One of the things that I wanted to do during my stay here in Uganda is to go on safari. I mean, what person doesn't immediately think of safari when they hear the word Africa? I had my chance these past three days and I have to say, it wasn't what I expected, but it was pretty amazing. There was a team travelling here from Alaska that had set up the safari trip in Murchisson Falls and I was able to hop in the back of the bus and travel along with them.
So bright and early at 5 AM on Monday morning we left on our little expedition in this city tour bus that was made in China, as told by the lettering on the door, with Muslim symbols on the back window and a Ugandan driver. The floor was caked in dirt, the windows were falling out, and the seats in the back were broken and fell over after the first two minutes of driving (with someone in them). I'm just saying, this was one classy ride. Didn't matter though, cause we were going on safari! so I settle down in my seat, all excited to go on this adventure, and smile the whole way through the first ten minutes of the bumpiest ride I have ever been on. You know when you are on a roller coaster and you come up to the big drop and the cars are making their way up the track to the top and the whole way your body is bouncing and you are just waiting to fall down? Well, multiply that by ten and then add a team of ten Alaskans plus a New Hope staff family and their two toddlers and one blonde california girl. The whole time I could just hear the thunder mountain voice asking me to hold onto my hat cause that there was the wildest ride in the wilderness. of course, i couldn't share this with anyone since no one had been to disneyland enough to know what i was talking about.
Anyways... after traveling for six hours we made it to the lodge in one piece, praise God, and were ready for some safari action. We went on a game drive that afternoon in our rickety old bus with this awesome guide we hired from the lodge. He took us around the Murchisson Falls game reserve and we got to see lots of antelope, water buffalo, giraffes and even two lions, something that is rarely seen. Pretty awesome. We also saw some smaller animals like a gila monster and two porcupines, something i didn't even know they had in africa. All the animals were amazing to see in the wild, especially the giraffes. Watching them run is unreal. You'd think they'd be these awkward gangly things when they tried to run with those long legs and neck, but instead they are incredibly graceful and somehow beautiful as they move. Another cool thing to see were the lions. We saw one male and one female together relaxing in the grass and at first you are like "wow, it's a lion!" but then when they don't move at all and could care less that you are ten feet away in an enormous bus your excitment starts to leave and you wonder if they are even alive. Well, I'm sitting next to our guide and his rifle and thinking that there is a reason that he is required to bring his gun along. So I start asking him if lions ever charge the vehicles and he replies yes. to which i respond by asking why the lions would charge and he said if the people make too much noise and disturb the lions. So, just as anyone else would do, i ask him not to make too much noise, but maybe just a little noise just to make sure the lions aren't dead or something. He laughs and then starts banging on the side of the bus which makes the lions jump up and the older Alaskans scream a bit, first at the guide and then at me. But, they soon stopped screaming since we got to see the lions move around, yawn, and then lay right back down. good times. but it was pretty cool.
While we were on the game drive there were elephants at our hotel, one of the only animals we didn't get to see that day. we found this out during dinner and were told that they were just up the road a little ways, but it was too dark to see them as we were driving in. After hearing this one of the alaskan guys and myself decided we'd just walk out to the front of the hotel and see if we could see anything. But here's the thing, when the sun goes down here and there is no moon out it is black outside and you can't see anything, your hands, your feet, your shoes, everything just blends in with the night. we had two small flashlights with us that gave off barely any light, just enough to light the path by our feet. When I realized we weren't going to see anything I mentioned to Jonathan that we should probably go in and that it wasn't safe outside in the dark with elephants roaming around, but as I'm saying this to him I'm following him up the road because when is the next time that i can just walk right up to an elephant? About two seconds later this guy that works at the lodge pulls up in our jeep, tells us how foolish we are for walking around at night with elephants and hippos nearby, and then tells us to hop in. He then drives us 30 seconds up the road to where six elephants, two moms, two babies, and two full grown, were hanging out and eating. It was amazing. The size of them in unreal, they dwarfed the ten foot palm trees they were eating. Then, as we are watching the elephants leave, we turn the corner and see three hippos walking along in the grass! Can you imagine? Definitely a cool moment. Pretty nice of that guy to take us up there, don't you think?
The next morning we were supposed to go on another game drive but it had poured the night before and the roads were too muddy for our bus to make the trip. Instead, myself and Chris, who was another Alaskan guy, went exploring down the road towards the nile river. we found a path along the river and started walking, knowing that it was foolish since there was a chance that we would come upon a hippo, but all the while hoping that we would run into a hippo. Sure enough, after ten minutes or so of walking, out pops this hippo in the grass 15 feet from where we were walking. Chris sees him first and turns and sprints back the way we came while i stood there frozen watching him sprint and the hippo stare. Then, amazingly, the hippo just turns around and starts walking the other direction while chris is still sprinting and screaming back at me asking if the hippo is chasing him. All I could do was laugh, and I kept laughing till I was crying.
Later that afternoon we went on a boat ride on the nile where we saw lots of antelope, water buffalo, hippos, and crocodiles. We actually got close enough to the crocodiles that they jumped into the water and swam right next to us, pretty awesome. We also got to see the falls from a distance, which was cool.
We left for home the next day. It was a pretty amazing trip. This weekend I'm going to Jinja with Monique to go white water rafting in the nile. I was starting to feel a little homesick over here so I'm thinking a little excursion on the nile might be the cure i need. There's also some bungee jumping with ankle harnesses that could also be a solid possibility, we'll see...
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