With my departure looming over me like a big black cloud I have been actively trying to go and see everything I had set out to see in Uganda. Last weekend I traveled with JP his sister Clair and Charles to Eastern Uganda to the third largest city (if you can call it a city) in Uganda called Mbale. We arrived around lunchtime on Saturday the 12th. This was my first time to Eastern Uganda, which is much drier than the rest of Uganda, also much more hot. After finding a hotel to stay at, and a bite to eat to satisfy our hungry stomachs we found ourselves a special hire to take us up to Sipi Falls; the main reason for going out East. After the hour-long taxi drive that seemed much too cheap we finally arrived at the falls.

Upon arrival we decided we weren’t going to just look at the falls but rather abseil them. We hired a local guide who was apparently trained by Italian climbers a year back. He now runs a business called Rob’s Rolling Rock (funny enough his name is Rob). Anyway the way things were going to proceed was that we would tie a 100M rope onto our harnesses. This rope would then be thread through a metal loop drilled into the rock above the waterfall. We would then walk out over the edge of the falls and walk our way down while Rob would hold onto the rope letting us slack to allow us to climb down. Seemed easy enough, and after one of Rob’s guides showed us how it was done it was up to JP to be the big man and do the first run. JP’s run was quick, too quick seeing as I was the next person up to go down.

After having my harness tied tightly to the rope it was time for me to take the plunge and walk over the edge of a 100M cliff. Despite my immense fear of heights I was already at the edge, and with a girl watching, no trade backs. I started by inching my way down, baby steps. Anyway after an initial bit of getting into the groove I found that it actually wasn’t too bad. I continued down until I reached an area where Rob told me to stop walking and now start jump side to side. Like you see in movies I launched myself from one side of the cliff to another bouncing gleefully. All the while I had yet to actually look down. Finally the cliff wall came to an end and I really didn’t know what to do. I was now fully in the hands of Rob to lower me to safety. At this point I finally got the nerve to look down and out at the amazing view. If I was to tell you I was not afraid I would be lying to you beyond believe. Hanging by a rope at roughly 60M above a rocky ground really isn’t my ideal good time, but what can I say I had one hell of a view into the valley below and of the falls to my right. After a few loud bellows to the spirit of Sipi and the locals who were perched along the hills watching I finally reached the ground.

What a terrifying yet rewarding experience that was, one, which I am so glad, I did. Anyway after watching Clair get soaked by the waterfall (seems the winds picked up) and Charles bounce his way down we started on our trek back up the 100M we so quickly abseiled. As we reached the top of the hill our guide asked us if we could pay him now rather than at the campsite. We told him we could but enquired why. He gave us some story about the locals knowing when money is around etc. Anyway he also wanted us to pay 20,000 USH more than we were told the abseil would cost. Regardless we paid him so that we could move on but once back at the campsite we brought up the issue with Rob. Rob was shocked that his guide had tried to take our money and quickly returned the extra 20,000 to each person. It was really refreshing to have Rob sort things out, especially since we were beginning to get quite bitter at what had happened.

That night back in Mbale we treated ourselves to some delicious pizza at a restaurant below our hotel then set off for bed. The next day on our way out of the hotel we noticed that on the balcony of one of our rooms the flowerpot had some interesting plants growing in them. We decided it probably wouldn’t be a good idea if we helped management with the weeding and left instead. On our way back we stopped over in Jinja to relax a bit before heading back to Kampala for another week of work. We hung out at the Jinja Sailing Club while sipping the latest beer from Uganda called Eagle lager, which is a sorghum based beer in which all the sorghum is locally grown in Uganda. After a few beers and slices of leftover pizza we finally departed back home.