A mini-hike

For our last weekend, we escaped Kampala and took a bus to the Rwenzori Mountains. Our hike included 2700 feet up, 5000 down, over some 10-15 miles. We're still hobbling around today.

Some photos:

So far, the buses I've been on have left generally an hour after their "scheduled" departure - those from Kampala just leave whenever they're full. So we watched Kampala wake up early on Saturday morning as we waited for the bus to fill.

A waterfall in the jungle.

Some mini-caves to go with our mini-hike. 

Left, our guide, Robert (most of our guides were named Robert, actually). On the right, Shannon, a kayaker who has lived in Kampala for three months. Like most expats here, she has a somewhat hard to understand job in 'helping' or 'development,' as it is called by those who do it.

We walked up some hills, looked at some sinkhole lakes, and saw the giant mountains we were about to climb. 

A view from the climb up the bigger mountains. 

An out-of-focus but still cool-looking bamboo forest at the top of the pass. 

One of the few places on the descent that didn't require hands and feet to navigate.

You can't tell, but there are 23 adults in this 14-passenger van. Also lots of hairpin turns on the ride back over the mountain.