Murchison Falls

WARNING:  This will be the longest blog post EVER!!  So grab a glass of water (enjoy your tap water-- I miss it), maybe a banana or apple for nourishment, put some comfy pants on and cuddle in to read about my amazing weekend in Murchison!  ENJOY!

          Thursday morning, bright and early, I headed back up to Gulu on the Post Bus!  (Quick side: the Post Bus leaves every day, except Sunday, to locations all over Uganda.  It is a coach bus and carries all the mail- pretty sweet combo!  It cost me 16,000 shillings to get up to Gulu, about $8.  It makes stops at all the post offices between here and Gulu, but it’s not that bad.  Takes about 6 hours). 

          Anyways, so I went up to Gulu to spend a weekend with my Gulu Gurls and then hit up Murchison Falls too!  Thursday we went directly to the market to the tailor that we had seen before.  This time I came prepared with my fabric and all I can say is that I got some pretty sweet stuff and had a ball shopping there!  The place is called Mama Lucy’s Friendship Shop and I quickly became best friends with all the ladies!  I’m also their biggest marketer, as we brought all the rest of the Gulu Gurls there and (I’m a bit ashamed to admit it) I knew all the prices and info so I was basically a saleswoman! HAHA!  I should ask for a commission!  J  Anyways, the ladies were wicked nice and they had some wonderful fabrics and made great little purses, etc!  Loads of fun!

          Friday we hung out at the orphanage where Kathleen and Crevi stay.  We made some chipati (see last post) and just chilled!  It was really relaxing and very enjoyable to just hang out with my ladies!  Also, Friday night Stephen came by!  Stephen is the driver at the orphanage and is the one who took us to Murchison Falls.  He’s 23 (turning 24 this week) and is the nicest, funniest guy ever!  We were chatting on Friday and I told him I didn’t have an Acholi name…so he named me!  It’s always fun to ask for names and see what people give you!  Well, Stephen asked me about me.  I didn’t know where to start, except at the beginning.  “Well…I was born on August 30^th, 1989 at 12:06 PM and I peed on the way to the scale.”  Haha, he zeroed right in on the 12:06 PM part and suggested ‘Aceng” which means ‘sunny’ because I was born during the day!  And that’s my name! 

          Saturday morning, we woke up at 4:45AM and Stephen was promptly there by 5AM.  There are two Italians ladies working at the orphanage for this month.  Marcella and Julia just graduated from university (engineering) and had a month off before starting their jobs, so they decided to come to Gulu and work at St. Judes’.  And then I went with Ashley, who is originally from S California and now goes to school at Smith in Northampton!  So off the five of us go in Pumba, the truck! 

          We were treated to quite the sunrise on the way there!  I really enjoy sunrises, I’m just never normally up for them, so when I do get to see one I’m always excited!!  We drove for about 1 ½ before getting to the Murchison Falls gate.  When we finally got in, we had to go to their little welcome center: this tiny, tiny little building with one desk, two chairs and some posters.  It was about $25 to get into the park for one night (with a student ID) and we had to pay for the car to come in too.  Then we were off!  

          We drove for awhile through the park.  On this drive we saw lots of Ugandan cobhs, the buffalo thingy (haha, that’s horrible- I should really investigate the actual name), and some giraffes!  “giraffe” in Acholi is REEEEEEEEEEEEEE…and I think when you pronounce it you just have to sing it!  REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!  Also, warthog in Acholi is ‘cool’ (I’m not sure if that is how you spell it, but tha’ts how you pronounce it).  Hippos are “raaa”.  So with our Acholi language skills, we headed off!

          Now as we’re driving along, I notice that there is a bird in all of my pictures, righ tin the same spot.  Never a good sign as it definitely wasn’t a bird but rather a spot showing up on my pictures.  I quickly freaked out and then checked my lenses (nope), chip (nope), battery (nope), and tried to blow at any dust possible.  Nothing worked.  At this point, I’m freaking out and getting so upset that as soon as I get into the park my Nikon poops out on me!  Ugh. So I broke down and texted Dad with a “Camera 911” text.  He ended up calling me (at like 1AM their time) and we chatted for a bit.  He suggested it was on the mirror, talked me through my little mini-operation, and sure enough, there was a speck of something on the mirror that effortlessly left with a tiny blow.  And then…I was back in business!!!!  I can’t describe my relief at having that damn spot gone!!!!

          So then we crossed over the Nile River on a ferry, drove a couple of minutes to the Red Chili Rest Spot and checked into our guest house.  We chilled for a bit and then headed back to the water to schedule a boat tour for the afternoon.  But…they were all booked.  BAMBIIIII.  We tried to get a private hire, but they wanted $200- AYE!  WE go back and forth and then finally finagle a private hire for $125 in a small boat for that afternoon.  Fine. We pay up and get ready to go.  Then they said we were actually going out on the medium sized boat because a group of five were going to join us.  Sweet.  So we load up and leave….but we don’t pick anyone up!  I guess they decided not to come and we got the medium boat for a small boat price and had the whole thing to ourselves!!!!  Life was good!!  

          The boat tour was AMAZING!  Probably one of my favorite activities in Uganda so far! We cruised along and saw a lot of the buffalo (they’re so funny looking) and tons of hippos (go GW!).  Probably five or ten minutes into our little boat cruise, we stumbled upon our first herd of elephants!!  WOW!  It was so cool!!!  Before I left, Mom and I were looking through pictures of Uganda, specifically elephants, and she simply said, “I can’t wait to see your first picture of an elephant!”  So I felt the pressure to take a sweet picture as we approached the elephants!!  Now my first picture isn’t the best- but I got a TON of elephant pictures and some of them are sooo cool!  The elephants were one of my favorites through the whole journey!!  We watched our first group for about 15 minutes as they made their way down to the river to drink.  Watching them drink was SO cool!  They SLURRRRRRP water up with their trunks and then put it into their mouths and then repeat.  And boy, they are noisy drinkers!!!  There were also a couple of babies in this group and they were SO cute…but unfortunately, I don’t think they would fit in my carry-on!  L

          Off we go again!  More hippos and buffalo and we even saw some baby crocodiles.  Then one of my favorite moments…as we were coming up to this cliff our guide told us: “Now this is a geographical feature we call a cliff.”  No joke.  Quintessential Ugandan statement!  I loved it!  But on the cliff there were all these beautiful birds and it was fun to spot them!

          Then we came up to the Falls themselves!!  Gorgeous!  We got out and took some pictures on these rocks and then our guide decided he would take us even closer, something they don’t normally do.  So we loaded back up and took off.  The currents were really strong and it was pretty fun going against them!  We stopped and watched the falls a bit and then headed on back!  We saw even more hippos, elephants, buffalo, birds, etc!  Overall, quite the amazing trip and totally worth all of the money!!!!!

          We had a quick lunch and then headed back in the truck for the top of the falls.  It was about an hour drive away and we cruised along!  We saw a big iguana and a couple of buffalo on the drive.  When we got to the Falls, we wandered around and just took it all in.  It was spectacular!!  We had a quick photo-shoot and then packed up Pumba and headed out!

          Saturday night, we had a quick dinner and then quickly went back to bed!  Ashley and I sadly discovered bedbugs in our bed and not wanting to risk an infestation, chose to sleep in the little living room on these two rickety chairs and the tiniest sofa ever!!  Needless to say, we didn’t sleep very well!  In fact, I woke up in around 1130 and just turned to Ashley, yelled ‘Holy shit.  Stay calm. But the ceiling is covered in bugs!”  I was having one of those half awake/ half asleep nightmares and could literally see all the bugs, which weren’t even there!!  Kind of funny…total TIA (this is Africa) moment!

          Sunday morning bright and early we picked up our breakfasts, loaded up Pumba and headed out!  We got on the second ferry crossing and then drove on through the park.  Us four ladies were in the back while Stephen drove and off we went looking for animals!  First, we saw a huge pack of giraffes!  Such graceful but funny creatures!!!  Then we headed on and as we were cruising, I noticed two lions!!!  I’m still pretty impressed that I spotted them in the tall grass!  We backed up and they started to leave, but I got a couple quick pics and then off we went again! We saw so many buffalo, giraffes, warthogs, cobhs and antelopes  (I get them all confused) and even saw one more lion!  All in all, a pretty successful hour and a half long game drive!!  It was fun standing in the back of the truck and I rode that way for pretty much the whole ride home! 

          We got back for lunch on Sunday and then I wandered through the market.  Went back to Mama Lucy’s to pick up my stuff and had a fun time chatting with Esther there!  Then Cait, Julie and I took our laptops to this hotel where they have good internet and I got to briefly chat with the fam back home: Mom, Meagan, Dad, Monica, Mike, Sheila and MAME!!!  While the connection or something wasn’t perfect…I got to see all their faces and it was SO nice!!  When I went to pay, the guy asked me if I was talking with my family because I was so happy and he figured I must be chatting with them!  He hit the nail on the head!!  And I was super happy! 

          The internet connection died, so Dad called me a bit later to finish up our chat.  As I was sitting in this outdoor restaurant, these three young guys walk in, one by one, each holding one ceramic Ugandan cobh statue.  Holy buckets- I almost died laughing!!!!   It might have been a quintessential “had to be there moment”, but take my word for it, it was hilarious!!!!!

          Monday I shipped out!  I was treated to another beautiful sunrise and it was rather overcast so it kept the ride cool which was very much appreciated!  The bus makes four or five planned stops at these little rest stops.  You don’t get off (unless you have to “check the tires” aka pee) so if you’re hungry or thirsty there are all these attendants that are selling various things: chicken or beef on a stick, water bottles, soda, juices, oranges (that aren’t oranges, they’re actually green and are super sour-ek, I don’t like them), mangoes, chipati, grilled maize, and CHICKENS.  Now I swear the woman behind me was buying stuff to restock her own market and the first item she purchased: two chickens.  So up they come through the window and under my row.  I was sitting in the window seat and the chickens ended up under the aisle seat.  So I doze off for a while and when I wake up, I first notice a smell and then look down and see feathers and then follow the feathers to the smell: a grody chicken poop.  Yuck.  Only in Africa.  But I figure: okay, I can handle this and maybe this means no one will sit with me because there is this massive, disgusting chicken poop right there.  Nope. I was wrong because this IS STILL Africa.  Next thing I know, this man sits down and stays there for the whole ride with his foot in the chicken crap.  He didn’t seem phased at all and I figure, to each his own! 

So that was my trip in a nutshell!  All in all, super enjoyable!  Good to get away from Kampala and see some of my chicas and really relaxing after a stressful week!   I hope you all had wonderful weeks as well and I’m sorry for the wicked long post, but it was just such an exciting weekend I had to share it all!!!

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