A night in the Rainforest

Our wee "pink" monkey

In the search for leopards! (the fact that the guide has only seen 2 in 15 years didn't make us lose hope of sighting one :)

An enormous web hanging from a tree. Thanfully the spiders weren't of the same enormity!

The path down to our room! Got to be fit in the rainforest, it seemed like you were either walking down or up!

Zara and her bugs. Zara asked me to hold her grasshopper while she washed her hands. As she picked it up one of its legs fell off! Then she launched it off the balcony to see if it would fly. I think the poor grasshopper was just glad to be out of the clutches of our daughter. What a lass!

I don't know if many of you have read Steve Saint's book "End of the Spear" (Steve Saint is the son of Nate Saint who was a MAF pilot that died at the hands of the Waodani tribe in the Amazon jungle) It is well worth a read and I just happened to be reading it at the time we decided to do an overnight in a rainforest just 1.5 hours east of Kampala. Joshua and Zara were on half term and so we decided to go away for a night to a place we hadn't been to before. To be reading this book in a rainforest when you are reading about the Amazon jungle is quite an amazing experience. Its not every day you can read a book and feel like you are living it. We listened to monkeys screeching, Joshua and I found a big lizard in the pool toilet and many animals sounds although didn't actually see the body attached to the noise. Maybe that was a blessing. We went for a guided walk in the forest which was very interesting. The guide mentioned to us about different trees that are poached for medicinal purposes. He told us about the Pygmy people who used to live in the forest like they do still in Congo and the trees where they stored their food. Joshua and Zara got to swing on vines that could even hold our weight! Anyway the pictures above will give a glimpse into what we experienced. We definately serve a creative God!

There are many favourable attributes for living in sub sahara Africa and that being that the temperature all year round doesn't vary too much unlike our homelands. This means that Joshua and Zara enjoy the freedom of playing outside most of the time. 99.9% of the time this is a good thing until Zara came in the house to tell me that Joshua had found a great picnic place. This intrigued me no end so I went out to investigate. The pictures above will explain it more than I could ever with words. I remember doing the same thing as a child and wondered why my parents were a bit unnerved. Now I understand! Thankfully they are very sure footed but it still makes the mother in me come out in a cold sweat. :)

The things your children say...

Yesterday Zara and I were driving up the dirt road to school listening to some music and then out of the blue this was the conversation we had...

Zara: Mummy, I love Santa and God?

Me: Oh really, why is that?

Zara: Because Santa gives me presents and God is in my heart

Me: Why else do you love God, Zara?

Zara: Because he doesn't make me flat?

Me: (She had lost me on that one) What do you mean Zara?

Zara: So I don't get run over by a car!

Me: Do you mean that God protects you

Zara: Yes....


You sometimes think that your children aren't listening to you but they are taking things in...unfortunately the bad as well as the good :)

It's that time of year again...

We all woke up at 5:30am this morning with yet another storm crashing overhead. Joshua and Zara were all dressed and ready to go to school by 6:15am! Joshua kept asking is it time to go yet to which the reply was NO there is still another hour and 15 minutes left. I was just praying that the rain would stop and dry up somewhat for the usual 10 minute journey to school. If not then it was going to be a interesting one. Well we managed to get to school fine although it was quite muddy. As I was leaving school I decided to go the back way. I didn't get too far up the road before I was met with chaos. Cars were stuck and others trying to pass one another on a very muddy, slippy road. I decided to back down the way I came and go the "main road". This, of course, was no better as it was really muddy and it had started to rain hard again. As I looked up the road to see what it was like I was met with more chaos. There was one lady stuck on one side of the road, a small car behind her spinning his wheels with mud flying and other one trying to pass on the opposite side and the wheels kept sliding into the ditch. This road is only a one track murram road too but it had turned into a "mud" rink. We weren't going anywhere. Finally the guy in front who was the father of one of the little boys in Zara's class got out to see what he could do as well as myself. In the end he drove the ladies car out that was stuck in the mud fishtailing all the way. The second car wasn't going anywhere so we shoved some rocks and stones under the tyres and tried to push him out but to no avail. Finally we both got in our cars and reversed down the hill. Of course there always has to be some hero who thinks his car is better. This particular car came charging down the hill thinking he could pass all the mayhem only for him to get stuck and come within in a few cm's of touching the other cars. I think he learned his lesson when he was given a few "encouraging" words as to the error of his ways. Anyway we all made it home safely albeit slightly muddy. Just another day in Africa!!!