25/04/2012
After a rather restless, squished, and snoreful nights sleep, we all hauled ourselves out of bed for a 6am Anzac Dawn Service on the truck. There are eight Aussies on our trip, and our trip leader is a Kiwi, and we were all in attendance. Pretty much everyone else turned up to the service, so Canada, Britain and the USA were all represented.
Ed had been organised and got together some readings etc for the service (thanks Ed), and the service was led by Malcolm, our Kiwi tour leader. The readings were lovely, followed by the Ode to the Fallen, the Last Post and one minutes silence. To round off the service, the Aussies sang the national anthem, mumbling through many of the lines. We all forgot the words at least once! Then Malcolm sand the NZ anthem, all on his lonesome.
Monday, 30 April 2012
Abandon Ship!
28/04/2012
We were back to the usual early starts today, up for 6.30am breakfast (scrumptious and more than adequate scrambles eggs with baked rams, provided by Team Adequate) and a 7am departure. This time it wasn't raining, so we redid our equator photos before hopping on the truck.
After a few hours driving around the outskirts of Kampala, we stopped at a supposedly huge (don't worry, there's a map inside!), and decidedly empty shopping centre. It was actually quite spooky to be in a shopping centre without anyone else being there. Everyone stocked up on supplies, then we made the final push before our final destination of the Nile River Explorers camp at Bujagali Falls, about a 20 minute drive downriver from the source of the Nile at Jinja. Bujagali Falls is actually now Bujagali Lake, as three months ago, they completed a dam which has turned the Nile River into more of a lake for that section and drowned the falls.
We were back to the usual early starts today, up for 6.30am breakfast (scrumptious and more than adequate scrambles eggs with baked rams, provided by Team Adequate) and a 7am departure. This time it wasn't raining, so we redid our equator photos before hopping on the truck.
After a few hours driving around the outskirts of Kampala, we stopped at a supposedly huge (don't worry, there's a map inside!), and decidedly empty shopping centre. It was actually quite spooky to be in a shopping centre without anyone else being there. Everyone stocked up on supplies, then we made the final push before our final destination of the Nile River Explorers camp at Bujagali Falls, about a 20 minute drive downriver from the source of the Nile at Jinja. Bujagali Falls is actually now Bujagali Lake, as three months ago, they completed a dam which has turned the Nile River into more of a lake for that section and drowned the falls.
Saturday, 28 April 2012
Gorillas in the Mist
24/04/2012
We were up early at 5am as we were getting picked up for the gorilla trek at 6.15am. As usual, it was raining quite heavily. Everyone hopped into land cruisers and headed for the gorilla trek base camp, where we would be assigned into groups to visit each gorilla family.
Oasis passengers were split into two groups of seven, and my group was assigned to the Sabyinyo family. We met our guide, Oliver, who told us a little bit about the family. There were 13 gorillas in the family, with two of them silverbacks. The alpha silverback, was 40 years old and one of the largest on the mountain (gorillas live to a max of 45 years). There was also a new addition to the family, a two month old baby!
We were up early at 5am as we were getting picked up for the gorilla trek at 6.15am. As usual, it was raining quite heavily. Everyone hopped into land cruisers and headed for the gorilla trek base camp, where we would be assigned into groups to visit each gorilla family.
Oasis passengers were split into two groups of seven, and my group was assigned to the Sabyinyo family. We met our guide, Oliver, who told us a little bit about the family. There were 13 gorillas in the family, with two of them silverbacks. The alpha silverback, was 40 years old and one of the largest on the mountain (gorillas live to a max of 45 years). There was also a new addition to the family, a two month old baby!
Lake Kivu and the DRC
23/04/2012
Today was a day trip to Lake Kivu, on the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). On the way there, out guide stopped the bus and pointed out prisoners convicted of partaking in genocide, serving out their community service in a nearby field. Due to the huge amount of people involved in the genocide and awaiting trial (even now there are still tens of thousands of people awaiting trial), if you admit fault in the community court, you will be sentenced to three years of community service.
Today was a day trip to Lake Kivu, on the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). On the way there, out guide stopped the bus and pointed out prisoners convicted of partaking in genocide, serving out their community service in a nearby field. Due to the huge amount of people involved in the genocide and awaiting trial (even now there are still tens of thousands of people awaiting trial), if you admit fault in the community court, you will be sentenced to three years of community service.
Land of One Thousand Hills and One Million Smiles
22/04/2012
Today we crossed the border into Rwanda, and made our way to the capital, Kigali. Rwanda is a beautiful country, so green and picturesque. I'm really glad that our gorilla permits are here in Rwanda, otherwise we would have missed this beautiful place.
We rolled into Kigali around 11am, and had a couple of hours to explore the Genocide Museum before a truck lunch in the car park. The genocide museum is well worth a visit. There is some very confronting photos, videos and testimonials in the museum, but what is probably the hardest to see is a room full of photos of genocide victims, and another room full of pictures and info on child victims. One of the pictures that had stuck with me was a picture of a two year old, who was killed by being smashed against a tree.
Today we crossed the border into Rwanda, and made our way to the capital, Kigali. Rwanda is a beautiful country, so green and picturesque. I'm really glad that our gorilla permits are here in Rwanda, otherwise we would have missed this beautiful place.
We rolled into Kigali around 11am, and had a couple of hours to explore the Genocide Museum before a truck lunch in the car park. The genocide museum is well worth a visit. There is some very confronting photos, videos and testimonials in the museum, but what is probably the hardest to see is a room full of photos of genocide victims, and another room full of pictures and info on child victims. One of the pictures that had stuck with me was a picture of a two year old, who was killed by being smashed against a tree.
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