Safari to Murchison Falls

~ Krista, Shauen, Josiah, and Mom at Murchison Falls ~ Mom can't possibly have come to Uganda without going on safari! So we have set off for Murchison Falls - Josiah's second big excursion. He's a month old and doesn't seem to care one bit that we're going on safari. In fact, it turns out that he loves the bumpy roads and sleeps great in the truck. Despite one wrong turn that takes us about an hour out of our way on a bumpy dirt road, we do well and arrive at our lodging in the park with some daylight left. We've stopped a couple times along the way for Josiah to nurse which gives the passengers and the driver a little break from rough roads. Mom describes the journey with a nice complement to me: "The bumps, dips, and erosion in the road way are approached with confidence by my expert son. While I don't doubt his experience and driving skill, the dips, forages into the ditch and near misses of trucks, bicycles, and boda bodas keeps my knuckles white for much of the trip!"

~ Giraffe at Murchison Falls ~ We stay at the Red Chilli Rest Camp inside the park. Mom is in a canvas tent which (according to her) is located well "across the road from the main camp, the restaurant, and the rest rooms. The distance between all these is only about 60 feet, but I am definitely on an island with the forest behind me and the service roads in front." Krista, Josiah, and I are in a small cabin called a banda with a fan and a light that will work until the Uganda Wildlife Authority shuts off their generator around 11pm. Mom is awakened during the night by hippos coming through camp and is worried about her little island so far from everyone else. She is, of course, a bit overly concerned but fresh in her mind is the warnings posted all over camp about hippos and we've already explained how the hippo is the most dangerous animal in the safari lands. She's not concerned at all about the warthogs that wander the camp day and night. Somehow she survives the night despite the proximity of the wild animals and we set off early in the morning to be the first in line for the ferry across the Nile - we have to begin our safari drive early in the morning to have any chance of seeing lions!

~ Lonely Leopard at Murchison Falls ~ Unfortunately, even though we do make the first ferry across the Nile, the day has warmed too quickly and the prides of lions are hidden away in the cool shade by 9am when we get to the Nile delta where they can usually be found. Instead we "resign" ourselves to enjoying the elephants, various kinds of antelope, a solitary leopard in a distant tree, and giraffes. Our ranger even sends us off the track to approach a giraffe - we stop about 30 feet from where he's grazing on the tall bushes and he studies us with curiosity as Mom stands up through the sunroof to take pictures. How strange we must look - a Landcruiser must look something like an elephant but with this person standing in the sunroof it may appear to be a stunted giraffe of some kind! After feeding for a while, the giraffe slowly ambles along towards the next tall brush. God is amazing. Later we come upon what must be 30 giraffes in several family groups feeding on some trees. It gets hot and we are sad to find that the air conditioning has now completely quit working. Even worse, a loose wire to the A/C compressor shorts out the dash and climate systems in the truck - now we have no A/C, no gauges, and no blowing air whatsoever!

~ Elephants on the Nile in Murchison Falls ~ After our excellent safari drive (even without lions) we take the ferry back across the Nile and have lunch at the camp. In the afternoon we go back down to the Nile for a river tour. Krista was a bit leery of taking Josiah onto the river, fully aware that hippos can overturn boats with ease and that the Nile Crocodile is common in these waters. But she's reassured when she sees the size of the boat we'll be on and decides to come. We see lots of hippos and elephants and crocodiles as we make our way towards Murchison Falls. At one point our guide points out a disturbance in the water ahead and the engine is turned off as we float up the Nile. Within feet of the boat a bloated hippo carcass floats and crocodiles snap and rip and roll with it trying to break free a piece for their lunch. Mom is amazingly close to these powerful jaws as she sits on the side of the boat and Krista leans far from the crocodiles with baby Josiah in her arms. The crocodiles are more interested in the easy meal in front of them, of course, and have no regard whatsoever for us furiously snapping pictures as we drift by. Further upriver a small isthmus is shrouded in the smoke from controlled burning and a herd of elephants meanders along the waters' edge. Finally we reach the falls and our guide points out the eddies where crocodiles wait for any animal or fish that goes down the falls and is easy picking at the bottom.  That night we sleep solidly happy for the amazing things we've seen in the course of a single day.

~ The sky is big in Africa ~ The next day we enjoy a more leisurely breakfast and prepare for our departure from the park. On our way out we go to the top of Murchison Falls to get a different perspective. The entire Nile river is compressed at this point into a cleft between the rocks that can't be more than 10 feet across! The water is loud and the spray reaches well into the sky. Down several levels it gushes and there are, of course, no railings to speak of - only one nice little sign, "Please do not go beyond this point." Mom tries hard to take pictures that'll impress those back home, standing on one foot to lean out over the falls! Krista captures this dangerous activity with our camera which proves useful when Mom insists she was doing no such thing.

~ Krista, Josiah, and Shauen at Murchison Falls ~ After leaving the top of the falls, we continue on the way home without incident, stopping to feed Josiah at the same place on the side of the road. This time a few curious boys stop to watch us - they can't see Krista feeding Josiah through the tinted glass so they're quite curious about why we've stopped. We eat a few snacks while Josiah has his lunch. Finally Josiah is done and I take him to the tailgate to change his diaper - which our little observers also find fascinating. In Luganda I tell Josiah to greet the boys and they stare at me in apparent amazement and then giggle furiously. I give them a couple slices of dried apple (I'm sure they've never eaten apple before as it's not a fruit that grows in Uganda) as we finish our snacks and with a wave to our little friends we're on our way again. Only the speed bumps placed every 50 feet disrupt our drive and Mom is entertained by the choreography of trucks, buses, taxis, and motorcycles as they wind back and forth across the road to hit these speed bumps at an angle instead of head-on. She's even more entertained when I spy a ditch that is driveable and we speed past a few hundred yards of speed bumps in the ditch. With our safari behind us we're happy to be home again with the memories of our great adventures fresh in our minds. -Shauen