Sipi X-treme?

Sipi Falls isn't the kind of place one would expect to see "X-treme" after. It's a peaceful setting where visitors stroll through farms and villages enjoying the flora and fauna between the creatively named falls (Sipi 1, Sipi 2 and Sipi 3). Becca and I stayed in the charm of Lacam Lodge, an electricity-free collection of thatched-roof bandas overlooking Sipi 2 where you dine by lantern and candlelight and sprinkle sawdust over the layer of whatever you've left in the wood-covered bucket on your trip to the loo. There's a spectacular lookout point on the top of Crow's Nest where sightseers gather in the evenings to take in the sunset over Karamoja's plains. Turn the other way and you get a view of the water tumbling over all three of the falls.

 Banda #3 at Lacam Lodge

Sipi 1 (perhaps)

We were there during digging season, and our ag-savvy guide Joel pointed out cow peas and cabbage, maize and matooke, pumpkin and potatoes. The area, we learned, is particularly well-known for its Arabica coffee, which is only able to grow at an altitude of between 1,600 and 1,900 meters. 

Our ag-savvy guide Joel, with Sipi 3 in the distance

Crops I swore I'd remember the names of

Bugisu Arabica coffee beans - the red ones ready for harvesting

What our knowledgeable guide Joel did not point out is that digging season is also rainy season, and that we really, really should have taken walking sticks. The water volume of each fall was significantly more than I'd seen it before, all paths were slick and our sneakers didn't seem up for the challenge. We spent about as much time on our fannies as we did on our feet. I nearly slid over the edge of the absailing cliff, coming to a stop half a body's length away from a 100 meter vertical drop. Becca actually did fall off of a terraced farm ledge, misjudging her step landing with a thump 4 feet below. I braced myself for blood and broken bones, but she hoisted her way out of the now-squashed crops and we set about the rest of our hike.

A surprisingly sturdy ladder (that we did not fall off of)

Alas, Mother Nature wasn't done with us yet. An army of ants made their way up my pants and bit me without remorse...and when we got back Becca's head got a whack by a fallen tree branch (of course!).  

 Mere moments before this ant met its death

Becca and head-bonking branch