Christmas in Uganda-Paragliding

Instead of hanging around Kisumu, Josh and I decided to do a bit of traveling this holiday season.  As I mentioned before we weren't sure whether or not we would be able to head to Uganda as my passport was in process at the embassy.  Luckily we got it back the day before we left (talk about last minute) and quickly threw together the last minute details necessary to leave.

After two hours we hit the border.  From the looks of the long line of semi trucks, we knew we were in for a true display of "This is Africa".  There were no signs indicating where to go first or what paperwork was necessary for crossing into Uganda.  Handlers littered the sidewalk forcibly trying to get our attention.  At first we wanted nothing to do with them, but soon found it was necessary to get through all the steps of immigration.  Handlers were able to push themselves to the front of the line, knew that we needed to claim the vehicle both in Kenya and Uganda, and register with the police before leaving.  Thankfully the Uganda side was a bit less chaotic and we were back in the car.

From the border, we headed north toward Mbale.  Mbale is a small town on the boarder directly west of Mt. Elgon.  Here we were meeting up with Adam of Fly Mami Afrika to do a bit of paragliding.  Josh has been wanting to go paragliding ever since we spent Labor Day in the Kerio Valley last year.  I'm a little terrified of heights and wasn't so sure about the whole running off a cliff thing.  I knew that in the end it would be worth it and wanted to support Josh in something he loves to do.

The first day we spent sitting on top of the mountain waiting for the correct conditions.  The clouds rolled in and the sky got a bit too dark for comfort.  After the rain started we packed up and headed to a local's house.  The rest of the afternoon was spent huddled in a mud hut doing math problems with some of the local kids.

Our Nemesis

After a failed first day, we quickly realized that we would get really good at "para-waiting".  Day two started off with renewed hope of flying but was quickly replaced with uncertainty.  Although there was no rain, the wind kept shifting making it impossible to launch.  This waiting really took a toll on my nerves.  Josh and I had decided that I would go first so I wouldn't have to think about it too much.  A great idea in theory but after two days of high adrenaline and cycles of getting ready and then stalling, my stomach was in knots.

Para-waiting

Finally at about 3 pm on Christmas Eve, Adam gave me the command to run.  We were off!  I can't even begin to describe the feeling of soaring through the clouds off of Mt. Wanale.  We circled a large waterfall and I did my best to get some good video footage of the sites.  After catching some lift, we headed toward town doing some figure eights and 360s.

Soaring over Mbale

The whole time I was just in awe, taking it all in.  I had never done anything like this in my life and I was so excited that I had overcome my fear.  I can honestly say that I lost all my nerves the minute I was told to run.  I became so focused on my task at the time that I didn't even think, "Hey, I'm running off a mountain."

Flying with Fly Mami Afrika

As we came in to land at a local school, I heard the kids from the village screaming.  They were so excited to see two "mzungus" coming in from the sky.  I got to film the landing as we touched down and the kids went running.  One of my favorite parts of the flight were all the kids at the end.  They had a million questions and I struggled to answer everyone of them despite the language barrier.

Landing in the school

Unfortunately Josh wasn't able to fly on Christmas Eve.  By the time we got back on top of the mountain the winds had picked up again and the conditions weren't favorable.  We decided to extend our trip and see if Christmas day would bring us more luck.

Adam prepares the kite for Josh's flight

The beautiful waterfall we flew by

That morning we repeated the same schedule we had for the past two days.  Thankfully Josh was able to launch a little before noon.  It was a blast to watch him fly off the mountain and I got some great video of it.  After picking Josh up at the school, we packed up and headed down to Jinja.  Our Christmas adventure wasn't over yet!