Uganda: into the wild

Tommy and a few of his friends here were doing a triathlon in Uganda so we went to Fort Portal for the weekend and IT WAS SOOO FUN!! cue Macklemore Good Old Days.our adventurous, easygoing, positive, amazing crew was: Yuhki and Ragnar (visiting from Germany), Brittany, Lukas, Tommy, Ilja, Julia (living in Kigali) and moi!!Uganda is wild and lush with rolling hills and people EVERYWHERE and police that will pull you over for brides and not a tonnn of rules or structure. vehicles are overflowing with passengers and boys are herding their goats or cows off the streets with their sticks. as one local described it to me, in comparison to Rwanda, Uganda is “more chaotic, but also i suppose more free”here’s a summary (with parts compiled from our Whatsapp convo):- boys pack up the bikes and luggage on our new roof rack that we did and then didn’t have every 15 mins throughout the morning. us girls are enjoying this new spectator sport.

- 11 hour travel journey through the pitch black Ugandan road dodging kids, donkeys, dogs and motos- side note: Ugandan motos have up to 4 people and 0 helmets. total chaos compared to Rwanda’s moto scene, which isn’t exactly smooth sailin itself- playing 123 CONTACT because we are enthusiastic road trippers. and the boys love when we play Tay’s new album “this is why we can’t have nice things daaarliinnn”- stop at Pumba Lodge, attacked by unidentified insects. would be 2 hours and $25usd per person for penne. we move on and get raw-ish corn on the cob and doughballs from kids on the street. it was here i realized how lucky we are to have access to food ALL THE TIME, and also the importance of filling up on meals here in Africa when we can because you just never know- stumbled upon the equator

- Kisese (ghost town)’s best meal - rice and “beef”? who knows. peed in another hole though.- amazing breakfast at Kyaninga Lodge (note to future wealthy self: stay here)- sunrise with the clouds rolling over the Ugandan jungle. STUNNING.

- triathlon! 2 course records for Lukas and Brittany!!!

- buddy eating grasshoppers out of his palm- Tommy’s peeling back - can you not- swimming in the crater lake with a sinking, wasp-infested dock. i was wondering if i will find scenery as breathtaking as that was throughout the rest of my trip.

- poolside wine

- dinner at Fort Portal’s hottest restaurant (which also happened to be our hotel), The Dutchess. pizza and banana milkshake, i’m drooling- Sunday: more boys adjusting the roof rack, girls are helpfully supervising- drive through Queen Elizabeth National Park, i have never been so determined to see something in my life as i was on that drive. my eyes were PEELED for elephants- Baboon Lodge for picnic lunch - beautiful resort - FINALLY SPOT MY ELEPHANT!!!! i am a 10/10 on the happiness scale

- termite turned grasshopper harvest- Off road driving bundled with live drone action shots- driving 100km/h and wondering why the car makes noises while the handbrake is on- Tommy and i get off at Kabale. next stop: GORILLAS!!!!!