Mango Season

The pictures enclosed are of the mango trees which are the large shade trees of Uganda. They are also the food of the season.(Dec and May) Everywhere here in the N are trees and they are all giving forth their fruit. They are sweet and delicious. The trees are also very tall and high and the young children are often up in the tree picking fruit. So, in the hospital we are seeing many double femur (long bones of the legs) and humerus

( upper arm) fractures. Average time in traction for the femur is 3 month in the hospital bed with a pin in the knee and traction hooked to it.

The mango you get in America is like a apple you get here that comes from S Africa, kinda dried out and picked to green to ripen properly. Here there are 3 kinds. A large dodo with firm fruit that mundo's eat because we can get out teeth through the skin and the fibers are finer, a grafted kind with a smaller seed and more flesh that is firm, and the local that is small, large pit, very thick fibers and the best. You have juice dripping down your hand and your picking fibers out of your teeth all day. But the Mundo's cannot get out teeth through the skin to bite them. We need a knife. The Ugandans have beautiful teeth and open bottles with them so they laugh at me in the lunch room when I am struggling. We have no silverware in the lunch room as everyone eats with their right hand. It is easier to do dishes this way. I still use a spoon to eat my beans and if we are lucky we have greens in a peanut paste that is really good. But that is only on Wed or Thursday lunch.

The ripe ones are always at the top.

 

 I would send some mangoes if I knew you could get them now when they are in season but unfortunately they would not get to the states before they were mush so I will eat them for you. Tom and I can finish a dozen at one meal and still not be full, so we are seeing how many we can eat at a sitting. I feel like little black Sambo and the pancakes only it is mango's... 

    Murchison Falls

Welcoming Committee

                                                

The Falls

Tuesday was a Ugandan Holiday known as Labor Day so no school or work. Tom and I decided to the Uganda Wildlife Association (UAW) who has a car who do tours and pick you up etc. These are some of the “dominoes” I call them, that have to line up to do any thing here. It is not like America where you make a plan and go for it. It is more like you make a plan and 3 days later you know if it may work if everything lines up and nothing breaks or there isn't a funeral. 

Sleeping  Crocodiles with their mouth open to cool themselves

So, our friend Betty had the day off too, and we headed to the park, the car and driver we hired were actually at the bus stop shortly after we arrived,(usually they head from home at the time they say they will meet you, and home is 1 hour away) but Okite was there as planned and brought a friend who is a UWA wildlife tour guide of the park. He rode along and gave us a game drive and identified the animals for us.

                                                                                 

We got to the Nile early so we went to a lodge on the N side to see what $ can buy. Lodge is 200/night US to start and really looks like a Hilton or Grand Marriott. Nice but you are only sleeping there. Sorry kids we aren't staying here on New Years.  It had a lovely pool and for 20US you could swim for the day. We choose not to swim in the Nile as the high rate and of shistosomiasis and the long lasting effect of the liver parasite. We had no time to swim so we went on the fairy across the river and had lunch at an open air restaurant and bar. Nice food done by the British with chocolate cake with icing for $2/ slice, the burger cost the same. So we had 2 American treats in one day and it was to be our only meal.

Red Chilis: Baboons wander by to steal your food if you leave

 But with temps in the 90s you really aren't very hungry anyway. From the side of the Nile we were on we got on a launch pontoon and went on the Nile cruise to view more wildlife and see the falls. Rainy season has started and the river is rising but wildlife was abundant.

Couple types of the antelopes cousins

The tour is 3 hours and when we got back at 5 the driver and now 2 friends drove us back to the bus and back home we came. We were in our house by 9. When things work so well here we are amazed. We thank God and ask for it to happen more often. So, if you come visit it's about a $70/ person day without the food which I hear is close to a ticket to Disney world but this time the animal kingdom is up close and real with no animation needed.

Mom and babe strolling.

 As we are here longer we are appreciating more things like having a seat on the bus where you control a window opening and staying open. Ugandans like them closed so they don't get a draft... When anyone decides to come we should be experts at cheap travel and accommodations. I hope some one is thinking of making the adventure. You will need a YELLOW FEVER VACCINE 1 MONTH BEFORE COMING to get back into the US. And be on a antimalarial med when here. That is usually doxycycline and you take it 2 weeks after leaving.
Health wise that is the extent of it. Hope you enjoy the pics. We tried to see the super moon but the rain is here and the clouds blocked the moon. More to come on my first parade...TIA Love Marc

The rains of Africa moving across the Nile

See you again,  The skinny guy!