Where we've been

I know, I know. We haven't posted since that Game of All Games. The main reason can be seen in this picture of Bill's brother Steve and his wife Bobbie. They braved 40 hours of travel (a missed connection catapulted them into an international airport endurance test) to come see us, and just after they arrived we took off on safari to Lake Bunyonyi (green, terraced hills), Bwindi Impenetrable National Park (gorillas), and Queen Elizabeth National Park (elephants, etc.). Then they learned about how to dodge boda-bodas in Kampala. And how to have some African clothes made for them right in the Bugolobi Market. That's why they look so, uh, Ugandan in the picture!

We had a great time together, gawking at birds and animals, drinking wine in assorted tented camps, bandas and safari resorts. And we laughed. For some reason we laughed alot. They now know what a short call is, and a long drop. And lots more. Now they are gone and our little flat is back to being boringly organized and quiet.

Before S&B came, we spent five days in Soroti in eastern Uganda doing journalism training. Really charming little town with crumbling colonial buildings and fringed bicycles. More on that later.

Okay, hungry blog-readers. I will attempt to catch up with the writer's trick of bullet points. Later I will try to post the pix on Flickr, though that takes HOURS with our connection.

Highlights from the safari trip:

• 10 gorillas! We hiked only about 15 minutes to find a giant silverback and his entourage right on the trail.



• One hour with the gorillas; the family played together more peacefully than most human families. One baby almost ran over my feet.



• Disappointing gorilla pictures - hey, they don't call it the Impenetrable Forest for nothing!



• Two leopards at Queen Elizabeth. Well, it might have been the same one, but we saw it twice. They are the most beautiful animals in the world.



• Great Blue Turaco at Bwindi; big beautiful bird glimpsed from the car.



• Roads! Twisting, turning, gulp-inducing, slurping roads. Ezra (let's give him a plug: Impala Car Hire) kept us from getting stuck or worse.



• Friendly people, but oddly enough something we have seldom seen here: children with their hands outstretched in Bwindi. Some asked for pens, since that's obviously what they have been given. So different from the usual cheerful greetings that follow us. Tourists have a lot to answer for.



• Dead hippo in Kazinga Channel being eaten by a crocodile. Ah, nature ...



• No chimpanzees even though we tracked them for a couple of hours. Ah, nature ... no guarantees.



• Six days of non-stop stimulation, thanks to a beautiful country that we are just beginning to understand.