Tourists in Kampala- 9 ideas for 9 weeks of Holidays

Here we are-9 weeks into our mammoth ELEVEN week summer holidays in Kampala!

The first 2 weeks were taken up with our fabulous camping trips.

That left 9 weeks.

We have enjoyed discovering new things to do, or revisiting places we have enjoyed previously.  Kampala has much to offer to keep children engaged and interested, if you're happy to get out around town.

Here  are NINE examples of Things To Do with Kids in Kampala for Nine Weeks...

1. Nature

After taking the kids camping out of town, you can also camp in Kampala! If you can't leave town, just put the tent up indoors and let the kids invite their friends and sleep in the tent-in-the-house:

Let the kids build a tree-house in the garden! This is Ben and Joel's creation:

Stuck in one of those notorious Kampala traffic jams? Just time it so that you can at least enjoy the sunset, then let the kids take photos to hone their photography skills!!

Back at home, the boys found this colourful beetle in the garden and took photos before releasing it:

Also, the Reptile Centre in Entebbe is a fantastic place for an outing! This was a trip especially for my boys, who enjoyed this outing while Esther was away all week at an outdoor camp.

My boys enjoyed seeing, learning about and even handling some of the locally caught reptiles!

How many people does it take to hold one Rock Python?

The vipers were scary...

... but this Cobra was one VERY angry snake! I wouldn't want to meet him without the glass to protect us! Apparently, people do find them in the bush in Uganda- I'll be keeping a wary eye out next time we go camping!

2. History

I wouldn't be true to my teaching roots, nor my British roots, if I didn't try to educate my children about the history of the city and country where we reside.

This is why I took the children to visit Kampala's Rubaga Cathedral:

A helpful guide took us on a tour around the cathedral. The children enjoyed the icing-sugar colours of the domed ceiling!

They enjoyed having a try on the 100-year-old German organ, sent over to Uganda as a gift:

They didn't enjoy the stained glass windows of the cathedral, however, since these depict the suffering of the Ugandan Christian martyrs. These were 45 young men killed for refusing to renounce their Christian faith, on the orders of the tribal king of Buganda between 1885 and 1887. A sad story of persecution for faith.

Next History stop was the Buganda Palace. Here, a tour guide talked us through the various kings of Buganda-one of many tribal kingdoms of Uganda.

We learnt that, after a trip to England, one of the Buganda kings returned to Uganda in the early twentieth century and allowed women to eat eggs and meat! Up until this point, only men were allowed such delicacies!

We also heard that this same king was the one who finally allowed girls to actually go to school after his visit to Europe. Until then, educating girls was perceived as a waste of energy. Their role was seen to be solely that of having and raising children.It was fascinating to hear how travel opened up new ideas.

This palace was built for the Buganda kings- the ruling tribe of the Kampala region of Uganda. 

Tragically, this palace also has a brutal history, involving much intrigue, bloodshed and cruel grasping for political power. 

In fact, so much blood was shed within the walls of this palace when Obote's forces invaded to take power from the king that nobody resides there. It is used only for political meetings; the current king of Buganda and his wife live across town. 

As part of asserting his newly-grasped power, Obote ordered the destruction of the king's cars and goods.
However, this relic survives, much to the delight of my children, who were allowed to get a feel for the size of a Daimler- albeit in burnt-out remains!

Sadly, the rest of the tour involved a walk down the hill towards the horrific torture chambers which were used by dictator Idi Amin. So horrific and so mind-blowingly evil. Definitely not a place I would care to photograph.

I even wondered whether I should have taken the children to such a sad place. It definitely generated some deep and ponderous questions and conversations, as we struggled to process the horror of such recent, devastating history. It gave rise to interesting discussions about the role and responsibility of leaders of a country - heavy topics, but thought-provoking.

A few week's later, we passed by All Saints Anglican cathedral in central Kampala and popped in to see this older church. We felt more at ease in the light and happy atmosphere of this church, as opposed to the heavy and oppressive atmosphere that envelops the Buganda palace and grounds.

3. Arts and Culture

It was exciting for me to get an outing to the theatre last month! This is the first time, in all my 10 years in East Africa, that I have actually been inside a real theatre. This is Uganda's National Theatre:

I took Esther and 2 of her friends to watch a FABULOUS musical, named "Hope". Some of our friends were in the cast and involved in the music! We thoroughly enjoyed seeing them in action. It was a fantastic show and a great outing.

"Hope", the marvellous musical:

Over the course of these summer holidays, we have also had a couple of trips to Kampala's cinema across town. It was fun to watch "Aladdin" and the "Secret Life of Pets 2". Bizarrely, most films in Uganda are shown in 3D. The glasses are less than flattering!!

4. Cuisine

At the beginning of the holiday, I took the children to visit the education centre where I volunteer during term time. The staff were busy preparing for a great feast for the end of their term. The chefs were very kind to our children and allowed them a stir of the massive pot of stew, being prepared for over 150 people!

A friend told me afterwards that in Gabon, where she used to live, people use these giant pots to boil up whole baboons to eat!!!! :-(

These holidays, Ben got a chance to try his hand at Asian cuisine while staying with a Chinese friend. He was given the chance to make sushi - and said it was delicious! It certainly looks tasty...

At home, I gave each of my children a holiday task of preparing a meal for the family. They had to choose the recipe, write the shopping list, come with me to the shops, buy the food and make the meal. We were in for a treat! 

Esther made a meal of devilled eggs for starter, followed by stuffed peppers and rounded up with a yummy chocolate dessert. 

Ben made beef macaroni casserole.

And here is Joel preparing homemade fish-fingers using local Nile perch fish (with a bit of help from his brother):

All plates were DELICIOUS!!

5. Hospitality Sector

There are plenty of hotels to explore in Kampala!

I decided to take the children to visit the hotel which is most prominent from our lounge window.

We set out with a couple of friends to visit the "Pearl of Africa". A gigantic- and yet very empty- hotel, high on the hill across the valley.

The children enjoyed taking the whizzy-fast lift to the 15th floor. They tried to spot out house across the valley! 

In fact, the glass lift goes so fast that it made me feel ill after my cup of tea and slice of banana-bread from the restaurant downstairs!

We have also enjoyed visits to street cafes around town. This cafe was right next to Rubaga cathedral. It somehow reminded me of a French cafe. Since I love all things French, I just had to sit down here to order our cooling glasses of passion-fruit juice!

Through the holidays, we have also had many guests for meals or to stay. Most of the guests have been under 15 years of age, as the children's friends have stayed with us!

It is always fun to have people over- and to be invited out. We have been to friend's houses and even got invited to a fun July 4th American Independence Day BBQ- despite our British roots!

Some of the meals, though, have been clouded by the sadness of goodbyes. A few weeks ago, just before these holidays, our very good friends, the Lindtjorn family, left Kampala. It has been a hard goodbye. They were our friends and neighbours in Juba, and also with us on our team in Kenya and Tanzania.

Andrew was able to say farewell at a local Indian restaurant to his fellow-pilot and good friend Eivind, the night Eivind flew out of Uganda for good.

6. Local Business and Industry

We have really enjoyed visits to local factories during these holidays.

Papercraft, where they make recycled paper, were most welcoming. Our children were given the amazing opportunity to make paper themselves, out of recycled paper and out of banana-tree bark.

Next, they used recycled paper to make their own photo-frames to take home:

Papercraft also have a partner business. They take used glass and recycle it to make beautiful glass products. 

It was so fascinating to watch the glass-makers at work- these are highly skilled workmen.

They use a furnace of 1004 degrees Celcius to melt the glass!

Then they shape the glass by blowing down long tubes into the hot, malleable glass! We couldn't quite believe our eyes as a vase took shape before us:

Voila! The finished product, now proudly displayed in my lounge with pretty local flowers: WOW!

The other factory we visited is a .... CHOCOLATE FACTORY!!! :-)

Since chocolate is one of my favourite ever things, this was a very exciting outing for me!
We saw the original cocoa beans, from western Uganda...

We witnessed this machine at work, which separates the cocoa powder from the husk:

Inside, we learnt about cocoa butter and about processes to make chocolate:

After the technical tour came my favourite part: the sample table, where we were invited to taste the finished products!

Esther asked one of the workers what it is like to work in a chocolate factory... I think she was planning a future career in chocolate-tasting!

We all came home with bags of delicious "Equator Chocolate"!!

And also with a greater awareness of where chocolate comes from, as well as learning about local business. A great outing!

7. Retail

I needed new curtains. Since it is not easy to find pre-made household products, I went with a friend and took Esther and her friend, deep into the chaos that is central Kampala.

The girls posed by the oldest shopping mall in Uganda:

Buying material is always an interesting experience in Kampala. Down winding streets and through the dark labyrinths of old shopping centres we trailed. Bargaining for a good price is part of the deal, with good humour being the key to success. The noise, the movement, the heat and assortment of colours is an assault on your senses!

My good friend helped me buy some perfect material. A couple of weeks later, thanks to the good work of a local seamstress, I have beautiful new curtains.

8. Community

We are grateful for the friends we have been blessed with here in Uganda. There is a strong sense of community among those of us who come from far-flung countries and often with our Ugandan friends too.
Our children enjoyed this particularly when they were invited to attend a 2-day Bible Club at a friend's house as part of their holiday activities.
The children all had lots of fun! Equally, I was excited to have other people happy to care for, teach, entertain and feed my children for 2 days!

Last week, Esther branched out from us to join a different community, as she went away for the whole week on a special camp for TCK* teenagers. Waving her off on the bus was a strange moment, as she set off without us for a week's adventure!

The group of almost 70 teenagers had a WONDERFUL time! And we are so thankful for these enterprising people who organise such great events for our kids!

(*TCK= Third Culture Kids- children who grow up far from the culture of their passport country, but are not natives of the country they live in and thus find themselves in a "third" culture.)

9. At Home:

Of course, one of the lovely things about holidays is more time to relax at home and not to rush out the door to school every morning!

However, I do not want my children's brains to turn to mush... so we have kept a little momentum going with some study at home: Maths work and also a Holiday Diary, to record our outings:

The slower pace of school holiday life has allowed our children to unearth projects, toys and games that they never have time to enjoy in the hectic, busy term time. There has been much fun in the house and garden - and it has been great to enjoy Kampala as our home.

All in all, these holidays have allowed us many opportunities and also rest time: Hurrah for school holidays!

Yes, they are super-long school holidays, but Kampala has much to explore! These 9 weeks have flown by- and the 9 areas of interest have kept us busy. We hope you enjoyed reading about these possible Things To Do in Kampala :-).

More on Murchison

As promised, a continuation.... Just a few photos from the truly magnificent Murchison Falls:

Ben peers over the side of the cliff to watch the immensely forceful body of water thunder down the canyon- and gets soaked in fine mist from the Falls!

I asked Ben how he would describe Murchison Falls. These were his adjectives:
deadly
deafening
fast
cold and wet!

The National Park is kept as natural as possible, whcih of course can be a good thing. However, it would be very easy to slip and plunge to a watery, frothy death, as there are no safety barriers at all on the rocks at the top of the Falls! I found it very hard to relax as my children scrambled to get a closer look...

The turbulent water plunges at breakneck speed down a vast, rocky canyon to emerge into the River Nile at the base.

Thankfully, nobody slipped on these rocks at the top! We had an incredible hike around the highest point and then down to the foot of the Falls. Anybody coming to Uganda should definitely should consider a visit to this beautiful and powerful place!

Back in March, we camped at the same campsite and on that occasion, this naughty baboon came and drank from the swimming pool whilst my children were swimming there!!

Esther thinks that maybe it's time for a quick exit, while the baboon looks the other way...!!

The wildlife!

What a privilege to be up close with these amazing creatures.... even if some of them didn't look too impressed with our invasion of their space...

4 metres long, this croc guards her eggs in her riverside nest: I was quite keen to move on before she lashed out!! Those teeth look unfriendly...

And my favourite... a baby elephant:

This morning, I read Psalm 124. It says, "Our help is in the name of the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth." Having been close to such beautiful and incredible creatures and seen such unspoilt scenes of nature, the creative genius of God as "Maker" astounds me.
And how amazing it is that the God who made all these diverse animals and created such beauty in nature is the One who helps me. I couldn't be in better hands.

Hungry Hippos, Bad Baboons, Stunning Scenery

At a dark 5:50am last Friday, our car pulled out of our driveway and pointed its bonnet towards Uganda's Murchison National Park.

Six and a half hours later, the same car pulled up at Murchsion Rover Lodge campsite and out tumbled 5 dishelleved Parkers.

Andrew got to work immedicately: we soon had our tent erected in this beautiful camping spot.

Last time we visited this campsite, almost three months ago, the ground was roasted brown, the trees were leaf-less and the heat of dry season bore down unmercifully. What an incredible difference the life-giving Rainy Season brings to the African bush!

That night, we cooked pasta and tuna on our campfire under the starry skies. We breathed in the fresh air, the space and the scent of adventure that comes with sleeping in a tent so close to Uganda's wild-life.

During the night, I woke up with an urgent need to go to the bathroom. This is a moment I dread. The thought of What Is Out There scares me! I fight against the need to make the trek across a dark campsite to the bathroom block on the other side of the field! Horrors of what might be lurking fills me with dread... snakes? scorpions? maybe a ravenous leopard, ready to savage my leg off and send me limping back to the tent covered in fresh blood??

I had to be brave. I unzipped the tent, scanned the campsite with the weak beam of my head-torch and stepped outisde. The coast was clear! Phew! I was able to use the facilities and slip back into our tent.

Two minutes later, Ben stated that he now needed the toilet! All that noisy unzipping of tent doors had awakened the family.

"It's OK, Ben", responded Andrew. "Mum has just been out there and there are no hippos around. It is perfectly safe for you to go to the toilet".

Ben crawled to the tent door with his head-torch ready, unzipped the flaps and poked his head out into the African night, the light of his torch piercing the black. "ARGH!!!" he squealed, "There's a hippo!! Right in front of our tent! A hippo! Look!"

We couldn't believe it! I had just been out there and had not noticed a thing! We all scrambled to take a look, but by the time the rest of us got to the door, the heavy frame of a night-grazing hippo was disappearing out of the campsite, swallowed up by the darkness.

Ben and Joel were subsequently too terrified to go outside until the light of dawn!
And I learnt that, just because you don't see it, it doesn't mean it's not there when it comes to African wildlife!

Evidence in the muddy ground! Esther and Ben pointing at the fresh hippo-hoof-print close to our where our tent was pitched:

Later that morning, we enjoyed the beautiful swimming pool of the river lodge, with its view over the vast River Nile.

.  

Last time we had visited this place, a cheeky baboon had come along and joined the children while they were swimming! He noisily slurped water from the baby-pool while Esther, Ben and Joel stayed dead still, too transfixed to move!

This time, there was no sign of naughty baboons. We relaxed enjoyed the cool water. However, we didn't realise at this point that the reason we didn't see the baboons at the pool was because they were actually busy visiting our campsite!

When we got back to our tent, we were most indignant to discover that a Bad Baboon had not only discovered our food supplies, but had broken in to the storage box and stolen the goods! Remnants of rice cakes, my special hobnobs (they're expensive in Uganda!!), Andrew's sugar-coated peanuts, our large packet of crisps and the marshmallows to toast around the campfire... all these were now strewn messily over the campsite! Large bites had been taken out of each packet! This rude baboon showed no respect whatsoever.

After a subdued lunch of noodles, we prepared for our outing into Murchison National Park. This afternoon, we planned to do the tourist trail and walk the path carefully laid out for visitors around the edge of, up over the top and down to the river outlet of Murchison Falls.

All I can say is, "Wow!"

Murchison Falls is one of the most powerful waterfalls in the world- and one of the most breath-taking places I have ever visited. The following photos do not do it justice. Suffice to say, we had an exhilarating and uplifting family hike. An experience I will not forget.

There is much more to tell about Murchison and the wonderful wildlife we saw the following day... nut for now, this will suffice... :-) It is holiday time already here in Uganda and my children need their mum, so it is time to sign off...
TO  BE CONTINUED....

INVESTMENT

Our church here in Kampala recently organised a retreat for married couples from the congregation.

Andrew and I joined this marriage retreat. What a great idea, to get away for 2 nights- to have time to talk about our marriage. Time to hear sound teaching and Biblical advice on what can be helpful to keep building marriages. Time to exhange stories with other couples about the challenges and also the joys of being parents.

Time well spent: a mini-break from the humdrum routine and an investment in our future together.

We had a great time- despite a few misgivings about some of the permanent residents of the venue. These statues seemed less than welcoming, if not intimidating. when we arrived in the dusk of a Friday evening!

One of the challenges we faced when planning to go on this excellent retreat was to find people willing to have our kids for a whole weekend.
When you live far from extended family, it can be tricky to find people who are happy to care for  your children overnight...

 However, we were so grateful to good friends who took Ben and Joel for us. The boys have known these lovely friends for almost 3 years, as they were our neighours both in Kenya and now here in Uganda.  They all had a happy time! Our friends survived the weekend with 2 energetic Parker boys and were so kind to them. Esther went to stay with a school friend and had great fun with her. It is at times like these that we count the blessings of living among such a kind and caring community.

So all in all, we were grateful for this opportunity to invest in our marriage, 15 years and 6 countries after the day we first said, "I do". :-)