Safari in Murchison Falls

Overview of the falls

 

A herd of buffaloes strolling by

Last weekend I finally made it on a SAFARI (yes, you heard right - woop woop)! Going on a safari is something I've always wanted to do, and was actually one of the reasons I chose Africa for my volunteering experience (don't tell anyone). We made the trip to Murchison Falls - Ugandas largest national park - , home of the maybe not so famous plane crash site of Ernest Hemingway and his wife in 1954 (!). The park is a 6 hour drive from Kampala, on a rather decent asphalt road to the North-West of the country, bordering to DR Congo (yikes).

Hiking up to the misty falls!

A hungry elephant eating the leaves off the tree

Murchison is home to the baboons, antelopes, crocodiles, hippos, buffaloes, hyenas, giraffes, elephants, and lions, among others. Out of the 'big five' (elephant, buffalo, lion, leopard and rhino) we saw three; elephants, buffalos and lions. Leopards are apparently really hard to catch, and rhinos sadly became extinct in the 1980s, but are being re-introduced now into sanctuaries. Luckily, we didn't see any poisonous snakes - like the black mamba - or spiders, although we saw the giant Nile crocodile, and our camp site was basically infested with bugs of all the different sizes and shapes you can imagine.

Warthogs eating our trash at the camp

The infamous Nile crocodile

The camp we stayed at was very basic, with tents and a few huts, no hot water or wifi, and only electricity whenever they switched the generator on. Nonetheless it was very cozy, with a bonfire every night, and it probably provided us with a more 'authentic' safari experience than some of the luxury lodges with pools and rooms with balconys (yes, they exist!). The first night we slept in one of the smaller huts, equiped with a fan, mosquito net and a small kind of porch outside with chairs you could sit on. The second night, however, there weren't any more huts available since we booked last minute, so we had to move to one of the tents. When I think of tents I think of the small ones where you can barely fit two persons in a four person tent, and you wake up in the middle of the night with your back hurting because you're basically sleeping on the ground. These ones however, were huge - you could easily stand up in them, and they could probably fit at least four - if it wasn't for the two big beds placed in the middle (can you imagine, and I sleep on a mattress on the floor in Kampala). Of course it was a bit dark and humid, but all the tents were equipped with oil lamps and sprayed with mosquito spray, to keep unwelcome visitors away.

Sunrise over the Nile

A bunch of hippos chilling in the water

The first day we arrived we hiked up to the top of the Murchison Falls, where the Nile river pushes through a 7 meter wide passage in the Rift Valley and plunges 43 meter down, flowing down to Lake Albert, which separates Uganda from the DRC in the North-West. Since it is during the rain period now, there was a few showers on our way, which got us completely soaked in only seconds, even though we waited around an hour in the car for the worst of it to pass. I guess that's what you get for being stupid enough to camp in the woods during the monsoon... For the rest of our trip though, we were lucky with the weather!

A flock of birds waiting to prey on us

Some animal footprints we discovered in the sand on our un-supervised hike (which we got yelled at for, because apparently it is dangerous to walk around unarmed)

The second day we got up at 6am to go on an early morning game drive in the park. On or way, we had to cross the Nile on a ferry, and caught a sight of a group of hippos chilling in the water. They must have the most comfortable lifestyle, apparently they just float around all day till it gets dark, when they go on land and graze for a few hours, before heading back. The game drive was the highlight of the trip I would say, driving through the diverse landscape, spotting different animals every 5 minutes or so. We actually got to see more animals than I expected, as the rangers said they couldn't promise anything. We also had a guide who had a very relaxed attitude towards the park rules, driving off the road and only about 5-10 meters away from a pair of lions lying in the shade, with the leftovers of their lunch right next to them. As we came closer, the lion really started to prepare itself for defense (or attack, depending on how you look at it), so just about when I was about to inquire if we should maybe close the windows (as this is also a rule), the guide came to his senses and pulled away. Later on, we drove past a group of people whose car had broken down, who were just walking along the road - we never saw them again...

The lions relaxing in the shade of a tree

A curious giraffe

Later that day we went on a launch ride up to the falls again, spotting animals along the riverbank from the boat. On the way we also passed by the place where Hemingway's plane crashed, right by the falls - guess he was lucky to get away alive! When we finally got back to the camp, we realized that we had had some visitors while we were away. I found my bag wide open on the floor, my soap and mosquito spray under Fridtjof's bed, and my moisturizer smeared on the outside of the tent. The guides told us that  it had most likely been a baboon, as they have a reputation for breaking into tourists' tents looking for food. Of course we had been warned about this in advance, and of course we ignored it, 'muzungus' as we are... Apparently the baboons have a really strong sense of smell, and they often mistake sweet scented toiletries for food. I'm just really glad the baboon didn't decide to visit us at night when we were sleeping, altough it would have been a perfect chance to get a good picture... So word of advice, if you're planning on camping in the wild in Africa, don't leave your toiletries in your bag! 

A baboon family in the middle of the road - maybe the ones that broke into our tent?