Abseiling Into Our Last Week

Yet another exhilarating weekend! On Saturday, we packed into a “tourist van” with some of our amazing Ugandan collaborators (Justine, Paul Junior, Paul Senior, and Lydia) and ventured to Sipi Falls in north eastern Uganda. We hiked through beautiful rain forests and farmland and saw lots of cows, goats, and plants (including loquat, avocado, banana, coffee bean trees). Our tour guide taught us about a plant, which Ugandan girls must be able to pull out of the ground with one hand before they can be deemed a woman. No one except Paul Junior was able to un-root one, but it made for some entertaining videos. After hiking around and under several waterfalls, we decided it was time to abseil down the largest one. After waiting with much nervousness and excitement, half of the group abseiled down a 110 meter waterfall while the other half quickly hiked to the bottom to watch their teammates go down. Even though walking over the edge of the cliff was quite terrifying, the view was definitely worth it! There was a massive waterfall, a beautiful rain forest backdrop, and a full circle rainbow covering the ground where we landed. As the sun set over the rain forest, we walked (and ran) back to the van and endured a 3 hour drive in soaking wet and muddy clothes. After a nice shower and good night of sleep, we were ready to spend our Sunday writing grant applications, synthesizing our interview notes, and planning out our last week in Uganda!