Sipi Slow, Live Fast

This weekend I went on an excursion to the beautiful Sipi Falls, a series of three waterfalls in Eastern Uganda, right on the Kenyan border and near Mount Elgon National Park (thank you Wikipedia). We started our adventure by being picked up by the Makerere University driver, James. Our group consisted of 6 girls from Holland, 2 girls from Sweden and myself, the lone American (more on the cultural lessons later). The daring drive took about 7 hours and was complete with potholes, speed bumps through every small town, swerving to avoid passing cars in the opposite lane and pit stops where Ugandans carrying soda, bananas, chips and chicken on skewers came up to the car pounding on the windows. However, after 7 hours of James' um...skilled...driving we arrived to a serene scene in the mountains of Uganda. We arrived, settled down in our “dorm rooms” (log cabins with bunk beds complete with thin mattresses, a cover sheet that had a suspicious amount of sand and random plant debris, and a wool blanket) and headed down to dinner. We had a lovely meal of tomato curry with chapatti, a local beer and then went to bed with the birds at 8:45 pm.

View from our "dorm rooms"

The next morning we woke up to a misty yet beautiful view. Sipi Falls had grown in size from the rain fall and all of us were jittery with nervousness due to the "abseiling" adventure ahead. For those of you that don’t know, abseiling is also known as "rappelling" and basically means you lower yourself down a cliff with nothing but a harness and a rope (aren't you glad I didn't tell you this before I went mom). Sipi's first falls is over a 100 m cliff and somehow Robert, the abseiling salesman/guide (who was wearing a Tyga and Lil Wayne sweatshirt) convinced us that rappelling over this cliff was totally safe and a "must do" at Sipi Falls. (But seriously mom, he and the old man running the resort, Albert, said no one had died in the 14 years they had been doing this and their equipment was up to European standards, so it was absolutely fine :D).

 The first step over the cliff was undoubtedly the most terrifying. All of sudden you put your foot down onto the mountain, look below and see nothing but 100 m of thin air with water crashing onto rocks below. I gave the safety equipment a good test with my first step off by slipping and slamming my entire body against the rock. Robert was not phased at all, and just looked at me and said, "You're doing great Mali, now just lean back and straighten your legs." Yeah, okay, Robert, I'll get right on that. Once I got past the first slip the rest was cake. I just fed myself rope and lowered myself down 100 m. I will not lie, I was holding on so tight my arms started cramping on the way down, and I never quite relaxed because I couldn't help thinking my skull was the next thing to crash onto those rock below. Nevertheless, the view was absolutely breathtaking as you descend 10 m from the waterfall and have the entire valley to look at. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity and as glad as I was to get to the bottom, I don't regret it one bit. (Special thanks to Steve Schneiter for making me go on all those roller coasters when I was little!)

Sipi Falls #1. Just a short 100 m drop....

Contemplating from afar if we can really do this or not and if we trust a man with a Tyga sweatshirt on...

I guess we trust him...so we gear up!!

My friend Sanna prepares to take the first step over...

My friend Anuk at about 20 m down (that little yellow dot that looks like a bug is her)

 After being welcomed safely to the ground by two local Ugandans, we waited for the rest to come down and took in a beautiful view of the falls. We then were accompanied/dragged back up the mountain by a very shrewd group of teenage Ugandan boys who kept asking for “money for books for school.” The hike was not a joke and us muzungos had to take several breaks. The boys were having a gay old time, telling us that they did this 5 times a day, and usually they had to bring various supplies up and down with them (show offs...).  At the top we were greeted by more local children who only knew two English phrases, “Hello” and “Give me something.” It was really sad to hear them say it, especially when our tour guide, Alex, told us that some of the boys would use the money for books, but some would use it as an excuse not to go to school and instead beg tourists for money because it was more lucrative.

The rest of the afternoon we spent hiking to the other two falls. The hikes took us through plains, forests, and villages where locals farm coffee, corn and beans. I tried my hand at some manual labor by helping some farmers hoe a few meters of land. (Okay, it was only like half a meter of land). I couldn't decide whether I was more shocked by the beauty that surrounded us or by the way the Ugandans in Sipi Falls live. Their homes are dirt huts with straw roofs without any running water or electricity. They spend their days living off of and farming the land, just to survive. They have to retrieve their drinking water and we saw women and children as young as 4 years old carrying 10 lb (at least) jugs of water on their heads.  The women wear worn, but beautiful, sashes and dresses while the children run around in random articles of clothing from Disney or Gap that are stained with red dirt and worn to the point they have gaping holes in them. However, their land is meticulously kept and is unbelievably well groomed, with the exception of the random chickens, cows and goats that regularly crossed our paths as they roamed freely.  Watching them farm and live made me realize how I have no real survival skills of my own and that I never have to manually work for any of my meals or water. Their carbon footprint is next to nothing and they are the most resourceful people I have ever met. They use huge leaves for umbrellas and old, dried up branches for brooms. They leave nothing unused and yet everything is clean and beautiful. It was truly humbling and incredible to see.

At the third and final fall it began to downpour. Our guide Alex escorted us to a rock where we sought shelter and waited out the heaviest part of the storm with a few locals. Eventually it let up and we embarked on a long, muddy hike home. Every member of the group fell on the way back and all of our hands were stained red from the mud. By the time we reached our camp we were tired, wet and hungry, but so happy, proud and blown away at the day we just had. After another wonderful dinner we chatted but mostly just waited until it was socially acceptable for us to go to bed. 

Sipi Falls #2

Laundry Day

Sipi Falls #3