Very belated update. Must catch up!

Sept 25: Unable to connect with contacts in Kenya, so we decide to travel up to Murchinson Falls.  The falls have famously been called the "most spectacular" sight on the Nile River.  Here, the Nile pours down in violent catharsis, as it tries to drown the cries from Rwandan genocide, Idi Amin's reign of terror, and countless unspoken terrors.  The full force of the Nile barrels down a chasm just 6 meters across.  Rainbows in the mist somehow, blindingly promise peace.

We share the moment in the company of our new friends from Switzerland, Juerch & Caroline.  In the evening, the Milky Way inhabits the equatorial sky.  I reach out to touch its short-lived, earthbound cousins: fireflies.

Sept 26: Our first game drive!  Nothing, absolutely nothing, can prepare you for the golden light, the panorama, the creation.  Ugandan kobs wrestle, oblivious to lions hidden a few kilometers away.  Elephants shake thorny acacias and thornless tamarinds.  A male giraffe repeatedly nuzzles a female, but it's hopes are dashed.

In the afternoon, we go for a scenic boat trip upon the Nile.  As we return from the base of Murchinson Falls, I begin rereading Conrad's Heart of Darkness.  In the beating sun, I am surrounded by an overweight Eastern European tour group.  The telephoto barrels, remind me of Marlow's man-of-war.  300mm lenses instead of 8-inch guns, firing incomprehensibly into the complex, often contradictory continent.

At night, we sleep; a small bat keeps watch, fluttering in whispers.

Sept 27: Chimpanzees, redux.  Today, we attempt to track the chimps in the Bugongi Forest, near Murchinson Falls.  Lo and behold, we find them even!  A perfect conclusion to our Ugandan foray.

Tomorrow we leave Uganda for Kenya.  We will spend the next 3 days observing a microenterprise venture in Kakamega.  We hope to collect as many hopeful stories and testimonials as possible.

- Ian

--
http://apairofhsus.blogspot.com