Rubbing shoulders with nature at Murchison Falls

One of my hobbies is travelling. I have not travelled vastly but my journey to Murchison Falls National Park, the biggest national park in Uganda recently is so far the most outstanding.
I had read and heard about the park during my school days but never had I visited it. My dream came true, thanks to the travel month team and Nile Breweries Limited that selected me among others. I was quiet for most of the seven-hour journey because I did not know my colleagues. Also, I love catching some sleep while travelling. I would wake up to listen to music off my phone, grab eats and stretch. The journey meant to last four hours took seven hours because of the many stopovers.

Arrival
Time check; 1pm, we were at the gate of the park for clearance. It took us about 30minutes to reach our destination. I learnt of different lodges in the park; such as Budongo Ecolodge, Pakuba Safari Lodge, Sambiya River Lodge and Chobe Safari Lodge which we were booked into. The same lodge Rapper Ye, aka, Kanye West and his wife Kim Kardashian chose to stay, a week after we had visited.
Warm welcome
We were handed a chilled glass of welcome juice before being ushered into our rooms. I was in a cabin made of tarpaulin a few metres away from the river. The veranda gave me a good view of the hippos and their sounds. From a distance, herds of elephants dived in the water as well.
After settling in for an hour, the staff called us for lunch and promised a nature walk at 5pm. I got excited because I got an ideal idea of National Geographic Channel which shows me the animals.

Nature walk
After my nap, I was ready. Robert Kakuru, a game ranger armed with a gun arrived. His rifle assured me of safety. He told us dos and don’ts of the park. Don’t talk on top of your voices becaue it will scare the animals, do not smoke,” among other rules before we set off. We started at the airstrip.
From a distance, we spotted some giraffes but my anxiety to get a closer look was cut short by Kakuru who first explained the type of giraffes in Uganda in detail. “Giraffes are some of the most peaceful animals on the planet. In Uganda, we have the Rothschild. The more a giraffe grows, the darker the patches of its skin get,” Kakuru said. We got slightly closer but they shied away.
We then spotted the warthogs and I learnt that they mind family security.
“Warthogs are so protective of their families in that when it is time to sleep, the mother lies on one end and so does the father on the other sleep end. In case of danger, the young ones are safe in the middle,” Kakuru explains adding that these animals are cannibals.
Ahead were some chimpanzees whose sight caused the females in our group to scream and Kakuru took us another direction deep in the forest. There were herds of buffalos.
“One buffalo weighs up to 700 kilogrammes but the most dangerous are the loners. The males fight for dominance, and as they age, they will distance themselves from the rest,” he explained. The herd kept going away as we approached.
Time was not our best ally and we were advised to head back to the lodge because the darker it became, the more insecure it was especially for us whose accommodation was at the bank of the river.

Back to the lodge
We were back at the lodge by 7p.m. and after informing us dinner was 30 minutes later, we were also advised not to trek back to our places of abode because the animals are at large during the night. After 9p.m. we spotted hippos browsing a few metres from the bonfire. We were assured of safety because they fear fire and we had guards surrounding us.
After some silent disco, we were driven back to the lodge in a van at 1am. It was a long night as I was often woken up by the animals noises especially the hippos which I thought had found their way into the room.

Adios
We had a sumptuous breakfast at 9am. Some of my peers chose to swim, others took photos while others played cards. We set off at 11am.

My lesson
“One buffalo weighs up to 700 kilogrammes but the more dangerous ones are the loners. The male fights for dominance and as it ages, it will distance itself from the herd,” Robert KAKURU, GAME RANGER