So, safaris are awesome (in a literal sense, to all of you fans of semantics). Sunrises, early morning game drives, camping by the Nile (with a view of the Blue Mountains of Congo) or at the top of a waterfall, observing some incredible animals from just a few metres away - it all gives you a bit of a surreal feeling, like you're watching a documentary....but not....because you're actually there.
Friday was Rhinos: Incredible creatures.
We were told we'd have to walk at least 20 minutes through "the bush" (which posed a problem for me as I hadn't packed trousers or shoes) in order to track-down the beasts. In reality we rounded a corner after less than 5 minutes and there they were, just chillin' out. There was a male, female and a wee baby. Out of the three the female (Bella) was the most amorous and seemed very interested in coming over for a chat. The rangers that were with us had to continually say "Bella, cool." or "Back Bella, back". I later asked if the Rhinos spoke English. He told me they did.
In any event I was happy he was there because there were a couple of occasions when dearest Bella tried to outflank us unawares and we had to high-tail it out of there. As Charlie pointed out though, it was like a rubbish slow-motion car chase because we were told never to run; so we just plodded through the bush, occasionally glancing backwards to make sure she hadn't caught up.
Saturday was on to Murchison Falls National Park: B-e-a-yoooo-tiful.
We crossed the Victoria Nile and headed towards the Albert Nile, where we would camp for the night. For this part of the journey our "over-land truck" did a kind of Transformers act (in fact all they did was take the tarpaulin off the roof and let us sit on the balcony/viewing deck) to enable us some better views of the wildlife and scenery. Along the way we saw Ugandan Kobs, Antelopes, Hippos, Buffalo, loads of birds and, most impressively, giraffes. The bumpy ride made it hard to take pictures, but we stopped a few times, which made observing and photographing a lot easier. The highlight was definitely stopping for about 10 minutes to watch 10 or so giraffes hanging about, drinking water very close to the truck.
Set up camp by the Nile, had some tasty grub around a campfire and went to bed.
Sunday meant an early start for a game drive and a boat trip to Murchison Falls: Mighty waters.
The early morning game drive brought us some close up views of elephants, a load more giraffes, monkeys, baboons a whole herd of buffalo and...a lion! Just one and it was a fair distance away, but at least we saw one! A swift breakfast and then back to the Victoria Nile for our boat trip.
We travelled up-stream heading towards the waterfall. Along the way we saw loads of hippos chillin', fightin' and some even running at a fair pace and diving into the water; a few crocogators sitting perfectly still by the river bank in that eerie way they do; and a good deal more birds.
On reaching the falls we had about two minutes to take pictures (although by this time my useless excuse for a camera had died) and then we were thrown overboard to fend for ourselves. Well, we had to find our own way to the camp site at any rate. A sweaty twenty or so minutes later saw us arrive at the top of the falls and saw a most spectacular sight. The "falls" don't so much fall as they do chuck themselves downwards as if angry at the pace of the river preceding it. It reminded me of the Seoul subway at rush hour - everyone jostling for some semblance of space and willing to batter those around them to gain it.
We spent the night at the top of the falls and had one of the best meals I've had in Uganda - I even got the recipe and intend to cook a big pot of whence I return.
Monday was the journey back: bumpy.
So that's that. Enjoy the pictures and I'll see some of ya'll on Thursday!
Weeraba (goodbye)!
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