glorious sipi falls

yesterday, a group of us went up into some incredible mountains east of here to a waterfall to chill out and spend the night. it is like paradise - perfect temperature, no mosquitoes, incredible colors (red clay, green vegetation, blue sky, white clouds, gray/brown rock, waterfalls), amazing views, and a sunset from on top of a peak looking out over the never-ending plains to the west.


i had already been to this place once before and hiked to the base of the main waterfall (see above), so i wanted to do something different. a few of us went with a guide through the small village nearby, walking up a dirt road to a small trail entering some matooke (green banana) fields. he told us there was a path to a "lookout" that he could take us to but we would have to pay 1000 shillings to pass through someone's property. no big deal, so we continued on through an impressive maze of small walking trails through these matooke fields, past thatch-roofed mud huts, women washing clothes and children carrying water, cows and chickens milling about...it was a surreal glimpse at a life that is far from anything i have ever experienced...an amazing degree of isolation and resilience, i guess. after 10 or 15 minutes, we reached a clearing onto a rock face which dropped several hundred feet straight down below to a patchwork of matooke and coffee fields on a plain leading up the continuation of the mountain range. i counted 5 waterfalls on the side of the mountain facing us before an old man, the owner of the land, came out to greet us (and collect our shillings). i greeted him in one of the local languages i know and he was shocked to hear a white person greeting him like that. it was great...one of those "i can't believe this is my life" moments. and so far, there have been many here in uganda.