Sipi

After leaving Bundibugyo, and before heading to Nairobi, the Lutjens 3 headed east through Mbale to Sipi Falls, near Mt. Elgon and the Kenya border. I had never been east of Jinja before this trip, so it was really fun to see a new part of the country and how different it was from the west. My mom remarked, as we drove through the low lying rice fields, how it's amazing that in such a small country we were able to see such diverse terrain. Here we are, smiles and all!
The day after our evening arrival, we headed off on a day hike to the 3 falls in the area, first to the bottom of Sipi (pictured here in pretty close to it's entirety)...

"Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing in your sight, my ROCK, and my Redeemer." Psalm 19:14
"The Rock" - my favorite part of waterfalls are the base of the falls, where the water hits whatever is below. I was really struck by this image as I stood there watching and listening to the thundering water against these rocks. I left Bundibugyo and arrived at Sipi in a pretty hard place in life, and the image of the solidarity of this rock in the thundering and crashing water was just what I needed. My dad read Psalm 19 before we all went to bed at the end of the day of hiking, and my mind took hold of the last verse (14).
...back to the hike...note the banana trees...just a very different kind of hiking than I grew up with...different but just as beautiful!
The hike to the base of Sipi involved a descent and then this ascent of the pictured ladder.
Falls #2 - after Sipi we hiked to these falls where we stopped for lunch.
A shot of Sipi from the top, from the lodge we stayed in. The grassy clearing just to the left of the top of the falls has a few people standing in it...one of them is me preparing to abseil down the falls. Abseiling is like repelling I guess. Your rope is anchored into the rock at the top, you're secured into a harness, you face the rock, you put your feet on the edge and sit back into the harness, and begin walking down, then the rock disappears and you're hanging freely from the rope, and you feed the rope, which is hanging down at your side reaching the bottom of the falls, through the 8 hook next to your harness and slowly by slowly you move down the rope...I was definitely moving slowly but I was in no hurry!
I'm not sure if you can see it, but if you follow the middle dark "finger" in the rock down, there's light colored rock and then a more circular dark spot which is about 1/2 way down the photo, and in the middle of that dark spot, there's a white speck...that's me :) It was one of the most exhiarating experiences of my life...suspended by a rope in front of the thundering falls...amazing.
This is the view of the valley from our lodge
And our dinner with a view. Spectacular spot.