Waterfalls, Coffee, and Bat Caves!

As of late, and for a while now really, I've been missing my once home of 8 years, halfway around the globe: Kampala, Uganda. I lived there from 2012-2019. I moved back when I was seventeen, right before COVID-19 happened, and I haven't been back since. Fortunately, travel restrictions have dialed down considerably, so I am planning on making a trip over there this July!

As Uganda has been on my mind a lot, I wanted to post some of my favorite memories from when I lived there. There are so many, but I want to share just a few from the last year I lived there...

These pictures are from Sipi Falls, which is in the valleys of Mt Elgon, the mountain with the largest circumference in the world. My dad and I went here in April of 2019 to find some solitude from the big city to write a book together, which is currently being published. In a country that is known for its tropical climate, this spot required long sleeves and sweat pants, something I was not accustomed to! We hiked through coffee trails and walked along the streams which led to the multiple waterfalls. The first picture was taken from just outside our room! It was an amazing week and I hope to visit again soon!

Speaking of coffee...just outside of Kampala, we have a plot of land that is 13 acres which holds the second campus of the school we founded as well as hundreds of coffee trees! For all you coffee connoisseurs, we grow robusta coffee that is said to have hints of citrus and chocolate. Perfect for espresso, but it still tastes great as a basic cup of joe. The coffee starts as a blossom then grows into a green berry. When it is ready to pick, it turns a bright red. I loved to pick the red berries from the trees for hours at a time. The red berries then go through a process of drying for a couple of weeks or so until they turn a brownish color. Here's some pictures of the coffee we grow!

My family and I with the dried coffee beans.

Our last stop on the Uganda tour is the Nile River, the longest river in the world. The boat rides are breathtaking, with beautiful birds and fish. Not to mention the water monitor lizards, which can be up to eight feet long! Don't even get me started on the snakes. A few spots along the river house bat caves that you can stop at and go inside to snap a picture. I did that maybe three times and I was quick to get in and out as I heard the screeching of the bats! Here's some snap shots!

My friends and I, plus my dad, in one of the bat caves.

Comments

Which Book Genres Produce the Most Revenue?

When is the last time you picked up a book? Yesterday? Today? A month ago? Maybe you're trying to come up with the last time you picked up a book. Some people might say that with all the other sources of entertainment in our world today, the amount of people reading has gone downhill. That would make perfect sense. After all, life is busy. Who has the time to read for leisure these days anyway? But fortunately, this is false. Books, both electronic and physical copies, are more popular now than ever. This is great news for the publishing industry. But you may be wondering, what is it that keeps the publishing industry alive? Over the years, certain genres have become more popular than others. Therefore, writers hoping to make it big (or at least keep the lights on) need to know what's "in" so that they can survive in the publishing world. The question for these writers is: which genres make the most revenue? In the article “23 Gripping Book Industry Statistics [2023]...

The Big 5

In my last blog article, I mentioned two ways of publishing books: self-publishing and traditional publishing. This blog article is going to focus on traditional publishing for the purpose of exploring which publishing companies are the most popular and how their websites attract writers of particular genres. According to Olivia Smith in the article, "What are the 'Big Five' Publishing Houses?," there are five main traditional publishing houses (Smith): Penguin/Random House, Hachette Book Group, Harper Collins, Simon and Schuster, and Macmillan Although these five publishing houses still hold plenty of hype in the publishing world, it is hard for writers to get published (Smith). Therefore, as I mentioned in the last article, self-publishing rates have skyrocketed in recent years. But still, the Big Five continue to bring in the majority of revenue from book sales. Penguin R...

Spring Break!

Spring break!! As is characteristic with most breaks, it went by wayyyy too fast. I definitely could have used another week. I mostly worked throughout my spring break and got ahead on school work, but I did spend a couple of days at my great aunts lake house in Decatur. My family has come to nickname Decatur "the armpit of Illinois," but the one corner of paradise (or at least the one place we all have fun) in Decatur is my great aunts lake house. My boyfriend, Evan, and I left on the Saturday spring break began and we met everyone there in the evening. "Everyone" was my mom, dad, and my two little sisters, plus a couple of their friends. Needless to say, I had been looking forward to some rest and fun time hanging out with my family. Evan and I had to leave Sunday evening because we both had work, so it was a quick but restful trip. On Saturday, my mom made chili. My mom has never really been known for her cooking, but she does make a mean chili. I can't ord...

Emma's Adventure's in Baking and Travels

Search This Blog