Mountains, Mammals, Mass, & More (Safari Time & Fort Portal)

We left Friday morning at 9am, and Fr. Prosper, the one driving us, said we would arrive in Fort Portal in western Uganda by 2pm in time for lunch and a visit to some hot springs. We arrived by 7pm and obviously didn’t make it to the hot springs, though we have hot springs in the US, so I wasn't disappointed. The drive was quite bumpy with over two hours being on dirt roads littered with potholes, but we were able to stop for lunch at a place that had this incredible cocktail juice and some pizza. We also had to use the squat toilets twice on the way, but they were actually relatively clean. Fr. Prosper filled the long drive with the Greatest Gospel Hits. Guess that’s what you get when a priest has the aux on a car ride. 

We stopped at a Holy Cross house on the way to meet some more priests, including one who is from New York but has spent 50 years in Uganda. We stayed at Lisieux, a guesthouse run by nuns, and had some delicious pork, fries (chips), and cabbage there for dinner. I sure missed fresh veggies. Falling asleep was difficult knowing that the safari was tomorrow and also because my room was close to a bustling road, but the exhaustion of the day eventually set in.

We started our safari day early at 6:30am for breakfast (toast, Spanish eggs, and African coffee–delicious!) so that we would be able to see some lions that are typically only out in the morning, but, as we drove through the majestic Rwenzori mountains (the tallest mountain range in Africa), the van we rented from the novitiate (a place where Holy Cross seminarians stay together for a year in training with no ability to contact their families) began to overheat. Fr. Prosper is just like Ms. Frizzle from Magic School Bus–as much as we want it to be a normal trip, with Fr. Prosper, there’s no way! We planned on arriving in Queen Elizabeth National Park by 8am, but we ended up arriving at 12pm. So much for seeing lions, but the tour guide who drove the tourist van we got in place of the overheated van took us on a road where we got a preview of the safari as there were many animals on that road. It was also really cool to pass over the equator!

We ended up taking a 2-hour boat safari, which apparently is pretty unique out of the African safari options. We were able to go close to shore to see elephants, baboons, hippos, birds, crocodiles, some furry deer (I don't remember their names) and warthogs up close. It was such an unforgettable experience. There are no words that suffice to describe it, so I will leave it at that.

We ended up having lunch at 5pm after the 2 hour drive back, and the rolexes (chapati rolled with eggs) the nuns made were the best I have had here yet! That night, we headed to the novitiate for dinner, a beautiful place at the base of mountains on a lake that reminded us a bit of what we assume Hawaii looks like. It was nice to meet the novices as they emerged from their one-year prayer, discernment, and community time, but we were pretty tired. I had a warm shower for the first time in six weeks at the guesthouse, which was a great way to end the day.

The following morning, we had another delicious breakfast before heading to the novitiate for first vows, the conclusion of the novices’ fourth year in priest/brother training and full year of novitiate that would make them official seminarians. The Mass lasted a miraculous 3 hours followed by 2 more hours of speeches. We had some great chicken for lunch before heading back at 4pm, and we actually made it back to Jinja by 11pm as we only stopped once because the trunk was open. Driving through the night was terrifying because some cars didn’t have reflectors or rearview lights and Fr. Prosper seemed quite tired from driving so long, but we got back safely.