Monday morning we headed out from Gulu to our meet up point with the safari drivers. In one van Annette was riding along and shared about her garden and the types of plants she is growing and interested in growing. Deb was able to negotiate a change in our original safari date, allowing us to start earlier and avoid the 6 hour drive home from Gulu and a return trip north the following day. We are so thankful she was able to do this as it saved us MANY hours riding in the vans. It's always amazing to me how we can sleep in the vans all day and still be so tired when we arrive, but it never fails. For those of you with maps of Uganda handy, tracking our movements, we made the van switch at Karuma. Our safari drivers were Ronnie and Vincent.
We were able to get into the park the earliest ever! Since we were coming from Karuma, Tim talked our guides into avoiding an hour drive around to the normal park entrance, plus an additional hour drive from the gate to Red Chilli's. We ate at a fancy safari rest camp, Pakuba. It had the best bathrooms! I realize this doesn't sound like a big deal, but in Africa the bathroom situation is always a point of interest. At the lunch stop, we picked up a park ranger guide, Sam. We saw many animals Monday. I'm sure I will leave some out, but the sightings included: elephants, cape buffalo, warthogs, Ugandan Kob (a variety of antelope), Arribi (look like little Bambies), giraffes, water bok (similar to a small elk), Jackson heartabeast (we have previously refered to this as a hortelope looking like a cross between a horse and an antelope), the official bird of Uganda a crested crane, Guinea fowl, several types of birds, and... LIONS! A lot of the animals I named are frequent sights throughout the park. We love seeing them and stop to take many pictures. However, the lions are no guarantee. There have been multiple safari trips where no lions were found. Even more, we saw a whole pride minus the adult males. When there are young cubs around, often the male lions are kept at a distance. They have been known to play too rough and it can be dangerous for the cubs.
Safari is an amazing opportunity. The experience of standing on the floor or seats to peer out the top of the vehicle is difficult to describe with words. You can see God's beautiful creation for miles and miles. Feeling the wind in your face and breathing in deep the fresh air while capturing sight of animals in their natural habitat that we have only seen in a zoo, is awe inspiring. I think the group would agree that it becomes a spiritual experience. And, it's fun and relaxing. Sometimes I don't realize how much our experiences, the difference in cultures, being with a group constantly (albeit a great group) can weigh on me. We enjoy the experiences we are having and are deeply thankful to be here. Once given the opportunity to rest and get rejuvenated, that weight comes into our consciousness. Safari is a place where we are tourists among tourists. We don't get stares and shouts of "Muzungu!" as we drive past. Again I want to emphasize that these are not complaints, just truths of where we have been and the replenishment we are able to receive during this time.
After our first big game drive, we took the ferry across the Nile to the other side of the park where Red Chilli's is located. We put in our dinner order - there are typically 3 choices: a beef, a chicken, and a vegetarian option, then went to check out our bandas. You say band-uh, I say bond-uh. We don't really know. After eating, we headed to our rooms. If we were smart, we fell asleep early. Some of us are smarter than others. A few (they might be part of the late night crew who roped in some additional friends) stayed up way too late, but were thankful for the bonding time.
Tuesday morning was an early rise to ensure we would catch the first ferry across at 7:00 am. We left Red Chilli at about 6:20 with a packed breakfast. Angie, Michaela, Laura, and Emily sat at a picnic table by the Nile river drinking tea and watching the sun rise. Naturally, the story of Moses being placed in the river came up and we started to discuss different theories of his time spent in the Nile River. Emily piped in, "Oh wow! I didn't know Moses's story!" thinking we were talking about our driver Moses.
We ate a delicious buffet lunch at Paraa lodge. This was another first experience for even the veterans. When we arrived we enjoyed a beverage in the lounge while we waited for the buffet to be ready. Denise was excited for brewed coffee that was available. Instant coffee is quite prevalent where we have been in Uganda. We had a beautiful view of the river where we could enjoy a breeze and reprieve from the heat.
Immediately after lunch we were shuttled to our Nile River cruise with Wild Frontier. This has always been an enjoyable experience in the past, just that it can be very hot. Once again, we received an upgrade! We were surprised with a little boat that provided a private tour for just our group. Each person had a seat to himself and with the size of the boat we were able to get very close to the shore and see many animal activities. Lambert and Chris were our guides and they did a splendid job! Up close we saw hippos, baboons, crocodiles, elephants - a whole family with a teeny tiny little baby, and many birds: king fisher, red throated bee eater, fish eagle, black winged red bishop, cattle egret, Egyptian geese, "snake bird" African darter, black heron, white headed vulture, and probably a few more. We really liked seeing the birds! When I say up close, I mean so close that sometimes you didn't need the zoom on your phone camera. It was awesome! We passed an elephant on an island between the banks. When he started to swim to shore, Lambert says, "I think we need to go there," and he turned us around to go back. Caleb was able to drive the boat, operating both the wheel and throttle. These are not things that happen when you are on a big cruise boat. The boat takes us up to the beautiful falls. Murchison Falls is the most powerful waterfall in the world. 300 cubic meters of water per second go through the falls. Niagara is the 2nd most powerful; it is much bigger and more spread out which gives Murchison more power through the narrow area the water is pushed. On Wednesday we were driven to the top of the falls on our way out of the park. We were glad to be there so early because of the heat and because we were the only ones up there! We climbed around the rocks and up a small trail for a full view of the falls. Angie shared experiencing the power and promise of the falls. How water is a source of life, but there is also a healthy fear of the powerfulness shown in the falls. There was a beautiful full rainbow present in the mist created by the falls. We were so grateful for these experiences.
Rewind to Tuesday evening after our river cruise. We were back at Red Chilli's by 5:00 and had plenty of time to relax, nap, enjoy the scenery, journal, and have dinner. Several of us stuck by the lodge where there was a little campfire. I don't think I have mentioned the stars! Because we are in places with not a lot of electricity available, the view of the stars is tremendous. While at the campfire of 10 people - only 3 were not from our group, we overheard someone mention the Midwest. Would you guess? We were in the company of another Hoosier, a man from Huntertown just north of Fort Wayne. What a small world! Throughout the safari days, Emily went on and on about how cute the warthogs were and how they really just wanted hugs. She preached this, but when we walked back to our banda and stumbled upon a family of warthogs grazing by the path, her response was not to hug them. Instead she screamed and ran away. It was really funny to watch, and a little terrifying. The dad Pumba did not like how close we were so we ventured off path.
Wednesday was yet another travel day for us. We had to be out of the park by the same time we had entered on Monday. So after a brief yet wonderful stop at the top of the falls, we returned to the vans for another 6 hour drive back to Kampala. Ronnie and our group had different ideas of stopping for snacks, and we endured what seemed to be an endless amount of gas station stops finally getting a good pace for the rest of the trip home. Dinner was ready for us shortly after getting back to the Stevenson's. We went around the table sharing about our favorite safari animals. Tim shared some safari stories and children's stories about how some animals came to be. We joke with Tim to share only the good stories - he seems to share a lot of stories that end with people dying. These were all good stories!
Thank you for the prayers while we were on safari! Please continue to pray for us as we wrap up our time here. We are starting to long for home.
Uganda Team 2018
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