Crazymalc on Safari
30th December 2006
On the days just prior to Christmas, I headed off to the Murchison
Falls National Park with Lee and Mama
Lee. I couldn't really afford to do this*,
but I figured that I can't spend nine months in Africa and not see an
elephant...
Murchison Falls National Park is in the northwest corner of Uganda
and borders Gulu, which in turn borders the infamous Kitgum.
So, if you headed much further north than Murchison, you'd be right in
the thick of things as far as the war torn north goes. The LRA (Lords
Resistance Army) rebels used to come right down into the
park and slaughter the odd elephant or two and sell the ivory to fund
its operations, and truth be told, a few Ugandan Army grunts did the
same thing masquerading as the LRA.
 We
were joined on the trip by a Slovenian girl, a
Polish girl and three Acholi boys**.
The Acholi boys all came from the Acholi tribe (duh),
which is located in the northern areas of Uganda. They have all
since relocated elsewhere.
Now this is going to sound a bit odd, but despite the beautiful
scenery and all the very cool animals, the thing I most enjoyed
about the trip was talking to the other tourists and the Acholi
boys in particular. It might be that there weren't any real
stories about this trip (we weren't charged by hippos and no elephants
threatened to pick us up), or it might be that I am just so interested
about learning about the Acholi people and the troubles they face
in the north.
I am learning so much at the moment - I seem
to be forever chatting with Rose
at my new residence and other Acholi
people I have met, but the more I tend to learn, the more ignorant I
feel.
Back to the Trip
We organised the trip through the Red Chili, a popular Mzunugu
(white person) hang out in Kampala. We paid them $US150 and everything
else was paid for except the food. Not bad for a three day trip
safari trip. We stayed at a backpacker type place just inside the
park.
I stayed in a one of the very comfy tents
complete with bed.
The coolest thing about the campsite was the
wildlife that wandered around. There were the butt-ugly marabou
stalks, the mildly cool warthogs and the
super cool hippos. That's right, hippos were wandering
around the campsite.
Now I've read books, some of
them didn't even have pictures, and they tell me that the hippo is the
most dangerous land mammal in Africa. It kills a lot more people
than the other animals that you might expect like the lion or the
alligator. The hippo can run faster than you can and gets very
territorial and tends to trample people who get between it and the
water. But there was one at the campsite nevertheless... One
girl screamed when she saw it and the rest of us stared at it from a
safe distance. The camp people said six meters was a safe enough
distance, but there was no way I was getting that close to the
thing. It was huge. A serious chunk of animal flesh. Unfortunately,
it was too dark to take a picture and there was no way I was to going to
get close enough to use my camera's flash...
Safari
The first day of the safari proper saw us clamber into an
open-topped van that allowed silly tourists to
poke their camera out of and taken photos of various animals.
Now this where the whole
write-up gets a little slow. Sure there were plenty of elephants,
giraffes, water buffalo
and antelopes of various types. They
were cool, but they didn't do anything for me to write a story
about. I guess if I was more poetic I could wax lyrically about
their beauty, and throw in words like grandiose, majestic and
wonderment, but I just aint that good a writer.
I am faced with a similar
problem for day two of the safari, where we all climbed onto a boat
and headed up the Nile to Murchison Falls itself. Sure, we saw a
ton of hippos (well, more like a ton of tons of
hippo...), numerous hard-to-photograph alligators
and this brute of an elephant on the shores,
but I just can't capture their grace in words. Maybe I should try rhyme:
Take a look at the
Hippopotamus,
See how smooth and round
his bottom is.
The Falls
Our last day was spent visiting the Murchison Falls
itself. At one point the entire might of the Nile was channeled
through a very narrow opening to create a very violent waterfall.
A lot of rain in recent years has created a second waterfall where the
Nile gets channeled through.
What has important to me
though was the posey pictures that I posed for, which can be found here
and here.
And that's a wrap!
A enjoyable trip with Lee and Mama Lee. Lots cool animals no
doubt, but I think I am always going to prefer trips like this.
* Well, I
couldn't afford it at all really.
** Now doesn't that
sound like the start of a bad joke
 |
Do you like the work that I am doing?
Wanna help in a real and tangible way?
Then visit GrassRootsUganda.com
and purchase some crafts made by Ugandan ladies. 100% of the profits
are returned to the ladies |
Questions? Comments? Try contacting
me.
Wanna receive an email whenever this site gets updated? Click here.
(c)
2005, 2006 and 2007 Malcolm Trevena.
All the stuff on this site is written by me, Malcolm Trevena. Feel free to
link to this page. Heck, you can even copy stuff from here if you
want. Just make sure you sight me as a reference.
|
