Nile Horseback Riding

After our morning at the preschool, we ventured back to NRE to grab our gear and headed down to our private river access. A boat and a cute young boy was waiting there to take us across the river where our next adventure awaited us. We walked up a huge hill where we saw a little family washing their clothes in the river and then we got saddled up and were off to explore the villages via horseback!  

The views were breathtaking. Everything was so lush and green and the view of the Nile was beautiful. I loved exploring the roads that lead to different villages and the kids just thought we were the coolest thing ever up on those horses. We went for about 2 hours I believe. And man, my butt was getting sore. We walked and trotted and then at the end our guide took me out to an open are to gallop/cantor. I've never done that before! It was so exhilarating. But it sure takes a lot out of ya. You have to squeeze your legs so tight! It took til the second try to feel in control. It was so great but I don't know how them people in the olden days used horses as their main method of transportation. It was definitely great entertainment but not exactly restful. We have it easy with cars--that's for sure. 

After our excursion, we sat and chatted with the horse owner for a bit (an Australian man and his adorable 5 year old daughter). He told us about how hard it is to take care of horses in Uganda. They have a short lifespan because of the flies and bugs that carry certain diseases kill the horses. He imported them from Kenya and he has to take extra-special care of them. So crazy to think about right? Horses just can't survive there. You would see cows and lots of different animals all over the place just chillin' but no horses. Interesting huh?

I also talked to him and his daughter a lot about life in Uganda. I would be lying if I said it didn't cross my mind a million times to move there with Matix. I wanted to get everyone's perspective on what life as an American with children is like over there. Everyone loved it. It's such a great cultural experience for kids to grow up in place like that. A big part of me would love to move somewhere and experience life in a whole new way. Uh, someday....

Our new Australian friend drove us into Jinja town to catch a minibus back to Kampala. He negotiated the rate down for us in Ugandan and we were on our way. It was the absolute worst drive of my life. Once we left we were on our own and they were not very nice to us. Two so-obvious-American-tourists packed into a minibus that legally sat 11 but was currently holding 16 Ugandans--and us. Smelly, stuffy, cramped for 4 hours and they initially tried to separate Margo and I into two separate buses (which we refused) and our Australian friend had told us exactly where to drop us off so that Nick (our Kampala driver and friend) could meet us with no problems. Well they decided to take it upon themselves to drop us off at a more convenient place for them because of traffic and refused to let us use their phone and just demanded their money. We eventually won the battled but they were NOT happy with us. Such relief when we were reunited with Nick--the absolute savior of our trip :)

Minibus life. Every stop you were swarmed with street vendors.