Murchison Falls to Budongo Forest Reserve
Trip Start
Jun 06, 2008
1
12
15
Trip End
Jun 24, 2008
Kaniyo Pabidi,
Uganda
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Tuesday June 17th, 2008. Murchison Falls then drive to Budongo Forest Reserve
One of Rina's must-see animals was the Nile croc and I have seen a few in the wild in Australia and know they can be difficult to get close to sometimes - not here! Within about 10mins we were about 100ft away from one basking on the shore with its mouth wide open. This was not a huge one but it was easily 4m/12ft long so it was big enough to rattle us all when it slithered into the water as we got close and looked like it was heading toward us.
The trip to the falls only takes about 20-30mins but there are animals almost the whole way up. It seemed like there were hundreds of hippos all in groups of 10-20, warthogs everywhere and buffalo on every flat part of the shore. The freakiest part is when the captain gets about 20-30ft away from the hippos and the big male or one of the big females gets a little frisky and comes after us. They have a lunge of what seems like about 15ft and it only takes them a second or two to cover that distance so if you are within 20ft they will be on top of you before you know it. I think our captain was getting a little too close but he was never going to show us he was scared. Of course all the women and half the men gave a yelp when one of them kept coming after the first lunge.
As you approach the falls there is brown foam all over the place and one large beach on the left hand shore. As you get close you realise there are about 30-40 crocs and at least as many hippos all side by side. Apparently they live happily together - I guess because the hippos is so much bigger than the crocs and crocs aren't great pack hunters so they don't take full grown hippos down. With the crocs around it means nothing else will hassle the hippos, including their babies. So they keep close and everyone's happy.
As you round the corner the falls suddenly open up in front of you - but they are a good 4-500m away. You really don't get very close because they are so violent. The captain takes us to a small rock island in the middle of the river where we can get off and take photos of the falls some 500m away. Here the nile is squashed into a crevasse 7m wide and the level drops about 35m in a very short space. It makes for a massive mess of foam, spray and rapids.
The plan was for us to be met by a UFA guide on the shore near the falls and then to hike to the top of the falls. Our captain was not told of our plans - nor was the UWA guide. So we didnt see anyone on the shore and the boat turned for home. We didn't know where the drop off point was so we sat quiet for a minute or two. Eventually I called out to the captain that we were supposed to be dropped off and hiking up - he huffed and puffed, turned the boat and took us all back to the shore near the rock island. There was a small clearing in the dense forest and a rock sticking out in the river - but no UWA guide. We hopped off, the captain asked us if we knew the way and then he turned the boat and headed for home.
Just like that we were in the wilds of Africa with no real idea of what lay lurking in the forest ahead and no gun (not even a big stick). I figured the way was towards the falls and keep climbing so off we went. I hope that the captain would not leave two tourists on a shore where man eaters lived so figured we would be safe. But I have to admit I was a little apprehensive the whole way up. Rina was too of course. Every little sound from the bush and we looked around to see what was coming - it was little lizards running away from us.
About 15mins into this walk I had stopped and was looking down at my camera to fix something then as I looked up I saw a green figure appear in front of me. It gave me the fright of my life and out came the second yelp of the day. Thankfully it was our trusty guide Martin running down the trail to get us. Apparently the UWA guys stuffed it up and Martin found out as he arrived at the top of the falls so he panicked and came running down to bring us up. What a legend! I think he was more worried than we were - simply because his clients were walking in the forest without a guide....all very funny in hindsight.
At the top you get extremely close the falls and you can see exactly what power is being exerted on the rocks. Apparently in a flood in the 60's a new route for the water was carved out of the rock and a second falls (Uhuru Falls) were created about 300m north of Murchison Falls. My guess is about 30% of the water goes down the 2nd falls so Murchison is now weaker than it used to be. The old falls would have been so violent in the wet season I don't think it would have been safe to be anywhere near them!
At the top of the falls we had our last packed lunch! Yahooooo! But we didn't know it was the last at the time so we didn't get to celebrate. Then we drive onto Kaniyo Pabidi Camp in Budongo Forest Reserve. This camp has been set up with the coordination of efforts from the National Forestry Authority, the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI), USAID, the EU and others. The idea was to create a complete edo-freindly camp with the specific aim of educating visitors and being self sustaining so that it could be used as a financial and scientific tool to save one of the last remaining chimp ranges in the country. One big idea is that JGI staff will spend the next 12mths training the local staff from the NFA about how to run a camp and how to run the chimp trekking so that eventually it will be completely run and managed by the Uganadan staff and the NFA. Lofty goals indeed but this was easily the most comfortable and well constructed camp we had seen on our trip.
Here we met Mary-Lou from JGI - a fellow Aussie that used to work at Taronga Zoo in Sydney which is very close to where I used to live so it was cool to meet someone from home in such a remote place. Around dinner time Debby cox came back from her day's work with other staff from JGI. We didn't know of Debby before this trip but we had bid for time with her at Budongo and Ngamba in a charity auction in Singapore so this was the whole driver behind this trip. Dab runs JGI for Uganda and everyone in the tourism industry knows her by reputation as "The Chimp Lady".
After unpacking, showering and resting for a little we headed to the main building for dinner with Deb and the JGI folks. It was a really enjoyable dinner where we argued politics and conservation - even though we were all on the same side of every argument. Frankly it was nice to get other people's thoughts on what was happening in East Africa and what is being done about it. As a tourist you would never get to hear much about this beyond what the guides can tell you so it was a bonus for us to find out exactly what organisations like UWA, NFA and JGI were doing in Uganda and what things were holding them back. When it got to the political and economical side of things it was uncanny how similar Uganda is to Malaysia under Dr M. The President in Uganda has been there for 20+ years and nepotism and cronyism seems to be ruining the country the same as it is in Malaysia. Malaysia is on the road to recovery so I hope Ugandans can lead a soft revolution too.
One thing we were told about before we went to bed was to be prepared for the noises of the tree hyrax. An elusive little creature that looks like a rodent but is apparently closely related to elephants. We were told to listen for a sound like "a goat being murdered". This thing that is smaller than a house cat has the voice of animals 10 times its size and as they get closer you realise how spooky this sound is. Its quite hard to explain so "a goat being murdered" seemed rather apt. If you hear it you will know straight away. Its not dangerous but boy is it spooky!
