Egyptian fruit bats

Today we went searching for bats.  We were searching for bats because the last few nights we have seen both large and small bats flying around our yard.  So this morning we went across the street to investigate a large tree.  Unfortunately we couldn't find any.  We then asked our store owner friend Alice if she's ever seen bats in the daytime.  She said she has and they could be found by the police barracks.  We hopped on a boda boda and found hundreds of Egyptian fruit bats flying above in the Mahogany trees.

Learning in Gulu

Acholi words
Larem - friends, Aphoyo - Thank you, Copango - How are you?, Copay - I'm fine, Icho ma ber - good morning, tangueno - egg, gueno - chicken, diel - goat, bomah - town, odilo - play ball, nyin ni anga - what's your name, awobe - boy, angyaka - girl, shillings adi - how much?, kwene - where?, mene - which?, acel - one, aryo - two, adek -three, angwen - four, abich - five, abichel - six, abiro - seven, aboro - eight, abungwen - nine, apar - ten, ngye ngye - cockroach, wachiro - let's go

Food
Posho, fried casava,  roasted maize, kal, fried tillapia, chapats, samosa, beans, rice, chicken stew, beef stew, sweet potato, manyewa, malakwang, bo, dodo, matoke, chips masala, simsim balls, G nuts, odi,

School, Luke's 1st girlfriend, new stove, Acholi cuisine

Me in my school.  In the background are a map of East Africa, Murchison Falls and my summer reflection project.

Forrest and Luke being silly in the school house.

Luke's girlfriend - Rebecca.

True love:)

Making pancakes on our new Acholi stove.  We had to get a charcoal stove because there is no propane in Uganda for our gas stove.

Eating our first batch of pancakes from the charcoal stove.

Ooohh la la!

Our friend Mubarak showing us how to make "Manyewa" - Gnut mixed with onions, tomato, water and salt.   It was really tasty.

Me eating an acholi lunch of posho and beans.  I'm looking at the "Manyewa" coming into the hut.

Nile River Catfish - The biggest fish I've ever caught!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF3Y1yMry9Y

Random shots from this past week

My 'football' practice with Coach Mubarek.  All the local kids from school  crowd around us  and laugh at us.   Mubarek has taught me how to do the rainbow.  We have practice 3-4 times per week.

Luke doing 'laps' at the pool.  There is only one pool in Gulu and this is the one.  We are lucky because the pool is at the end our street.  We try and go to the pool as much as we can.  We often meet up with our friends.

This is our housekeeper doing a traditional 'Acholi' dance.  She is in the blue shirt.  We were invited to see her performance last Friday.

Tilapia getting stacked in the market for a shipment to Sudan.  This guy standing beside the fish stacked all of them by himself.  Crazy!  

Same guy.  Look he's happy!

Henrietta's first eggs!

Last Thursday we discovered six eggs in Henrietta's secret nest underneath the banana tree.  Every morning she lays one egg in the same spot.  We ate three of the eggs and are keeping three to see if they will hatch.  

Murchison Falls Game Reserve trip

Last Wednesday my family and I drove 4 hours south to Murchison Falls Game Reserve.  We stayed at the Red Chilli Hideaway.  We had the chance to see many different animals.

A "hartabeast" ready to jump.  These were actually pretty big.

The road in the game reserve.

A family of warthogs in the tall grass.

A water buffalo staring at us.  These things were huge!

Holy smokes that's one big giraffe!

Another giraffe.

More giraffes.

A hippo staring at us.

A "goliath heron" - biggest heron in the world!

One ginormous hippo's butt!

African fish eagle.  

Red throated bee-eaters.

Uganda's national bird - the golden crowned crane.

Nile crocodile hiding underneath a tree.  These things were scary

The falls.

Male weaver bird making its nest to attract a female.

We're just three boys who are having a good time, having a good time:)

Warthog outside our door at the Red Chilli Hideaway.  I woke up at 430 in the morning to go use the washroom and stepped outside my door and there was warthog standing right in front of me.  This photo was taken at a different time.

Elephant family.

Another elephant family.

40lb Nile Perch caught by my dad in the Nile River.

My 15lb catfish.

Fishing at Gulu Recreational Center with new rods.

We went fishing at the Gulu Recreational Center with our new fishing rods that we bought in Kampala.  We could cast farther out into the middle of the fishing hole.  

Our biggest tillapia - don't worry, we let him go.

My biggest tillapia.

"Hello my name is tillapia!"

Picking up Nanny and Bobo

My Nanny and Bobo came to visit us in Uganda.  My dad, Forrest and I drove down to Entebbe to pick them up from the airport.

A big wall of pineapples we passed on our way to Entebbe.

Nanny and Bobo's first steps in Uganda.

Group photo at the Entebbe airport.

On our way from Entebbe to Gulu.