Waterfalls and Euphoria

04 March 2009

At the shuffle of feet stumbling across red dirt the group of twenty mzungus and an African guide began down the slopes to the infamous “Sipi Falls” of Kapturwa. The air still held the brisk freshness of the morning as we embarked at 9:30—we were going to see three waterfalls. The voices of all of us excited students sang loudly through the still ravine as we rounded the corner to take in our first close up of the main falls after 30 min. of downhill hiking. The water fell in cascading, powdery sheets of water and fell on the rocks at the bottom with a light misty crash. We all scampered down to the waterside to feel the shower and cool air that encompassed the area.

After an allotted amount African—long winded and sporadic—time spent there we headed up the other side of the ravine. Within the first ten steps up the steep grade all of us were sweating and huffing up the hill. Each step felt like a step taken with weights attached to our ankles and the sun attached to our head, but eventually we made it up the steepest portion and took a long break at a cave.

Before this day I’d never ventured into a cave that wasn’t intended for tourists to walk through. As some of us crouched awkwardly through the first few meters of the cave we found it opened into a pit tall enough to allow us to stand. The bats screeched from the next opening in the cave and a couple local boys waddled over to me asking me for $1000 shillings for the “crystals” they just picked off the cave ground as I was crouched trying to get a good shot of this new wonder. Then from the mouth of the cave a whistle called all of us back out to our hiking adventure and we were off to stumble up the rest of the way to the second falls.

The second falls fell in a tumble across rocks jutting out from the hillside. We stopped briefly here as the view of the hills was wonderful. We walked a short jaunt to the “natural swimming pool” to take lunch. At this point we had a hoard of about 15 younger children following us so Bo grabbed everyone’s leftovers or undesirables and fed the kids—they were very passionate about the food gift.

“Ok guys I have some snacks for you but I need you to all chill out as I hand them out to you.”

The kids all run towards Bo as they notice him holding food. The original group shuffled in closer and held their hands out. Bo starts splitting everything and handing it out.

“Ok now who hasn’t gotten any?”

All of the kids that were pressing in on him backed up, I guess they understood that one. They all stare expectantly as some of them finish munching.

“If you haven’t gotten anything yet come here and you can have some banana.”

Now, Bo is speaking in “American” (this means Bo is speaking a different “dialect,” one that is less understood by the British colonized Ugandans) as the kids look at him in a sort of stupefied wonder. Bo isn’t really sure what to do so he simply gives the rest out and sits back down.

I turn my attention away from him and head to the “pool.” A bunch of us girls throw our shirts off leaving us in out sports bras and pants, or skirt in my case. We carefully feel our way safely into the deeper section of the pool and soak in the cool mountain water… at this point there was a spattering of African children gathered around the area watching us.

Before we knew it we were back on our feet, headed up to the last falls. Shortly after we reached the overlook Megan and I were trekking down to meet the waterfall first hand. We took our shoes off and carefully crossed through the water to the falls. The group of three guys in our group joined us as we carefully slid under falling water. At this point I can’t explain the feeling of the cool pelting water that crashed in streams across our overheated and aching bodies… I can only say that it held an air of euphoria that is irreplaceable. We stood under the water long enough to take a picture and then a particularly heavy stream almost wiped me out as I made my way back to the dry rocks.

Seven and a half hours after 9:30 we arrived back at our campsite… what a day. As I sit here typing I can still recall the smell of the crisp moist air of that last falls and the sudden boost of endorphins I received as the water crashed on top of me.