Today was Sunday. Although my parents were living in Jinja, they were attending a branch in Busia, which was around an hour and 45 minutes drive each way, every week.
Today we attended church with them, because after church, we would head north to start to visit and see some of the sights of the country.
Alison was drafted to play the keyboard for the services. It's not often that they have a real pianist accompanying them.
There was a chicken that came to worship with us during the sacrament hymn. The windows were also open throughout sacrament meeting and there was a noisy rooster that wanted to be heard out there.
After the meeting, the kids were very interested in the pianist.
The church in Busia.
The trusty Nissan Navara SE.
Busia sits right on the border of Uganda and Kenya. There are border patrols at the crossing, but we had heard that if you act like you know what you're doing, they usually don't bother you. We walked across the border to Kenya for 50-100 yards or so, then returned to Uganda. On the way back one of the border guards was yelling at us, but we just let her know that our car was parked right over there, so we were ok. She didn't know what to think...
From Busia we headed north, roughly parallel to the border with Kenya to the city of Mbale (coincidentally, the same city at the beginning of James Bond - Casino Royale 007, which we watched last night), then we took off from the main highway to head to Sipi Falls.
We were staying at the Sipi Falls Resort, which sits right at the base of the middle falls (there are three falls, an upper, middle and lower falls). We had our own private bungalow that had a private balcony and view of the falls.
We got to the resort early enough to hike to the upper falls after a short drive from the resort. We parked on the side of the road, grabbed our walking sticks, and followed our guide up the trail. The trail took us through a few of the rural farmers yards and field. Here was a wee little pig that would have been delicious on a spit.
Hiking.
One of the homes.
Another home.
Our first view of the Upper Sipi Falls.
The falls were pretty. If I remember correctly, the lower falls are the largest of the three, and we didn't make the trek down to the lower falls, you have to approach them from above and there is a long ladder and stair climb that is required.
At the falls.
We took a different route back down from the falls. One last view.
The hike may have been a bit slippery. Somebody may have slipped and soiled themselves.
Another African/Ugandan dwelling.
What a beautiful view (and a mess).
It reminded me of the scene in The Brave Little Toaster at the pond with the singing frogs, bugs and fish...
Our dinner that night. I don't remember what it was, but it wasn't too bad.
More photos from the hike (from a different camera) below:
Coming down the trail from our private bungalow.
I prefer men with brains.
Just hiking.
I like this view of Al's posterior.
The full gang.
This little guy was just running up and down the street pushing this wooden wheelbarrow and seemed to be having the time of his life. Everything can be made fun if you make it!
Tomorrow, we hike to the middle Sipi Falls before making our way across the central part of Uganda to Murchison Falls National Park.
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