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Greetings from Kampala! Lilly here!

This past week has been incredible. We went white water rafting on the Nile River last Monday and we all had a blast. We went on class 3 and 4 rapids. Nobody fell out and the raft did not tip over. We spent the night at Nile River Camp, which was very much like a resort. We got up early the next morning and took a matatu (taxi) to Kampala, the capitol city of Uganda. Our hostel was next to a mosque, so we all were awoken by the 5 A.M. prayer the following morning. We took a 3 hour bus ride to Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary, where we stayed for 5 days. We were split into two groups and given two activities per day. The activities consisted of bird watching in the wetlands, digging trenches in the road, piling rocks under a fence to avoid erosion, rhino tracking, and volunteering at the local Hakuna Matata school. One night, more than half of the group got attacked by biting ants and we all had to immediately strip down to get the ants out of our clothes. It was a terrible experience, but it seems quite comical looking back at it now. The rhino sanctuary was sort of like a big zoo with all types of animals roaming around everywhere…even right outside of our rooms. There were leopards, cranes, rhinos, bush buck, dika, goats, chickens, ducks, monkeys, and a number of other animals. After finishing our exciting week at the rhino sanctuary, we took another crowded 3 hour bus ride back to Kampala, where we are currently staying for 3 days.

I hope everyone is having a nice week!
-Lilly

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Birding in the swamp
Birding in the swamp

Obama
Obama

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Watch out!
Watch out!