Have you ever been to a place where the natural beauty of its people and its landscapes has stirred inspiration into your life? Have you ever been to a place where everything is just beautiful? A place where the heat glazing on your skin makes you feel like you wish you could stay forever? I know of such a place. Uganda. Africa is a place where the beauty has been portrayed in many artistic works. Uganda receives its beauty from many contrasts. Rugged mountains coexist with savannahs and meadows. Dry lands show up in the district of lakeshores Uganda is a place where the beauty of the land makes your troubles disappear and replaces them with the mystery of the land. Just 50 miles from the equator, the heat from the sun reaches you and makes everything paradise. Uganda is one of the most astonishing places I have ever been.
English: Uganda, Murchison Falls, giraffe, norther...
English: Uganda, Murchison Falls, herd of elephant...
English: Uganda, Murchison Falls, lionWhen I visited Uganda, the beauty of this timeless, ancient land captured my heart and basically set my spirit free. Drifting in a hot air balloon, looking down at tens of thousands of animals stampeding through the land. Elephants, zebras, lions, buffalo?s and lots more. Africa has almost every animal know in the world.
It?s like a dream everything there fits. The trees are so exotically tropical, and the sky is so fresh. There are days where there is not one single cloud in the sky all day. I felt as though every breath that I took purified my soul. There are so many activities to do there. Stuff like white river rafting, nature trails, safaris, hikes, museums, conservation areas, and so much more. Just walking on the slightly paved but sandy bumps on the road showed me a whole different view of the world. The view of dwan and the sun setting on the horizon of the land, is an experience not known to many, what a wonderful feeling that I felt knowing that I was able to experience that.
Going to Uganda was like dreaming a sensational dream. It?s a place that I used to hear about everyday. The stories and experiences that my family had gone through and then they shared that experience with me. I know that three and a half weeks will not compare to a whole childhood, but I felt like it did. It gave me an experience that I will never forget in a lifetime. The elegance of this motherland fills my mind every year when the freezing wind and snow of winter comes around. The sunset, the land, the animals, the people, the mansions, the shacks, the ancient houses, I could go on forever. It?s amazing that after all theses years, people still live in tiny shacks just walking distance from the big houses.
Murchison Falls National Park is known to be one of the most amazing places in Uganda, and the whole of Africa. It is the largest game park in the country. Murchison Falls is where the River Nile throws itself in an astounding eruption through a thin space and then plunges 40 meters in one breathtaking leap. When I say breathtaking, I mean the view of everything literally takes your breath away. There are numerous rainbows that form over the falls and the water. It is beautiful.
A launch trip up stream to the falls was one of the greatest experiences that I had on my trip. Elephants, giraffes, buffalos, crocodiles and countless antelope, birds and even storks are few of the animals that I admired at the water's edge as the launch glides along. It was great.
Stepping out of the wooded shack on the road of dirt making my way to the closed jeep which was going to tour us through out the safari, the aroma of nature distracted me, the smell of the trees and the grass, the smell of green, the smell of the beautiful Asmini and Begonia flowers. It was the smell of the motherland.
We were in the jeep with the windows slightly opened just enough to hear the lion?s powerful roar which made the birds flee to the sky with fear, what a wonderful sight, watching them expand in sequence into the sky. The animals lived so freely as if they had a choice to leave, they would choose to stay. The lions lying down in packs and the zebras trying to avoid the lions, made it funny, but at the same time, a little bit scary.
One of the largest cities in Uganda is Kampala. Walking in downtown looking at the modernized city made me look at Africa a different way, it was actually westernized. Not what I expected. Walking through the town was amazing, the reason I say this is because in the background all you can see is the hills and the valleys. It was great. When the sun was setting it gave the color of red mixed with purple; I wish I could see that everyday.
The air was so fresh and warm at night. I felt the only way I can make the best of it was to spend one night under the sky. I was lying down under the moon lit sky surrounded with twice as much stars I could see from home, but this time, it felt like the stars were closer to me. I loved it there. I wish I could go back every year. I will never have an experience like I did the summer of 1997. The year I took my trip to Uganda.
English: This is a photo of a river boat crossing ...
English: Uganda - Murchison Falls, herd of buffalo...
English: Uganda, Murchison Falls, Rhinos (bread in...