Some of my favorite memories of the trip came when we were out slogging around 450 acres of thick bush. See this previous post for some photos.
The most memorable (yet frightening) moment came as we were exploring the wet area of the site near the creek. We had asked some boys that lived nearby to take us to the creek. As we approached, we were stopped dead in our tracks to let a pretty good sized python slither past. It was probably a good 6 inches in diameter and we only saw the last 8-10 feet as the front had already slid out of sight. There’s no telling how long it actually was. I only wish I had thought quick enough to pull out my camera. Unfortunately, I was too stunned to pull out my camera. All I was thinking was how I was going to run out of the thick bush if it turned toward us. The local Ugandan boys thought it was awfully funny that we were so scared.
To top the day off, as we were walking away from the creek, hearts still racing, we came into a clearing and were greeted by half a dozen very angry Ugandans. They had been waiting for us and just began to yell at us in Acholi. We had no idea what they were saying, but the boys that we with us talked with them and stood up for us. They eventually started speaking in English, but were still yelling, asking us why we were there. We told them, but they didn’t believe us. We found out later, that they thought that we were trying to buy their land.
Squatter rights apply in Uganda. That means if you live on a piece of property for enough time, you then own the land. With so many people in the IDP camps for so many years, the problem is people would leave the camps and find that their land had been sold without them there to defend themselves. This is what these locals that was happening; they were scared that we were going to buy their land. After about 20 minutes they calmed down and we were able to go on our way.
It was quite the exciting day.
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