Murchison Falls trip intro

Hello, again!

The short answer to "how was your weekend?" is that it was wonderful. Words can't do it justice and I don't think pictures can catch what it was like to be there. I hope this gives you a little sense of what it was like.

Obviously a lot happened. I've tried to whittle it down into reasonable chunks and to put it into chronological order, but there's still both a lot left out and a lot of detail! I hope you don't find it too tedious. Luckily for you, Blogger sets a limit of 5 photos per post, otherwise you'd be seeing a lot more warthogs.

Our Tour: the who and the how

Our group was small—ridiculously so, given the size of the vehicle we took. There were six of us on the tour (one only joined us while we were in Murchison Falls National Park itself) and four staff, all traveling in an overland vehicle that could take up a zip code. Given the state the vehicle was in at the end of our tour, I can’t imagine what it must be like when it’s full of people, but it did seem strange to have this enormous monster for so few of us. Apparently, the pop-top van was in the shop.
At least one person in each party had some reason to be in Uganda; the others were visiting the ones doing work here. One young woman, a recent Columbia grad, was working on an anti-malaria project before beginning a Masters degree in International Relations; another was working on a project for the World Bank. Simon Joseph (“Call me SiJo”), the young man who joined up with our part in Murchison Falls seems vaguely to be wandering around Uganda, getting involved in various things and then wandering off again. And then me, of course. It seems to me that the Uganda tourism industry is fairly dependent upon the Uganda aid industry.

People asked what I was doing, and I explained about Kiva. Then they would ask what I’m doing when I’m not working with Kiva. I’d say I am an Episcopal priest. The reactions were typically varied. One person quickly told me that he was Methodist. Another said, “I never would have guessed that.” They took it well, though.

Our crew were really great and an interesting mix. Courtney, the leader of the tour, sounded like an Aussie but grew up in Zimbabwe and had some interesting stories and insights into that country. Along with Courtney, Julius and Kirunda did yeomen’s duty. Julius helped me set up and break down my tent every day. (He’s not pictured here, unfortunately.)

Finally, there was Beki, the driver. You can imagine my confusion when I heard about “Becky,” and met this big, burly guy. I can’t imagine being a driver in Uganda, except that I imagine it would be exhausting! Even the good roads are loaded with ruts and potholes. As we left Kampala, we saw an 18-wheeler jackknifed next to the road, clearly having tried to avoid some pothole in front of it. Given the size of our vehicle, driving was a challenge (though easier in some ways), but Beki was simply amazing. Not exactly a smooth trip, but a reasonably comfortable one overall.

Day 1: Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary

Late afternoon on Friday, we arrived at the Ziwa Sanctuary, a 70 sq. km. compound where six white rhinos are being reintroduced to the wild in Uganda. Aside from these six, there are only two others at the zoo in Entebbe.

Three of us and a guide rode in the back of a pickup truck through swampy terrain (as the truck fishtailed around I thought, “Who is this person, doing such a crazy thing?) to see the six rhinos being watched by armed guards. At one point our guide pointed out a rhino footprint in the mud. As one of my fellow-travelers said, it was a very Jurassic Park moment, seeing this huge track in the mud.
We drove about 15 minutes to the place where the guards were watching the rhinos. The guards seemed very fond of the rhinos, knowing them each by name and gossiping about them. “Oh, Moji!” they would say as one of the rhinos grazed behind a tree. He was the dominant male, but none of the others liked him, they told us. “Nande!” they’d say of the big female, recently relocated there from DisneyWorld, of all places, as she glared at us and then wandered off. The guards spend a week at a time staying with the rhinos, reporting on their location via GPS and ensuring that poachers don’t get them.


To be honest, watching rhinos is a bit like watching very large cows grazing. Still impressive as all get-out, though.

Day 2: Lunch with warthogs

We stopped at the Red Chilli campground for lunch on Saturday (and also to use actual flush toilets. Our tour was very good that way, with plenty of rugged out-in-the-bush experiences followed by regular stops for some creature comforts, like toilets and running water). As we pulled into the campground, Courtney told us, “There’s a family of warthogs that lives on the grounds. You might see them around.”

I was beside myself. For those of you who don’t know, I have a thing for warthogs. And as we sat down for lunch, Courtney said, “Oh, there are the warthogs.” I turned around, and there they were! Two females and three warthoglets. The warthoglets look like Babe if Babe were cast to play Wolverine in the X-men movies. And they were all incredibly cute. I took a ridiculous number of pictures, as you will see because I will inflict many of them on you.

At one point a baboon wandered through the camp and the warthogs got all bent out of shape and wandered away. But then they came back. I was sitting on a picnic bench looking at one of the females standing right in front of me. She gave an aggrieved snort which startled me, but I got the message and moved back to the covered tables where I belonged.

Day 2: Game drive

After lunch, we took a small ferry across the Albert Nile to the north side where most of the game live (on the south side, most was poached during the 20 years of violence in the north of Uganda). Some hippos were right by the ferry, the first of many, many hippos I saw on the trip.
We got into the observation deck on the front of the vehicle for the game drive, seeing a lot of deer-like animals and water buffalo as well as the occasional distant giraffe. I love how the water buffalo just turn and look at you after you go past, with those marcelled wings of horns.

The sky was getting ominously dark all the while, and you can barely make out the rainbow in this picture of a giraffe.

Then DJ, our guide, said, “Lions.” I couldn’t see a thing. “You can see the black tips of their tails waving.” Nope. “Over there beneath the trees.” Not a thing. Fortunately, Beki drove off the road and we went right around them (though I feel mighty sorry for the lions themselves, dealing with us tourists all the time). What an incredible sight! Two lionesses with cubs eating up a water buffalo. And off under a nearby tree, a male lion who stared right at us with those enormous amber eyes. They were simply mesmerizing. Unbelievable.
And just after we drove around them all, it started to pour. We drove to our campsite as it rained and sat in the vehicle for about a half hour when it stopped. And that was the only rain we had on the trip. The timing simply couldn’t have been better. We set up tents out in the middle of nowhere and didn’t see any other people until the next morning. Fortunately, we didn't see any other large animals either.

Day 3: Morning game drive

Courtney woke us all up while it was still dark so we could get out and see the animals as the day was just starting. We went out for about 90 minutes and came back to have breakfast around the fire.

We hoped to see elephants, but our luck didn’t stretch to elephants on this trip. Given everything else we’d been able to see and do, I can’t say I feel too bad about it. Saw a couple of elephants waaaaaay in the distance and that would have to do.

We went back to the lions who had made good headway (so to speak) on the water buffalo. The tails of lionesses and cubs twitched irritably as we drove over to them again, and the lion stalked off with offended dignity. The lionesses roared at us, and that’s a scary sound, I tell you what. It’s one thing when it’s the MGM lion within the circle on the screen; it’s quite another thing when hunters who have already taken down a water buffalo are 10 feet in front of you.

The story of the morning was giraffes. They were everywhere. And so many of them. I could readily imagine that if you were a guide in the park, after a while you’d wonder why everyone was getting so excited about these animals. It’s like people coming to a park in Oakland and getting excited when they see the squirrels. Still, giraffes are just so cool, you know. They’ve got the cool walk going. I bet they’d look good in a leather jacket.

Day 3-4: Murchison Falls

After another lunch at Red Chilli (no warthogs, but a shower!), we took a boat up the Albert Nile to the base of Murchison Falls (named for the head of the Royal Geographic Society by someone cleverly trying to get in good with the big man, I’m thinking). Along the way we saw hordes of hippos (a group is called a school, we were told), a couple of crocodiles, and some wonderful weaver birds that build nests that look like Christmas ornaments in the trees.

The boat doesn’t get terribly close to the falls and we could only see them from a distance, but our group got off the boat and clambered up on some rocks where we met yet another guide who led us on a steep trail up to the top. I could tell my triathlon training was far behind me as I needed to stop and pant several times on the way up.

But it was so worth it! There’s a second branch to the falls that you can’t see from the boat, formed in 1962, the year of Ugandan independence. At the top, we could get close to the falls. No fences blocked the view. No crowds either. Including the six of our group, there were maybe a dozen people at the top of the falls.

We camped there at a site just past the falls, looking down at the water. With clear skies, the stars came out looking very unfamiliar in the southern setting. I went to bed early, still sweating, it felt, from the climb up the falls. There was an outhouse at the campsite, but I had to go from the tent down a hill and across a track to an outhouse that I had noted earlier contained a lot of spiders. My prayer before bed that night was that God would have mercy on me and keep me from needing to use the bathroom during the night. I am happy to report that God heard my plea.

In the morning, once again we were up before sunrise so we could leave the park before being charged for another day. As I sat eating my breakfast, a hippo climbed out on a rock in the middle of the river, then eased itself in again. Flocks of white egrets flew in formation in front of the green hills across the river. The sun rose right in front of us. And then we packed everything away and left.

Back from safari!

Hello, there! Just a quick note to let you know I had an absolutely fantastic time. I will be writing in greater detail in days to come, but here is a picture from perhaps THE highlight of my trip.

Heading off on safari!

You won't be hearing from me this weekend because I'm leaving tomorrow for a four-day safari up to Murchison Falls National Park. Rhinos and hippos and chimps--oh my! I'll have lots of photos when I return. In the meantime, here's a cheater photo from www.ugandatravelguide.com.

Ndere Center

If you are ever in Kampala, I highly recommend that you attend a performance at the Ndere Center in Ntinda (www.ndere.com). A member of Life in Africa told me I should go, and I went, thinking it would be a little local thing. No, indeed. It was a drop-dead professional performance, something I could readily imagine at Zellerbach, held in this beautiful outdoor ampitheater with hills in the background (and as night fell, lightning flashing behind the hills).

Not only was it a beautiful setting, they served terrific food as well. Long tables were set up all around the ampitheater and discreet waiters came by to take our orders for drink and food, or you could go to the buffet if you wanted. I ordered fish and chips, not expecting that the fish would be served head, tail, scales and all. Delicious, and obviously fresh.

The Ndere Troupe performed for over three hours, featuring dances from all over Uganda, with different costumes for each. The picture below shows a dance in which the women started each with a single jar on her head. Then two jars. Then three. Then four...I really wish I could have a better picture to show you, but I think you get the idea.


They even had all of us mazungos dance. The troupe director invited people from each nationality down on the ampitheater floor. We shook hands with each other, and then we danced in a circle--well, jiggled, mostly. One of the troupe members pulled me to the middle of the circle on the ampitheater floor. All I can say is that I tried to pretend like there was no one watching, as the saying goes. It didn't work very well.

I wish to point out that the people from the UK steadfastly refused to come down for this part of the evening. Part of imperial privilege, perhaps? Or are they just smarter than the Aussies and the Americans?

Sunday at the tombs

One of the great sites in Kampala is the Kasubi tombs where the Buganda kings are buried, and so on Sunday in search of touristy adventure, I went.

It's not a very big place overall, about the size of a baseball field (to use a comparison comfortable to me), with a few huts in it. The largest is where the kings are buried behind a fig bark cloth hung from the ceiling in a place referred to as the forest. I had to wear the skirt you see for my individual tour, which was led by a young man named Nicholas.

I learned about the 52 pillars in the hut, representing the 52 clans of the Buganda; I learned about the table and two chairs sent by Queen Victoria which caused such an uproar when it was suggested that the king and "the" queen should sit in them, as the king had I can't remember how many wives. I saw the preserved remains of the leopard that had been the pet of King Mutasa (I believe), but had gone wild after his death.

Nicholas told me all of this, informed and placid, and as we approached the end of the tour he asked me what I did. I told him about Kiva and about microfinance and Nicholas became tremendously animated. "I make juice," he said, "And this is just the kind of thing I need!"

We sat down in the front office as I passed along the names of the MFIs that I knew about in Kampala, since Life in Africa isn't offering loans at this time. He gave me his phone number and email address and then took me on an entirely additional tour of the Islamic School right next to the tombs.

Nicholas sells some of his juice to the school and seems to me to be just the kind of person microfinance is around to serve: an entrepreneur with drive but not quite the capital he needs to do the job. He showed me some of the packets left lying around empty and introduced me to the headmaster who showed me around: boys dorm, girls dorm, classrooms, and the school building that used to be a mosque: the first mosque in Kampala.

This picture shows Nicholas, left, and the headmaster on the right standing in front of what used to be the mosque.