Murchison Falls National Park - The Nile, Uganda's
Trip Start
Nov 12, 2007
1
5
13
Trip End
Dec 17, 2007
Murchison,
Uganda
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
The sight of the Nile River, the world's longest river, winding its way
through the park and plunging through a narrow gap is unforgettable.
The falls are stunning, notable not so much for their size as for their
immense power, caused by the 50m-wide Nile being funneled through a
narrow cleft (7m-wide) in the rocks before fallinginto a pool 43m
below. The park is vast and beautiful. Predominantly wooded savannah,
the 4,000kmē area is home to many of Africa's best-known plains animals
including giraffe, lions, leopards, elephants, buffaloes, hartebeests
and many more. Fishing beneath the falls is quite an experience where
Nile perch and tiger-fish provide an exciting challenge to anglers.
This was the destination, and after being fucked over by Frank in the reception we
had paid way more than we were supposed to and we were all determined to have a
great
time to make it worth the money. Even if this entry may seem very
negative, it has to be said that this was an amazing trip and we had a
great time, but it is just so funny how bad planning and high
expectations often collide.
We got of
to a early start, as we were to take off at nine in the morning. When the
people arrived they had three large tents and five large mattresses with them,
and they were all to be packed in the small mini bus, happy happy joy!!!! After
watching the people trying to fit these object in the car for about and hour we
took off, slightly annoyed with the people in charge of organising the trip.
The trip was to take five hours, but we all knew that that meant seven or
eight. It was a bumpy road, but we got there in the end. We were worried for a
while as the driver took off during lunch, and the lunch lasted half an hour
longer than planned, but he came back and we were happy campers again. After
seven hour we finally entered the national park, and in the one hour drive we
saw hundreds of baboons along the road, and our mood was getting better after
almost eight hours in the car.
We
got to the red chilli rest camp around six and started picking our
tents, which looked kind of bad and not suitable for tropic rain, but
it was the only thing we got. Around us were some sweet warthogs
(vortesvin/villsvin) walking around trying to get some food. The area
was amazing, with a beautiful view over the Nile and the forest and
plains, with the best view at the bar; so we headed there right away.
Dan, who we meet at the backpacker was a really nice guy and he too
knew all the family guy quotes, so Bryce and I could not be happier :)
We meet a lot of nice people and went to bed nice and tipsy, ready to
go on safari. As night came so did the rain, and we got a bit wet as
the tents were not fully waterproof and there were no strings to hold
it up, just some fragile poles. As I was in the wet corner some of my
clothes got wet, but nothing major.
At six we
woke up and had breakfast, made by our organizer/chef Jennifer, and we went on
safari. After just 20 minutes we saw a large elephant, and after that it just kept
on coming, and we saw hundreds and hundreds of antelopes, bucks and gazelles. After
an hour we meet an amazing sight. Just in front of us was a herd of giraffes,
about 30-40 of them all together. It was really cool and they were really
gracious as they walked around us. On the great plains there were many
animals like the buffalo; but we wanted the big ones; lions and
leopards. And wha t do you know, just after seeing the giraffes we saw
a leopard!!!!! It was the first time in four months that the ranger had
seen one too, so he was very exited. We watched this beautiful animal
for over ten minutes from around 5-6 meters, it was an incredible
sight. We were so privileged, and Dan who had been on five safaris had
finally seen the jewel of the big five, he was smiling from ear to ear.
We saw loads of animals and the safari was a great success. After the
safari we had lunch and got ready to go on Nile-river safari. It was
kind of cool, but basically just hundreds and hundreds of hippos
lurking in the water, and occasionally some crocodiles. At the end
however there were around 10-15 big crocodiles lying around, and they
were pretty amazing to watch. A few of us got out of the boat and
headed towards the falls, and even from a distance it looked pretty
impressing. We walked up and the sight was more than impressing!!! Most
of the Nile squeezes through a tiny passage and it creates a roar that
is very loud. After being there an hour and getting showered by the
Nile we headed back, and the plan was simple; we (at least Dan and I)
were getting drunk! After an amazing day the mood was good and after a
nice dinner made by Jennifer we made a fire and started drinking. When
I set out to get drunk I usually succeed, and this night was no
exception. Good and drunk we went to bed, and it is here the rear story
starts.
Sometime
after falling asleep a real thunderstorm broke out and the skies opened up, and
a massive rain came into being. As mentioned out tent (Dan, Bryce and mine) was
very fragile, and it had a rift in the roof. The heavy rain made the tent fall
over a bit on my side, which led the water to flow into the tent, on my side,
where I was sleeping as a rock. When I woke up i was swimming!!!! The mattress
was soaking wet and so was all of my clothes. I woke up and got pretty fucking
annoyed. I had paid shitloads of money for this safari and this was what we
were getting? I started screaming and swearing and it was around four in the
morning. So this is how it sounded as a angry camper got upset with my four in the morning swearing:
Angry
camper: SHUT UP!!!
Me: SHUT
THE FUCK UP YOURSELF? WE ARE DROWNING OVER HERE!!!!
Angry
camper: YOUR NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO IS WET.
Me: SO WHY
DONT YOU...... (looking for a suitable word) GRIEV WITH US.
It
rained so much that it is hard to explain; and everything was just
chaos, and there was about 15 cm of water in my corner so I was
actually sleeping in water. To rescue some dry clothes I woke up the
driver and went to sleep in the car for an hour. We were supposed to
wake up at five but Jennifer did not want to because of the rain; but
grumpy as I was screaming at her to wake up and soon she was up, and
the mood was not good. On the way to the chimpanzee trekking no one
said anything, and i just wanted to stay in the car and get some sleep.
BUt luckily I went and the mood picked up as I got some fresh air. We
watched the people like creatures for about an hour, and they did much
the same as us: pipi; popo; had sex; ate; cuddled; slept and
occasionally they did nothing. We walked for some ours in the rain
forest and I was really nice, and we met some baboons and occasionally
some chimps. After lunch we headed home, and most of us got some sleep
after a long day. We arrived back at the backpackers around six and
said by to Jennifer; who by the way did not get a tip!
I was so
sick of the Backpacker hostel that I could not stay another night. We fled to
the other side of town to red chilli backpackers. It was a really nice weekend,
and one I will remember forever, because of the animals and the fact that I almost
drowned in my tent.
The lesson is: Go with the worst opperator there is on the maket,
and you are
guarrentied an interesting experience :) Conclusion: A major success
