Murchison Falls National Park

Day 1
Murchison Falls National Park is the largest in Uganda, formed in 1952 from part of the Bunyoro Game Reserve, which was created in response to a sleeping-sickness epidemic from the tsetse flies in the early 20th century. Situated in northwest Uganda, Murchison has not escaped the volatility in the region, and has been the target of attacks in the past by the Lord’s Resistance Army. In recent years the violence has decreased markedly, and the animal supply in the region has recovered greatly from pre-Idin Amin levels.

So as Lindsay is leaving Uganda a bit earlier than expected, we joined with some of our British friends, also rotating at Mulago Hospital, and went on a three day safari this weekend.

The first day was mostly transport, as we drove north past Masindi and toward the Park. Paved roads gave way to pitted dirt paths, which were easily handled by our driver and the 4X4 10 passenger safari van, but made for quite a bumpy ride for those who sat in the back rows.

Five hours’ of traveling was worth it, however, as we walked to the top of the falls and watched the Victoria Nile dump its contents into a 7 meter wide space in the rocks, carving its way through the center of the park. The water in Lake Victoria drives the falls, and you can feel the immense strength of the water as it crashes through the gorge. From there, the water flows through a delta before joining Lake Albert, after which it becomes the Albert Nile on its way north toward Egypt.

Day 2
We were supposed to stay at the Red Chili Rest Camp, where all the backpackers from the US, Europe, and Australia congregate. But the travel agency informed us at the last moment that the camp had filled up, and so we were upgraded to Sambiya River Lodge, about an hour’s drive south from Paraa through the jungle on the only bumpy dirt road in the south of Murchison Falls National Park.

The accommodations were simple but sufficient-two beds were placed in each thatch roof banya, though we could see corrugated sheets reinforcing the roof below it. The facility was powered by electric generator, and the lights went out at 10:29 PM, a minute earlier than threatened.

My roommate Sam and I crawled out of our mosquito nets and bed at 5 AM and trekked to the communal showers, powered by solar heaters. The water had lost much of its warmth from the day before, but was attractive enough for a frog to wish to share it with me.

After an early breakfast, we caught Baker’s van and drove fiercely toward Paraa to catch the first ferry at 7 AM. We arrived just as the sun was rising over the horizon, which we could see over the Nile, as hippopotamuses wailed from the riverbank.

From Paraa, most game drives head to the west, where the Victoria and Albert Niles create a fertile delta region, perfect for game viewing. And we did see plenty of game. Herds of giraffe walked together, sometimes numbering as many as thirty or forty, moving in unison, similar to the CGI-dinosaurs in Jurassic Park. Water buffalo herds grazed in the savannah, alongside antelope, hartebeest, and the Ugandan national animal, the kob. Similar looking to the hartebeest, the kob is a deer-like animal with two graceful horns, and a favorite prey of the lion. We were fortunate enough to see one female lion stalking a band of kob before we headed back to the river launch area.

As we waited for our afternoon boat launch to the base of the falls, Natalie from the UK spotted a pack of elephants on the north side of the river. In the distance, the massive creatures had congregated near the Nile for a drink, and you could feel the power and grace in their movement from across the water. Business was slow, and two delta boat launch drivers offered us a free trip across the river for a closer view. As the boat drifted quietly toward the marsh on the riverbank, you could spot birds hiding in the reeds – kingfisher, heron, and bills gliding near the hippos. We drifted a bit too close to one school, and the dominant male and his female companions became agitated, standing up from their sleep and bellowing to protect their young. We quickly picked up speed and avoided the potentially deadly animals.

The day ended with the boat launch to the base of the falls, but I was a bit tired and nodded off for a few of the nearly four hours on the boat. We did spot a number of large crocodiles, who rested along the river by opening their jaws as large as possible – for a stretch, as our guides explained. And of course, we did indulge in our favorite brew, Nile Special, for some “Nile on the Nile.”

Day 3
Today was the final day. Having spent the night swapping cross-Atlantic games and celebrating the life of the great Michael Jackson (we had heard a day later than most of you folk in the US), we packed up and left for our final destination, the Ziwa Rhinoceros Sanctuary, run by a local NGO dedicated to repopulating the national parks in the area, including Murchison, with the white rhino that used to roam freely in Africa at numbers approaching 1 million, but have been hunted to extinction in many areas.

We drove into the bush, past baboons and monkeys, and continued the journey on foot, following our guide to a pair of grazing female rhinos, the second-largest land animals after the elephant. Corey and Billie were pregnant and expected to give birth in October, but the sanctuary was already celebrating – only a few days earlier, the first rhino born in captivity in Uganda since its extinction had occurred. So far, mother and baby were safe. Once the rangers could get close enough to determine the gender of the baby, they would name it. If a male, the proposed name is Obama.