Sunday morning we woke to a gorgeous sunrise out our door and the sounds of hippos and water buffalo down in the valley. Our last day in Uganda. So bittersweet! But it was such a beautiful morning:)
our cabin overlooked that valley area, where the "river" runs during the flood season
After personal devotions and getting dressed we all had breakfast together. This is the dining area and the woman second from the left, in the yellow shirt, is the owner of the lodge. She just happened to be visiting at the same time we were. She & her late Pakistani husband built it many years ago.
El & Evelyn standing on the edge of the fire pit overlooking the "river"
the back of the main lodge which over looks the fire pit & "river"
bougainvillea-- extremely common in Uganda and very much like azaleas
Then once we were all packed, we had a group devotion. Such a precious time of sharing our hearts about the trip and scripture passages that spoke to us, and then a time of prayer.
Evelyn brought to our attention the fact that exactly 31 years ago to the day was when she, Uncle Meredith, Papa Alfred & Mama Carney had been arrested by Tanzanian guards. At the time, they didn't think they would be released but as Psalm 124 says,
1 If the LORD had not been on our side—
let Israel say—
2 if the LORD had not been on our side
when people attacked us,
3 they would have swallowed us alive
when their anger flared against us;
4 the flood would have engulfed us,
the torrent would have swept over us,
5 the raging waters
would have swept us away.
2 if the LORD had not been on our side
when people attacked us,
3 they would have swallowed us alive
when their anger flared against us;
4 the flood would have engulfed us,
the torrent would have swept over us,
5 the raging waters
would have swept us away.
6 Praise be to the LORD,
who has not let us be torn by their teeth.
7 We have escaped like a bird
from the fowler’s snare;
the snare has been broken,
and we have escaped.
8 Our help is in the name of the LORD,
who has not let us be torn by their teeth.
7 We have escaped like a bird
from the fowler’s snare;
the snare has been broken,
and we have escaped.
8 Our help is in the name of the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
This was the psalm they read that day they were captured-- and hearing them all talk about that experience and many others like it is just incredible! It brings brand new meaning to scriptures like this one!
we were always journaling-- often times up until the last minute before we left somewhere
After our group devotion, we loaded up the Prado to drive to Kampala where Evelyn, Mama Carney & Papa Alfred were staying overnight before driving back to Soroti. Uncle Meredith, El & I would spend the day with them and then a driver would take us to Entebbe - about an hour away- to catch our midnight flight to London.
an ant hill!! this one is about four feet tall and is small compared to most of the ones we saw! I can't believe I didn't come home with 50 pictures of just ant hills because they were everywhere!! Especially in the game reserve. They were so cool to me because they brought whole new meaning to the verse in Proverbs that talks about ants! In the Bible, God always talks about ants being such hard workers & building strong foundations but then here in America, the only ant hills I've ever seen are the dusty little piles that can be scattered with just a little kick. So seeing these was just incredible. Granted, these ants aren't the little ones we have either but it's still impressive. They build these in just 3-4 months time during the dry season {because when the rains come, the floods wash them away}. During the dry season, they are more solid than concrete and people will stand & sit on them. One of the people on the H.I.S. team even ran into one at night with a car {not seeing it} and the car actually bounced back!
Ant hills are also homes to cobras because the ants create tunnels as they are building that are perfect size for the snakes. Thankfully we never encountered any cobras during our trip!
Oh and when the rains come, all of the ants fly out of the hills and then the locals catch them, roast them & eat them! I'm sure it's great protein but I'm glad I didn't have to try those! {Els wrote a bit about it on her blog HERE}
another Lodge!! this one is called Masindi and was built in the 1920's. Walking through it, you could just imagine all the westerner's with their trunks & ladies in long traveling suits coming to stay for a Safari. A western couple just bought it a few years ago and have been working to restore it. The woodwork was absolutely gorgeous!
The door to Narnia, er, the parking lot ;)
a place called Tick Hotel? no wonder they had no business :/
crazy, crazy traffic!
When we went to Murchison Falls, we only had room to take our carry-ons with us and then a driver met us in Kampala with the rest of our large luggage. But then we had to completely repack our carry-ons -in the middle of a parking lot- to hold everything we would need/want for London since we'd be leaving our large luggage at the airport for 3 days. The things you do while traveling... :)
our last meal was actually at a Chinese restaurant in Kampala that Uncle Meredith has been to on previous trips.
It took us 2 weeks to get it, and even then the focus was off, but we *finally* got a group picture!
always the Fanta;) we thought this would be our last one... but then we ended up getting one in the airport because it was so hot and getting our bags checked & going through security was such a pain
It was a yummy meal but our bodies weren't used to such rich food with so much sauce & seasoning so El & I felt a bit funky afterwards.
Driving up to the small airport that is nothing like most airports! When you arrive, you have to carry your 50+ lb. bags {note: *plural*} up a few flights of stairs to get to check-in because they've closed the drive-up ramp for security reasons and there is no elevator. Also, no A/C {why was I wearing a cardigan again??!!}, weird security checks & small/hot/stuffy enclosed rooms to wait for your flight... but we made it through:) And you can bet we didn't eat *any* of the food on the flight from Uganda to London! no siree did we want to be sick while in London- or at all for that matter!
to view a complete list of links to all of my previous posts about Uganda, go HERE.
and next up: LONDON!! {I know many of you have been looking forward to those posts... let's just hope I can figure out how I want to format them since we did SO much in just 3 days!}
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