Floating Down the Nile

No journey to Uganda is complete without braving the mighty Nile River.  Matt and Alex were ready to take their turn rafting and I decided to try something new by riverboarding, which is basically extreme boogie boarding, down the river instead of hopping in a raft.  It was definitely a different experience than actually rafting, as I usually ended up crashing through a wave rather than going up and over it like you would on the raft.  There also wasn’t the fear\threat of randomly getting thrown into the water, but there was the added challenge of moving yourself to hit every wave just right so you got the most out of each wave.

Greg getting ready to riverboard.

Ready to take on the first class 5 rapid.

The brave adventurous group before the rapid hits.

Taking the plunge.

Luckily I was able to let Matt board for a few rapids as well so he could have the full experience, so I took over his rowing duties.  It was cool that we both got to try it out, though I made sure to hand him his paddle back whenever we had to row for the calm spots!

Matt trying out riverboarding.

Alex and her personal guide.

As we fall out, the guide works to get themselves onto the overturned raft.

The Nile, unfortunately, claimed a victim this run as Alex hurt her knee on one of the class 5 rapids.  Though in pain, she still powered through and made it all the way down the river.  Saying that you hurt yourself on a class 5 rapid on the Nile River does give you a couple points in the badass column though.

All smiles heading down the rapids.

Conquering the Nile one rapid at a time.

Where were Katie and Sarah at this time?  They decided to skip rafting and go shopping at some of the local markets.  Not as badass as rafting, but they still got to enjoy the views of the Nile!

A Murchison Safari

Katie and I have taken so many safaris in Uganda that we are starting to know some of the parks like the back of our hand.  For Alex and Sarah though, we were venturing out on their first ever African safari (Matt had done a safari in Kenya before, but was still excited for a Ugandan safari).  Since cramming all of us into one car wouldn’t make for a comfortable safari, we hired a matatu driver to take us around and give our siblings the true Ugandan experience.  The matatu is specially built for safaris, so it has a pop-up roof which makes animal viewing much easier than a regular car.

We all crammed into the non-air-conditioned matatu and headed off to Murchison Falls National Park which is about 5 hours North of Kampala.  We picked Murchison over the other National Parks because this would be the only safari for Alex and Sarah and this would give them the best chance to see the most wildlife including most importantly giraffes (a favorite for Sarah).  Heading to Murchison also allowed us to stop off at the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary so they could see the only remaining “wild” rhinos in Uganda.  This time around the rhinos were unfortunately not very active and just lazed about in the hot sun, but it is still always cool to see them.  Plus, you can get way closer to them than you ever would be able to in the wild, so that in itself is pretty cool.

The sisters' rhino trekking.

The brothers' rhino trekking.

The game driving in Murchison went extremely well and we got to see tons of lions, elephants, hippos, and of course the giraffes.  This was also the first time on safari we ever got to see Side-striped Jackals.  We took our siblings on a boat trip up the Nile River to Murchison Falls (which is where the river gets pushed through an 8-meter gorge and is pretty impressive).  On the boat, we even got to see a huge crocodile basking on the banks of the river.  For some reason a person sitting near the croc though it would be a good idea to bang on the side of the boat while we all marveled at this prehistoric beast.  That supreme killing machine spooked by the noise dove towards the water which happened to be in the direction of the boat and the wise guy that did the banging jumped behind me to protect himself.  The guy ended up getting a lot of evil stares and was called an idiot by the guides, but it was cool to see the croc move as fast as it did and splash into the water.

Our first ever Side-striped Jackals.

So many Giraffes!

Funny faces from Mr. Lion.

3 lion cubs, with two mamas close by.

Elephants in front of a beautiful sunrise.

Brothers enjoying a Nile Special on the Nile.

A crocodile just before we reached the falls.

All of us in front of Murchison Falls.

A crocodile just before jumping into the Nile River.

All in all, it was another fun safari and we think the siblings really enjoyed themselves.  It was fun watching them experience a safari for the first time and I think they might have actually enjoyed nature a little this time around.  For all our other photos from this trip, check out our SmugMug page.

Yay to a successful safari!

No safari is complete without seeing a leopard, even if it is a little off in the distance.

Us at the top of Murchison Falls!

Behind the Scenes: Part II

A little over a week after the girls arrived, Greg’s brother, Matt, also made the long trip over to hang out with us in our new home.  Our first big adventure with everyone together was a nice day spent down in Entebbe to do the behind the scenes tour at the Uganda Wildlife Education Centre and then a stroll around the Entebbe Botanical Gardens.

The morning started out getting to pet the two rhinos they have followed by feeding the chimps.  It is always interesting to see the hierarchy the chimps have when it comes to the food.  The top chimp takes their favorite foods first, then shares with the chimp that the keeper said would be the next top chimp (so as to play nice with the soon to be boss).  The keeper also had us throw some of the food into the water in front of the chimps even though they can’t swim.  Seems a little mean, but he wanted to show us how smart the chimps really are.  Upon realizing that they couldn’t reach out and grab the food in the water, the chimps ran to get sticks to use as tools to pull the food to them.

Sarah & Matt with the rhinos.

One of the chimps using a stick to get the ear of corn.

After the chimps, we were off to hold an African Rock Python.  We each got a turn holding the huge snake and each of us had different results.  Matt and Sarah looked like they were about to be strangled, our guide got uncomfortably close to Alex, and Greg channeled his inner snake handler by trying to hold the head outstretched from the body.  We (and the people watching us) got quite a few laughs from our time with the snake and we all made it out unharmed.  For all our entertaining photos, check out our SmugMug album.

All the siblings holding an African Rock Python.

Next up was the giraffe’s feeding time.  Unfortunately between now and the time I was here with Dad, one of the giraffes died from a heart issue so there was only one, although they are expecting to get more to keep it company.  Just like last time, the eland tried his hardest to get some of the food too, so we made sure to sneak him some.  It’s always a blast to feed these animals, you just need to avoid their huge outstretched tongues as they reach for the food!

Alex feeding the giraffe.

We moved on from the herbivores and on to the carnivore cages where we saw lions and a leopard.  Unfortunately/fortunately the large lion enclosure lawn was being mowed, so the lions were all in a smaller cage that they seemed anxious to get out of.  We got to pet the one female, though she was a bit agitated because she did not like being right next to the leopard.  The male lion didn’t seem too bothered to be stuck in a small cage with the two females, as we got to see him mate with one of the female's right in front of us.  That was definitely a first.  There was another group of people on the opposite side of the cage from us, and I guess Mr. Lion didn’t like his large audience because next thing you knew he sprayed (peed) the other group of people.  After getting pooped on by chimps, I think we were all ok to not get peed on by a lion.

Last, but definitely not least, was what Alex was most looking forward too, Charlie the elephant!  Charlie is a 4-year-old orphaned elephant that was raised at the centre, so he is very attached to the keepers.  We each got our chance to pet Charlie, and also play a little tug-of-war with him and his food.  Always a fun experience and we all left with huge smiles.  After our behind the scenes tour, we got some time to do the centre on our own before we headed off to the Entebbe Botanical Gardens.  Here, the boys got to pretend they were Tarzan, we got some beautiful views of Lake Victoria, and our siblings got to see some cool plants and birds.

Sisters in front of Lake Victoria.

Brothers at Lake Victoria.