Author: bskovsted

Thursday 23rd February

It’s 5:45am and still pitch black… It’s a little chilly, the skies are clear and together with a few of the other volunteers I’m ready for a morning hike.

Naturally there’s very little light pollution here so the stars are totally amazing! Thousands of them and so clear… we stop for a quick break, switch off our torches and look up. The Milky Way is also visible and we see several shooting stars – cannot reveal my wishes of course but none of them have come true yet! (one might have been related to something with bacon!!)

After an hour and twenty minutes we get to the top of Heaven hill – legs hurting slightly but we are rewarded with the most wonderful sunrise… What a privilege!

And what a great start to the day… followed by excellent roast potatoes for lunch… cake and homemade banana wine in the afternoon (it’s one of the other volunteers’ birthday)… the banana wine tastes like it looks! 😳

An evening in the pub concluded a really lovely day!

So why was it so good and why have I not had more of those this time here in Uganda? And I realised that I only have myself to blame. At times I have been too caught up in how things have been different to last time instead of focusing on getting new experiences here. Annoyed that I have not managed to focus more on the positives from the situation. Would like to think that I have learnt from it, though…

I will be sad to leave Uganda, though – maybe because I don’t think I’ll return here but also because I really believe that the community here needs help and I so wanted to do more…

Lake Bunyonyi is supposed to be the most beautiful lake in Uganda and with just a three hour drive from the village it was a perfect location for a quiet weekend away from everything.

I stayed at a eco camp called Byoona Amagara on one of the islands and it was super peaceful and lovely! Everything is done in the most environmentally friendly way there, at a very good price, the views are stunning, food is good (especially the crayfish) and the staff offer excellent service! Additionally, all their profits go to helping the community members on the island…

And sleeping in one of their ‘geo domes’ was cool. Hearing all of nature’s sounds close up as you fall asleep and when you wake up – in particular soooo much bird song! Although there was one bird which sounded like an alarm clock… super annoying at 3am!

Oh and breaking news from Saturday – my left toe nail is lost! Tripped as I came out of a canoe and now the nail is in the lake… and that, I promise, will be my last nail update!

The trip happened as I was meeting with a young man called Boaz, who is trying to help his community… we got in touch through my friend Carelynn in Tanzania and I was so impressed by him.

He told me that when he was 11 years old and being chased for school fees (his parents were struggling to pay them each month) he decided that he wanted to start a school where kids from poor families could study for free. When he got older, he asked his father for some of his land and he now tries his best to run a little school through money from agriculture.

He’s a very brave and kind young man and I enjoyed chatting to him about his project and how he can get it off the ground s bit better… we talked through some of the options he has and what he can do to raise some funds…

He still has a long way to go… he has a huge heart and lots of drive but he is just one person, so things are moving slowly… his project is called the Entuhe Project and you can search for their page on Facebook or just google them to find his website. Here is Boaz… and some of his gorgeous students.

After a good night’s sleep – the first one in a while – I booked a canoe (the hollowed out tree trunk variety!) to take me to the mainland for Sunday lunch.

It took an hour and a half but it was so tranquil… Just the sound of the water splashing against the wood, the soft paddling of my ‘driver’ Tyson and daily life around the lake.

A perfect way to relax the mind and just enjoy life in the moment… I don’t do enough of that!

On the way back I decided I should try paddling as well. Quite enjoyed it although my arms are now super sore… also made me remember the time we were on a family day out canoeing in Denmark… Helene and I had one of our less impressive moments when we built up too much speed for a ‘corner’ and went in the water – oops! 😀

Anyway… one of the main reasons for my weekend away from the village was to get everything arranged for March. It’s hard to believe that I just have five weeks left of this adventure… although it feels like I have been away ages because of all the experiences, it does also feel like just last week since I was dancing with so many of my friends in that bar in Covent Garden.

I didn’t manage to sort all the details but my flight back to Tanzania has been booked for 1st March where I am meeting Carelynn in the south of the country to try and help her with her education project there… And after that I have decided to add a new country to the list… I’ll be visiting Malawi for a bit of R&R before getting to Johannesburg for my flight back to London on the 28th March.

This morning I headed away from the lake… the boda ride took me all the way round the lake, and it was incredibly beautiful even though it was misty and a little gloomy.

On the way we came across a small gathering of people – they were standing around a young woman lying on the road. She was totally still, stretched out on her back, eyes closed and her arms crossed on her chest – she was dead… 😢 There were no signs of injuries and nobody spoke enough English to explain what had happened… I cried for the rest of the boda ride – the sadness was too much.

I will never forget her face for as long as I live – she looked so sad but at the same time so at peace… 😢

Wow, I seem to be missing bacon a lot!?! Or maybe it’s just meat in general… We are able to buy meat sticks or stews etc. in town and we tend to get meat once a week here at the volunteer house but either way it’s just not cooked very well…or it’s goat!

On Friday I thought there might have been a chance to enjoy some pork as one of the volunteers bought a pig to make hog roast… but sadly it ended up being pork skewers over the fire instead… not delicious although the smell was great!

Also didn’t really feel like eating it after making friends with that very pig earlier in the day – here’s the before & after!

 

In fact most people in the community cannot afford to eat meat very often – not the traditional types of meat anyway.

Met this lovely lady, Josephine, when I was here in November and loved seeing her again. As we were enjoying a beer away from the busyness of town, she walked up the hill and came over to chat and show off the catch of the day which she was preparing for dinner… mole! And a massive one as well. 😳 She did offer me a seat at the dinner table and even though I was told that mole tastes like chicken, I decided to pass…

 

…better to have some or not?

“Things didn’t turn out as expected…” of course it can be a positive or negative statement but I guess more often than not it describes a situation where your expectations have not been met…

But the good thing about doing something for the first time is that you almost never have any specific expectations, which was the case when I first volunteered here in Uganda… and as you know, I loved it so much! Therefore, I automatically had certain expectations for my return here… but it has not turned out to be as I expected.

And yes, I did think that to be a negative thing initially… I had prepared some work to do here with the previous manager which I was very excited about, so it was a disappointment not being able to complete that work…and that made me feel rather low the first few days here.

But I’ve not come to Africa to feel low, so I have made an effort to adjust my expectations. And I now expect myself to adapt to the new situation here. To not give up just because it’s tougher than and different to what I thought it would be like. And I am determined to enjoy my time here!

But it made me reflect on whether it is worth having expectations at all…I wondered if they can be turned off?!? But I don’t think so… Especially the expectations of myself and others…

But what is realistic to expect of others…? Nothing too difficult actually… just to be honest, be kind and to care about each other and their lives – it costs nothing, but it means everything!

On a lighter note, what I had not expected, was for my big toe nails to last this long! The left big toe nail is totally loose now… but am still able to ‘slide’ it on when it falls off… and now I take it off at night and put it on each morning, a little like false teeth! Haha 😁 I will spare you for any pictures!

Wednesday 1st February 2017

So after a fabulous road trip, on Monday it was time to drive back to the small community in Rubuguri. I was looking forward to seeing all my friends again but at the same time a little apprehensive… was worried that it wouldn’t be able to live up to my very fantastic (as they say here) experiences of last time.

As I was sitting in the car with these thoughts, it made a terrible noise and we were not able to go any further. I have no idea about cars and not sure what happened but was pretty sure the wheel was not supposed to sit like that!!

Luckily we were not far from town so Amos phoned his mechanic friend who came on a boda after about 40 minutes… he attempted a fix, but after an hour had to give up because he was missing a size 24 spanner – his tool box was not much bigger than a lunch box so not surprised to be honest… Amos phoned another friend who came on another boda from the other direction with the right spanner. Off came the broken part, the mechanic had to take it back to town to fix and then come back to affix.

As you can see from the photos this was the event of the week for the local folks – especially the children found it hilarious! And they stayed there, watching, for the entire four hour ordeal. Whilst we waited we entertained with a bit of music from Jim Reeves! (read back a few posts to understand why!)

It was late when we got back so everyone had gone to bed… I quickly unpacked and did the same. But didn’t get much sleep as one of the most respected men in the community had passed away that day and the burial process had started. Here the community members will go and sit/stand/lie outside the house of the deceased to keep them company until they are buried… And to make sure that people are not bored there’s beers and loud music… VERY LOUD music…. ALL night! Felt a little like they wanted to see if they could wake him up again!

Anyway, the burial was today – attended by around 500 people (he was 80 something with over 100 descendants apparently) – so this should be the last night of music – fingers crossed!

So, today was my first day back volunteering, and already yesterday I knew it is going to be different from last time because of lots more volunteers and a change in management.

But what has not changed is that it’s still incredibly beautiful here, the local people are still very welcoming and friendly – it feels nice and familiar…

We do have some power and hot water challenges though, so ‘shower’ this evening was a bucket of hot water to pour over myself with the torch in my phone lighting up the shower room… This Is Africa (TIA) ☺️

Friday 27th January 2017

Chimpanzee tracking is easier than the gorilla version, and this time there was no rain either so we were lucky to get very close to the magnificent primates. Had to be careful not to stand right under them when they were in the trees, though, to avoid being peed on!

We found a large group after about an hour’s walk and we got to spend about an hour and a half observing the chimps… and this fella was the ‘main guy’ in the group.

His name is Totti, after the Italian footballer! Apparently he was born the night Totti scored against Senegal in the World Cup. Not sure why that was significant in Uganda or even if it’s true,  but it made me chuckle!

We saw babies, males grooming each other and there was even a mini fight with lots of exciting chimp noises!! At times we were just two metres from them! Here are a few more of my favourite photos… just amazingly beautiful and faschinating animals!

On the way to Kibale National Park, where I saw these guys, we reached equator and saw the most wonderful sunset… loads and loads of great memories!

Hippos remain the biggest killer of people in Africa (well maybe not if you count mosquitos then it’s the second biggest) but I just don’t think they look scary at all! I find them totally cute.

However, saw something very odd with this one hippo – some sort of pigmentation problem, I guess….?

On our boat trips I had a good laugh about the hippo-bottoms and the ear wafting and was desperately hoping to catch a hippo yawn photo and yay! 😀

…my favourite animal! Not sure if you knew that? 😉

I had originally planned to do some volunteering with elephants during my travels and even though that will now probably not happen, I do not feel cheated as I’ve had some lovely encounters with them during my many safaris.

In particular in Queen National Park here in Uganda. And because we did that as a self-drive we could stay and observe for ages – Amos was very patient with me whilst I was gushing over them playing in the mud!

Here are my favourite snaps of the most wonderful animal on earth!

 

 

I will never tire of safaris and last week I had the pleasure of several in a short space of time. The entire experience just makes me so happy and at Murchison Falls and Queen Elizabeth National Parks we managed a game drive in the morning and a river / lake cruise in the afternoon… a great double, double whammy!

Some different animals and some familiar ones as well but all totally amazing 😊

Anyway, here are a few highlights.

Up close and personal with giraffes… (at Murchison) they were so close and so many! Have never seen such a big group (or tower 🙂 read posts from Namibia to understand that!) before – was intriguing.

Crocodiles – fascinating and disturbing at the same time…

Another leopard (at Queen) – have been so lucky! This one must have been lying in wait to hunt, but as the antelope ran away, it got up and walked away…

The Shoebill Stork is endemic to Uganda and there are just around 1,000 of them left – people travel here just to see that one bird! So felt lucky to get the opportunity to get close! It’s an interesting looking bird… find the eyes look a bit creepy!

Also the first time for me to see the topi antelope…weirdly patchy but quite handsome I thought!

And then there were the elephants of course! But they deserve a post of their own and so do the hippos actually… so stay tuned!

At Murchison we also saw the famous waterfall…would have liked to get closer with a walk, but didn’t have time.

I’ve had so many fantastic experiences this week, but as usual the internet connection in Uganda is not one of them… have lots of pics I want to share with you, but it might have to wait until Monday when I should(!) have better connectivity.

But I’m doing well, Amos & I are still friends and I still have my big toe nails… so all good!

And already this morning I have had a lot of smiles…

• The way the rising sun colours the fluffy clouds a mix of orange and pink shades
• The young children’s big eyes and smiles when they wave a me and get a wave back
• The tarmac road with so many pot holes that people drive on a dirt road next to it… (more of an ironic smile!)
• 4 men on one boda boda!
• A baboon wandering in front of the car as if he owns the road
• The prospect of another game drive
• A male goat desperately trying to give a female goat a morning ‘surprise’ 😀

And on that note, I wish everyone a great and smiley weekend!