On Safari!!

Friday 1st April
This is the beginning of our trip up to the North West of the country and to the Murchison Falls and the National park. We were being picked up at the Shell garage at 8.45pm but it was rather later than that when the small people carrier arrived. We joined a group of young people all less than 27yrs on our first back packers’ holiday. They were very friendly and we were entertained with lots of chat about where they had been and what they were doing in Uganda. One young man had been in Sudan for 18 months working and learning Arabic. His sister and her friend had been teaching in a Ugandan village school for 3 months. There was a PhD student finishing med school by doing some work at Mulago Hospital and one girl working and travelling. We met more young travellers when we were at the camp with similar stories. We were very impressed with their sense of adventure and all the skills and talents that were being shared around the different countries in Africa. It was very heart-warming.
We did find we were not the oldest packers in town. One retired gentleman had visited 140 countries in is life time and half of them since retiring! It made us feel tired just listening to his tales.
We travelled from Kampala to Masindi which took about 4-5 hours’ drive. Fortunately the main road wasn’t too bad and we stopped in Masindi to have some lunch at a little café. We then had another 2 hours off the beaten track to reach Murchison Falls. The road was very bumpy and Lorraine felt that she had had some skeletal re-arrangement by the time the trip was over. It was certainly hot and dusty and testing of our stamina.
There is a short walk to the Falls and we had great views of the Victoria Nile and the Falls. The water is pushed through a narrow gap with a long drop creating lots of spray and foam with a rainbow appearing in the water vapour. It was an impressive sight. We took lots of photos.
We arrived in the camp at about 6. An hour or so before it gets dark which happens very quickly. We were shown our two woman tent and warned about the night visitors! There are a group of warthogs wandering about but baboons and hippos are also visitors on occasions. We might hear munching noises around the tent. We decided there would be no night trips to the shower and toilet block no matter how desperate.
We slept surprisingly well but we were exhausted and there were no midnight visitors.
April 2nd Saturday.
It was a 6 o’clock start for us that morning with just enough time for a cup of tea and to collect a packed breakfast which consisted of cheese sandwiches and fruit before the transport left at 6.30 to catch the ferry. We were able to watch the sunrise as we waited for the drive on car ferry. On the far bank we could see hippos lazing in the water and the baboons came to see if there were any spare sandwich bags. We had been warned not to have our packed food visible as they have learnt that they are worth stealing. After crossing the Victoria Nile we were met by George our guide. He wanted us to be quick to get on to the bus so we could be first on the Safari trail. The transport we were in had a raised roof so that you could take photos and observe the wild life. The young people started off standing straight away but the road was a bumpy dirt track and it was a challenge to stand up and take a photograph. They did assist us standing up when we felt the need to take a photo. For the first hour we just drove watching on the lookout for big game. There were plenty of deer, antelope and warthogs but no lions! The terrain was a surprise to us as it is not like a flat plain as you might expect but rolling hills and changing vegetation, palms, trees, large cacti and scrub like bush. Lots of places for lions to hide! Eventually the four or five vans in front of us began to slow and converge on one particular spot and the excitement in the bus rose as George got his binoculars out looking for lions. Amazingly as we edged forwards across open land, we were told to be very quiet and there under some cover we spied 2 young male lions. We had to be very quick as they got up eventually and wandered off looking for a better place to hide.
George said we were very lucky to find lions. In the Murchison Park the groups of lions are very small and not the large prides one sees in other African countries.
We continued our journey down towards the Victoria Nile Delta to observe a large group of hippos. There must have been nearly a 100 in groups in a shallow part of the river. They spend all day resting in the water and only come out night to graze on the vegetation and can sometimes be seen in the camp. We were allowed out of the van right down to the water’s edge to take photos! George our guide made hippo noises at them and had a little chat. He had a very interesting story to tell about an incident with hippos. Whilst he was living in some accommodation near the river, one night he heard hippos fighting and he said it went on for about 3 hours. Eventually, the loser backed off and crashed through his door. He left swiftly by the window and went to his neighbour, who said "what are you doing here?" and he said he was sharing a room with a hippo and it was time to get out. When he went back the next morning there was quite a mess and no sign of the hippo!
The local people are allowed to fish in the river to supplement their income and to try and discourage poaching which is still a major concern. Many animals were lost during the conflicts that have troubled Uganda and their numbers are slowly recovering.
We continued to see deer, warthogs, buffalo, water buck, antelope and lots of birds. We saw an elephant in the distance that slowly walked towards us. It was a young male, and George pointed out that his trunk was shortened. The poachers set traps which snares the elephants’ trunks and in their agitation to get away they severe the lower part of the trunk. Surprisingly, many do survive this trauma and can still feed but it does shorten their life span.
We were still on the lookout for giraffe and eventually we came across two feeding but not at a close distance. As we travelled further on to our surprise we began to see increasing numbers of giraffe ambling along over the rolling terrain. There must have been 20-30 of them and it was just like on the telly! There were other animals travelling along with them moving down towards some water. George kept his binoculars trained as this could have been a lion opportunity.
We arrived back for lunch at about 12. We collapsed in a heap before the net part of our safari adventure – a boat ride on the Nile.