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3 Days of Safari at Murchison Falls

Safari at Murchison Falls in January 
In January we visited Murchison falls national park for safari with Ike’s parents. It was quite a hike - a full 9 hour day in the car on marum roads plus a stop to visit dear friends in Hoima along the way. When we pulled up to the ferry boarding area and saw the Nile River rushing by, it made it all worth it. 




We stayed near the ferry which made for an easy drive to the lodge and a quick minute to change and make it to an outside dinner with muchomo (grilled/bbq meats) and a dessert table bigger than our entire kitchen in Bundi. 




We did a morning game drive and a night game drive both with a UWA guide who was AMAZING, named Sarah. Seriously a real gem. A beautiful thing about Ugandans is their intuitiveness - they notice the details, check in on your wellbeing and generally want to be great hosts. Many times I heard Sarah asking Ike’s mom “are you ok mommy?” And she genuinely wanted to know if she was ok after spending hours sitting in the same spot in the car gawking at big cats, elephants and giraffes. 







 


On BOTH the morning drive and night drive we saw lions eating their kill - Ugandan Kob. So primal (duh of course) and so interesting to watch. We were so close on the night drive that multiple times I saw one of the younger male lions look up at our guide Sarah on the roof of the car as if she was the next prey. 


Another must is the boat ride to the bottom of the falls - a guaranteed time to see animals coming to the water to drink in the afternoon. Hippos galore, elephants spraying themselves, crocs hiding in the shade along the shore line, so many birds. Worth it. And the breeze and cold drinks are nice too. 







Sadly there is rumor of Murchison park closing due to future plans for oil drilling. Below is the new bridge built to cross the Nile and truck our oil. This is heartbreaking for multiple reasons - where will the animals go if the park changes for drilling? Will they be protected? Will they have food? What happens to people who survive economically from the Safari business? And the bigger question - is it worth ruining the biggest national park in Uganda for oil drilling? Of course if I was the one profiting from that choice I would think harder about that answer but currently it’s an easy one. 

Ok and the last gem of the trip was seeing Rhinos at the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary on our way to Kampala to see the only rhinos in Uganda!  



This was a trip of a lifetime and was so fun and special to do it with Ike’s parents! 




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