Aiming for the Top:

After a succesful meeting with the community hot shots in the morning and a fruitful brick testing session at Shaban's in the afternoon, we decided to spend the last hours of daylight exploring the hillsides of Ibanda. From our lodge, we can see hills on all sides and the great Rwenzori mountains in the background. We went up a hill looking more doable in just a few hours.

It was steep!! We spent about two hours walking straight up a clay pathway, by every step realizing that we maybe had underestimated the hight of our goal. But after a short while, we got a great overview of first Ibanda and later the entire valley, the savannas in the rift valley, the mountains on the other side and finally the mountains on the other side of the hill.


On the way up, and down, we passed several small farms and fields reminding us of the Norwegian television show "Der ingen skulle tru at nokon kunne bu" (Where nobody would believe anyone could live). Many of the farms were actually very idyllic with a number of small houses forming courtyards and outdoor spaces. We also passed fields of potatoes, beans, banana and coffee, amazed by the fertility on the completely natural soil.




Almost at the top I, Ragnhild, began worrying about the leaving daylight, the increasingly high, sharp grass and absence of pathway. But Andreas, on the other hand, who had been thirsty and tired for some time already, got an enormous second wind and was unstoppable in his exploration and quest towards the top! And good was that! The view was great!


On the top we got company from some curious kids. They were very polite and smiling, and showed us the fastest (and steepest) way down. Feeling that giving away money every time we are grateful is wrong, we gave them a bottle of coke to share. As a comparison, how many children in Norway drinks champagne at a value of 700 NOKs?