By Elle Nicholson and Karolina Putterman
We were on our way to the Ziwa Rhino Reserve and as our bus was about to arrive—after nearly three hours of driving—we got stuck in the mud! All of us got out of the van and tried to push it out of the mud, but we failed badly and three other trucks had to come rescue us. They got stuck too! Eventually, we all escaped the African road puddles and made it to where we were staying.
It was the nicest place we had stayed so far (i.e. hot showers!) and it was truly in the heart of the Uganda jungle. The next couple of days we spent watching over some of the white rhinos. They are stunning creatures that deserve to be kept safe from poachers. We also can’t forget the time we spent digging trenches along the side of the roads when it rained and also planting trees in broad daylight in burning heat. Let’s just say that we all couldn’t walk for a while because our muscles hurt so badly! It felt as if we could stay there forever but we had to move on with our adventure.
Our next stop was Jinja; it was a brief 48-hour visit but we were still able to go white water rafting on the Nile River! The rapids were crazy and we all had a total blast. Many people fell in over the course of the whole day but the first person to fall in was Nathan. On the last rapid, one out of the two boats flipped in the middle of the extreme rapids (Karolina, Nathan, Cullen, Ella, Lily, and Matt). The other boat survived and after the rapids, we joined others in the river for a swim (Adele, Mali, Yina, Elle, Finn, and Michelle).
The next step of the journey was a slow ride to Kampala where we are currently to pick up a new student joining us a little late in the trip, named Anna! She is super sweet and we love having a new member in our group. So far in this city, we have explored a beautiful Mosque, busy market, and spent time in the internet cafes chatting to loved ones after a long 10 days.
We miss everyone and we are having so much fun!