Safari

I am off to Eagles Wings Children's Village this morning.  I wanted to post a few pictures from my safari because it was amazing.  Monday I went kayaking in the Nile at Jinja.  It was great.  I took a lesson in the morning and then paddled around with a guide in the afternoon.  No rapids this time, but learning how to roll was so much fun and I want to practice some more.

Murchison falls was beautiful.  I did a game drive, a boat ride and a hike up to the falls.  I met some great people while there.  We got to see every animal there is to see there except a leopard which is extremely rare to see.  It was amazing beyond words to see so many animals.  One night I woke up to a loud crunching sound.  The girl I was sharing a tent with said there was a hippo right outside our safari tent and she could feel it bumping against her.  They told us if we heard hippos to just stay in our tent and they wouldn't bother us.

I took over 700 pictures so choosing a few to post was hard!  I'm not even posting one of each animal I saw.

The people I met were a mix of tourists and aid workers.  Some people were just here for a short time doing tours and safari's.  It really made me realize that what I love about travel is interacting with the local people.  I want to know what it means to be a local.  Some of the people I met didn't have any interaction with locals beyond their tour guides.  I don't think I would enjoy that type of experience.  I'm so happy that I went on the safari, but I'm also happy that the majority of my trip includes living inside this culture.  I love Africa and what it means to be African.  There are a lot of things I don't understand, but the people are patient, and I try my best.  They appreciate it when you make an effort to learn their language and understand their ways.  The messiness of integration is part of what makes it so exhilarating.

I wanted to post these now before I leave for Eagles Wings and have more photos to post!

 We hiked in and around Murchison falls, it was amazing.

 These baby warthogs were hanging around our camp.  All the locals call them "Pumba's"

Here is a photo of me in the kayak.  This is the one I used in the afternoon to tour around. I don't have any pictures of the whitewater kayak I took my lesson in.