Rokoki Farmer

TL;DR: community hike in the Rwenzoris, beautiful landscapes and a waterfall!

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Another excellent excellent day with way too many photos to choose from!

Kris and me are in the Rwenzoris, which reach 5000m. We got a ride up to Kilembe, one of the most beautiful places in Uganda we went to (but I'll talk about it more on September 1st). We dropped our bags off at the backpackers hostel, and immediately set off on a community walk up the valley sides.
We had a guide with us, and two cool guides in training. The walk was arduous but insanely worth it! The guide's services were also very cheap, as the walk didn't cross over into the national park. Instead, the path took us up through incredibly isolated rural communities, of little mud houses interspersed between fields of coffee, cassava and beans. The money we spent actually goes to these communities. The locals also enjoy getting photos taken, so I ended up with many many many of the classic "african kid laughing" photos. In the end I picked this more personal portrait of a woman farming, because I'm very happy with the color composition.

The walk continued up higher than the communities, to an altitude where the flora changed drastically. At this point, we passed by three men using shovels to create a huge mound held up by a wooden structure. They had been chopping trees all around and it turns out they were illegally making charcoal. That's why they were at such an elevated altitude and out of sight. It was very interesting to learn about, but they were shy in front of the camera, fearing I would report them. Instead I asked if I could take a couple shots of them without the mound or trees in the background, and they accepted.

We continued further to our destination, a beautiful waterfall set in a little lush green valley. The water was frigid, but Kris ventured in anyway. It was a pretty sick place to film some footage for our Uganda video, amidst the ferns and mist!

After taking a break, we headed back down through the communities, with kids ambushing us yelling "Hello, how are you??" We made it back down 5 hours after starting to our hostel, and relaxed with a Nile and some dinner! The walk today and what the guides talked to us about gave us a lot to think about, ranging from interesting facts like goat being the most expensive and tasty meat to the potential for hydro power powering all of Uganda.

Anyway, I have so much to write about, many of which is in my trog, but I can't spare that much effort!!! Let's just say it was another incredible day in Uganda.

peace