ATV Safari!

Dear Friends,

Well, I am going to let Jerry blog about the heavy, heart wrenching things while I keep you updated on the fun things that we are doing! Today, we rented a van with our friends, the Stubbs and went on an ATV Safari! We drove about 2 hours to Jinja, where the Nile River begins. The countryside was lush, with green vegetation everywhere. We passed through enormous tea plantations and sugar cane fields. Everything is so healthy and beautiful.

After donning what looked like WWII flyer coveralls, we safaried on 4 wheel ATVs. It felt really scary at first (OK, I speak for myself...), but we quickly got the hang of it. Everyone had their own vehicle except for 7 year old Adam who rode with his dad, Brian. We followed our guide, Godfrey, and were tailed by another guide, Mawazi. Our trail ranged from a paved road to dirt to an single track trail. As we rode by villages, the children would all run out, yelling “Muzungu,” (White people) holding out their little hands for money. The area that we toured actually is doing well in part due to the tourism in the area. The community is compensated by the Tour Company for letting them use their land. Although it did feel a little bit like "Uganda Twilight Zone" as we passed several places more than a couple of times and waved at the same people, I don't know how many times. I think that the tour guides thought that we wouldn't notice!

We rode down to the beautiful Nile River and imagined Moses being placed in a basket so many miles to the North. Micah got his first long awaited taste of fresh sugar cane. He would chose it over chocolate any day!

As we left, we stopped at a little road side stand for "Chapati," a delicious tortilla-like snack. Jerry even bravely took a bite! The rest of us gobbled them up! It was great to have a day of recreation and we felt so privileged and blessed to be able to have this time Brian, Susan, Ben, Luke, Bryce and Adam.

See the "ATV Safari" slideshow to the left.

Love, Cathi