Venturing Out

With a heartfelt goodbye from Susan, we set out on first “solo” expedition to Murchison Falls National Park.  

The first leg of this voyage included travel to Gulu, a town to the west where we would be meeting up with our guide and a travel companion named Aaron.  Aaron is someone Ann connected me with – a nurse volunteering in a medical clinic she works with in Gulu for the next few months.  He had indicated an interest in traveling, and she put us in touch via email so we could explore together. 

We live in Lira.  To the North West is Gulu, and the large green area west of that is Murchison Falls.  Kampala is the capital, and beneath that is Entebbe where the airport is located.

The ride to Gulu takes about two hours.  We were scheduled to leave at 11, got in the car at 12, stopped to pick up a few random “friends” and their children, bought a few things from the market, and took a “short cut” down a pothole-laden dirt road.  This means we arrived in Gulu at about 3:30pm.  Welcome to Africa Time.

Aaron turned out to be a friendly, talkative, thirty-something from Portland.  After settling in at the guest house and gleefully noticing the shower heads, we set out on – what else – a food mission.   Aaron has been very busy at the clinic was unfamiliar with local restaurants, so we went to the place next door.  There were two options – fish or chicken.  I selected chicken, but was in fact presented with a fried rib cage of an unconfirmed small animal.

Gulu has a large international presence; it is where the Peace Corps, UN and many other NGOs are based.  This translates to readily available running water, coffee shops with wifi and recognizable grocery store items.  Despite similar appearances, these little amenities caused us to quickly realize how remote Lira is.  In fact, Aaron’s guidebook even described it as “on the road to nowhere.”

The next morning, we met our guide, James, and loaded into his 1970s shag wagon to set off for Murchison.  Literally, this multi-colored bad mama-jamma still had the curtain tracks around the windows and cigarette lighters in the back seats.  It was in this setting that I experienced my first rollex. 

This magnificent concoction is chapatti bread (basically fried pita) wrapped around eggs, onions, peppers and probably something else I was too busy wolfing down to notice.  Apparently these grease beasts are standard fare in Uganda and we have just been missing out.   Duly noted.

Murchison Falls National Park is in the north west part of Uganda, bordering Lake Albert and divided by the Victoria Nile.  It includes two fenced wildlife reserves – Karuma and Bugungo – but it is most famous for the actual Murchison Falls.  Apparently, this is a unique waterfall because the water is forced to squeeze through a very narrow gorge of only 25 feet wide.  Although the drop isn’t very steep (about 150 feet), the narrow passage way means a heavy flow of crashing water.  We took a drive and a short hike around the top of the falls the first day, and the second day took an boat cruise to the bottom.  Pro tip:  they are much more impressive from the top.  The only good thing about the boat ride was the abundance of hippos we saw, but that is only intriguing for about 15 minutes.  Not the full three hour round trip tour.

Murchison Falls
That's water splashing back up on the left.  That's how fast it is falling.

At the top of Muchison.  

The Victoria Nile actually splits, causing two different waterfalls that make up Murchison.

Hippos!  One of the most dangerous animals in Africa.

In addition to the Falls, we also did a couple of game drives in our beastly van.  You may think such a contraption would be ill-suited to the bumpy trails of a game park…and you would be right.  Our first day we spent much of the time standing through the sunroof, but quickly discovered the novelty of that did not warrant the resultant bruising.  Enormous credit is also due to our driver, Patrick.  It rained fairly steadily on Sunday, and he kept that van moving right along as we fishtailed back in forth in the mud.  Several times I thought we’d be stuck for sure, but he ran that thing like a champion rally car driver.

Patrick, me, Chelsea, James and Aaron.
You can see the tiniest corner of our pimp wagon too!

On the game drives, we saw an abundance of animals – giraffes. warthogs, water buffalo, elephants and a variety of antelope-like creatures, including one called the Kob.  They have an incredibly short memory; so short in fact that they frequently forget why they are running when a lion in chasing them.   Unfortunately, we did not see any lions.  A bit of a disappointment, but they have been fairly well poached from the area so we knew it wasn’t a guarantee. 

Water Buffalo

Kob

However, on our third day we stumbled into a hostage situation.  On our way out of the park, we encountered two large mature elephants and a cub eating just off the side of the road.  After paparazzing the shit out of them for awhile, we realized that James and Patrick were less thrilled.  Patrick was revving the engine like nuts while James was clapping his hands and shouting.  Apparently, with the cub present it was too risky to try to pass them down the road.

These elephants did not give one single care about our existence.  They went right along eating, meandering in our direction and generally holding us captive.  We backed up several hundred yards and waited nearly 45 minutes before they finally decided to chase after a water buffalo that was infringing on their territory.  Rather rude if you ask me…

Elephant Delay

(Pause for a fun elephant fact:  there are things called sausage trees in Africa.  The fruit that hangs down from them is a favorite of elephants, but also contains alcohol.  They have been known to get louder and more aggressive after consuming this fruit.   That’s right kids, elephants get drunk too.)

While in the park, we stayed at a campsite called Red Chilli.  Although the website advertised modern bathroom facilities, the toilets never flushed and the shower water was cold.  Better than nothing?!  They did have a pretty decent food menu, and a nice open patio/bar where you could relax at night.  They also have an infestation of baboons and warthogs running freely throughout the camp.  I slept soundly, but both Chelsea and Aaron heard nighttime rustlings.  They both claim there was once even a hippo gallivanting around – and a newspaper clipping confirms the potential – although I cannot weigh in one way or the other.

Camp Baboon

Red Chilli Wart Hog

En route back to Gulu, we made one final stop at Karuma Falls, a site we drove past on the initial day and where one day soon a hydraulic power plant will exist.  This included pulling over to a random shack with a woman in a plastic chair who walked us the quarter mile into the woods to see the falls.  They were uninspiring at best.  The view is better from the main road. 

We returned to Gulu to turn in for the night.  But it appears we had a nighttime suitor:  a tiny lizard had snuggled down beneath the covers.  At this point, lizards are the least of our worries.  We prodded him out and climbed right in.

The following morning we ventured to the bus park in search of a vehicle to take us to Lira.  We were afraid our only option would be a van cab, known to cram at least twenty people inside.  We were pleasantly surprised when we encountered a large bus with a “Lira” sign out front.  12,000 shillings later (about $3) we were safely nestled inside.

And then we started driving.  Now I am no virgin to the perils of the Feng Wah bus, but this far surpasses that on the terror scale.  We were FLYING down a half paved road, fully crammed with pedestrians and animals at about 100 kmph.  That may not seem fast, but with these conditions and the state of this bus…I was pretty sure we were not going to survive.  Particularly when we were forced off the paved part for passing vehicles and were continuing this pace, with the added bonus of a 45 degree angle.

But the odds were forever in our favor and in two short hours we arrived safely home in Lira.  Exiting the bus, we were immediately confronted with blatant stares and gawking.  Ah, I almost forgot what it felt like to be inadvertent spectacle.  With so many volunteers, no one gives a second glance to whites in Gulu.

It was good to be home.