The next day we had a relaxing morning, taking a short walk down to the river (watching out for crocodiles!) and scanning the river for hippos and other wildlife. A Goliath Heron stalked on the opposite river bank and an African Darter floated by, trying to swallow a fish it had impaled on its bill. Just as we returned from our walk we saw our first ELEPHANT of the trip, meandering through the marsh on the opposite side.
After lunch we re-entered the park and drove to the launch where boats cross the river (there’s a ferry but no bridge) and go to the waterfalls for which the park is named. We arrived about a half hour early so we waited in some shade and watched a Cape Buffalo across the water. As the scheduled departure time approached, the boats of a couple other tour companies took off, but we noticed that our boat was on the other side. They finally launched, but started going upstream with no sign of coming to get us! Jess was frustrated, because we had made reservations, paid for the ride, and the company had assured us that they picked up passengers on our south side of the river. Chris, our driver, made urgent phone calls to the hotel associated with the boat, but it still didn’t turn and we were all a bit perturbed as it was our only planned activity of the day. Fortunately, a British gentleman training some park guards in how to do monitoring on a motorboat overheard our plight, grabbed some lifejackets, and zoomed us across the river to join the cruise where they had stopped to look at hippos. The quick-acting captain works for the Uganda Conservation Fund, so we told him that we would tell all our friends and relatives- if you’d like to make a gift in appreciation or just learn more, visit their website)
The tour on the double-decker pontoon boat was spectacular and a nice break from our previous days of long car rides. We saw dozens of buffalo and waterbucks, warthogs and elephants, lots more snorting hippos and enormous, gaping crocodiles. It’s hard to imagine, but our guide, Amon, told us that in the dry season, there are even more animals down at the edge for a drink. Jess and Andrew chatted with Amon, who turned out to be a big fan of birds- he showed us African Fish Eagles and several types of kingfishers, rare Rock Pratincoles and a cliff where hundreds of Red-Throated Bee-Eaters had carved nesting cavities. The trip was capped off with a view of the raging, misty Murchison Falls, formed where the Nile drops through a narrow gorge.
We stayed for a few minutes before turning back for the port as sunset approached. Jess and Andrew took advantage of the hot showers and we continued our strategy of splitting 3 meals between the four of us, which was still too much food (apparently they think all visitors can eat a huge amount). After putting Denise and Nana to bed with the sounds of distant hippos and not-so-distant Vervet Monkeys, we hiked back to the campsite. When it started raining at 1am we moved the whole tent and suspect rainfly to the bathroom, where we slept soundly for the rest of the night.
This Fall, Jess (Abwooli) and Andrew (Araali) are living and working in Kibale National Park, in western Uganda. The hilly landscape is overlaid with a patchwork of communities, wild and wonderful, human and otherwise. To help understand how the park affects local livelihoods, we are working in four communities bordering the park to measure how land-use by farmers and crop-raiding by wildlife has changed over the past 20 years since Jess's advisor did her PhD here. This blog is meant as a way to help us document our thoughts and experiences, and hopefully will allow our friends, relatives, and colleagues to share our glimpses of this part of the world. Thanks for reading and let us know your thoughts!