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 [View Full Entry]

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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 [View Full Entry]

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In October 2008 I had an opportunity to visit Uganda, primarily as part of an Engineering Ministries International team to learn about construction management in East Africa. My previous blog is an account of the work of this team. Before returning to the States, I joined two others for a three day safari of Murchison Falls NP. Wednesday, 15 October 2008, three of the EMI team, John J., John W, and me (my first name is also John, but to avoid further confusion I went by my middle name Robert, or Bob) went on safari. After breakfast at the guest house [View Full Entry]

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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 [View Full Entry]

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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 [View Full Entry]

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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, [View Full Entry]

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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 [View Full Entry]

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After a bunch of discussions on what to do with three unexpected weeks in Uganda, we decided to take three day tour up to Murchison Falls National Park in the north of Uganda. The budget options were (1) completely booked and (2) didn’t include chimpanzee tracking, which is one of the reasons we decided to go to this area. We got an independent guide’s name and decided to give it a try. While it was definitely more expensive, it turned out to be worth every penny. We had a personal driver who was able to stop where and when we wanted, [View Full Entry]

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hey all. we just got back from our first safari in northern uganada. the park was called murchison falls national park. there were sooo many animals! it was amazing to see them all sooooo close. however on the way there we had a lot of problems that eventually put us almost 48 hours behind schedule. our roof rack fell apart and had to be fixed then we blew a tire then we blew a shock then we went in the wrong direction for 70 km. so it was a nightmare getting there but was all worth it in the end. heres [View Full Entry]

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(check out the video too!) The trek to the Gorillas was an extraordinary adventure. We hiked for 2 hours to find the creatures and what added an extra dimension to our trip was the octogenarian whose pace didn't equal a snail's pace in a rain storm. He didn't make it past the first half hour. The porters had to take turns carrying him to the gorillas, taking breaks to drop him in a heap leaving him covered in dirt and saved only by a stretcher that carried him all the way back. There were times, despite the arduous bush wacking that [View Full Entry]

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