On January 3^rd, 2008 the Molcjans (that’s us) headed out on our first safari. We had been waiting for our son Matt to arrive for Christmas so we could share the experience together. We chose the shortest and therefore least expensive safari which is 3 days and 2 nights and although there are 4 or 5 different parks to see animals in Uganda, we chose Murchison Falls National Park. Why? Because it has “the cats”, lions and leopards, and Matt has always loved “the cats”.

 

We were picked up at 8am Thursday morning in a 4 wheel drive safari van by our driver and guide, Nasser. Once we had manoeuvred all the way across the crowded city of Kampala, we drove about 3 hours northwest on really good paved roads. The views were amazing, huge hills and valleys of trees, plants, flowers and farming fields of tea, coffee, sugarcane and corn. All of a sudden, the pavement ended and we started a 4 hour journey of internal organ shaking and dust eating on bumpy, potholed dirt and gravel roads.  There was so much dust coming into the van that by the time we got there, we all had orange hair, orange clothes and skin that looked like we used that rub-on fake tanning lotion.  

 

We finally arrived at the gates of Murchison Falls National Park and assumed that it wouldn’t be long now to see the falls or get to the lodge. Wrong! The park is 3840 square kilometres, it is BIG and the falls and lodge were at least another hour inside the gates. The drive inside the park was great though, we started seeing animals right away, lots of baboons, colobus monkeys, warthogs (to which we all said “Pumba” and our guide Nasser replied “yes” – turns out Pumba is Swahili for warthog), African cobs (they look similar to our deer), waterbucks, birds, and antelopes. Murchison Falls National Park has 76 mammal species and over 450 bird species.

 

We made a stop at the top of Murchison Falls which were beautiful and powerful as the wide Nile river funnels through a narrow cleft in the Rift Valley Escarpment. Back on the road, it took about half an hour to get to the ferry that we would have to take across the Nile to reach the Paraa Safari Lodge at which point you are very close to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

 

Paraa Lodge was beautiful, a long two story building made of mostly natural materials set up high on the northern bank of the Nile River. It was reconstructed in 1997 over the shell of the original lodge built in 1959 but destroyed by fire in 1988. There were lots of big lounge areas with comfortable lodgey furniture, (I realize that isn’t a word – but that’s what it was), large old maps and sketches of explorers like Livingston, big old trunks and suitcases, fireplaces and accessories like old typewriters and vintage safari hats. You get the picture. All of the rooms had a big balcony or porch overlooking the Nile and there was a nice big freeform pool to cool off in. Three buffet meals were included each day as well as afternoon tea and treats. As we arrived fairly late in the day, we showered off all of the orange dust, went for a swim to unwind and ate dinner which doesn’t start until 7:30pm each night. Regarding the food, it was certainly plentiful and was a mix of Ugandan, Indian, and European which meant for some interesting items but I imagine it is hard to please people from all ends of the earth at one time.

 

Friday morning, after a big breakfast, we met Nasser in the lobby at 8am and went down to the dock where the ferry comes in. There were two boats available for the morning Nile cruise, a big two-story one and a smaller one with only about 20 seats, almost like a big canopy covered canoe with a motor. We were so glad to be on the smaller one, it was able to get right into where the animals were without scaring them and was easier for everyone to see and take pictures without people in your way. We really didn’t expect to see so much wildlife on a boat ride, but it was amazing. We must have been right along side at least 200 hundred hippos, and saw lots of crocs, elephant, water buffalo, warthogs, monkeys, waterbucks, impala at the water’s edge. We also went to the bottom of Murchison Falls and saw the water crashing down. The boat portion of the safari was about 3 hours long. 

 

Lunch was next, then swimming and relaxing by the pool for the hot portion of the day when all the animals are hiding in the shade and napping. Matt decided to make his way down to the Nile through the brush and trees to see what he could spot. He climbed a tree and spied on a hippo family and some warthogs and came face to face with a buffalo on the way back. Good thing he scared them as much as they scared him.

 

At 4pm we met Nasser and Simon, a guide that works right in the park, for our game drive. The top of the van went up so we could stand and off we went. I can’t tell you how cool it was to see so many giraffes eating leaves and walking around in their home. We saw tons of other animals, forest fires, watering holes, beautiful plants, and the highlight: the lion. Simon, our park ranger guide, used his years of experience and clues on the ground to track the lion down for us, I was amazed that he found one; you couldn’t see it lying in the tall yellow grass until we were right there. The leopards eluded us, they hadn’t been seen for a while since it is mating season for them and they aren’t hanging in the trees as usual but are down in the deep grass.

 

Saturday morning, we had our breakfast and a quick swim before heading home at around 10am. Since we arrived after lunch on our first day, Paraa lodge gave us all a boxed lunch to eat on the way home which was fun, especially for Olivia who enjoyed opening up all the small surprise packages of food in her box. We got a sandwich, a piece of fried chicken, an apple, some watermelon, some pineapple, a tomato and a mango juice. As usual at the end of a trip, the ride home seemed never ending but our van had nearly totally clear roads because of the major fuel shortage in Uganda due to the crisis in Kenya, Uganda trucks it in from there; Nasser had brought enough fuel in a huge gas can for our trip home.

 

Our safari was amazing, we are so glad we were able to go on one while in Uganda. Tim wants to go back to do some fishing on the Nile at Murchison Falls, it is the best spot in Uganda for catching huge Nile perch. At a recent tournament, someone caught one that weighed 84 kg and was over 6 feet long. I’m not ready to do the long drive again yet, but I am ready to check out another closer park in the southwest, somewhere with zebras, maybe when my mom and dad come in March???? Please click on the youtube link for a video of our safari. I must warn you that some of the footage moves quickly along with the boat or van, you may want to take a gravol first.