Week One - rafting and elephants 

S'mai byts from Queen Elizabeth National Park! 
I'm one week into my journey down to Cape Town and we're still in Uganda on an overland trip. We basically travel from place to place in a massive yellow truck and sleep in three man tents with a tent buddy.  I lucked out with my tent buddy who is a really lovely girl called Allison from the States. Luckily for me, she doesn't snore or talk in her sleep. Unluckily for her, I do both. 

We have the option of upgrading at some camp sites though where we can pay between $10 - $15 a night for a much nicer, bigger tent.  Only one week in and me and Allison are on Night Two of living in our mega tent which has three beds, an en suite, a changing room, blackout blinds, a light, a balcony, a little sofa out the front and a washing line at the side.  Now this is African Camping - Dani Style! 

Everyone is assigned a task each day, so depending on the rota, you could be cooking, cleaning (dishes), cleaning (the truck), a fire starter / water carrier or responsible for truck security.
It's pretty great actually - everyone chips in and does their share and there's always a really nice atmosphere whether we're trucking, tripping or at camp. 

For the first few days, we went back to Jinja. Whilst we were there, we went white water rafting down the Nile which is apparently one of the top five places to raft in the world with lots of grade five and six rapids. 
Now, I'm not going to mince my words about this experience... I shit myself. 

Only once can I ever remember being as scared as I was going down that sodding river in a pimped up bloody dingy. That was on that horrendous swing ride thing at the top of the Stratosphere Tower in Vegas when I nearly cried with relief as soon as I was off the Godforsaken thing. 

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm all for this living life on the edge and taking every opportunity that comes your way, go getting kind of attitude, but like hell am I ever going rafting in Jinja again. 
No way. No chance.Dim gobaith caneri. 

Despite having the basic training on what do to when (not if - when) the boat flips, in the heat of the moment, who honestly remembers all that stuff??  When I was stuck bouncing and somersaulting round under the raft in grade five rapids, I certainly didn't. 

All I can remember is thinking : 
Shit, this Nile tastes awful. Ych a fi. 
Shit, I've been spinning for quite some time now. I'm not sure I like this. 
Shit, I'm stuck. I want to get out. 
Shit, I can't breathe. I want to breathe.
Shit, I'm gonna die. I don't wanna die. But at least Cath's going to name her baby after me now. 
Oh thank God, I've surfaced - air!
Shit, I'm under again. 

After what seemed like an eternity (but was realistically eight seconds at most), the Nile decided to vomit me out of the its white water washing machine style death trap and fling me downstream ready to upside-down straddle Mr Kayak Man and be taken back to the (relative) safety of my raft. 

We've also crossed the equator, been on a game drive and cruise where we've seen a bunch of birds and animals - the most impressive of which have been elephants and hippos.
And I can tell you something Office Junior - yes, hippos are cute when you see them on the tv from the safety and comfort of your own home, but when they're about 10 metres away from you, waddling their way through your camp site and right past your tent, they are pretty bloody scary! 
Anyway, I got your photo - I expect to see it printed out and on your desk when I get back. 
(Sue, you'd absolutely love it here. There are so many ugly and colourful birds all over the place, you'd be in your element!)  So it's onto Rwanda and gorilla trekking next - can't wait! 

* * *

Happy Wedding Day for yesterday Nic & Dave!
Hope you had a fab time - can't wait to see the photos!  Cariad mawr a llongyfarchiadau enfawr i chi! 
Xxx 

Thank you for all your texts too. I can't respond to them as we're in the middle of nowhere and I can't find anywhere to buy credit but I can still pick up calls at the moment even though the reception can be dodgy.  I'm not sure if I'll be able to receive / make texts / calls in the rest of Africa though. 

Also, I'll only have internet access about once every seven to ten days from now on and not for long (I only have about 40 mins today) so I won't be able to respond to individual emails but I'll try to cover everything here. 

Trying to post this for the tenth time only without photos this time now!
Office Junior - you'll have to wait for your hippo photo!