Fall(s)-out

4^th - 5^th April – Days 187-188 – Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda

Breakfast at the hotel, sadly no more Warrior Heart but instead mobilization out of Arua! We got tickets with (Lady) Gaagaa Bus and had time to wander around the block for an hour as well, during which we encountered a rather bizarre procession of East African Nubians (we didn't know such a group of Nubians existed) on one of the streets.

Ismael from Aru had told us Gaagaa was very reliable with its schedules and we can definitely second this. The bus was equipped with some super turbo jet engine and practically flew to Pakwach, a little town right outside the northern gate of Murchison Falls NP where we got off. In Pakwach we sat down at the Mango Tree Hotel for a beer and a chat with the locals about how best to get to the park where no public transport enters. We would have wanted to take a boda-boda but were unsure of if this would be allowed in a park with big animals and predators. As it happened, one of the guys who stopped at the hotel as well worked in the park and called up his park ranger friends to enquire whether we could be let in on a boda-boda. Nope it seemed, so we organized an expensive special-hire taxi instead.

M uses the time in Pakwach wisely to get up to date with scientific developments

Inside the park, we stayed at the Red Chilli campsite a stone's throw away from the park headquarters where there were a lot of other mzungus to chat and drink the evening away with. It felt refreshing to have full length pointless casual conversations with other travellers after a while of mostly being busy with the projects and the local people involved in those and conversing mostly about them as well. We also befriended one lovely and lively, not-so-mzungu family in particular: Angela and Derek with their three daughters had earlier lived in London but as Angela was half-Ugandan they had decided to move to Entebbe (by Lake Victoria) three years ago and would be setting up a hostel there in the near future. They were in the park with some of Derek's family who had come over for a visit.

Way too late and dark in the evening, we struggled to set up St. George after a long while, couldn't find a good spot for it and took time to clear thorns from the ground, bickered about the whole thing like an old married couple and tucked in semi-shaking in the cool night with our backs facing each other. We hadn't taken our sleeping bags thinking it would be warm enough to sleep without them, T couldn't find the sleeping bag liner from anywhere (which we had taken instead and packed in his bag) and we also didn't have enough clothing to cover up for the error in judgement in not packing the sleeping bags. T fell asleep within 30 minutes (not typical of him!) whereas I lay awake and rolled around and clattered my teeth until 5am cursing the whole camping experience to hell. I also thought about cancelling my intention to ever take part in the Amazing Race with T. In your mind it's so easy to blame other people for mistakes that are partly of your own, and ever so wonderful! Granted, not very fair.

Wake up was at 6.30am to go on a boat trip to see the Murchison Falls, the most powerful waterfall in the world. Needless to say, the morning continued in equally cool spirits as I was in a grumpy mood over the previous night for the first half of the boat trip. We had also received a text message from Tom in Nairobi overnight telling about his trip to Oman and hoping we hadn't killed each other yet, which I found to be greatly topical with its timing on this particular morning. Angela and Derek with the family were on the same boat with us and found my grumpiness understandable but rather amusing, which of course always helps me get rid of it quicker. On the way upstream to the falls we got to see plenty of hippos and crocs and some antelope and buffaloes as well, with a few birdies flying around from time to time too. The second half of the boat trip I slept, until we reached the falls.

A selection of the Albert Nile's friendly critters

The most powerful waterfall in the world...? Apparently so.

The boat cannot get all the way up to the actual cataract, so we stopped close to some rocks in the middle of the stream for some photos and then decided to go on a hike with Angela, Derek and the kids up to the top of the falls. The boat dropped us off on the shore and turned back as we walked up the path for a good half an hour, me and Angela watching out for snakes in all the trees and piles of rocks that we passed. We didn't see any snakes, only a few small lizards. Some of us, me included, had also not seen the sign at the bottom of the path saying that the hike costs U$10 per person so we were surprised to be charged at the top of the falls by the park rangers. Angela & Derek's driver had come up to meet us there to pick us up back to the campsite and he managed to talk the price down to half for us pair of mzungus as well.

After the successful climb, and before finding out about the $10

Back at the Chilli we had lunch and again had to weigh our options for transport, this time to get out of the park. We'd read from the Bible that there are usually some park vehicles going daily from/to the park on which you can hitch a lift for a fee so T trekked to ask the headquarters but everything had already gone for the day. We also asked at the Chilli reception if they knew of anyone of the guests leaving anymore on that day but no luck there either. Derek also asked his driver who comes to the park often and knows people who work there but he too said that everything had already left earlier.

Luckily an older mzungu (presumably British) gentleman overheard our discussion at the lunch table and approached us to offer his driver, who was free for the afternoon, to take us to Masindi, the first town south of the park, for an expensive (55€) but all in all fair price to be paid for a ride of roughly 100 kms on dirt roads, as the driver would of course also have to return to the park. It also seemed the only way out of the park for that day so we decided to take it, as overnighting for the second time would mean paying another park fee (U$30 per person per day), never mind freezing inside St. George again. Once in Masindi, we got very lucky and caught a bus to Kampala within 30 minutes from arriving there. Hotel Aponye welcomed us back with a smile and a cold beer later that evening.