“Adventure”
We had a free Saturday so decided to drive from Gulu to Pakwach and back. We decided to take a smaller road there and come back on a more major road. However, we made a wrong turn and took an even smaller road then expected. However, it was interesting countryside and the road was not too bad. We saw only 2 cars during the 60 km drive–often with tall elephant grass on both sides of the car. Once in a while we came across a school and a church. Charcoal is often for sale by the side of the road. This is the area where the LRA was very active in the 1990’s and 2000’s. When we saw a group of huts close together we knew that it had been a place where people had gathered close together for security during that time.
We had purchased some samosas and bananas before we left Gulu so we looked for a picnic spot. We found a large tree with a cleared area beneath. A perfect spot. Two small girls were intrigued by these “mzungus” (white foreigners).
Pakwach is located near the mouth of the Albert Nile River where it flows out of Lake Albert. There is a bridge connecting West Nile Uganda with the rest of Uganda. At the bridge we saw many local people standing on the bank all looking at a lagoon. We wondered because it looked like just a lot of large rocks in the water but then we saw some move or some open their mouths. There were at least a hundred hippos in the water. We watched a while and started to leave. But then we looked on the other side and saw boys fishing and a group of 5 elephants. Later we saw a herd of impala. A great day. Included with these photos is one of a good road. We want you to know that Uganda does have good paved roads also! (Sorry, the animal photos are rather distant due to an inadequate camera!)
August 25th, 2011 at 3:29 am
Wow! That’s a lot of hippos. Thanks for sharing your photos and your work.