Safari--Murchison Falls

Our HELP group has slowly dwindled (because the other volunteers left after wave one to go home and work) down to four girls and Brad (my co-director). Us girls decided that we couldn't leave Africa without going on a safari. So, Friday morning we headed out to Murchison Falls National Park.

Here we are super chipper, make-up less, and totally unaware of the thirteen hour car ride ahead of us.

We left in the morning and ended up driving through some pretty crazy terrain. Seven hours of stop and go traffic, and then three hours of dirty roads... with very big potholes. Needless to say by the time we arrived at Yabo base camp we were ready to go to bed. We got out of the car and were immediately informed that someone would have to stay by themselves in a banda because the other banda only had three beds. First, you might be asking… what is a Banda?A banda is a mud house. Covered in straw.

This is the nice version of a banda. 

 I obligingly took the banda with only one bed because what’s more appealing than sleeping all alone in the middle of Africa in a dirt hut filled with lizards and mosquitoes? Also it was really dark. And there was no running water. This was Africa in its truest form. I was too tired to be scared or really think about it. Ultimately I actually really loved the experience. Waking up at 5 am to bird chirping and the sound of the Nile behind me? Classic. 

We headed out super early and pulled up to the gate around 7 am. There were some friendly baboons there to greet us. 

The next step was to take a bigger boat (with our car on the boat) across the Nile. We checked out the globe while we waited and I had a little bit of a nostalgic moment for Nicaragua.

Eventually we crossed over and headed on out. After even ten minutes we had already seen at least ten different animals. 

An hour in to our game drive we had yet to see any lions or elephants. We did come across a fresh kill (sorry if this makes you queasy). Our guide got out to inspect and apparently it was only a few hours old. Lion hunt in the morning or late at night, and this one had only been hungry enough to take the back leg. 

Halfway through we pulled up to the Nile and took a break next to the hippos. At one point Stephanie decided to move a little closer to get a better picture. The school of hippos were lopping all over each other. As Steph moved closer one of them took note and moved up... setting off a chain reaction. All at once around 15 hippos went a little crazy. Good thing we were far away eh? Hippos are angry lil guys and were moaning and groaning all over the place. Also did you know they are vegetarians? They don't eat humans (if they ever kill them). They just crush them if they feel threatened. Yikes. 

Eventually the tour ended. I had tried not to keep my hopes up before and after the tour, but I was pretty disappointed that we hadn't seen any elephants. Elephants are my favorite animal. My spirit animal is an elephant. I wont go on any more about how much I love them. BUT I REALLY REALLY WANTED TO SEE AN ELEPHANT. 

Anyways we pulled back up to cross over the Nile and I gave up hope. Until I got out of the car and saw one emerging from the trees. People were walking over to take pictures and see it. The elephant got scared and retreated into the forest. I was trying really hard not to look like the desperate tourist that I am, but I walked realllly quickly over to were I saw it walking away. Our guide encouraged us to go over and see if we could get a better view, so as everyone walked away we stuck around. I walked about 100 yards into the thicket and there it was... with it's baby right behind it. Elephants are super matriarchal/protective so I didn't try and get any closer than that. It walked back to its baby and I stood and watched as they ate. It looked over few times to make sure we were not coming any closer. Looking back on it now I can see how it was probably pretty stupid that we got that close. Especially once we saw that it had a baby. I don't understand how the park rangers just let us go in and see it... but they did. And it was one of my ultimate coolest moments. Especially being able to watch it in its natural habitat? Sheesh I still can't get over it.

Later that afternoon we took a boat tour along the Nile. We ended up seeing an entire family! We also saw a billion baby crocodiles (which was adorable) and a milllllion hippos. Also water buffalo, warthos, and antelope out the wazoo. All while floating down the worlds most famous river.

The best day ? 

Yes. 

We made up for our awesome day by spending 18 hours the next day driving. With a combined total of four popped tires, one dead battery, and one giant hippo that almost killed our car. But that's for a different blog post. Needless to say I'm back in Mbale with only three weeks left until I head out. Life is good.

-Rachel