My original intention had been to visit Queen Elizabeth National Park and see a little of southwest Uganda before returning to England but this did not prove to be easily achievable in the time available. Instead, I settled for Murchison Falls National Park, which is situated in the northern part of the Albertine Rift Valley, and I was heartened by the positive reports of animal sightings from Chloe and Rosie, who had been there a couple of weeks earlier. 

Three pop-top minibuses left the Red Chilli Hideaway at 7.30am, each with a slightly different itinerary.  The road between Kampala and Masindi was very good, which meant that the two dozen eggs sitting on the front passenger seat next to Sam our driver, remained intact. I spotted my first field of sunflowers. After just two brief stops we arrived at the entrance to the National Park at 1pm.   We then drove for a further one and a half hours to reach our destination.  Firstly, the track went through tropical rainforest and we spotted a couple of families of olive baboons that quickly ran into the undergrowth as we approached. However, we then came across a solitary male who was more than happy to pose for a photo.  We then moved into savannah woodland where families of warthogs were also reticent to stay around.

Despite the distances travelled, I have never been far from either Lake Victoria or the Victoria Nile during my entire time in Uganda and Kenya.  Murchison National Park is bisected by the Nile and at the top of Murchison Falls, the Nile forces its way through about a seven metre wide gap in the rocks and tumbles some forty three metres before flowing westwards into Lake Albert. We began by walking down to the river so affording us a view of both Murchison Falls and Uhuru Falls. Sir Samuel Baker named the falls after Sir Roderick Murchison, President of the Royal Geographical Society. It was a much shorter and potentially less arduous trek than the main descent to Sipi Falls but the heat was stifling and quite a contrast to the wonderfully temperate climate that is afforded to most of Uganda due to the country’s location on the East African Plateau. This time our guide was at pains to discourage the less fit from attempting the walk.  However, we set off at a modest speed and took advantage of any spot of shade available to pause and cool down a little.  Everybody was grateful for the roofed resting place on the way back up. We then headed for the viewpoint at the waterfall’s head where you truly experience the amazing power, roar and spray of the falls.

The Red Chilli Rest Camp, an unfenced site at Paraa (meaning ‘home of the hippo’ in the local Luo language) close to the southern bank of the Nile, was our base for two nights.  I had been rather looking forward to my very first camping experience but Chloe was insistent that it really couldn’t be called camping. I take her point.  Each spacious tent was equipped with two single beds and a bedside table.  However, it was less luxurious than having a banda. We were instructed to hand in all food on arrival as warthogs regularly roam the site.  They have a very good sense of smell and can easily become uninvited guests in the tents. 

We eat our evening meal in an open-sided, thatched roof building looking out on a campfire.  We were all in agreement that never had a cold shower felt so good after the heat of the afternoon. There were the three groups that had set off from Kampala plus a few other people in simple tents and everybody was very sociable. All my seven travelling companions from five different countries were either working or volunteering in Uganda with the exception of Corien, a Dutch woman and the only person remotely near my age, who had been visiting a cousin’s orphanage.  I discovered that a young American in one of the other groups was living about five minutes walk away from us in Jinja. 

It was another early departure the following morning. The rest site looked very pretty in the half-light with the tents arranged in an arc, each with its own little paraffin lamp. We drove the short distance to the vehicle ferry, which would take us across the Nile to the northern side of the park.  Fortunately, we were relatively near the front of the queue and we made it onto the 7am ferry as planned, having watched a beautiful sunrise. 

We were introduced to Janet our ranger for the morning.  We became aware of an olive baboon sitting watching us as we started to re-board the bus.  I was first in as I was seated directly behind the driver’s seat.  Before we could blink, the baboon had jumped through the window onto the front passenger seat.  I’m not quite sure where he was heading although he obviously sensed an opportunity for food, but fortunately, Janet was on his case immediately and he shot straight out through the driver’s window!

The open savannah is very beautiful indeed with the undulating landscape dotted with occasional trees and shrubs.  It has been a long held ambition of mine to see elephants in the wild.  However, I’ve always felt that organising a safari from England would be something of an indulgence and not very justifiable on environmental grounds. However, it felt a different matter supporting a national park in the country in which I had been so happily living and I was truly excited. It was not long before we were privileged to have one of many sightings of Rothschild’s giraffes.  We were able to stand on the seats of the pop-top minibus and literally lean out of the top. I couldn’t believe how close we were able to get to them. We were also treated to buffalos, Jackson’s hartebeest, Uganda kob, waterbucks, patas monkeys and a jackal.

We arrived at the Nile's entrance into Lake Albert where it forms a delta a mile or more wide.  In the distance we could see the Blue Mountains of the Democratic Republic of Congo.  We were treated to a delightfully tranquil scene.  There were numerous hippos lying down together in the shallows using each other as pillows. Some were partially visible all of the time, others only when they lifted their heads to breathe. Gloria and her friends only leave the water at night to graze.

There are lions and leopards in the park but we had already been warned by Janet that the bright moonlight from the previous night was likely to have ensured that the cats had had a successful night’s hunting and would now be resting well away from the road. I was fine about that. However, we had had only the briefest glimpse of three elephants far away on the horizon and I must confess that I felt very disappointed. I just hoped that the afternoon trip would prove more successful.

After lunch back at the camp we embarked on a trip to the base of Murchison Falls using a double-decker boat.  There is something very lovely about being on water. Our guide was rather more impressive than Janet had been in the morning and he identified the various birds that we passed on route including the red-throated bee-eater and the Goliath heron.  We were treated to the sight of many more hippos and buffalos. Murchison Falls looked quite breathtaking from this vantage point. Having passed a sausage tree, the fruits of which are much prized by elephants, I hoped that I might at last get to see these magnificent animals but it was not to be.

We sat under the stars chatting and trying our best to keep awake after supper but by 9pm several of us were ready to retire for the night. Having been told that there was a strong likelihood of meeting a warthog or Gloria the hippo if we took a stroll to the toilet block during the small hours, many of us had exerted very good bladder control the previous night. However, this time the call of nature was too strong and I ventured out of the tent.  I was suddenly aware of a snuffling noise but was frankly rather disappointed to discover that it was only snoring coming from the next-door tent. I don’t believe that there were any sightings of Gloria during our stay although we were told that she is a frequent nighttime visitor to the camp.

After a more leisurely start we retraced our steps back to the entrance of the national park.  We must have seen over one hundred baboons. However, Sam raced along and showed no intention of pausing even to admire some youngsters and everybody else looked as though they had ‘been there and done that’, whilst I still felt excited every time another animal appeared. When we were parked up at the entrance, we observed an altercation between a solitary baboon and a pair. It appeared to be largely bravado rather than serious intent.

Just past Masindi, we developed a flat tyre.  Sam quickly changed the wheel with the help of Sean.  However, it soon became apparent that all was still not well and we were relieved when Sam stopped again as the sound coming from the back of the vehicle was truly horrendous.  It transpired that the spare tyre was not new.  We had visions of spending hours in the middle of nowhere in the baking sun but, thankfully, there was a phone signal and another wheel was delivered really quite speedily.  In the meantime, I chatted to a young man named Emma, tending his beautiful herd of Ankole cattle in a field beside the road. It transpired that he is at secondary school and hopes to study law at university.

When we arrived at Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary there was no time for lunch and we headed off again in the minibus.  Both black and white rhinos had disappeared completely from Uganda by the early 1980s. A successful breeding programme has been running at Ziwa since 2005 and a twenty-four hour watch is kept over them.  The first rhino born at the sanctuary resulted from a union between a Kenyan male and an American female and so was named Obama.  The intention is eventually to release rhinos back into the national parks. The rhinos chill out in the shade during the day and eat at night.  Their heads are so heavy that they keep them down and tend only to eat the low grass. White rhinos are not as aggressive as the black rhinos and so we were able to approach them on foot.  Our guide helpfully explained the telltale signs of an irritated rhino.  If a rhino raises its head and coils its tail then you know that you could be in trouble. It normally gives you a second chance by stepping back having advanced forward.  This is likely to be repeated.  If you do not heed this second warning then it will probably kill you.  We were told that the best strategy is to climb a tree.  However, we were not convinced that any of the trees would withstand being lent forcibly against by a rhino.  The second best strategy is to run into a wooded area as the rhino is unlikely to follow you there.  The sanctuary seemed more like an orchard with no wooded areas in sight. Fortunately, the rhinos that we saw were all relaxing in the shade.  Having had one fatality, they have had to reduce the horns of the young males to prevent serious harm from fighting. One youngster was trying to rouse his mother but she would have none of it. The females stay with their mother until they are about six years old and the males can be as much as ten or eleven.  They can live into their forties and have up to six calves.  We were able to get within a few feet of several rhinos, which was wonderful.

After a late lunch it was time to set off back to Kampala.  The traffic was very busy but it gave an opportunity to view this fascinating city and its suburbs sprawled over numerous hills.  Some of it is very reminiscent of Jinja, other parts more like a modern city.

  

Having spent very little time in Kampala itself, I decided to take the shuttle bus from the Red Chilli Hideaway to Nakumatt Oasis Shopping Mall on my last morning in Uganda just as I had done when I first arrived in the country.  What a difference fourteen weeks can make!  I confidently navigated my way to the National Museum of Uganda with three Dutch travellers in tow before taking a boda boda across the city to the hillside Namirembe Cathedral.  I had to ask about five different people before I was finally given permission to look round the cathedral and my request seemed to meet with a little surprise but, eventually, I was provided with a short guided tour. Previous thatched versions of this Anglican Cathedral were destroyed by wind, termites and lightning.  The current red brick building has managed to stand for almost one hundred years and holds about three thousand people, less than the four thousand capacity of the earlier wind-wrecked cathedral.  There is a piece of stone in one of the walls, which comes from the roof above the high altar of its namesake, St Paul’s Cathedral in London following the 1941 bombing.  There is also a Cross of Nails from Coventry Cathedral and an organ constructed by an English builder.

It has always been fun trying to predict the path of the bodas in Jinja as they wind their way around the bumps and potholes.  However, I could not begin to anticipate our route as we wove in and out of the crazy traffic towards Parliamentary Avenue.  Boda drivers will do anything to avoid putting down their feet and in Kampala this clearly necessitates resorting to riding on the pavement every now and then.  Somehow it seemed a fitting end to my time in Uganda. There was just long enough for a quick visit to the African craft market and then it was back onto the shuttle bus.

One of the most rewarding aspects of my time in Uganda has been meeting so many friendly, interesting people.  Even as I sat drying off beside the pool at Red Chilli, I found myself having the most engaging conversation with a retired nursery head teacher who had spent three years volunteering in Papua New Guinea.  However, finally it was time to leave and I set off in a special hire to Entebbe with Lauren one of the American students that I had travelled with on safari. My journey ended with the cheery helpfulness that I had experienced from Ugandans throughout my stay. Lauren went off to check in and our driver wheeled my suitcase to a waiting area telling me that it would be too early for me to proceed and he then offered to look after my luggage if I needed to visit the toilet.

I was not ready to leave Uganda.