Waterfall , hippos and chimps
Trip Start
Jan 22, 2008
1
59
79
Trip End
Aug 22, 2008
Where I stayed
Red Chili Peppers Hostel
Murchison Falls National Park,
Uganda
Sunday, June 29, 2008
The walk around the top of the waterfalls was good. You could really see the power of the huge river forcing its way through a narrow gap in the rocks and therefore lots of white horses spraying up the rock face. It is not a typical waterfall but a huge mass of water.
The game drive was not brilliant due to the long grasses (we were told Jan/Feb is a better time to go) but we did see elephants, giraffe, antelope and wildebeast.
The best part of the trip was the boat trip up the Nile to the waterfall, where we could see hundreds of hippos in the water - as well as a bank of crocodiles and elephants on the river bank. What was strange was all the scum floating on the river, especially near the bottom of the falls - where the boat wedged itself between 2 rocks to allow us to stop and take pictures for a while.
The campsite was really nice and clean. We especially liked the resident warthogs - I really want to bring one home and as I have just found out that they are diminishing in numbers I need to look into whether there is a save the warthog campaign going! Also there is a resident Hippo who comes to eat at 3am , when all the camp lights are out - which is interesting if you want to take a trip out to the bathrooms in the middle of the night! Was funny waking up to hear him eating in the middle of the night. We stayed in a Banda (40,000/12pounds a night)- since the rest of the safari tents were booked up - but were glad we did with all the animals around!
The last day , on the way back to Kampala, we did a chimp trek and therefore had to be on the minibus at 5.30am! so had to get ready by candle light since the electricity is only on from 7pm-midnight. Thankfully the trek was not too bad. It was mostly flat and only took 45 mins to find them. It was really a shame that you had to swint really hard to see them high up (40ft-60ft) in the trees and ended up hurting your neck from looking up. Was great to hear their calls to other chimps and you had to beware that they did not throw the eaten fruit/relieve themselves on your head. We just kept thinking about the old typhoo tea adverts with the chimps and expected them to drop down for a cuppa!
