By Hannah
Hello everyone greetings from Murchison Falls National Park. A special hello to Matt, Phoebe and Owen. Today we went on Safari and it is my pleasure to guide you through the best wildlife that Uganda has to offer. Veronique and I awoke (on time) and were greeted by the Batman aka Mike who heroically guided us through the frenzy of bats that were hovering outside.
We boarded the bus and were soon on our way skilfully guided by Simon who assured us we would see many animals but he couldn’t promise the cats. As we drove away from the Paraa lodge the landscape changed dramatically moving from Rainforest to Savannah grassland. In fact there are four distinct types of habitat in the park, Rainforest, Savannah Grassland, wetlands and some other place I can’t remember but it has palm trees and the elephants eat there (apologies to Louise and Andy).
Within minutes of beginning the drive we saw Hart Beast, Water Bucks and Cobs which along with the Crested Crane are the National Emblem of Uganda. It was incredible to see these beautiful animals up close. As we drove along the sun started to come up exactly on time as predicted by James who is totally at one with nature, even asking our bemused guide what the chances of seeing a polar bear were.
The next sight we beheld was a herd of buffalo, these magnificent beasts live in big herds with exception of the ones known as the Losers who have been cast adrift by the group with three options for the future 1) To be eaten by Lions, 2)being shot by poachers each one of us hoped such a fate does not befall us!!
Michelle took an amazing array of spectacular photographs, she does however seem to have an obsession with their backsides and on several occasions made Joseph back the bus up to ensure she got the perfect shot.
At this point I discovered an unhealthy obsession with warthogs firstly mistaking one for a lion, and then quizzing Simon on exactly how many species there were as they all looked different only to be told they were just different sexes and sizes.
As I| glanced out of the window I saw a large animal paw print on the road, Simon came to investigate and said it was a Leopard print. We were quite excited by this as we surmised that this was probably going to be closest we would come to a big cat. How wrong we were as we rounded the next corner Simon became very animated and shouted that there was a lion asleep on the road ahead.
What a glorious sight it was. A beautiful pregnant lioness stretched out on the road who was completely unphased by the clanks and creaks of Joseph’s bus. As we all vied for the title of amateur photographer of the year we noticed that Joseph was no longer on the bus. It is now apparent that Joseph fancies himself as a bit of a lion tamer. He had spied a second lion asleep under a bush and had gone to have a closer look. Simon did not seem overly bothered by Joseph’s absence and when Joseph returned to the bus he announced with a grin that the one under the bush was a “Big One”.
Next up on the animal viewing list were giraffes, monkeys, crested cranes, fish eagles the list of beautiful species all observed in their natural environment was quite incredible.
We returned to the hotel for breakfast, a swim, a sleep and lunch before boarding a boat for our second safari of the day which would take us down to the spectacular Murchison Falls. So far on the trip we have discovered that Yusuf has a fear of cats, water and pigs. We soon discovered that Crocodiles were another thing on this list, and unfortunately for Yusuf, there were very many to be seen along the banks of the Albert Nile and the skipper of the boat wanted us to get the best view even backing the boat up to the mouth of one. We also discovered that Graham, one of the more reserved members of the group is extremely allergic to small, loud and badly behaved children who are on boat trips. This affliction presents itself with an uncontrollable urge to throw said children overboard. Fortunately Michelle, our team Social Worker, was on hand to help Graham through this difficult time.
The sight of the Murchison Falls was quite simply magnificent.
As we made our way back to shore the hippos surrounded us on both sides diving and lolloping around. One particularly acrobatic one treated us to a display of synchronised swimming the like of which none of us had ever witnessed before.
We made our way back to Masindi and arrived at the Masindi Hotel where Katherine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart reportedly stayed during the making of African Queen. The Hotel is really beautiful and the service excellent.
Unfortunately there was some bad news for another member of the team this evening, Yusuf’s brother was injured in a road accident in Kampala. Our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family.
