Nelly the Elephant and a Lake Swim

4 December, Saturday; Lake Bunyonyi, Uganda. We survived the night on Hippo Hill with no incidents. After breakfast, we had a game drive in Queen Elizabeth National Park. On today’s menu – lots more elephants and some scared warthogs (thus, no photos of the little buggers).

I learned that one should perform chest compressions during CPR for as long as it takes to sing a verse of “Nelly the Elephant,” which is a British kids’ song, so that won’t really help me. These are the kinds of things that make Ben and I realize our different upbringings. Depending on where we live when we have kids, one of us is going to be left out of understanding some things our kids are taught. Thus is the life of a multi-cultural couple. And yes --- American and British counts as multi-cultural. Ok, it’s at the low end of the spectrum, but it’s something we both notice on a near-daily basis. Then, we drove through the gorgeous, lush, mountainous countryside of Uganda to Lake Bunyonyi for a well-deserved break. Our crew gave us the afternoon off from chores and prepping for dinner, which was fantastic. We all elected to upgrade to treetop tents. Total cost – USD 13 total for both of us. Although we had two less days of tent pitching than our fellow passengers, we gladly welcomed the break.

We spent some time down by the lake swimming, chatting and having a few beers. The water was quite chilly, but it felt great after a day of dusty driving.

After the swim, I braved a cold shower in a less-than pleasant bush shower. Ok, so it wasn’t exactly a bush shower, but it was pretty darn close. The door was a gross woven plastic cover, the walls were made of rotting wood and the floor was made of even worse rotting wood. I had to be careful not to let my toiletries fall through the floor or to move the wrong way and have the wooden slats part, lest I should fall down into an area I can only imagine is…well…. I can’t even think about it without wanting to throw up. There were no hooks, so my clothes got draped over the wall. 5 minute rule for dirt/clothes, right? There was no way I was going to try the balance-on-my-sandals-and-get-dressed-so-my-bare-feet-don’t-touch-the-nasty-floor trick here, so I walked back to the tent in my swim suit to change.

Doesn’t this shower just beckon you to jump in?

I can’t decide if that shower was the worst so far. Obviously, the cold water sucks, but it wasn’t too bad this time. I’ve found it best just to focus on not touching the walls and getting showered and dressed carefully than to think about the nasty bits and bugs on the walls of the shower. I consider it a successful shower if the only skin contact I make is with the faucet handle. On our way to dinner, we chatted with a British couple that is in the middle of an 8-month drive from London to Cape Town in their tricked-out Land Rover. Check out their blog at www.steeringourwaytocapetown.co.uk.

We closed out the evening in the bar with a game of Skip Bo. Tomorrow is an early start and then we’re off to cross the border to Rwanda. We’re just a few days away from seeing the gorillas.