Sipi Falls

Jolly, her daughter Lois, James, Sherie and I arrived at Sipi Falls in eastern Uganda on Friday evening. Sheri and I shared one hut (see picture), Jolly and Lois shared another, and James got a room to himself. When we woke on Saturday, we had breakfast (a plate of passion fruit, orange, watermellon, banana, and pineapple, a glass of passion fruit juice, African and English tea, French press coffee, and a bowl of corn porridge), then went on a hike with our guide, Kenneth.

From the Sipi Falls Resort, where we were staying, we could see the lower of the 3 Sipi Falls. We hiked to the other two falls and to a cave where the ancestors of local residents used to live before houses. The hike took 3 hours, most of which was uphill, to reach the third waterfall and our lunch destination (3rd waterfall in distance in picture). Our return only took one hour.

The loop we took for our hike brought us through plantations of bananas, coffee, castor (yes, castor oil comes from a seed pod of a tree. My grandmother used to make me take castor oil to prevent carsickness when I was a kid and I think it worked because I got sick before getting into the car instead of while traveling) and fields of tomatoes and cabbages. What originally looked liked farm land was really filled with huts and people. We walked through people's yards, passing their chickens, cows, goats and children. We came across people bathing, cooking, working in the fields, and making the local beer out of bananas. If I understood correctly, corn flower is cooked with water (see picture), then ferment for about 7 days, after which a special variety of bananas is added. We saw several groups of men sitting in a circle drinking brew out of a communal pot with long straws. The beer looks like a thin porridge and has a very high alcohol level.

People were very gracious to us. We always asked before taking any pictures and respected anyone's wishes if they did not want a picture taken.