Getting to know Uganda: Jinja and Sipi style

We arrived in Jinja - the town famed for having 'source of the Nile' - ready and rearin to get out on the river. I was definitely pumped for white water rafting, especially cause it just seemed so cool to be doing it on the Nile River! The three of us were with a fun Danish couple and the other raft was full of Americans...the obnoxious kind that you know give American tourists everywhere that reputation.... And I will say, our raft made it down the 15 ft drop..theirs did not! Just saying..

That was probably in thanks to our guide, a South African native with NO fear. If it were up to him we would have been taking on grade 6 rapids all day! I'd like to say I took most like a champ, but the last rapid was by far the worst and thank goodness it was the last cause I needed to get out!! Being under that raft was NOT were I wanted to be but thankfully the safety kayakers were excellent at their jobs (hi Mom!) It was exhilarating and exciting and everything else rafting is supposed to be, but dang, how’s a sister supposed to stay afloat!!

So after getting thoroughly slapped around by the Nile, I headed out to Sipi Falls in the SE part of the country for a couple days of R&R. Sipi was very serene and peaceful. The people were very welcoming, too, and I really enjoyed getting to know some interesting people. I got to learn how coffee was made too and I even got to take a bag of my own beans home! I planted a tree (bush?), too, so that will be ripe for the pickin in about 3 years…

I got to learn more about the agricultural life throughout the country and just how dependent the people are on their land. They welcome rain, imagine that! :) Looking out over the massive valley in Sipi, it's really cool to see the family's plots, knowing they can identify theirs from probably 2 miles away.

Anyway, I don’t think the pictures quite captured the magnitude of how beautiful it really was in either Jinja or Sipi but I've posted some pics of both below…