Murchison Falls

This weekend I finally went on safari. We headed off at 5 a.m for central Uganda where the Nile goes through a huge flat plain, which is the edge of the Great Rift Valley. This area is a national park, which encompasses a vast expanse of savannah plains and a portion of the Nile. At one end, the falls for which the park is named after - Murchison Falls - are at one end of the Nile. Before Idi Amin was in power, the park had thriving numbers of many wild animals. During his reign, however, the park fell to poachers who killed off many of the animals and completely made the rhinos extinct. The numbers are starting to rise again, but I can only imagine what they were like before. 

Our group of interns + our great driver

 After hours of driving we reached the area where we were going to go chimp tracking. I didn't exactly know what this entailed, which is how I ended up tramping through the bush 30 minutes later in sandals only sandals and capris.  This was not the ideal clothing for such an adventure. We followed a chimp path into the jungle, but suddenly the path that had been cleared disapeared and we were stuck making our own way through the swamp, mud, prickly bushes, and snake invested ground. There were eight of us, including our guide, and we got kind of split up at one point when someone got a little stuck in the mud. The guide and I stood there waiting, and all of a sudden a stinging pain was searing through my right big toe, and then the same pain was on my other foot. I thought I must have been bitten by a black mamba, but upon looking down I saw I ants crawling on both my ankles and feet. They all started biting, and let me tell you that they really hold on and do not go down without a fight or a lot of pain to the victim. I was madly trying to rid myself of these ants which had proceeded to crawl up my pants and bite, but the problem was that we kept having to stop and wait in one place for the others to catch up. As there was no way to go ahead without losing people, I hopped around in my place trying to avoid landing in deep mud, stepping on any deadly snakes, or mostly just trying to keep the ants out of my pants. Then I finally thought we were through this tropical hell as we saw the light of day through some bushes. Unfortunately, though we had followed a pre-made chimp path in, there was no such path on the way out, so this forced us to make our own. Not such a big deal except the bushes we had to move through for about 8 feet were covered in these rough very short, but painful barbs. Though the guide led the way, I was second and still bore the brunt of the pain as he was wearing rubber boots, full-length pants, and a long-sleeved safari-worthy shirt. Meanwhile, I was not able to slow down and pick my wash carefully through the thicket of pain as the pain from the ants on the ground was equally unwanted. I did not find this situation amusing then, time heals all wounds, and I now give you permission to smirk or laugh at my misfortune. We did in fact locate the chimps on the edge of the jungle near a sugar cane plantation, and it was great to watch the animals in their natural habitat. We saw five or six all together, and even one mother scooped up her baby to bring to the top of a nearby tree as we approached. It was definitely worth the stress and pain to get there, but I am extremely glad I didn't know what was coming when I agreed to go chimp tracking without the proper attire.

Camping out that night, we all were exhausted and ready to sleep before starting the actual safari part the next day bright and early. We started off our by crossing the Nile on a small ferry to reach the other side of the park where a majority of the animals actually live. The sun was just rising over the water and a mist hung in the air that gave everything a soft glow in the cool morning. It was absolutely breathtaking, and made me have one of those I'm-Really-In-Africa-Moments that I still get quite frequently, even after 7 weeks here already. We crossed the river and headed off in our safari van to go experience the Ugandan version of the Lion King.

Fortunately, we got to see just about everything the park has to offer, including giraffes, hippos, elephants, warthogs (or Pumbas as the other foreign interns kept calling them), water buffalo, antelope of various sizes, waterbucks (picture a beefed up deer without antlers that can swim across a body of water even as big as the Nile), a chameleon, and many many hippos. 

The highlight of the game drive was seeing three female lions cross just a few meters in front of our vehicle. There were so many giraffes too! By the end of the ride we were like "oh wow, another giraffe big whoop" - spoiled, I know. 

Murchison Falls at a distance

After the drive we hoped on a boat that cruised up the Nile for two hours towards the Falls itself. We hoped out a bit back from the falls, and followed a guide along a four foot wide trail in the hillside to the top of the falls. The views we got of the falls were spectacular, and particularly amazing because we could get so close. The boats can't get very close because of the strength of the current and I assume various other dangers with getting so close. It would have been pretty dang perfect if I hadn't been experiencing the awful effects of getting sick from some unclean water I had used to brush my teeth with the night before. Note: I always use tap water to brush, never to drink, but I have always been fine. Then the one weekend I am actually doing something that would be super inconvenient to get sick on, I get sick. One last word about having to go to the bathroom all of a sudden when you are out in the wilderness: even when you feel terrible, being on a narrow dirt path with a nearly vertical slope above and a similarly steep slope below followed by the tumultuous, croc-infested waters of the Nile makes the whole hilarity factor of the situation ten times better. I don't think I need to say anymore, but I had to get creative and fearless very quickly. 

The following day we packed up our camp and headed to go see rhinos at a sanctuary just a few hours outside the park. As all the rhinos went extinct, they are trying to reintroduce them, but first they must go through the slow and tedious process of breading these massive animals. We were able to get very close to a sleeping pack of rhinos that were dozing off in the shade of a massive tree. One of the newest babies is named Obama, why? Because his mom was a rhino bought and brought from Disney's Animal Kingdom in the U.S. and the father was a rhino from Kenya. 

Now I am back in Kampala, and I will write more later, but now it is time for bed! 

Also, I added some photos to the blog before this one as promised, so check them out if you are interested. 

The Five Second Rule Does Not Apply in Africa

You think you’ve finally adjusted, and then you move and it’s a whole new cultural experience. We shipped off to Iganga this morning (two and a half hours later than planned), and after crossing the Nile and about two and a half hours of flying down the road we arrived at the BfL office. It’s a nice, but simple house, and when we arrived there were bowls of matoke, g-nut sauce, rice, mystery meat (goat, beef?), spinach, and bananas ready to be eaten by the hungry travelers. After lunch, the other intern and I unpacked, and were excitedly talking about how clean everything was, and how nice it was to have a closet, a shower, and a real toilet. After my rustic village experience, I am not so keen on bucket baths or pit latrines. One of the office workers took us around Iganga so we could go see where everything was, and it’s actually quite a busy little town. Crossing the main road is still reminiscent of Frogger, but not so intense as the Kampala edition. We got to the grocery store, which was small, but well stocked, and decided that since we will be cooking dinner for ourselves we should get a loaf of bread. The woman helped us find a nice loaf of prepackaged bread, and off we went to the market. On the way home it started to drizzle a bit. The woman asked us if we wanted to stop, but it was hardly raining so we decided to just keep walking the rest of the 15 minutes back. The other intern didn’t mind getting wet, so we just kept walking, until the point where we were soaked by the torrential downpour and being cheered on by all the Ugandans standing under the cover of their doorways. About half way back m clothes looked like they had been dunked in a tub, and we looked like drown rats. In case we didn’t already stick out here, I can’t imagine what else we could have done to make bigger fools of ourselves – it was great. Fortunately the only casualty in my bag from the rain was my last pack of travel klleenex, which are impossible to find here, but hardly something to lose sleep over.

This weekend at the conference it poured harder than I thought was actually possible. Apparently, hurricane like rain is quite common here. The hotel we stayed at had a lovely little balcony off our room, but my roommate and I found it not so lovely when there were about 2 inches of water standing on the floor by the end of the storm because the balcony was ever so slanted towards the door, and naturally the door doesn’t completely seal at the bottom.

Back to Iganga. After getting back, I was a little surprised to find out that no one is staying here with us at night. There is a night guard though who watches the gate, mom. We got the house all locked up, and it’s surrounded by what I am becoming quite used to: a tall brick wall with coils of barbed wire on top. We went to go make dinner, and the power went off. Unfortunately, I had also just noticed that the bread bag had a large whole in the end, which had apparently not been a questionable thing to the woman who actually grabbed it for us. After debating about the safety of the bread, I opted for some peanut butter, half a mango, and some digestive biscuits. Yum. I should also mention that sanitation is a lot more complex here compared to Kampala, and after not finding any dish soap, we started to get a bit worried about using the dishes. The water out of the tap is not as clean here as it was in Kampala, which wasn’t all that clean either, but we were advised to bleach everything in Iganga just a bit (from dishes to fruits and veggies – even the outside of mangoes). When some pasta Karen had made fell on the floor she grabbed it up and longingly noted that she while she might have just popped it in her mouth at home, but here, no way, and she longingly threw it into the trash

.

The lights came back on about 20 minutes later, and Karen walked into the bathroom and calmly walked back out to inform me that there was a large cockroach in there oh by the way. Later, I was in my room getting my peanut butter out when Karen shrieked. I ran over and asked if she had seen another cockroach, and she said it was far worse – a mouse! Fortunately, we are going to be good at supporting each other because mice don’t faze me, but the sole cockroach living by the toilet has made me minimize my trips to that bathroom.

Iganga is a very small town, but huge compared to the first village I was in. The kids are really excited to see us as we walk around, and we had multiple boys telling us how much they loved us and would like to be our friends while we walked back from the market. Men here are very forward, and the way dating happens is someone just walks up to a girl out of the blue and asks her out, and she says “no,” which obviously means “yes.” We asked our friend how a girl actually says “no,” and apparently you have to sit down and explain to him why not. Have a boyfriend? Pshh, as if that matters. Having multiple girlfriends or boyfriends is not totally out of the ordinary.

The main mode of transportation is by bike here in Iganga, and not motorbike. There is a little seat right above the back wheel and ladies just hop on sidesaddle. There are some mud huts out here, but otherwise many of the houses are small shacks or very small brick buildings, but there is a main street with actual stores. We go buy food at one of the small grocery stores there (picture the size of a gas station store), and I had a nice omelet with tomatoes and pepper cooked in the bottom of a weird metal bowl. The store has one brand of shampoo, eggs that are straight from the chicken (see chicken poop still on shells), and sippy yogurt (it comes in a bag and you drink it with a straw – delicious!). I was going to have the sippy yogurt for for dinner instead of eggs, but it was frozen at the store, so I figured I’ll have it tomorrow for breakfast once it defrosts in the fridge. Most places here don’t have fridges. We have one, but before you get all excited for me, there is not enough electricity here to power it. The BfL office apparently didn’t plan this one out well, but we have a beautiful fridge that sits in the kitchen at room temperature. Makes a decent place to store food though without the ants, mice, or other assorted creatures being able to enjoy it before you do.

As with all things here, my work schedule is a bit up in the air, and I guess I am not actually starting the health program until next week. I have really become ok with whatever happens here; it’s just out of my control, and there is no point worrying about how things go or when they happen because they could easily go another way at any moment. I wish I could bring this attitude back to my life at home. Then again, it does have some problematic outcomes when everyone in the country seems to have this attitude.

I am exhausted, and I think it is mostly just from going through yet another change of place, coworkers, timing, and stresses, including flakey electricity, no fridge, questionable water, hot temperatures, and masses of mosquitoes. That being said, I wouldn’t rather be anywhere else in the world than Uganda at the moment, and that’s a great thing to be able to say.

I no longer have wifi I can use at the office to upload photos, so they will be fewer and far between, but use your imagination until I can put up some.

Charging things also only happens when the power decides it feels like cooperating, which is not very often. The power may be on, but sometimes it’s not enough to charge a cell phone.

About to pass out and it’s 9:15 p.m., but that’s okay because I have to be up at 7 to unlock the office door for everyone else. 

At the Source

Not so much to say today - probably because I've actually been blogging this week quite regularly, but I wanted to mention a few things before I get off the interwebs for the next four days or so. I will be heading to an AIESEC conference here in Uganda, which will be held in the Hotel Spacious Kyengera. I don't know how it will actually be, but doesn't the venue sound exciting?

Before I could take off of work and go on my AIESEC way, I had to go to Jinja town. Earlier this week, I sat down with Phoebe and we thought about Iganga, and we asked ourselves, what do these women really need? They need latrines. That's how we got into that whole discussion on poop in the first place. Well, I was sitting there thinking to myself I have no idea how to build a latrine, nor would I know how to teach others how to build one. Then I remembered that when I googled Iganga, after I first heard I'd be moving there, one of the first things that came up was this girl's blog about working on a health project there. She had mentioned the name of an organization they had partnered with to teach trainings on latrine building amongst other things, so I mentioned this to Phoebe. Her eyes got wide and she asked me to look up the name of the organization. After a few minutes scanning through the blog, I found JIDDECO. She searched for their website, and read a little about the Jinja Diocese Development something something Organization. She picked up the phone, called the number, and after about a minute hung up the phone to say we had a meeting scheduled for 11 am two days later in Jinja. I couldn't believe how fast we went from just talking about latrines to having a meeting set up with a potential partner organization, with the minor detail that it is about two hours away from our Kampala office. And that ladies and gentlemen is how I ended up spending the entire day in the car just for one meeting.

Another intern has arrived from Boulder, and she will be joining me out in Iganga - though Karen is here until September. Though she is not working on the health project, she decided to accompany us to Jinja just for kicks. The road to Jinja is well paved and there is even a yellow line down the center! Granted, nobody notices the dividing line, nor do they follow the passing rules, but it is comforting to know that the asphalt isn't just going to cut out randomly. Phoebe wanted breakfast, so all of a sudden we pulled over by the side of the road to where some stands were selling skewers of various meets, roasted bananas, and soda. Phoebe rolled down her window about 3 inches, and Karen followed suit. Without any other cue, 10 or 15 skewer bearing men started sprinting over to the car and proceeded to jam skewers in the widow, try to stick cans of soda in Karen's lap and stuff bananas (whole and still flaming hot off the grill) in Phoebe's face. Even after saying we only wanted some bananas from one man in particular, the others continued to literally shove each other out of the way. Phoebe pulled out her wallet, and then all of a sudden they started running away - except for the one who Phoebe bought the bananas from. We had not suddenly become repulsive, we just got overshadowed by the massive bus that had just pulled up with far more passengers to please. I watched out the back window as the same men in blue smocks stood on their toes to pass skewers of chicken thighs and Orange Fanta bottles into the hands of paying customers on their way probably to Nairobi. It really brought a whole new meaning to fast food and door-to-door service - terrifying and wonderful all at the same time.

The meeting itself went pretty well, except the part where Phoebe was trying to explain our health program to the two Catholic program directors and a "Sist-ah" (yes, a nun came in about 5 minutes into the meeting) and Phoebe started the list of topics we cover with "Family planning." We both tried very hard not to crack up at her little goof, but they were actually very cool about it, and actually brought up the topic themselves. The Catholic church here has seemed to recognize that the population growth is just crippling the nation, and that encouraging huge families is not productive (pardon the pun) for anyone. While their methods may differ from ours, it was nice to have middle ground where we both saw that families that have 10 kids just don't have enough support for the kids, and it is better to have fewer and give them all that is possible.

Now the second largest city in Uganda, Jinja boasts a different attraction, which the other new intern and I were more keen to see than the office of this organization. I crossed the Nile today, and no, I didn't jet up to Egypt, but rather just crossed a bridge in Jinja. Lake Victoria (the largest inland lake in all of Africa) flows out into the headwaters of the Nile. They refer to it as "the Source of the Nile," not like you would ever forget this as EVERYTHING has "the Source of the Nile" tacked on to its name there. One of the big breweries is located there and produces a cleverly named beer "Nile."

Didn't see any crocodiles today, but I hope to see one when we go rafting down it in a few weeks...just as long as it is not too close.

On the way back from the meeting we decided to stop at the Nile park area, which is actually called "the Source of the Nile," but after realizing that the park entrance fee was 10,000 shillings, we turned around and decided to just see it up close when we go rafting. There was a man standing at the gate, and when Phoebe turned the car around he started running and shouting after us in Lugandan, "Bring back my tourists! Where are you taking my tourists?!?!" It was all fairly amusing.

Afterwards we were all starving and Phoebe said let's eat at this gas station called Igor as we drew close to the simple pump station. We walked into the inside snack area, and to mine and the other intern's surprise there was a full fledged restaurant. I had a delicious Chicken Tika Masala with chapati (they were out of nan) for about $5, and then we hit the road, and headed off into the sunset. Well actually it was just really bright and hot on the way back, and Phoebe insisted that we close the windows, which were actually letting in relatively cool air, because the wheezing and whistling AC was actually "working" for once. Karen and I sat in the back seat dying of heat, while the front had a small trickle of cool air.  

Ewww! I just went to the kitchen to get a cup of water and when I opened the fridge door a huge cockroach scurried out and I had to lift myself up on the counter to get out of the way. This really discourages me from staying hydrated, the cockroaches should know better. Plus, I would have sprayed the massive roach if I could have located the canister. Note to self:  don't go into the kitchen at night, or leave the safety of the bug net.

"Jiggers Africa"

As of 4 p.m. today I was so on board about going out to Iganga for the next month to work on health, and then I heard about jiggers. Be forewarned, this is not for all audiences, especially those who are squeamish and easily disgusted by creepy crawly things. If you’re still on board, then congratulations, but don’t get too proud of your “tough stomach” because you are sitting there reading this blog in a nice jigger-free home.

So imagine you are walking along a dusty red dirt road in Uganda watching the broad green leaves of a banana tree sway to and fro with the breeze. It’s hot and humid, but the relief of a cool house always makes this walk back from a day in the field visiting women’s houses a lot more bearable. As you sit down on your bed to take a nap, you notice a mosquito bite that really itches on the tip of your big toe. Those darn mosquitoes always manage to bite you in the most annoying places! When you reach a finger down to relieve the itch, you realize that there is a small lump under your skin. You figure it’s just a bad reaction to that particular bite, and settle in for you nap. The next week goes by and you notice more of these bumps on the bottom of your feet. You think how in the world are mosquitoes biting the bottoms of my feet? and then it hits you like a Ugandan mini-bus barreling down the highway….JIGGERS!

This tiny flea-like insect burrows into the skin while it is to small to really see it. The jiggers tend to get in when you are in dusty areas, and are also known to breed in unhygienic conditions in the home. Once they burrow under your skin, they suck your blood and breed. As they grow to adulthood they form little lumps, and lay more eggs, which in turn grow and multiply themselves. If left untreated, they can cause a person lose the ability to put weight on the bottom of their feet and walk. It is pretty straightforward to get them out - you cut them out, BUT you have to make sure they don’t burst because apparently that will allow them to spread more eggs or something equally horrible and disgusting. While I said it was straightforward, it also sounds absolutely awful. I wish they had a jigger-away pill or magic jigger-be-gone salve rather than a scalpel.

Why do I find these so terrifying when other tropical diseases like Ebola, typhoid, and malaria are present? Well Ebola is far more rare, granted also pretty disturbing. Glad I didn’t reread The Hot Zone before coming here. In related news, a girl died of Ebola in central Uganda about 3 weeks ago, and I got a lovely U.S. State Department email warning me of a possible Ebola outbreak, but it is actually rather small. Plus, in the off chance I ever got it, they do have ways to treat it if caught early. Typhoid, another unpleasant one, is caused by drinking contaminated drinking water. I don’t drink water that hasn’t been either boiled or bottled, so not so worried about typhoid. And while Malaria would suck, I am taking antimalarials every single morning, hiding out in my bug net typing this, and wearing bug spray when needed. The problem with jiggers? They are in the DUST, they are too tiny to notice initially, and they burrow under your skin and multiplyyyyy. If you take two steps outside your door in any place outside of Kampala you automatically get a tan, well a dust one anyway, so how the heck am I supposed to avoid dust? The next reason I am terrified of them? The Busoga region is the most heavily impacted one of all of Uganda, and guess where it lies? Right next to Iganga district! Yes folks, I am going to the land of the Jiggers. As if spottier electricity, hotter temperatures, and more mosquitoes wasn’t enough, now my supervisor Phoebe just had to mention this itty bitty creature.

So since we all wear open-toed shoes and capris or skirts everyday, and my entire agenda revolves around tramping around the Igangan bush, we will be wearing stockings (tights? long socks? panty hose? I have no idea) when we go out. If this is not the fashion statement of the year, I don’t know what is! Finally, I thought Phoebe had given me a little teeny weenie nugget of hope to cling to, until she drowned that light right out. The past intern that lived up in Iganga liked to go running everyday, so she wore her stockings and then told Phoebe she had one of these little mosquito bites that…you know where this story goes. Apparently, not only to you have to wear stockings, but you also have to wash everything – you, your clothes, your shoes, and the stockings upon returning from the field to make sure the little buggers (literally) die. Once again, I had a ray of hope - all I had to do was wear stockings and wash them  - and then poof, that sliver of hope and calm too was gone. The reason many people, even out in the villages, iron their clothes? Not the need for crisp creases, but the desire to kill the last of the jiggers with searing heat. So while I was planning to do my own laundry there, I am definitely going to have to go find someone with a laundry service and an iron, which actually wont be too hard to do I presume.

Maybe I am being ridiculous, maybe I am being overly concerned, but before you judge me, I am here, you are there, and I just stupidly Google Image searched “jiggers Africa.”