So, I realized that I haven't mentioned the trips -- with all of the moving and trying to finally settle in and job searching, I skipped over some exciting news! At the end of May, we had two friends swing through Kampala, one was here to attend the wedding of a college friend and the other was here for work on a documentary film, but it was so fabulous to see them both. And, as luck would have it, I got to take a break from job searching because the bride and groom had organized a mini-van and a few days excursion for the American wedding guests visiting Uganda, and there was extra space. The 8 of us left Kampala on a Tuesday morning and drove west all day long. We arrived at a beautiful spot in the SW corner of Uganda at sunset, in the rain, and got out of the minivan and into a motorboat. We were taken out to an island in the middle of Lake Bunyoni which was a small "eco-camp" with really great food, cold drafty cabins, composting toilets, and outdoor showers. kind of luxurious actually :) i think it's the first time i've ever paid money specifically charged to cover the costs of using water. it really was a pretty place, but hard as hell to get to, so i'm not in a huge hurry to get back there.

The next morning, we all took it easy, some people kayaked in the lake, but not this girl...i have a few friends who've picked up schistosomiasis from lakes in Africa, and i wasn't interested. around noon we all piled back in the boat, and back in the minivan for another 5-6 hour drive up the mountains on terrible almost non-existent roads, to go approx 100Km to the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. One of the premier national parks in Uganda, it costs $500 to "track gorillas" which means hiking around for hours trying to figure out where a family/troop might be resting and eating for a little while. Your park permit allows you 1 hour of gorilla watching time, then you hike out again! It really is quite a unique experience though... very different from the game drive safaris in Kenya and Tanzania that I've been on. There's only 3 places in the whole world to encounter the endangered Mountain Gorillas -- and this particular area of SW Uganda/NW Rwanda/SE Congo has the three parks. Although, no one is rushing to Congo -- we've had friends go from the Rwanda side, because flying to Kigali and driving just a few hours south is a much easier trip than the long drive across Uganda to Bwindi.

My pictures, unfortunately, all came out blurry. Seems my little Nikon digital wasn't up to the challenge of capturing moving primates close up. But I watched them sit on tree branches, and strip bark off smaller stalks, and eat the mushy insides of the tree. There were 2 large silverback males, a big female who charged our group to protect her baby, and of course the cutest baby gorilla resting on its mother's back. they are loud and they are very clear. Don't get too close. So we didn't. But we watched for our hour and it was really incredible. I think something like 4% or less of our DNA separates humans from gorillas -- and when you get close you start seeing how intelligent, communicative, and social they are, also how big and scary and dangerous. i crouched down low most of the time in their presence, I didn't want to upset anyone.

When we left Bwindi on Friday morning it took over 12 hours to drive back to Kampala. That was rough -- but I had a great time! and you get over the car sickness and soreness pretty quickly. About a week later, in early June, Dan had a day off for a Ugandan National holiday, so we drove to Lake Mburo National Park for two nights, to stay in a posh "eco-lodge" that some of his colleagues had recommended. It was also beautiful -- less green and hilly (Bwindi's a tropical rainforest in the mountains) -- this was the flat brown scrub of the savannah -- much more similar to Kenya. We saw all kinds of antelope type animals: eland, impala, topi, bushbuck, and zebras. Wow were the zebras beautiful. Its the only park in Uganda that has zebras. We walked around the marsh in the morning with a guide and saw hippo footprints in the mud, and even heard two hippos fighting in the marshy water, although they were hidden behind the tall grasses. Water buffalo, all kinds of birds, and hyena dens (Dan saw one hyena, but it was too quick for me) anyway, we relaxed and got out of Kampala a few days and it was really very nice. We met a great Danish family who had lived here for years and were on their way back to Denmark. Who knows when we'll get another R&R break again? We're thinking maybe Cape Town in August... I'll keep you posted