Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Long road trip today. North from
Entebbe to
Murchison Falls National Park.
The first part is through a chaotic outskirts of Kampala – traffic with
cars, trucks and motorcycles / people with sleeveless t-shirts,
business suits, fine dresses, bright colored school uniforms and muddy
work clothes / buildings with brightly painted cell phone advertising,
rickety wood shacks and small shops selling everything you could
imagine. The last 100 km or so is a rough dirt track - “African
massage” says Joseph. He drives extremely skillfully, but we are still
rattled and jolted before we get to the falls.
Windows are kept closed
to keep out the tsetse flys that swarm the Land Cruiser, but they all
fly away somewhere else when we get to the falls. Murchison Falls is a
place where the upper Nile river squeezes through a 25 foot wide chute
with full fury. It is a remarkably iconic place, but we are the only
visitors to take the short hike and pose for pictures. Michael takes our
group photo, and says it comes out great. It is hot and humid –
eyeglasses steam over with little effort and we all are restless to get
to our lodge for tonight. The route has limited wildlife sighting
opportunities – we see warthogs, cape buffaloes, tawny eagle, and some
doves. When we leave the falls and head downstream to a ferry crossing
all things change – we wait for the ferry and see more cape buffaloes,
elephants, hippos, and more bird life. It sounds and smells like Africa
now. The crossing is quick and leaves us just below our lodge for the
next few days. Tomorrow we are going out on the river.
Long road trip today. North from Entebbe to Murchison Falls National Park.
The first part is through a chaotic outskirts of Kampala – traffic with
cars, trucks and motorcycles / people with sleeveless t-shirts,
business suits, fine dresses, bright colored school uniforms and muddy
work clothes / buildings with brightly painted cell phone advertising,
rickety wood shacks and small shops selling everything you could
imagine. The last 100 km or so is a rough dirt track - “African
massage” says Joseph. He drives extremely skillfully, but we are still
rattled and jolted before we get to the falls.
Windows are kept closed
to keep out the tsetse flys that swarm the Land Cruiser, but they all
fly away somewhere else when we get to the falls. Murchison Falls is a
place where the upper Nile river squeezes through a 25 foot wide chute
with full fury. It is a remarkably iconic place, but we are the only
visitors to take the short hike and pose for pictures. Michael takes our
group photo, and says it comes out great. It is hot and humid –
eyeglasses steam over with little effort and we all are restless to get
to our lodge for tonight. The route has limited wildlife sighting
opportunities – we see warthogs, cape buffaloes, tawny eagle, and some
doves. When we leave the falls and head downstream to a ferry crossing
all things change – we wait for the ferry and see more cape buffaloes,
elephants, hippos, and more bird life. It sounds and smells like Africa
now. The crossing is quick and leaves us just below our lodge for the
next few days. Tomorrow we are going out on the river.
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