Update from Uganda

Two weeks ago we traveled to Queen Elizabeth National Park in Western Uganda. Because we were are not too comfortable with public transport and didn’t have much time, we took a private hire. The private driver drove us the 4½ hour drive for less than $20 each (imagine taking a taxi for that amount of time in the States…) National Parks are MUCH different than in the United States. When we think of National Park, we think signs and roads and scenic points and officially sanctioned and organized things. Things are just a little different here. There
is no transport within the park (which is hundreds of square kilometers) so you need a driver to take you everywhere. This is because it can easily be an hour drive to get to what you want to do and because there are animals everywhere and you can’t just walk around. Even on our drive in we had to stop of a group of elephants crossing the road.

Luckily we were right next to the visitor center and were able to figure certain activities out there. Saturday evening we took a boat ride down the channel. From the boat we saw herds of buffalo and elephants, tons of beautiful birds, crocodiles, a few monkeys, and breathtaking mountains. We rode right next to herds of hippos, which was both scary and awesome. The tour was very easy going but great. The landscapes were amazing. I had no idea how diverse the park would be. We had dinner at the hostel and had a relaxing evening just hanging out.

In the morning we woke up early because it is best to see animals at sunrise. Some people in our group went on a chimp tour, but myself and a few others decided to do something cheaper. We hired a driver to take us to a forest where we could do a nature walk, but as we were in the car he got a call from his brother who is a safari driver. He said they knew where a pride of lions was, which is rare and difficult to find. So we scrapped the forest and did a driving safari. Tons of other safari cars were there when we drove up to the lions, but we waited for all of them to leave so we could drive up closer. And by closer I mean I was a few feet from a lion. It was unreal. We also saw antelope, herds of buffalo, more birds, and mongoose on the drive. It was great because it showed us the more savannah side of the park.

After we returned, we went to the nice lodge near by for a good lunch. I got a cheese pizza which was HEAVEN. American foods like pizza, even something as simple as cheese, is unheard of. Then we took the same private hire back this afternoon. I can’t believe it all worked out as well as it did. It was very relaxing but we got to see tons of things and I managed not to spend loads of money.

The past two weeks of work have been good at times, bad at others. It is often difficult to be productive because things move at a different pace here. However, I was able to do a great amount of research about SACCOs and Microfinance options in Masaka. I was also able to go into the field to see some of the projects people need loans. My favorite was the pineapple farm that had 17,000 pineapples! I was given a delicious pineapple as a gift... yum!

The other place I have seen is Lake Nambugabu. This weekend was the midterm retreat for all the FSD interns, and so we all went to a nice retreat center on the lake. It was extremely low key and relaxing. It was awesome to just hang out in the sun, go out on the boat and be in a quite setting.

Thats a lot of information for now, but believe it or not I'm over half way done and will be home 4 weeks from today!
Hope all is well,
Erin