Hippos go "munch!" in the night...

Sorry for the long gap in posts!

After leaving an orthopaedic packed three days in Gulu, I drove with Dr. Kisige to Masindi where I was going to do my first tourist activity since arriving in Uganda!

In Masindi, a small town which serves as the fork between the Northeastern and Northwestern parts of the country, was fairly sleepy on a Saturday at noon. It was therefore easy to spot which van was the one I would be joining, the only one which unloaded a half dozen Mazungos for lunch. After finishing my meal with Dr. Kisige, I went to meet my group. I had managed to join a tour of Murchison Falls National Park which was being run out of a Kampala Hostel called Red Chilli Hideaway. My new group of seven consisted of Jeff and Nicki, an American-British couple who met in Croatia while traveling four years ago. They have spent the last three years working for the Abu Dabhi  Media Company in the UAE, and have just quit their jobs but will trek across East Africa before going home for Christmas. Hadar and Yoav are honeymooning in Uganda and Tanzania from Israel. Michael and Seb are two loners like myself, who nonetheless became good friends by the end of the trip, bonding in Russian.

The first day, Saturday, we "hiked" leisurely to the top of Murchison Falls. The Nile coming from Lake Victoria eventually narrows and splits into two waterfalls, Murchison and the local word for "freedom". Although not quite as impressive as Victoria Falls, you still get sufficiently doused in river water when standing at the closest lookouts to the falls. The cool shower is particularly welcome, as this part of the country hosts less and rain and rather constant 30 degree temperatures. A photograph of me at this point will come later courtesy of Jeff who had a waterproof camera. These photos do not do the falls justice, but imagine how the Nile here suddenly converges from 50m to 6m and drops down a rock face into a rift valley. It's quite intimidating from up close!

Proof I am actually in Uganda!

The "Freedom" Falls on the left, and Murchison on the right.

The Nile pouring into its 6m crevasse, from atop.

By supper time and before sunset, were back at the Red Chilli Rest Camp in Paraa on the south bank of the Nile. Cold showers were all we had, but were agreeably refreshing. I think had been spoiled up to now, but I was shocked at the price of food here. Had I known, I would have brought groceries! However, we had been warned that any food items MUST be removed from the tents and brought to the bar. The sneaky warthogs and baboons were well known for breaking into the safari tents in hunt of food. One warthog even walked its way into Nicki's tent while she was sorting fresh laundry!!

I didn't get one of these guys in the camp's garbage, but the ones in the savanna are nicer anyhow.

Although they mentioned hippos also come out to graze at night, they did not mention how close. My first night was disrupted by the heat, then by the heavy rains at 4 am, and then by loud snorting, huffing and munching sounds. Something was chomping on the grass alongside my tent at 445am. I was hoping it was a warthog, but as I lay perfectly still moving only my eyes, I saw a large shadow forming on the right side of my tent. The shadow covered the entire 5ft by 8 ft side of my tent as it took a few more steps forward. I had come to realise a hippo had decided on my plot of grass for its early morning meal. Afraid of disturbing it, I think I held my breath until it eventually walked away. I even turned my phone off so the alarm had no chance of going off and spooking it. It may have been only 10 minutes of grazing, but it felt like an hour.

A sly hippo - it had its eyes on me the whole time!

The next day on our game drive I learned that the hippos are nocturnal and come out to graze at night. They will walk up to 5km radii to find scrumptious grass. I guess my tent was within 5 km of the river bank. The second night, poor Nicki and Jeff had the same experience as me. Our tents were only 15m apart, but it seems I slept through round 2. Thankfully!

Sunday was a long day of trying to find the "Big 5" - Elephants, buffaloes, lions, leopards and rhinos.  Our three hour game drive was rather fruitless. The rains from the night before had slightly cooled the environment and so many of the animals stayed deep in the forest and the high grasslands. The rains also mangled the roads, making the entire drive like a game of vertical bumper cars. On top of that, we didn't see a single cat - just lion tracks in the mud! Luckily, I have seen them in a previous trip to Namibia and wasn't too heartbroken.  The rhinos were poached to extinction in the 60s, and I would be seeing them in a Sanctuary the next day as they prepare to reintroduce them in the wild. Buffaloes however were abundant. As were antelope, large fishing birds, and giraffes. We spent 45minutes tracking one elephant.When we eventually found him, we headed back for lunch.

Our 4x4 mini-bus which driver Moses managed to keep from getting bogged in the mud. The Germans has a similar vehicle, but got out to push at least twice.

This young lady posed like a model. Her right ear is tagged as she was injured and required veterinary care. She seemed to be walking fine today.

A large herd of buffalo in the background

A lone bachelor with his wee bird companion to eat the ticks of his back!

The afternoon consisted of a boat launch down the river to the base of the falls. The guide we had was great and the animals had finally come out to play! We saw at least 6 elephants, one of whom took a lengthy bath right next to us. Notice the water coming from his trunk and then his wet back on the next photo. This male was considered to be in his 30s or 40s. Most elephants can live to 80-100 years. The females remain with their young, while the males roam independently. We saw plenty more buffaloes, tons of hippos, some crocs who refused to be photographed, and more birds including brightly colored kingfishers, red-throated bee eaters, cranes and herons. The view of the falls from here was a quite at distance as the current still roars hundreds of meters away. On the way back we rode on top of the boat's roof for elevated, unobstructed views.

Bath time!

After the bath, our gentleman walks away flapping his ears - another way elephants cool themselves off.

Murchison at a distance

Nicki and I on top of the boat

The next morning we left Red Chilli to return to Kampala by way of the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary.  As mentioned, since the rhinos were extinct donor funding has allowed for the 24/7 ranger-patrolled secure area to reintroduce rhinos to Uganda. Currently there are nine rhinos. There are two black rhino males from Kenya. There are 6 white rhinos, the more docile only grass eating type, made up of 1 male and three females and three babies all between 1 year and 14 months old. Two adults are from Kenya and two were donated from a zoo in Orlando, FL.  Each adult rhino has two rangers assigned to it 24/7 as well. The babies stay with the mom for years. They even feed on mom's milk until 2 or 3 years old. Once weaned, the females can carry again for another 16 month pregnancy. Once there are approximately 30 rhinos, they will attempt reintroducing them to Murchison Park. They are expecting 4 more rhinos to come from South Africa in the next few months.

So at this sanctuary, one drives out as close as possible to where the rhinos are, and then walk the rest of the way. Luckily rhinos are nocturnal and sleep most of the day. We came upon Bella and her son Augusto within 30minutes, the others were deep in the reserve. The mother and son were dozing lazily under shrubs. As they were calm, we were able to get as close as 10meters to them. It was surreal.

Bella dozing...

On that note, I too will go off for my nap! This week is business as the College of Surgeons of Eastern, Central and Southern Africa meets in Kampala. I will be hanging around to try and get a few more interviews. I am also trying to meet with a customs representative and some ministry of health workers this week too. I am staying with Dr. Sekimpi once again. His wife will have her baby possibly before I leave, which would be exciting! Friday I move back into a hotel as Nathan (finally!) arrives, concluding most of the business part of my trip and starting a little R&R as I muddle over the data I collected this past month.

Wishing you all the best and looking forward to seeing you in a few weeks!
Maryse
xox