On Thursday evening as Kim was tucking Ben into bed, she asked him what animals he was excited about seeing on our safari weekend. A hippo or elephant, she mentioned, to which he agreed, but then also exclaimed excitedly, “A duck?!” What a child of Africa! I’ll take his country’s animals any day over our common place ducks! So while we didn’t quite see any ducks, though there were birds a plenty, our trip up to Murchison Falls proved to be quite enchanting, especially for a safari freshman like myself!
On Friday morning, Kim, David, Ben and I packed up the car and then drove around town a bit stocking up on some essential supplies: food and drinks for the long car ride (it turned out to be very long!) and more importantly, malaria medication! I had not been taking any malaria meds because my doctor in New York told me that I would be there too long for taking the pills to be particularly safe, effective, and practical, not to mention pricey. However, this view is quite controversial, and definitely not common in the US, where they tend to overmedicate rather than undermedicate! I have a treatment pack that I can use should I start to feel the symptoms: high fever, night sweats, generally flu-like condition, which usually appear 10-12 days after one has been infected.
The problem with malaria I am beginning to realize more and more is that there is currently no “right” answer. There are many conflicting viewpoints, research, instructions, etc. Stories range from teachers saying they are staying home because they are sick with malaria (although they most likely just have the flu) to a college student from the UK who returned home after spending a semester in Uganda and began to feel very sick. She dragged herself to several doctors requesting to be tested for and treated for malaria, but all the doctors (less familiar with its symptoms) shrugged off her concerns. She died days later, too weak to insist on proper treatment. But I writing this not to instill panic (Mom, that means you!), but to demonstrate how it really is a case of many unknowns about the best way protect oneself. Malaria is usually spread by mosquitoes from dawn to dusk, and mainly ones that live inside (hence the need for mosquito nets), but as we were venturing to a more risky area, we were in search of some prophylactics. Kim made five phone calls to four different pharmacies and to her friend who is a world renowned malaria expert and received five different answers—not to mention the advice she had received days earlier from her colleague that Murchison Falls was no more risky any area than Kampala (I believe the malaria expert confirmed this to be false). In any case, we spent much of the day stopping at various pharmacies, both in Kampala and en route to Murchison to make sure the meds and dosage were correct and that they were okay for little Ben, etc. It was all slightly unnerving. And there were more nerves to come…
I will admit to a rather weak driving stomach, although by the time I leave here, it will certainly have been toughened up—there’s really no choice in that mater. The roads were bumpy, and the taxis and boda bodas chase each other. When we made it out of the city around midday to the outskirts and country roads, we hit some uneven dirt road, but also many nicely new paved ones. We passed some of the Rwenzori mountain range, and through the towns of Hoima and Masindi, and by 6pm, we were nearing Murchison Falls National Park, and that’s where things got rough. We stopped to pay the entrance fee, and then sped off in search of our lodge. And there we passed my first encounter with African wildlife (aside from the street goats, sheep and cows!), there were baboons and monkeys crossing our dirt road as we bumped along. I let out squeals of glee (really) to the amusement of Kim and David. But soon the sun had set, and the sky was a quickly deepening blue black, and we were driving down a single lane road with 6 foot grasses on either side. And that’s when the roads got bad. There has been much flooding, and the soft clay soil has little hold, and so the road had a huge ridge and then a sunken ditch with lots of variations and divots and huge potholes thrown in. As we drove past small huddles of mud huts and shacks, as people continued to point us on towards our Nile Safari Lodge, I felt my heart start to sink and my distrusting New Yorker self emerge—these people were leading us astray. But luckily, I was in the wrong, and we finally emerged out of the tall grasses at the entrance to the lodge just around 8pm. After a nice dinner with the other car full of friends who had arrived only a couple of hours earlier, we headed to our cabins and mosquito nets to crash for the evening—especially seeing as the lights went out at the camp at 10:30.
We had planned to awake at 5:30 to leave for an extra early game drive the following morning, but mother nature had other plans for us. There was a torrential downpour throughout the night, and a terrific crash of thunder that work me at 4am. I thought, oh this will pass and it will be fine by morning, which in one sense turned out to be true (the rain tapered off) but in another sense was very wrong. Four of us took off with a driver in a 4-wheel drive Prado at 6:30am in hopes of catching a 7am ferry to the north bank of the Nile and then driving around seeing game for a few hours before returning for an afternoon boat ride that had already been scheduled. Unfortunately, the roads were a complete disaster. There were two roads out of the camp, and the one we took was quite insane—it was in fact the same one we had driven in on (the cause of my previous terror) but now like a giant, heaving slip-n-slide, although that makes it sound run and I wasn’t really. Fifteen minutes later, just as one girl, Cecil was telling a story of how her family drove a 2-wheel drive Chrysler and how it got stuck, when exactly at that moment we got, yep, STUCK. It was not pretty. It was still drizzling, and we leapt out of the car and tried pushing, no luck, then we shoved rotting sugar cane stumps from the neighboring fields under the tires for an attempt at traction—still nothing. Don’t panic yet. Some local villagers were asked to come help, and soon we had nearly 20 observers marveling, chuckling, and trying to alleviate the mess that these muzungus had gotten themselves into. But it was no use—even with some 7 or 8 people pushing, that car would not budge. It was now essentially resting on the mound of thick, wet clay, and the wheels spun helplessly. Two hours later, after Dan and Paul had taught some local children a winning variation of ”Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” among other selections, men from our lodge finally appeared with a lifter (sorry, I’m not good on this technical stuff) and lifted the vehicle to freedom, but we were not making out game drive. Ah well, they’ll be others I hope. So we made the best of it, and headed back for a cup of tea and a swim in the lovely pool overlooking the Nile.
The day turned out to be beautiful and sunny, and after a three course lunch of fried tilapia, we packed our bags for our second –well, now first—adventure of the day. We had a private large motored canoe with seats for 14 people for our party of 9, similar to the one I had taken on Lake Victoria. The three hour journey was fabulous. We traveled up to Murchinson Falls and back. And oh my the animals we saw! First there were hippos, from afar, and then our driver sped us closer and closer, until they would sink under water and seem to be swimming, moving their hulking grey bodies towards our boat with impressive speed. There were clumps of 5-20 of them in the water along the grasses of the Nile, and a few sunbathing, including a mother and baby who wandered into the water. Next, and most thrilling for me, came the elephants—a whole herd of them, enormous yet so graceful, flapping their ears and rolling and unrolling their trunks. There were even two babies among the group that trudged to the water’s edge for a cool drink in the hot sun. Then there were wildebeast, warthogs (Pumba!), Ugandan cob (sort of deer/gazelle-like), lots of birds (finches, fisheagles, and brightly colored parrots of brilliant shades of orange, yellow, green and blue), and humongous crocodiles. There were half a dozen of them (each about 30-feet long!) shading themselves under a canopy of trees by the water’s edge, and then an equal number lounging in the shallow water. They did not look friendly.
Then we rounded a bend and the falls came into view—as did the thunderous sound. Our boat lodged on a rock at the closest permissible point and we posed for pictures and opened another beer, etc. The falls are beyond impressive: it is the single most powerful natural water body on Earth. Masses of water are hurled through a gap that is just 7m wide at its narrowest point. It is awe-inspiring. The journey back was filled with more animal spottings, although even I grew surprisingly snobby, and only hippos that were doing something our of the ordinary still elicited my oohs and aahs. We docks back at our lodge and headed to the pool again for a brief swim before another three-course meal. Exhausted from a loooong and eventful day, we all headed to bed early.
On Sunday morning, we packed up and drove up to Murchison Falls, to walk near the top of the Falls. This is no American Park—there are some railings, but not many, and with slippery rocks and crashing water, our group tread carefully. The powerful waterfall sent spray in every direction, soaking us as we posed for pictures and took in the spectacle. Then it was time to pile back in the car for another long, bumpy drive home to Kampala—one that was worth it without a doubt.
I took hundreds of photos that I'd love to share, but of course, have successfully loaded not one as of now. I'm working on this, and will make my blog much prettier as soon as possible! Goodnight!
On Friday morning, Kim, David, Ben and I packed up the car and then drove around town a bit stocking up on some essential supplies: food and drinks for the long car ride (it turned out to be very long!) and more importantly, malaria medication! I had not been taking any malaria meds because my doctor in New York told me that I would be there too long for taking the pills to be particularly safe, effective, and practical, not to mention pricey. However, this view is quite controversial, and definitely not common in the US, where they tend to overmedicate rather than undermedicate! I have a treatment pack that I can use should I start to feel the symptoms: high fever, night sweats, generally flu-like condition, which usually appear 10-12 days after one has been infected.
The problem with malaria I am beginning to realize more and more is that there is currently no “right” answer. There are many conflicting viewpoints, research, instructions, etc. Stories range from teachers saying they are staying home because they are sick with malaria (although they most likely just have the flu) to a college student from the UK who returned home after spending a semester in Uganda and began to feel very sick. She dragged herself to several doctors requesting to be tested for and treated for malaria, but all the doctors (less familiar with its symptoms) shrugged off her concerns. She died days later, too weak to insist on proper treatment. But I writing this not to instill panic (Mom, that means you!), but to demonstrate how it really is a case of many unknowns about the best way protect oneself. Malaria is usually spread by mosquitoes from dawn to dusk, and mainly ones that live inside (hence the need for mosquito nets), but as we were venturing to a more risky area, we were in search of some prophylactics. Kim made five phone calls to four different pharmacies and to her friend who is a world renowned malaria expert and received five different answers—not to mention the advice she had received days earlier from her colleague that Murchison Falls was no more risky any area than Kampala (I believe the malaria expert confirmed this to be false). In any case, we spent much of the day stopping at various pharmacies, both in Kampala and en route to Murchison to make sure the meds and dosage were correct and that they were okay for little Ben, etc. It was all slightly unnerving. And there were more nerves to come…
I will admit to a rather weak driving stomach, although by the time I leave here, it will certainly have been toughened up—there’s really no choice in that mater. The roads were bumpy, and the taxis and boda bodas chase each other. When we made it out of the city around midday to the outskirts and country roads, we hit some uneven dirt road, but also many nicely new paved ones. We passed some of the Rwenzori mountain range, and through the towns of Hoima and Masindi, and by 6pm, we were nearing Murchison Falls National Park, and that’s where things got rough. We stopped to pay the entrance fee, and then sped off in search of our lodge. And there we passed my first encounter with African wildlife (aside from the street goats, sheep and cows!), there were baboons and monkeys crossing our dirt road as we bumped along. I let out squeals of glee (really) to the amusement of Kim and David. But soon the sun had set, and the sky was a quickly deepening blue black, and we were driving down a single lane road with 6 foot grasses on either side. And that’s when the roads got bad. There has been much flooding, and the soft clay soil has little hold, and so the road had a huge ridge and then a sunken ditch with lots of variations and divots and huge potholes thrown in. As we drove past small huddles of mud huts and shacks, as people continued to point us on towards our Nile Safari Lodge, I felt my heart start to sink and my distrusting New Yorker self emerge—these people were leading us astray. But luckily, I was in the wrong, and we finally emerged out of the tall grasses at the entrance to the lodge just around 8pm. After a nice dinner with the other car full of friends who had arrived only a couple of hours earlier, we headed to our cabins and mosquito nets to crash for the evening—especially seeing as the lights went out at the camp at 10:30.
We had planned to awake at 5:30 to leave for an extra early game drive the following morning, but mother nature had other plans for us. There was a torrential downpour throughout the night, and a terrific crash of thunder that work me at 4am. I thought, oh this will pass and it will be fine by morning, which in one sense turned out to be true (the rain tapered off) but in another sense was very wrong. Four of us took off with a driver in a 4-wheel drive Prado at 6:30am in hopes of catching a 7am ferry to the north bank of the Nile and then driving around seeing game for a few hours before returning for an afternoon boat ride that had already been scheduled. Unfortunately, the roads were a complete disaster. There were two roads out of the camp, and the one we took was quite insane—it was in fact the same one we had driven in on (the cause of my previous terror) but now like a giant, heaving slip-n-slide, although that makes it sound run and I wasn’t really. Fifteen minutes later, just as one girl, Cecil was telling a story of how her family drove a 2-wheel drive Chrysler and how it got stuck, when exactly at that moment we got, yep, STUCK. It was not pretty. It was still drizzling, and we leapt out of the car and tried pushing, no luck, then we shoved rotting sugar cane stumps from the neighboring fields under the tires for an attempt at traction—still nothing. Don’t panic yet. Some local villagers were asked to come help, and soon we had nearly 20 observers marveling, chuckling, and trying to alleviate the mess that these muzungus had gotten themselves into. But it was no use—even with some 7 or 8 people pushing, that car would not budge. It was now essentially resting on the mound of thick, wet clay, and the wheels spun helplessly. Two hours later, after Dan and Paul had taught some local children a winning variation of ”Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” among other selections, men from our lodge finally appeared with a lifter (sorry, I’m not good on this technical stuff) and lifted the vehicle to freedom, but we were not making out game drive. Ah well, they’ll be others I hope. So we made the best of it, and headed back for a cup of tea and a swim in the lovely pool overlooking the Nile.
The day turned out to be beautiful and sunny, and after a three course lunch of fried tilapia, we packed our bags for our second –well, now first—adventure of the day. We had a private large motored canoe with seats for 14 people for our party of 9, similar to the one I had taken on Lake Victoria. The three hour journey was fabulous. We traveled up to Murchinson Falls and back. And oh my the animals we saw! First there were hippos, from afar, and then our driver sped us closer and closer, until they would sink under water and seem to be swimming, moving their hulking grey bodies towards our boat with impressive speed. There were clumps of 5-20 of them in the water along the grasses of the Nile, and a few sunbathing, including a mother and baby who wandered into the water. Next, and most thrilling for me, came the elephants—a whole herd of them, enormous yet so graceful, flapping their ears and rolling and unrolling their trunks. There were even two babies among the group that trudged to the water’s edge for a cool drink in the hot sun. Then there were wildebeast, warthogs (Pumba!), Ugandan cob (sort of deer/gazelle-like), lots of birds (finches, fisheagles, and brightly colored parrots of brilliant shades of orange, yellow, green and blue), and humongous crocodiles. There were half a dozen of them (each about 30-feet long!) shading themselves under a canopy of trees by the water’s edge, and then an equal number lounging in the shallow water. They did not look friendly.
Then we rounded a bend and the falls came into view—as did the thunderous sound. Our boat lodged on a rock at the closest permissible point and we posed for pictures and opened another beer, etc. The falls are beyond impressive: it is the single most powerful natural water body on Earth. Masses of water are hurled through a gap that is just 7m wide at its narrowest point. It is awe-inspiring. The journey back was filled with more animal spottings, although even I grew surprisingly snobby, and only hippos that were doing something our of the ordinary still elicited my oohs and aahs. We docks back at our lodge and headed to the pool again for a brief swim before another three-course meal. Exhausted from a loooong and eventful day, we all headed to bed early.
On Sunday morning, we packed up and drove up to Murchison Falls, to walk near the top of the Falls. This is no American Park—there are some railings, but not many, and with slippery rocks and crashing water, our group tread carefully. The powerful waterfall sent spray in every direction, soaking us as we posed for pictures and took in the spectacle. Then it was time to pile back in the car for another long, bumpy drive home to Kampala—one that was worth it without a doubt.
I took hundreds of photos that I'd love to share, but of course, have successfully loaded not one as of now. I'm working on this, and will make my blog much prettier as soon as possible! Goodnight!
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