Sipi lies at an elevation of around 1800 m, which is about 600 m higher than Jinja and 180 m higher than Boulder for those of you following along at home. The local FSD site team warned us to bring warm clothes because it would be “very cold”. That was interesting because I really didn’t bring any warm clothes to Uganda, other than a fleece, but I wasn’t too worried because I knew very cold to the locals would probably mean a little cool to me. There was certainly a noticeable temperature drop as we gained elevation, and the cooler temperature was very comfortable to me in a fleece and long pants.
The slopes of Mt Elgon are similar to giant terraces. The mountains fall away to the valley floor almost in a series of enormous steps. There are large slightly sloped areas followed by sheer cliffs, and this geography combined with abundant rainfall results in quite a few spectacular water falls. The place we stayed in, called the Crow’s Nest, was located on a slope opposite from the falls providing a great view of two waterfalls of the four waterfalls which comprise Sipi Falls.
The view from our bandas
From where we were staying, one could hike about five minutes to the top of a small hill which provided a grandstand view of the Rift Valley floor below. We enjoyed the sunset on Friday evening from the top of this hill, and this was probably the second most memorable sunset I’ve seen.
Friday's Sunset
On Saturday, we went for a nice hike to three of the falls. We went to the uppermost falls first, and immediately upon arriving, it started raining. We found shelter under a house sized boulder which was overhanging on one side. The effort to stay dry quickly became moot as we decided to see these upper falls up close, and we got close enough that the spray from the falls quickly soaked us completely. We kept hiking through the rain, and stayed somewhat sheltered as a local cut us a few banana leaves to be used like umbrellas. The sun came back out as we returned from the hike and dried out my cotton clothes surprisingly quickly.
On Saturday evening, our hotel manager took us to his coffee plantation where he showed all of the steps involved making coffee starting with picking the beans from the trees. After the beans are picked, they are pulped which is the process of removing the actual coffee bean from its fruity exterior. Then the beans ferment for one day followed by sun drying. After the beans are dry, they are husked. This process removes a layer of material from the outside of the inner coffee bean which is accomplished by lightly pounding the beans in a mortar. After pounding, the husks are winnowed away from the inner beans by tossing the whole mess in the air and letting the lighter husks be carried off by the wind. After the beans are husked they are roasted and then can be ground, again in a mortar. We had the opportunity to grind some coffee, and it smelled very nice. I’m not much of a coffee drinker, but these freshly roasted and ground beans had a wonderful aroma. The coffee we ground was then brewed into the blackest, strongest coffee I’ve ever had. This stuff was like sludge, but quite tasty. It did a number on my stomach and kept me up pretty late that night.
The freshly ground and brewed coffee
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