It took a while, but I was finally able to download the video of the giraffes on here and get all the pictures downloaded. Here's the link to the pics from Uganda:
http://picasaweb.google.com/acstrat55/Uganda#
After arriving in Kampala, we drove to Jinja, which was about an hour away, to go whitewater rafting on the Nile. It was an all day affair...we got on the river at about 10:30 and didn't get done until 5pm. We did get to stop for lunch, and they provided a very good meal. We went on class 3, 4, and 5 rapids (for those of you that are unfamiliar with the classification scale, class 6 is the hardest). We only flipped once but we came very, very close to flipping a second time. You will be able to see in the pictures, but the entire left side of the raft was dumped (except me). When we first started out on the river, they took us through all these drills and even practiced flipping so that we would know what to do. And for all of the rapids, their instructions were to, 'get down and hang on'.....so we did. :-) In the calmer part of the river, they let us jump out of the raft and go swimming (yes, we had life jackets on the entire time), which was very nice, since the water was about 80 degrees. Well, I thought it was nice, until a couple of days later we found out about all the snakes that live in the water....thankfully we never ran into any of them.
Overall, it was one of the best rafting trips I have ever been on. The same company had a place where you could also go bungee jumping over the Nile....but we were told we couldn't do it (ok, we were commanded not to do it), so I had to content myself with just looking at the platform. Maybe next time....Anyway, here are the pictures from the rafting trip:
http://picasaweb.google.com/acstrat55/Rafting#
That's about it from Uganda...hope you enjoy the pictures. Next up.....back to Tanzania.
8 comments:
wow, what a trip! I'm glad it was you and not me; I was in a panic just looking at the photos:-) By the way, who took them? An experience of a lifetime, that's for sure.
My first comment was from the rafting photos which you probably figured out. I looked at the other ones second - that udder sore reminded me of the farm and having to clean them out. Nothing compared to those maggots though, ugh! I'd say you're more than earning your keep doing all those animals in one day.
I'm absolutely jaw-dropped-open fascinated at all that you are seeing and doing. NO WAY would I consider rafting over rapids fun--just give me a canoe on quiet water. All of those animals--how in the world do you get through so many in a day? I felt sorry for those cattle Amanda. JIm and I were always kind to all of our critters on the farm. Some of the sores were totally disgusting! I'm with you on that--Ewww! And last but not least--I was in awe that there was such an awesome sign at the WECE about animals having feelings too! I've always thought that.
Now tell me...what kind of snakes are in the Nile? Aren't you afraid of anything? {ewww, shivers up my spine}
The company had people that took the pictures and they also did a video (which was too large to put on the website), which we bought at the end of the trip.
Our group (about 10 people) made it through about 1700 cows, and I don't know how many of the other animals, when the group from the other site came over to help. The only way we got through all those animals was all the really great help that we had. Everyone worked their butts off (and we had to use what supplies they had...we came extremely close to running out of meds by the end).
I felt very bad for most of the animals, because the people didn't know how to handle them, and beating them seemed to be the answer for everything. They are just starting to get their animals and land back after having to move into the IDP camps, so they are having to relearn all their skills again.
I don't remember what kind of snakes are in the Nile, but I didn't find out about them until after we were done. Had someone mentioned that before, I probably wouldn't have gone swimming!
Well, after I posted my note to you I went and looked it up--{toes curled up and shivers again}--ignorance may be bliss!
BUT...there was mention of how hippos were notorious for unprovoked attacks on boats and chewing up the occupants with their visor like teeth.
I don't know how you got through all that you saw and did around the cattle and other animals without saying 'stop that!'
Have you ever seen that movie Anaconda, Amanda?
Thankfully, I don't think I did see that movie. :-)
And yes, I attempted at several sites to go in there and start herding the cows in there, and at a couple of places they were willing to watch and learn as I moved the cows in there all by myself without hitting them. But then there was one place where I went in there, but they decided they couldn't do without hitting the cows, and I got hit in the eye with one of the sticks. It was at that point that I decided I wasn't going to risk my eyesight to try and teach them something if they weren't willing to learn. So I let them waste all their energy in the sun.
dude, that looks like it was pretty fun. You are getting to see some neat stuff...I'm not too sure about the rafting... ;) The crocs are awesome!
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