Murchison NP

February 2011

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Journey to the Nile: Murchison Falls NP Uganda

Murchison Falls Uganda

Thursday 24 Feb 2011 to Sunday 27 Feb 2011

We motor slowly down the Nile on a small tour boat, cameras ready, waiting to spy yet another animal or bird that our Murchison Falls National Park guide will point out and name for us. The afternoon boat tour is part of a three day visit we arranged at Red Chilli, a backpacker hostel in Kampala. The source of the Nile is Lake Victoria. The river changes names several times before reaching the Mediterranean in Egypt. In Uganda, the Victoria Nile is channeled through a narrow gap and falls 45 m over Murchison Falls, made famous in the classic movie The African Queen, starring Katherine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart. It continues to Lake Albert at the western end of Murchison Falls NP on the border of the DRC (Congo) when the river is becomes the Albert Nile. We were on the Victoria Nile.

There is lots of wildlife to see. Hippos crowd together in every shallow bay, grunting to each other as they find a more comfortable position, maybe resting their head on the back of the nearest obliging hippo. At one time there were so many hippos in the river that hunting was allowed to control their numbers. Area lodges featured Hippo steaks on their menu. Some hippos wade ashore to snack on the grasses at the shoreline. The hippos gaze at us as we motor past. They are no longer hunted.

We spy a few elephants come to graze by the water. They flap their ears to ward off flies and keep themselves cool. One elephant has lost half its trunk. It got its trunk caught in an illegal wire loop snare meant for a smaller animal. In its panic to get free, it ripped off part of its trunk. It has learned to compensate by using its mouth to grasp leaves and high grasses. Unfortunately that means it is more difficult for the elephant to get enough food and is unlikely to live to an old age.

Shorebirds stalk the river’s edge. Herons, egrets and African Fish Eagles sit silently, waiting for unsuspecting fish to come into view. Look there is an eagle with its dinner at its feet. Kingfishers dive repeatedly into the waters. Darters and Black Snake Birds fly in front of our boat. Colourful bee eaters and small swallow cousins disappear into their nests in the holes on the side of high sand banks. We float on by. Herds of antelope, including Uganda Kobs, Waterbucks, Hartebeests, prettily patterned Bush Bucks and small Oribi, graze on the shore grasses. Cape Buffalo and families of Wart Hogs peacefully share the same space. Now and then we see Baboons and Vervet monkeys foraging for food. They are all stocking up on food before retiring for the night.

We motor as far as 700 m from the raging Murchison Falls. We can go no further in the strong currents. Nearby are the largest crocodiles we have seen so far in Africa, lying on the sandy shore. They know that fish will be swept over the falls and are just waiting for the chance to snare a tasty snack. Our guide tells us that he has seen up to 50 crocodiles at this spot. This afternoon we are thrilled to count seven in the water and more on the shore. We will not be tempted to swim in this river.

We tie up on a tiny rock island in the middle of the river to get off and snap more photos of the falls. Soapy suds, caused by natural silts, animal and human effluents, make this section look like a wash tub. Just after we turn around and begin our homeward journey our Guide points out a small blue mileage marker on a tree. This marks the spot where Ernest Hemingway crashed his plane trying to join friends in the bush nearby. He spent one night alone on shore before being rescued and taken to another airfield to be flown out. His troubles did not stop there. The plane attempting to take off with him inside crashed. Hemingway survived again but it is rumoured that his heavy drinking was a result of that near death experience.

We had arrived in Kampala, the capital of Uganda, the previous Tuesday aboard the Post Bus from Kabale. The Post Bus, which as its name suggests, stops at the major towns to pick up and deliver bags of long distance mail. It is not the quickest route to Kampala but it is reputedly the safest way to travel. We left the cool mountains of Uganda and Rwanda to return to more tropical temperatures, crossing the Equator on the way.

Rather than brave the crowded streets of the city center we chose to stay at Red Chilli Hideaway in the Kampala suburbs. Another reason to stay at Red Chilli was their three day tour to Murchison Falls. Thirteen tourists travelled in two minibuses with pop up roofs for wildlife viewing for the six hour drive from Kampala to the Red Chilli Rest Camp in Murchison Falls National Park.

Murchison Falls National Park, at 3892 sq km, is the largest park in Uganda. It was also the first National Park, created in 1952. The falls were named Murchison after a President of the Royal Geographical Society. Poachers and wars in the 1970s and 1980s almost wiped out the wildlife. Fortunately the park is doing an excellent job of re-establishing the wildlife and we were the beneficiaries.

Accommodation at the Murchison Red Chilli Rest Camp, just 500 m from the boat jetty on the Nile River, is in permanent safari tents or concrete bandas (cottages), which we reserved. It was very comfortable, a great place to relax and enjoy the wildlife, some of which wandered around the site at will. We had a family of Wart hogs and baboons as neighbours so we had to make sure doors were closed when we are out of our room and no food was left enticingly in the tents.

Besides our afternoon boat ride, we had a sunrise game drive in our minivan, accompanied by a Park Ranger. We saw all the animals we would later see on the boat ride plus several giraffe and a lone jackal. Lions and leopards are found in the park but they didn’t make an appearance for us. We enjoyed the rest of the animals instead.

On the last morning of our tour we drove to the Park Center at the top of Murchison Falls. We saw the lower falls from the tour boat, this time we got to see the upper falls. The 50 m wide Nile River is forced through a 7 m wide gap in the granite rocks, causing one of the most powerful surges of water in the world. Floods in 1962 caused the falls to split in two streams. The new upper section is named Uhuru, “Freedom” in the local dialect, to honour Ugandan independence from Britain which occurred the same year. Despite droughts since 1962, the falls still cascade in two sections on the upper portion, combining for one mighty blast of water in the lower portion. Our group followed a Park Ranger along a path at the top of the falls, stopping to take in the power of the water and to admire rainbows, shining through the spray from the river. 

On our way out of the park we passed an overturned SUV with the six Chinese passengers standing by its side. We had met three of the men who were on the same boat tour the previous afternoon. They were working in the park investigating oil and gas possibilities. Our driver said they were travelling too fast on the gravel roads and lost control coming down one of the steep hills leading to the falls. They were lucky to escape serious injury. 

Our driver made sure we got a safe journey all the way back to Kampala, even if it meant stopping to allow a herd of Long Horn Ugandan cattle cross the road. 

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