Going on safari is one of those
experiences in life that you can try to portray to others through words but
more than likely you’ll be unable to do it justice. So I’ll share a little
about my safari adventure and then pray that each of you will be able to have
one of your own someday!
My safari crew consisted of me,
Dorothy, Kayla, our friends Allie (from Boston), Brittany (from Chicago) and
Camilla (from Denmark) who are also volunteering in Jinja as well as two new
friends who we met at the hostel in Kampala- Lucy (from England) and Federica
(from Sicily). We traveled through a tour company called Kombi Nation Tours on
their “budget safari” option (I’ll explain the reasoning for the quotation
marks later). Early Friday morning our driver Isaac hurried the eight excited
girls into the van and we hit the road headed for Murchison Falls National
Park. The eight-hour ride to the park took far too long as we discovered when
the drive back was only about 6 hours because we used a different route.
When we arrived at the park, Isaac
spoke with the park rangers, popped up the roof of the van and we headed out
for our first game drive! We immediately spotted a few elephants grazing in a
grove of trees about 50 meters to the left of the road. Though they were kind of
far, I was just so thrilled to be on safari and actually in the same vicinity
as these amazing animals that I didn’t mind. Throughout the next two hours, we
spotted more elephants, a few giraffes, some deer-like creatures called Ugandan
kob, antelope-like creatures called Jackson’s heartbeasts (not sure about the
reasoning behind this strange name), buffalo, oribi and warthogs. Isaac would
stop whenever we saw an animal and we would all exclaim and giggle with
excitement while snapping tons of photos and trying to soak in the moment. The
highlight of this game drive for me was when we came upon two families of
elephants only maybe 15 meters from the road. We just starred in wonder for
probably 20 minutes as they grazed and the mother sprinkled dirt on her young.
At one point, we must have startled them because the mother, father and older
sibling of one of the families simultaneously turned outwards and formed a circle
around the youngest member in order to protect him from a threat coming from
any direction. It was so intriguing to be able to observe such raw animal
instincts coming into play from so close. As we made our way out of the park
towards Fort Murchison where we’d be staying we passed by a beautiful tree with
two crested cranes, the national symbol of Uganda, perched on top. Isaac
reversed so we could get a good look at them and as he did, the sun slowly peeked
through the dark storm clouds swelling around it and cast a fan of gold upon
the savanna. With this gesture I felt as though God was pouring his love into
the earth and enticing us all to soak it in and spread it around.
We were
definitely not roughin’ it at Fort Murchison. The property was right on the
Nile and we slept in two-person permanent tents complete with small porches,
tin rooves, bed nets, lamps and even electrical outlets. There was a bathhouse
with toilets and showers and incredible four-course dinners for $15 USD. On
Saturday morning, we woke early, ate another delicious meal and then learned
that Isaac is pretty much the only Ugandan I’ve met so far who does things on
time. He got upset with us for being 15 minutes late to the van (which is
considered early by most Ugandans’ standards) and we were shocked. He explained
that he’s so used to “mzungu time” (doing things at the previously-agreed-upon time)
because he’s worked as a guide for so long and he didn’t want us to miss seeing
lions because they hunt early and then hide in the shade.
Once
inside the park again, we picked up our guide Sarah. She’s Ugandan and has been
working as a park ranger for about 8 years. She was so enthusiastic and knowledgeable
and encouraged us to ask many questions. We learned lots of fun facts such as:
1) Ugandan kob do live in other countries in Africa, but they are known as
Ugandan kob everywhere 2) Male giraffes have black spots while females have
brown and 3) Lions usually eat one Ugandan kob per day. We saw all of the same
animals we’d seen the day before but the highlight of this game drive was
getting to see a lion! Sarah’s ranger friend called her saying he’d spotted a
lion and directed her towards it. Isaac drove like a madman and we found the
lion resting beneath a large bush, panting visibly. We stopped about 10 meters
away from him and just starred for several minutes as he licked his paws. Sarah
explained that he’d probably just finished hunting which was why he was so worn
out. It was definitely a surreal feeling to be so close to such a majestic
creature in the wild. I highly recommend it!
The rest of the day was spent
guarding our lunches from gluttonous baboons, eating lunch and riding on a boat
for three hours on the Nile. We got to see countless schools of hippos relaxing
in the water, a couple of crocodiles and many birds. The next morning, we
ferried to the other side of the park and drove to the top of Murchison Falls. The
falls are awesome because they are created as water flows through the narrowest
part of the Nile (about 7 meters wide) and crashes down 43 meters so the water
is moving extremely fast and you can always spot at least one rainbow
straddling the river.
I’m incredibly thankful to have
been able to go on safari and to have seen so much of Uganda along the way. I’ve
realized that a huge percentage of Ugandans from the south don’t ever get the
opportunity to visit Murchison Falls National Park or see some of the animals
that attract so many tourists to their country. I hope this will change in the
future!
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| Isaac! |
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| Finally made it to the park! (L-R: Kayla, Brittany, Lucy, Fedrica, Allie) |
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