Nature Rules

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Blogging from Philly, remembering Uganda: April 26-April 29th

It was time to play the tourist my last 4 days. We headed 6 hours north to explore the border between Uganda and the Congo. The itinerary is a land/water safari in Murchison Falls National Park, and on the last day a visit to the Murchison Falls. ((Facts: Murchison Falls National Park derives its name from the Murchison falls where the mighty River Nile explodes through a narrow gorge and flows down to become a placid river whose banks are thronged with hippos, crocodiles, waterbucks and bufalloes.At the top of Murchison Falls, the River Nile forces its way through a seven meter gap in the rocks and tumbles 43 meters down, then flows westward into Lake Albert. The outlet of Lake Victoria sends around 300 cubic meters per second (11,000 ft³/s) of water over the falls, squeezed into a gorge less than ten meters (30 ft) wide.))

The tour is without a doubt the most remarkable part of this trip. It’s also a fine time to lose your camera, and explains why this journal entry is long overdue. But I have been reunited with some visuals thanks to a package from Uganda this week (webbale bill), so better late than never…

I guess I’m not surprised, but I am disappointed to see the photos. WAIT A SECOND, those bright yellow eyes on that lion look nowhere near as scary or intimidating, and neither does the bloody carcass he was tearing his teeth into…why they’re just a few pixels on a computer screen now. And so is that giraffe, that buffalo, the hippos the elephant…and you certainly can’t hear the crashing rapids of Murchison Falls, maybe just the buzzing from the fluorescent lights over your head. And sure, I’ve captured that rainbow…nice. But it was so much cooler to watch it form…to see and feel the mist of the waterfalls, and to watch the mist rise high into the air and dance with the sun’s rays to create multiple rainbows that appear and disappear in the reflecting light. Now THAT was cool. Looking back I’m glad I was without my camera, the memories are so much better.

Another adventure? to be continued…




“You should have seen that sunrise with your own eyes, it brought me back to life”…John Mayer, No More 3 x 5s

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Photos

Closeup
OK, a little intimidating, right?

Delta Point
Overlooking Lake Albert into the Congo...

Black Giraffe
According to the unfriendly park ranger with the very large gun, we're told that when giraffes get old they begin to turn black. This guy is 25 years old.

Lionness
Lions sleep 22 hours our of the day, so if you see one up, they're either hunting...or eating!

Murchison Falls
Numerous shots of the falls...

The Group
Our group of 8 quickly bonded, and everyone contributed to some wonderfully stimulating conversations...FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: Rohid(from India, doing electrical work in Jinja), Emmy(from Holland, with Frank), Karen(from Israel, traveling), Andrew(from London quit his job and bought a motorcycle-riding it from London to South Africa and back-WOW), Bill(see Peace Corps blog), ME!, Frank(from Holland, with Emmy doing volunteer work in Kenya), Andrew(another Andrew from London, works as a tour guide back home, so always filled with great facts)

Comments

[Vietna mum]

Hi from Karen in Oz .
The photo's are great although the Lion does look more "cute " than intimidating..........guess it's one of those " you have to be there photo's"

[Amy]

WOW!
So breathtaking! Wonderful photos.

[Kristen]

today I finally overcame/tryin to fit the world inside a picture frame...
You travel. You volunteer. You inspire. You write. You write incredibly. AND you quote John Mayer.