Africa with Elder and Sister Wittwer!

 What a journey it was to get to Africa.
Thurs July 26 - Sunday July 29th
Leave from sgu 1:30. Arrive Denver. Boarded our plane in Denver and headed to London. About 45 min into the flight a lady was having a hard time breathing so they turned the plane around due to medical emergency and landed back in Denver. The flight crew said it would be 45 min to a hour so the wheels could cool down and they could look over the plane to make sure it was good to fly because it had landed with so much fuel so it was much heavier than usual. So they let us get off the airplane which at that point we knew it was going to be longer than a hour. The hour goes by and nothing. More excuses like saying they needed to get food for us. After a few hours they ended up just canceling the flight due to the crew not being able to work legally cause they would have too many hours. So it being after midnight we had to figure out where to go from here. Adam rushed to customer service with the other 300 people needing new flights. I hopped on the phone hoping to get another flight sooner than later. But everything was booked and finally after a couple failed attempts to book something new we were able to get a flight not leaving Denver until the following day at 11:59 pm and arriving in Uganda a day later. It was a horrible change but it was all that was available so we booked it. We were originally going to have a 11 hour layover in London so we had booked a bike tour to see the sites there. So we missed that and instead spent the next day in a hotel lobby in Denver. So we got to the airport the next day with plenty of time to spare. And sure enough our flight out of Denver was delayed because the flight attendants had been held up on another flight. Luckily the delay only lasted a bit over a hour and we finally made it out of Denver. We flew to
Washington DC and then from DC to Addis Ababa Ethiopia, then onto Uganda. All went well with those flights and we finally made it to Uganda a day later (on Sunday instead Saturday) than we were supposed! Hallelujah.
Brother and Sister Wittwer were there at the airport to greet us and it was so good to see them! It was like they had never left.   Let's just say we were more than excited (and tired) to see my Mom and Dad's faces at the Uganda airport when the picked us up.  They took us back to their apartment, we rested for a couple of hours, my mom had a yummy Sunday roast for dinner, we then packed up a few things and headed out to Jinja to spend the night at a fun little hotel.

Jinja - July 29th- 30th
We checked into our little resort ‘2 friends’.
It was a fun little place. We had a good night visiting with my parents just chilling and chatting.
The next morning we checked out, did some souvenir shopping down on the streets (where Adam bought his leopard painting, we also bought a nativity, hot pad, and Norah some sandals) and then met up with Moses(the local bishop) and Sussi his wife. We had brought over about 200 jerseys, some shorts, socks, and 11 soccer balls and pumps to take to some underprivileged schools. Sussi does a lot of work with the underprivileged areas so she had contacted a few schools to give the soccer stuff and some school supplies that Izzy and James had previously brought.

 We organized the jerseys and then headed off to the little village schools.

This is what it looked like as we pulled into the little schools.   It started raining really hard so when we arrived and they were all hiding out in their little run down schools. Their little faces and smiles peaking out the doors and windows was the best site and something that I will never forget! The cutest kids with their dark eyes just so excited to see visitors.

We were able to hand out the school supplies and soccer jerseys, soccer balls, and pumps.  So much happiness. They sang us thank you songs and were very grateful for what they had been given. So happy to receive 2 pencils and 2 crayons each. Finding joy in the simple things. The other 2 schools were much the same. Cute kids, grateful hearts, and so many smiles. They especially loved when we would give the soccer balls to them. I am sure that many of them had never played or touched a brand new soccer ball.  It was an amazing day and we had such a great day bringing a little happiness to these kids.

Norah was so excited to give her soccer jersey away. So when I saw that this little girl had gotten it I just had to get a picture to show Norah!  

 The kids loved holding your hands, rubbing your skin, and just being by you. 

After visiting the schools, we headed back to Jinja for some lunch at ‘java house’. We then headed back to nana and pops apartment for the night. What a day that I will never forget. It's the little things in life that make you happy! and the smiles on these kids faces did just that---- made me happy. 

We stayed at the apartment for the night and then the next morning left to drive north to Murchison National Park. Pictures below are some of what we saw just on our drive. Seeing how the people live- day to day- is so fascinating.  I loved the little glimpse into their lives.  

Once arriving we stayed at a cool place called Heritage Lodge. We each had our own little hut to sleep in.  It was def. a little remote and only electricity at certain times but it did have flushing toilets and running water So all was good.   

We had arranged to do a boat cruise on the Nile(Albert Nile) which was really neat.

 We not only saw a bunch of local animals (Water bucks, Elephants, Hippos, Water buffalos, Crested crane, Snakes, but we also saw how many of these African people live. They lined the sides of the river, bathing, fishing, or doing their daily chores.  

 We ended the night by watching the sunset over the Nile from our little hut.

The next morning we had an early morning game drive in Murchison Falls National Park. Our safari truck had cool stadium seating so we all had great views. It rained a little of and on so that made it nice and cool for seeing so many animals. So of the animals we saw included:

Orribi: smallest

Hartebeest

Kob most common

Leopard

2 mommy lions with 4 cubs

Giraffes

Hippos

Cape buffalo

Baboons

Guinea fowl

Crested cranes

Elephants

Warthogs

Tortoise

Waterbucks

Patus monkeys 🐒

Crocodiles

 Our one and only leopard we saw.  It was in the tree, and then we saw it jump down and run off through the weeds.  The 2nd pic is just before he jumped down. 

We finished the game drive around 1130 am and headed back to heritage for lunch of spaghetti and fruit. We then gathered our things, checked out and headed down the road to Chobe resort. Adam was even brave and volunteered to drive- which is on the wrong side of the road and the different side driver seat.

We made it to Chobe Safari Lodge- It was a s super nice place. We stayed outside in a ‘tent’ by the Victoria Nile river. Monkeys and warthogs were running around all over. Saw a couple of giraffes just by the hotel. Tons of hippos in the water. We went down by the pool and relaxed and played some cards. That night when we were on our way to our all you can eat dinner buffet we had a Hippo and baby encounter when it was dark. So scary! 

 Hippos are amazing creatures!! We could have sat and watched them for hours (as long as they stayed in the water). But on one occasion while staying here at Chobe resort (which is located right on the Victoria nile) we had a run in one night with a mommy and baby hippo who just happened to be out on the banks eating as we were walking to dinner. Let’s just say I’m pretty sure i haven’t run so fast in a long time. The pictures of me with the prints and on the path were taken the next morning. 😂 I laugh now but I really thought the hippo was going to charge and chomp me to death.
Here is Adam standing in front of the water where all the hippos are.

The next morning we left chobe around 8 am to go to the rhino sanctuary. There are no

 rhinos in Uganda except for at the rhino sanctuary.  It was pretty cool because all the rhinos have trackers on them, so you are with a guide, and they take you trekking through the jungle to find them.  We were able to see 3 rhinos in the wild. Daddy(Augusto), mommy(Uhuru), and 4 week old baby. So cool! They had a total of 23 rhinos in their park.

 Next we drove back to Kampala and stopped at Elder and Sister Wittwer's office for them to do a few things. There is a shopping near there office so we went down and got some soccer jerseys for the kids. Then went to dinner at a really nice place ‘the lawns’. I got a plate that had 4 types of game meat(crocodile, wildebeest, spring buck, blesbok). Spring buck was my favorite bit all were surprisingly really good and the meat was very tender.
After dinner we drove back to their apartment, stopping at a little grocery store to get a few things.

Friday-  we drove to Mihingo Lodge. Along the way we stopped to buy some drums along the road at a little shop. We made sure to stop at equator to get our picture taken and to look for a few more souvenirs. Randomly we saw a soccer team on the road. They were holding a completely thrashed, almost unusable ball, so we gave our last ball to them. So fun to do little things like that.  

On our way to the lodge we saw Zebra, Impala, Monkeys, and Achole (big cows with horns).

We arrived and checked into the lodge. This place was my favorite as far as where we stayed.  We each had our own little hut, but it was very nice, and overlooked a huge area.  You felt like you are were the only ones in the whole area.  We ate some lunch of fish and chips. Relaxed in our bungalow and then walked down near the water hole to  get a closer look at the animals- in particular “King George” the king buffalo. They had awesome food here so we finished up Dinner and then did some  stargazing.  Such an awesome place.

Sat- early morning we did a game drive in lake Mburo National Park. Nice drive in a pop top truck machine that worked great. We saw lots of giraffes and warthogs up close and went to lake and got quite a show from the Hippos. It was a great way to finish up our animal seeking safaris. 

We finished up with Mihingo lodge and headed back to Kampala. On our way back to the apartment we stopped at the  Mosque of Kampala/tower. Def. a different side of Africa.  

We then had dinner at a Greek restaurant Mythos, made a quick stop at the grocery store, and was back to Nana and pops place to sleep.

The next day was Sunday so we had the opportunity to go to Church at the Ntinda Ward. We all got the change to bare our testimony’s, went to primary during Sunday school. Nana helped with singing, then during relief society spent half the time there and then went to YWs for the last little bit. I always love going to different wards all over the world because the are all the same.  So many good people all over the world. 

 We headed back to the apartment, packed all our stuff, along with packing a bunch of Nana and Pops stuff for us to take home with us. We relaxed and visited for a bit and then at 11 pm we loaded the truck and nana and pops took us to the airport (it was dark and so scary to drive). I think it was the only time the entire time I was in Africa that I was scared about anything. We said our goodbyes. And then waited at the airport for our trip to Cairo. We loved every second of our African Adventures.  And so grateful for Brother and Sister WIttwer for being the best tour guides we could ask for.  The people of Uganda were def. blessed to have them there serving them.  

(At primary with the kids)