Riding ATV's in Jinja

So, Becca my Pastor/Pastor’s wife in Philly is in Uganda doing some research on Micro- Finance organizations. It’s a coincidence that her visit came together after Sam and I had come home, so we get to host her and take her around Kampala.
I think she is having an interesting time, I wish her trip was planned a little later in the year because we have only been here a month and are still trying to make our way around. She’s probably wondering if we have any friends because she hasn’t met any of them. Some how getting to see friends gets more complicated after being away for a long time: one has got to make an appointment, or try tracing people. But really the big issue for me is quite another. I haven’t met my friends so setting a date to meet them with Becca before having our own catch-up time is weird.

Anyway all that aside we have tried to take Becca around, to give her an idea of what Uganda and Ugandans are like.
Last Saturday we went up to Jinja, to a place called Bujagali, on the River Nile. Man! I just realized that it probably would have been wise to tell her that it was going to be a long drive, but alas! We took it for granted. Now I’m thinking she probably wondered where on earth we were going.
We thought taking a ride on ATV’s (which I keep mistaking for ARV’s) would be fun. ATV stands for All Terrain Adventures; it’s a guided quad-bike ride along the River Nile and through the villages.
I didn’t know how much hard work was required. We got dressed and were each assigned a quad-bike, huge! I tell you. They are like motor cycles with four huge wheels, now because I was the least familiar with the machine our guide put me in the middle of the group. So it was the guide at the front, Becca right after, me, then Sam and Mich at the back. After instructions and all we did a test drive to get familiar with the machines. That wasn’t too bad. The first test route was pretty simple, then the guide took us to a more complex route. I was concentrating on keeping on the path, not falling off, generally being as careful as possible just to keep up with the basics. It had just rained so the place had lots of muddy pools/ditches. Just as we started the second route I was concentrating on my machine only to look up and see Becca’s bike tipping over and before I knew it the wheels were up in the air and Becca was under. Boy oh boy!!! I freaked out. I was thinking what are we going to tell Brad? we took his wife to the jungle and she broke her neck riding one of these ARV’s I mean ATV’s oh oh!!, not good. Now because I was still trying to steady myself and master this machine I wasn’t able to run up to Becca. The guide was able to get there in good time, I saw Becca get out from under the huge bike. Phew! That was a relief, she was safe, she walked away like nothing had happened. We finally got to her and she seemed ok, just a few bruises.
All in the name of experiencing Uganda, I hope she enjoyed it too, accidents and all aside.

On the ATV's
Mabira forest
Tea plantation

Bujagali