Blogs from Murchison Falls NP, Northern Region, Uganda, Africa
Hippos
On the face of it, 3 months apart shouldn't pose such a problem. Especially for people who have been together for almost 10 years, and spent so much of that time together - we must be due for some time apart, right? While Lara has been in Uganda I have been keeping myself busy with work and other pursuits (read: PS3 games) but despite all this I have found that life alone in London can get you down sometimes. So after 2 months of living the bachelor life it seemed like a good time to jump on a plane and see what Lara was up to, and take my first trip to sub-Saharan Africa. Seeing as we only had a week in Uganda together we thought it would be best to hit the ground running, so ... read more
Mum and Baby
The final day of the Murchison Falls trip saw us up at a resonable time for once! :) We had a relaxing breakfast and then got back onto the bus for the drive back to Kampala with a stop at the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary, where they are breeding Rhino's for reintroduction into the wild. At the centre we were given a brief by our guide we had a short drive to within a Km of the Rhino's, and then went on foot to within 30 meters of them! along the walk the guide showed us things that indicate the rhino's have been in the area, such as footprints, markings on tree's and piles of poo..... We got to within 30 meters of the Rhino's where we were allowed to take pictures! then the guide took us ... read more
I had to be at the main reception/bar by 8 for an 8 30 leave. The weather even at that time was hot! We got onto the mini bus that we'd be using for the trip! As we drove through Kampala you could see the locals queueing up to Vote, as it was election day (the 2nd democratic election in 28years!!) Driving through the suburbs shows a real mix of large industrial units surrounded by the housing of the majority of the population of Kampala. All along the side of the roads are stalls selling hand made wooden furniture, Sofa's, Iron Gates, coffins?? and a variety of foods, ranging from bbq'd chicken, to pineapples and bananas, and almost every 20 meters was someone or a stall selling simcards or phone credit, even in the most remotest ... read more
First View in Kampala!
On the 2nd day, we had to be up really early, for the game drive which began at 6 30! We picked up a packed breakfast and then got back into the minibus, which took us down to the Paraa ferry which took us over the Nile for the beggining of the drive, we got to the ferry just as the sun was rising above the river! On the far banks we could see a school of hippo's just wallowing in the water. The Vehicles all boarded the boat, and we all got on! the crossing took 5 minutes and once on the other side we all got back into the bus and began the drive! we drove for a few KM's through the bush, seeing only various species of antelope! after about 7 kms we ... read more
Murchison Falls
My other big trip here in Uganda has been to Murchison Falls, a vast waterfall on the Nile several hours downriver of my current home in Bujagali, with a game reserve and rhino sanctuary nearby. I travelled up with a friend, joining another six people at Red Chilli Backpackers in Kampala for the six hour drive north-west. I’m getting more used to journeys here now: the long, dusty roads, the massive billboards advertising beer and cooking oil, the enormous speed bumps at every trading centre, the hands of bananas, meat on a stick, bottles of water and cassava chips thrust through the window, children waving and yelling, “Muzungu, Muzungu!’, the dirt tracks, pot holes and lush vegetation. The uneventful, smooth roads of home, with their shiny clean service stations, informative road signs and total absence of ... read more
Hippo thinking it's a humpback whale
The two main hostels in Kampala are essentially the only people running budget safaris to Murchison Falls National Park, though at roughly $300 for a 3 day/2 night trip it's hardly bargain basement. Red Chilli's is about 20% cheaper plus they offer an upgrade to banda rather than tent accommodation, but I figure my chances of ending up with a bunch of drunken teenagers are significantly higher with them than with Backpackers' so I plump for Backpackers'. It also helps that I'm already staying at Backpackers', and their safari has the bonus of including chimp trekking. The rest of my group on the safari are all 15 years younger than me, they're English, and they're medical students who've been on elective at the same hospital in Kampala hence already know each other. Three of them are ... read more
top of the falls
There I am with the ridiculous blog titles again. Somebody has to put an end to this. It doesn’t even give you a good idea of what I’m about to talk about other than it potentially involving animals. I had the opportunity to travel upcountry to Murchison Falls National Park (MFNP, for short) this past weekend. MFNP is the largest national park in Uganda, but I don’t know if it receives the most visitors each year or not. Certainly it is up there though. We left Friday morning around 7 to go and pick up Valerie’s uncle who was coming with us. So, we had to travel down to Entebbe which is about 45 minutes to an hour away depending on Kampala traffic. After we picked him up we stopped for a nice breakfast at this ... read more
Girl in Buumo village
En route from Burundi, we stopped for one night in Kigali. The following morning was when I went to the Memorial Centre and then had lunch alone, feeling like chopped liver (New York slang). We then arranged a lift back to Kabale, in Uganda, with Milton, who delivers Ugandan newspapers to Kigali daily. For an additional fee, he took us straight to the Overland Camp at Lake Bunyoni. A gorgeous place! The safari tent rooms are erected on wooden platforms with stunning views over the lake. We walked to the local school and 'commune' where travellers volunteer through the House of Edirisa in Kabale. The school was impressive for the painted wall charts on the outside walls - I have seen this in many countries where there are few resources, but this is the first time ... read more
All is good here, we spent last week planning for our trip up to Murchison Falls National Park and got up at 3am on Friday to leave (naturally I hadn't packed and had decided to go out the night before which made for a fun morning!). Us 4 volunteers, me, Micheala, Rachael and Adam went along with Benji and his friend Ema who drove. Took us 7 hours to get up there, including 3 on unsurfaced roads which wasn't much fun, and too many loo trips in the bush!! As soon as we arrived we headed off on a game drive, as soon as we left the camp site we saw baboons and hippos as we on the ferry crossing the nile - we had hired a 4x4 people carrier type car for the weekend and ... read more
The road was good most of the way, but for parts of it they had speedbumps for every 20 meters!
During the weekend I went on a trip to Murchinson falls national park. I went with the Red Chili, and ended up in a car with five other norwegians!! Had a great trip, the camp was good, and a lot of nice people. We did not spot as much animals as in Maasai Mara, and I was not as excited to see a lion 50 meters away after watching the lions having their breakfast just a few weeks before. the boat trip on the Nile to see the falls were nice, and we experienced how quickly it can change from sunshine to heavy rain! What I really enjoyed about this trip was to get so close to the clumsy but charming hippos :) ... read more
