Murchison and Rafting
Two trips in one post! Since pictures speak louder than words, hopefully I make this post more images than text.
Paula and I left for Murchison National Park last Wed, and came back on Friday, and promptly left on Saturday for a whitewater rafting trip on the Nile. Murchison is famous for its big game, and while we were there, we went on a safari and a cruise up the Nile to Murchison Falls itself, which is extremely powerful.
Kayaking fun.
We saw elephants, hippos, leopard, antelope, giraffes, crocodiles, eagles, warthogs!, water buffalo, all the big game except for the lions! The leopards are supposed to be the rarest sighting, but lions are supposed to be pretty common- we just got unlucky on the lion part of the drive.
Sunrise on the Nile:
Bank of the Nile:
Huge Crocodiles:
Warthogs! Paula and my personal favorite animals. Paula also likes hippos too.
Paula's other favorite animal, the hippo. There's a mother and a baby in this picture.
Water buffalo:
The best tasting flesh on the savannahs.
Elephant herds, and more elephants.
Giraffes are tall.
Baboon porn star.
After our long trip to Murchison, we made it back just in time to see Shereen off to the airport, relax a bit at home, then pack for our next trip to go rafting on the Nile. We got picked up at 7 ish the next day in a matatu that was impossibly packed with people headed to the rafting site- max occupancy for a packed matatu is 14 passengers with a driver and a conductor. We fit 19 passengers. 20 people total, for a 1.5 hour drive- it was extremely uncomfortable, but all on board seemed more excited about exchanging Nile-Horror Stories to think about it.
The rafting itself was pretty fun, though the Nile did claim a few victims. Paula and Sam both lost their glasses to the Nile (fortunately, I had duct taped mine to my head, to the point where I could barely get em off- thanks for showing me that trick Amanda). I did lose a ring however, sucked right off of my finger. On the section of rapid where Paula lost her helmet (and therefore her glasses), our raft won the most spectacular crash and burn award- one wave crashed over our raft, and everyone except Paula and one other girl were disappeared (Aliza, Sam and I were submerged and spit back out downstream a good ways). The raft got stuck riding this turbulent wave, then it jerked and ejected Paula and the other girl- the video documentary showed Paula's spectacular ride at least 3 times.
The end of the rafting trip was at a section of rapid called "The Bad Place." When we got there, it started to hail. It was a very very bad place for a while. It was cold enough that the waters of the Nile felt like Hawaiian beach water- really really warm and pleasant.
That's pretty much the bare bones story- we all had a good time, but with the rainstorm/hailstorm that followed our trip, we were definitely freezing. After a meaty bbq dinner, we showered in open air showers that opened up onto a beautiful view of the Nile.
Unfortunately, no pictures of the rafting trip itself- digital cameras and Nile water don't mix.
P.S. - A few pictures of Paula and my wanderings around Kampala:
Makerere Vet School:
Bahai Temple
Paula and I left for Murchison National Park last Wed, and came back on Friday, and promptly left on Saturday for a whitewater rafting trip on the Nile. Murchison is famous for its big game, and while we were there, we went on a safari and a cruise up the Nile to Murchison Falls itself, which is extremely powerful.
Kayaking fun.
We saw elephants, hippos, leopard, antelope, giraffes, crocodiles, eagles, warthogs!, water buffalo, all the big game except for the lions! The leopards are supposed to be the rarest sighting, but lions are supposed to be pretty common- we just got unlucky on the lion part of the drive.
Sunrise on the Nile:
Bank of the Nile:
Huge Crocodiles:
Warthogs! Paula and my personal favorite animals. Paula also likes hippos too.
Paula's other favorite animal, the hippo. There's a mother and a baby in this picture.
Water buffalo:
The best tasting flesh on the savannahs.
Elephant herds, and more elephants.
Giraffes are tall.
Baboon porn star.
After our long trip to Murchison, we made it back just in time to see Shereen off to the airport, relax a bit at home, then pack for our next trip to go rafting on the Nile. We got picked up at 7 ish the next day in a matatu that was impossibly packed with people headed to the rafting site- max occupancy for a packed matatu is 14 passengers with a driver and a conductor. We fit 19 passengers. 20 people total, for a 1.5 hour drive- it was extremely uncomfortable, but all on board seemed more excited about exchanging Nile-Horror Stories to think about it.
The rafting itself was pretty fun, though the Nile did claim a few victims. Paula and Sam both lost their glasses to the Nile (fortunately, I had duct taped mine to my head, to the point where I could barely get em off- thanks for showing me that trick Amanda). I did lose a ring however, sucked right off of my finger. On the section of rapid where Paula lost her helmet (and therefore her glasses), our raft won the most spectacular crash and burn award- one wave crashed over our raft, and everyone except Paula and one other girl were disappeared (Aliza, Sam and I were submerged and spit back out downstream a good ways). The raft got stuck riding this turbulent wave, then it jerked and ejected Paula and the other girl- the video documentary showed Paula's spectacular ride at least 3 times.
The end of the rafting trip was at a section of rapid called "The Bad Place." When we got there, it started to hail. It was a very very bad place for a while. It was cold enough that the waters of the Nile felt like Hawaiian beach water- really really warm and pleasant.
That's pretty much the bare bones story- we all had a good time, but with the rainstorm/hailstorm that followed our trip, we were definitely freezing. After a meaty bbq dinner, we showered in open air showers that opened up onto a beautiful view of the Nile.
Unfortunately, no pictures of the rafting trip itself- digital cameras and Nile water don't mix.
P.S. - A few pictures of Paula and my wanderings around Kampala:
Makerere Vet School:
Bahai Temple
posted by Vince at 8:17 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home