water coming from the edge of the island was the source that I am touching. He even scooped his hand and drank some.

MBALE TOWN

After the River Nile we made our way back home to Mbale. We were able to spend a day by the pool, walk around town, go to LCH, and many other things.

We also got henna done. A little more than the first time. It was fun. The lady came to my house and I am still so impressed that she does it all freehand.

SAFARI:

One of the highlights of Sarah's visit was getting to take her on safari to Murchison Falls National Park. It is in the western part of the country and I had actually never been to this park before. So, with a little African time, we left the house around 8am and headed on our long journey. Unfortuately, we made a bad choice on which road to take. In distance it was shorter, but the road was really rough. By God's grace we made it through all the potholes and arrived at Red Chilli Campgound 11 hours later. Ha. That was a serious day in the car.

Oh, but one story from the road was that we were crossing a bridge, right after seeing a sign welcoming us to the park (though we were still like 2 hours away from what I would consider the entrance). Being hopeful that we were going to be there soon, Sarah and I took out our cameras to take some photos of the river's rapids. At the end of the bridge we were stopped by two police men in army suits. The main one didn't even greet us but imediately asked for my camera. Thanks be to the Holy Spirit for helping me to sense quickly that something was funny. I showed the camera to him while it was still attached to my wrist. He proceeded to ask me to let him hold it. I asked him why and he said that he must confenscate my camera because I took photos of the bridge and that was not allowed because they don't know where I might take the photos or who i might give them to. I still refused to give the camera although his tone got a little more aggressive. Of course Sarah had no idea what was going on so I whispered to her, "Keep quiet and don't give them your camera". Well, after an ordeal of 20 minutes arguing his threats to take us into his boss, I kept my mouth shut and let our driver do the talking. The driver offered the men some money to buy cigarrettes but the police guy asked me, "What are you going to add?" I told him, "Nothing, it was a mistake and just like people forgive you for mistakes, you can forgive us." We even deleted the photos in his presence. UHHH. Corruption. We finally left but in my head i had a whole mouthful of what to say to that stubborn guy. I am so grateful that I didn't hand him my camera!!

The campground was really nice. We stayed in this cute little bungalo that even had a fan up until midnight (when they turned off the generator). The place was full of Mzungus and they had one common area where people would come sit at the tables for family style meals. And the food was EXCELLENT. I was so impressed with the place (and the price). That night we got in, the man at the front desk was extremely helpful and directed us at to how to book the next day's adventure. Walking back to my bungalo after dinner, I was greeted by these two friends.

Really I almost walked right into them and I don't know if they would have seemed so friendly then.

I don't have most of my photos because Sarah's camera died at the begining of the trip so I let her borrow my camera. But the highlights I do have.

The next morning we woke up bright and early to get into our safari car and cross the ferry.

After seeing many giraffes, monkeys, buffalo, antelopes, and even three lionesses, we were driving in search of some elephants. As we passed another car, the driver told us there was a lion spoted just up the road. We reached a point where there was another vehicle our direction headed off the road and into the bush. We stopped and our driver got out of the car to look. Then, off we were. This was my first time to take a safari car during a game drive but it was very worth it. When we had reached the area of the bush where the first car had stopped, I started looking off in the distance. Until the other people pointed just by my window. WOW!! A lion.... maybe 10 feet away. I really jumped a bit and started going to close the window. There was also a lioness that had just come back from hunting and was eating her prey. It was awesome!!!

The lioness is under the far left tree and the lion is under the far right tree.

Later that day we also took a boat ride, which was my favorite part. We saw hundreds of hippos and crocodiles. We even were able to see two elephants playing in the water. It looked like they were trying to drown each other, but would take turns doing it. It was really neat.

At one point, one of the girls on the boat needed to go for a short call (=pee). We pulled the boat up to a cleared area of the bush for her to get out. As she was moving to the front of the boat I heard someone say, "Look at that croccodile!" I thought they were just making a joke but sure enough about a stone's throw away there was a huge croc waddling from the land into the water. Ha. There was no way that I would get out to head towards the bush where only God knows what is out there. We just saw a croccodile!. But she did get out and made it back alive, while I remained in the boat and held it.

We left Murchison Falls the morning that Sarah would be flying out and made it to Kampala in plenty of time to get lunch, do some shopping, and check into my hotel. It was weird to see her go because we had been together for a week straight. I am so grateful for the opportunity God gave her to come and the blessing that it was having her here. So, officially, you are invited to come visit me in Uganda. Just let me know when you want to come!!

Matoke piled in a truck on the way back to Mbale. This is a common sight on the main roads.