Safari!

My first ever...

We drove in our trusty matatu all the way from Kampala on Wednesday morning up to Murchison Falls National Park towards the north-west. It felt good to leave the noise and congestion behind and head out on the long open road; green tropical vistas as far as the eye could see. 3 of us from Childs i, a German girl, a Norwegian/British couple and a Thai woman. Driven by silent Ibrahim. The lunch stop in Masindi left much to be desired - I have yet to experience any tasty Ugandan bread, although I have been assured it can be found (not convinced). By mid-afternoon we had reached the national park, and started to see monkeys and baboons around the road. Poor Mary became victim to the dreaded tse tse fly and spent the rest of the trip with a hugely swollen/closed eye.

The camp was a stone's throw from the Nile (the Victoria branch) and thus the stamping ground of lots of hippos! We were told on arrival by our Cornish host not to be alarmed by grunting noises around the tents overnight – it would just be the hippos doing their nocturnal rounds (they particularly enjoy the long grass which grows right next to the tent ... which of course put our minds at ease). No midnight loo stops became the aim of the game. & those oh so friendly warthogs – munching away all over the camp in true Lion King style. The huge marabou storks which dot the skyline perched on top of the tallest trees seem mythical creatures to me – primitive and scavenging they have been described as the 'undertaker bird' and they really do have an ominous, eerie air about them. They swoop from one tree top to the next, enormous wings moving slowly up and down – not dissimilar to a pterodactyl I like to think!

The game drive the next morning was eventful, in a variety of ways. Beginning with a ferry ride across the Nile, we then drove across open savannah for about 5 hours – enormous elephants, herds of buffalo, different types of antelope, graceful lumbering giraffes in their hordes moving steadily across our path, hippos wallowing in pools and 2 MAGNIFICENT MALE LIONS slumbering away in a bushy hideaway 3 feet away from us, wow!

Our luck in the number of animals we saw redeemed the experience for us as we had also had severe trouble with the tracks and the totally unprepared matatu; torrential rains overnight had left the tracks broken and awash with rivers of mud – we had to clamber out repeatedly and walk for a while while Ibrahim forced the vehicle through the obstacle course of holes and gulleys, looking over our shoulders for those pesky lions, while George the guide enjoyed shrieking at the top of his voice for them to come on over and join us. His humour wasn't fully appreciated at that point. We then proceeded to get completely stuck for about an hour and a half until finally a land cruiser came to our rescue – only to get stuck itself! All part of the adventure... and what you get for taking the budget option!

Our view of Murchison Falls itself the next day was breathtaking. Surging, powerful, a truly awesome sight. The perfectly formed rainbow completed the picture.