On Friday, 7 October, Mountain Slayers Uganda traveled to Nsadzi island, a 1-hour boat ride from the mainland at Entebbe, for the customary annual island hike.
As a returning hiker, I was once again a beneficiary of some mundane sensory delights since forgotten. For instance, the spectacle of setting up camp. A previously uninhabited patch of land transformed into a peppered field of colorful tents, erected, sometimes with the trained dexterity of veteran hikers, and many times — with the charming arms-on-waist confusion of newbie hikers- staring with increasing confusion at the contraption lying before them.
Ultimately, they always figure it out. This ritual is only matched in beauty by the inverse activity of breaking camp. As if responding to Optimus Prime’s “AutoBots Roll Out” Command, Tents are deconstructed and neatly packed away, for the inevitable return to civilisation.
Nsadzi Island is a picturesque, tiny, forested, island paradise, relatively under-penetrated by the marauding capitalists who would rather unimaginatively prefer that every inch of land is filled with concrete structures serving some narrow commercial interest. Pebble beaches with, clear waters, rock cliffs, and thick forest cover are abundant. In other words, it is a hiker’s dream come true.
The hike was first of all to an Island Health Centre where a social responsibility initiative yielded a collaboration that resulted in a much-needed Medical Camp on the island with a variety of impactful outcomes. Then it was off to the Beach for a dab in Lake Victoria where we were summarily violated by Lake Victoria’s early afternoon waves (with our consent).
A follow-up hike to the village orphanage for further donations was succeeded by an interesting detour through pineapple gardens (no pineapples were trampled on though — the prickly fruits won this bout) and chest-high grasslands that fortunately culminated in startlingly beautiful pebble beach. Few things have the same therapeutic qualities as a post-hike swim in the lake.
Why you should hike
Standard Operating Procedure is such that I always use my little soapbox to advocate (as your fave low-budget Atticus Finch) the redeeming qualities of hiking outdoors.
The (mis)fortune of the modern age, is that having escaped the tangible dangers of predators, infections, and other evolutionary threats; we have undergone a reorganization of priorities, one of which is the lofty goal of “happiness.”
No subject has attracted more attention than the pursuit of happiness. Voltaire counseled that no problem can withstand the assault of sustained thought. Indeed there exists a large consensus that we now have tools that are stable and viable with which to approach happiness. The main facets include; Socialization, Physical well-being, Spirituality, and Work.
Hiking offers at least two important tools in that toolbox. Joining a community of enthusiastic, adventurous, and infinitely interesting hikers is low-hanging fruit to address the socialization requirements for the happiness toolkit. Secondly, hiking is a degree of physical exertion, that leads to physical well-being in the long term while delivering a steady stream of endorphins in the short term.
We also know that the dopamine system — the famous reward circuit of the brain relies on a careful balance of pain and pleasure for its proper functioning. Hiking, painful though it may be at times, always ends. If you’re lucky, it is followed by the pleasure of either a feeling of accomplishment and/or a very big celebration with fellow hikers.
Finally, Happiness we now understand is not some end-point from which we can finally bask in the universe’s providence of unending positivity. Intellectually and experientially, we know that not to be the case. Happiness is not a Magnitude.
But, all is not lost. We know it doesn’t have a quantum characteristic, but we know, instead, that is Directional. So happiness is all in the processes we either overlook or spend time avoiding. It is all in the doing.
** Turns to imaginary jurors and spellbound audience**
Hiking, the active exploration of our environment, internal and external, is the closest proxy of the indelible life force that launches at once our greatest physical resilience. Hiking, done shoulder to shoulder, with those who have arrived at the same conclusion, we are always at our best as a species. And I have also found, it is when we are at our happiest.
Hiking, because it will make you happier.
“When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life.” — John Lennon
End Notes
The Chief Slayers; Danny, with his equanimous flexibility, and Justo who showed genuine concern for individual welfare throughout- were, put together, a Class Act. It is clear that they have unquestionably become the benchmark. So, Congratulations to them for putting this together with utter finesse.
Overheard: (private made public)
- Viv killed a cactus 🌵 plant that was in her care. Never mind that they are capable of surviving neatly in the desert climate. Go figure
- The claim of 45 minutes as an average time was made by Matthew but debunked by testimonies from old girlfriends (and current wife)
- Skinny Dipping can easily escalate into skin-to-skin and dripping
Dedication
Kassie Jones — Furry Lewis [Spotify]. A folksy blues song to temper all that happiness talk up there.
Happy Ugandan Independence Day!
Keep Climbing.
[Follow Mt. Slayers Uganda on: Facebook: Mountain Slayers Uganda , Twitter: @MtSlayersUg and Instagram: mtslayersuganda]
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