Getting there was an achievement in itself. Buses and taxis in Uganda ain't like buses and taxis back home!
To start with, there aren't really bus stops as such. Mini buses or cars drive around the town yelling their destination to anyone that'll listen and won't leave for their destination until they are full. And when I say full, I mean, FULL!
Once we were satisfied we weren't being ripped off (there are no set fares here, particularly for muzungos), we agreed a price and bundled ourselves and our luggage into the back of a five seater car that had definitely seen better days - possibly sometime in the early 80's - and waited for another two passengers who were going in our general direction (There are no such things as timetables or routes either).
Within 20 minutes, we were ready to leave ... All seven of us - the driver, the two passengers in the front passenger seat / on the handbrake and two random women (one of whom was of a considerable size), me and Alex in the back seat.
It wasn't the most spacious or comfortable of journeys I've been on, but for £1.75 to travel 65km, I coped.
The only way I can describe the journey is to compare it to the Manhattan Express roller coaster in Las Vegas - only without the comfort of a safety harness or the knowledge that the experience would be over within a minute and you would be fine.
I'm convinced the lorries, cars, taxis and bodas were playing chicken with each other, swerving at only the very last second to avoid certain death. We would be belting along the road at 90km an hour (not sure what that is in real money), heading straight into an oncoming matatu (minibus taxi) only for it to swerve at the last millisecond and miss us by a hair's breadth.
I swear I could see a victorious smirk on our drivers face whilst the other drivers gesticulated wildly and yelled what I assume were profanities at us.
About 5 minutes into the journey, we started stopping every few miles for the driver-come-postman to drop papers, newspapers, tomatoes, eggs, bicycle wheels etc off to people patiently awaiting our arrival at the side of the road.
At one such stop, we wondered what was left to deliver as the boot had been emptied bar our luggage. Nothing apparently, as two blokes hopped in and made themselves comfortable in the boot. For those of you who like words, not numbers, that made nine of us. In a five seater car! Not a hatchback or anything, just your average, bog standard medium sized car!
Good job I'm not claustrophobic.
Oh, wait ... I am!
Alex's reassuring response to my mild panic was, "You think this is bad, you wanna go on the taxi bus to Bududa. There were 21 of us on a 14 seater last week and a couple of live chickens. I saw one once with a couple of goats on top. They were still alive too."
Unfortunately, being in the middle of the back seat, I had a panoramic view of the road ahead so could see every obstacle in front of us - matatus, cars and bodas broken down at the side of the road, groups of cows ambling idly in front of us as well as potholes so big that they looked like they had been hit by a meteor. I felt like I was being shown as slide show of how I may die.
By the time we arrived at Sipi, I was exhausted, but we decided to celebrate our survival by trekking the Sipi Circuit which takes you around all of the waterfalls. As it's in Mount Elgon National Park, we had to use a guide who led the way - we'd never have done it on our own.
The trek was knackering and took just over four hours altogether but was punctuated by a lovely stop at each of the waterfalls and even a quick dip in a natural waterfall pool (fingers crossed we don't all catch bilharzia eh?!).
Unfortunately, for the last hour of our trek, we got caught in The Rains so what had started out as a gloriously hot sunny day turned into torrential rain and howling winds (The rain we got in one hour at Sipi would definitely have opened the SE AIR Mart!) that lasted until the early hours of Sunday morning.
Sunday's highlight was breakfast -American style pancakes, French toast and omelettes all topped off with some beautiful locally produced coffee. As the weather was so bad, we gave up on Sipi and made our way back to Mbale and Muyembe.
We're going away next weekend too, only this time to Jinga and the source of the Nile. I know it'll be beautiful, an amazing experience etc, but I really, really hope we'll be able to get pancakes again. With maple syrup.
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