On our way back to our bungalows, two employees escorted us with flashlights and to aid us should we run into any hippos. Another cool thing I learned, at night hippos emerge from the water to graze. Who knew?!?! I never knew this!!! Sure enough, blocking our path, near the volleyball net, in gray and pink glory stood a ginormous hippo. It was about as wide and long as my 12 passenger van, not quite as tall though. I was speechless. Our guides were able to shoo it away by yelling at it and throwing rocks, and the hippo just moseyed off as though we were flies pestering it.
Of all the places we had stayed, the beds in our bungalow were so comfortable. I slept well for the first time since we had arrived in Uganda. We were up early for breakfast and then driven over to the boat launch. We waited for another group to join us and while we waited, we stood by the lake watching weaver birds building their nests in a tree hanging over the water. It was fascinating! There must have been over a hundred chirruping and fluttering about, soaring back and forth with materials. They were incredibly focused, which stood to reason, these were the males all building their nests in order to attract a mate. They went about their business with great precision and skill.
There was a young man (a munzungu even!) already at the boat launch when we arrived and we struck up a conversation as we stood there. He told us that he was a university student from Denmark who had spent the last month hiking through Uganda. He would stay at hostels or sometimes with friends he made along the way, he would call home once a week to let his family know he was okay. He was really enjoying the sights and sounds of Uganda, and the night before he had camped in a tent by the lake. He said that in the middle of the night he could hear a hippo near his tent grazing. Amazing, simply amazing! I think I would have had a heart attack.
It was a calm, overcast day, the water was smooth. The rest of our group arrived and we floated out onto the lake. Our captain pointed out many bird species and told us about the lake. It wasn't long before we came upon a pod (you could even use herd, school, or bloat. Bloat? Seriously???) of hippos. It was the most incredible thing I have ever seen. They stood there, submerged in the water, with their ears and eyes above the surface, staring at us. Then some would dive under while there were ripples of bubbles coming from another spot and VOILA, another hippo would surface! We learned that when a cow gives birth, she goes off alone and stays away from the pod for three months.
We went around the lake hoping to see some alligators and we only managed to see a baby one, about the size of a loaf of Italien bread. Back at shore, we rode to get our belongings at the lodge and pay our bill. Then we were off, a small continuation of our safari on the long road out of the park. When we had gone a couple of miles we began to see longhorn cattle. Huge herds of them. Cows are not sacred in Uganda, but they are extremely valuable. This particular part of the country had hundreds of herds, with cattle numbering in the thousands. These cattle were majestic looking beasts. It was incredible to see a few men driving these huge herds across plains, hillsides, and roads.
The next stop was a couple of schools. These schools were ones that Brunswick Coastal RC had partenered with Kijjansi RC to put up water tanks at. One of the schools Enid had attended as a child. She was instrumental in overseeing this project. When we arrived at the first school, a primary school, it was quiet, the students had been dismissed. We had a meeting with the teachers and board members and were given a report. When that was finished, we took a brief look at the campus. Here and there were little sign staked in the ground with morals written on them, such as:
At one particular sign, Curt said, "Jen, go lay down by that sign!"
"What?! No way! Why me? Why not Mary?"
Ismael intervened. "Come with me, my Queen" He took me but the hand and we both posed behind the sign. The result was hilarious!
One of the elder board members came over, alarmed that we were laughing at the sign. He felt we should have taken in more seriously. I felt like a little kid being scolded by the principal! But I'd do it again. (Very naughty of me, I know...)
The secondary school was just around the corner, and when we arrived all the children, and their parents were waiting to greet us. The children all lined both sides of the road, clapping. I went over and said hello and tried to shake their hands. Probably a lame move, but again, there was that internal struggle with being held in high esteem when I felt incredibly undeserving.
I was pleasantly surprised to finally meet Allan, Enid's husband. They had both come for this meeting. We weren't able to get aquatinted just yet, but we would later in the evening.
We toured the campus first before going into an assembly. Then the dancing started. This time the songs were even more personal. In two of the songs, Enid's name was mentioned repeatedly. In another song, Mary Tenenat, a member of Brunswick Coastal who partenered with Enid on the water project, was mentioned. The songs were heartfelt, and the dancing was wonderful.
Afterward, we were invited to enjoy some roasted goat skewers with the staff, board members, and parents. We were not particularly hungry since we had only eaten a short time earlier. I lucked out though and got liver on my skewer. (Sincerely, I like liver, I really do!)
It was time to go and we were running late, as usual. We made our way to the van but Mary and Marty stopped one last time to sing a song for the kids. I was a party pooper though and waited near the van. I had no energy left, and I was starting to feel a little homesick.
We drove farther into the countryside to see a couple clinics that had recieved maternity beds from Mary Tenants church. The more rural it became, the more stares we got. Here it was, Ken sat in front, the biggest munzungu of us all, and any children by the roadside or in their yards would see him from quite a distance. They would beging jumping,meaning, and shouting, "Munzungu, munzungu!!!" We all would wave at the kids and they were thrilled.
The first village we came to was very rural. We parked at the local clinic, but it was closed that day. A local leader came over to unlock it for us and show us around. The villagers all walked over in a crowd. They stood around observing this small troupe of munzungus. The children got closer to us, but they were timid. None of the children would let us touch them. Only when I knelt down did they crowd around me. Even still, they kept a certain level of personal space. I can't say I blame them. I imagine it was the first time many of them had seen a munzungu up close.
The second clinic we visited was uneventful, the village was more spread out, so we did not have a big audience.
Dusk was upon us when we made it to the hotel. Three rooms were booked for our team. Our choice with room arrangements were to have two men in one room, two women in another, and one man and one woman in the third room. I looked inside our rooms and they were more like efficiency apartments. There was a living room, a kitchen, and two seperate bedrooms, each with their own key. It really wasn't that big of a big deal to share with one of the guys, so I volunteered.
I asked Ken, " Wanna share a room?"
He looked at me incredulously, "NO."
Then I asked John, he was fine with it. It turns out that Ken did not understand that we had separate rooms inside. He refused to share because he sleeps in the buff and thought we were going to be in the same room with two separate beds. It still makes me laugh to think of what went through Ken's mind when I asked him to share a room.
None of us were hungry for dinner, but we met at the hotel restaurant and Enid and Ismael cut up the fresh fruit we recieved at Jongoza for us to snack on. We finally had decent wifi and I decided to FaceTime Brett. He was at the office, and the signal wasn't great there. We kept our conversation short, but it was so good to see his face and hear his voice. Then I Face Timed Gerald, we connected and it was absolutely wonderful to see home and all the kids, my mum, and my sister. It was 3 or 4 in the afternoon back home, and the kids were outside playing in the snow. We chatted for a little bit, and I had them say " hi" to everyone at the restaurant with me before saying good bye.
Things quieted down and I finally had an opportunity to get acquainted with Allan. He rents an apartment nearby because if his job and lives there during the week, coming home on the weekends. It was really a pleasure to talk to him. He got a kick out of seeing my kids on the iPad. We mainly talked about family, and he asked about how my trip was so far. It was getting late and our visit had to be cut short, the team had to get up early to make it to Nyaala by 9am for our video shoot with YPO.
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