Uganda Retrospective: Murchison Falls Game Park

Our two day Safari in Murchison Falls Game Reserve gave us a different experience to Serengeti and Ngorogoro back in October. Here are a selection of the best.

Palm Nut Vulture

Marabou Stork

Murchison Falls

Lesser Masked Weaver

Piapiac

Abyssinian Ground Hornbill

Abyssinian Ground Hornbill

Immature Crowned Eagle

Abdims Stork

Abdims Stork

Murchison Falls Uganda

Piapiac

Murchison

Abyssinian Ground Hornbill

White Stork

Weekly Photo Challenge: Water in Motion

Here is a submission to this week’s Weekly Photo Challenge: Motion. 

Waterfalls are amazing sites of nature. In Uganda we were able to visit both Sipi Falls and Murchison Falls.

 Murchison Falls

The Nile river flows into the Rift Valley through a gap of a few  metres wide creating dramatic motion.

Murchison Falls Uganda

Murchison Falls

 SIPI FALLS

Sipi Falls is actually three separate water falls collecting water from Mount Elgon – the water will eventually flow into the Nile. We walked from the 2nd to the 3rd and back to the 1st. The last fall on our walk was the most dramatic.

Sipi Falls

Sipi Falls

Sipi Falls are a one and a half hour journey by taxi from Mbale and well worth a visit if your here or even if you’re not. We left early at 8:30am which was definitely the best time to go -of which more later.There are three falls in total and courtesy of a Mbale expat we met in Endiros yesterday I pass on this tip. Drive up to Sipi Falls Lodge and obtain a guide there (you definitely need a guide). The main reason is that the best view of the Middle of the falls is from the Lodge grounds.Our guide was Martin a Sipi local who  was very knowledgeable. We started at the middle of the three falls before ascending to the top falls and descending to the lowest fall – better that way as you do two shorter ascents and a descent rather than descending first and doing a long ascent (people often run out of steam apparently). The other advantage is that this way each successive fall is more impressive than the last. 

Fall two is impressive enough though at 58m.       

The view looking back was also impressive.  

 

We continued our ascent to the top falls which are 88m high. As we ascended it started to rain.
Having got to the top and admired this fall. 

 

 We descended along muddy paths – it was more Slippy Falls than Sipi Falls at this point and we were glad of our walking boots and poles to help us. Amazingly our guide did the whole walk with no poles and ordinary shoes. 

We arrived at the viewpoint for the lower fall (100m high).  

   

We chose not to to the bottom and we’re glad as the rain began to torrent down at this point making any descent treacherous. Even our ascent was troublesome but we made it back in one piece, if a little wet. 

We had preordered lunch from the lodge which was very welcome. As we ate the rain bucketed down for a while. This gave a chance to relax and strike up a conversation with a couple (she Swedish, he South African) both with an NGO background. She currently in Congo, he studying in London, on holiday together in Uganda (quite a separation most of the time). We had a good chat about all things African (his PHD is based around South Sudan where he had been posted, the second person in a week we had met who was / is based in that country). One of the best things about this break has been the chats with folk we have met – this will be another blog post I think.
A fabulous day in Sipi – I can heartily recommend it.

Murchison Falls

today we returned to the nNile for the third day running. This time though we were a lot further North in a place called Murchison Falls.  Here the River Nile rushes through a gap only a few metres wide with awesome power. If we though yesterday Rapids were wild this is on a completely different scale. No iPhone pics again as mine ran out of juice, but Anita took one pic on hers do here it is. 

 

We stayed for many minutes before continuing our journey through the game park. Here along the Nile we encountered a variety of beasts, giraffe, buffalo, elephants, lions hartebeest, cob, bushbuck, ground hornbills, warthogs sand many more pics of some will come soon. The highlight of the game drive had to be a mother lioness and cubs hiding in a bush. 

If you had said Nile to me before I would have thought Egypt, but now Uganda has an equal claim in my mind.

East Africa Bucket List

T Minus 140

In just 20 weeks we leave for Africa and whilst there is still a lot to do here I have started to look at what awaits. Today is the start of the Easter Holidays in the UK. The school days at Isamilo will be long but the holiday periods will be longer than in the UK. Whilst I know that  I will devote some of that time to the usual marking, planning and preparation that makes up the teaching life there will be time and hopefully money to travel.

Many years ago I said to Anita that for my 50th Birthday, I’d like to take a balloon flight over the Serengeti – the proximity of the wildlife park and the date of my birthday ( I will be 50 whilst in Tanzania) makes this a definite reality.

Here is a ‘bucket list’ of things I’d like to do.