Murchinson Falls National Park and Safari!!May 30, 2011
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| It was a long, long trip up to Masindi. I believe it was about six hours. We could not believe the traffic in Kampala, motor bike taxis filled with 2-3 people each, mini busses, and cars were everywhere. There were no street signs or traffic lights and drivers were bumper to bumper. It was a huge game of chicken. It was really quite scary especially if you were in the front seat with the driver. We stopped at a hotel for some drinks and bathroom break and then off to Murchinson Falls National Park. We were not expecting to pay $116 each to enter the park. Josh was getting shaken down for more money, until Rob and Greg entered and Popeye backed down. We arrived at the beautiful Paraa Safari Lodge and checked into our rooms and then headed to the dining room where we ordered some cheeseburgers and chips (French fries). There were big (about 10-12”) orange and black lizards everywhere and Jan and I ran around trying to snap their picture. A safari ride in the bush was planned for the evening and we were again surprised because we were going to go in our own vehicle with a park ranger who carried a AK47 in the front seat. It was cheaper to go in our own vehicle. We saw many animals including warthogs, bush bucks, lots of deer, giraffes, cape buffaloes, many types of birds, and a lion. We had to illegally drive off the road to drive around a low lying bush to find the lion. It was pretty cool to watch him as he watched the deer. We also got out of the jeep to check out the bones and skin of a cape buffalo. As we headed back to our rooms that night we were startled by the shadows beyond our sidewalk which turned out to be a herd of bush bucks. I panicked because I was knocking at the door for Rob to open it up when a bunch of bats started swooping down at me. He was not opening it up as soon as I liked!! Our rooms had no air conditioning and only had a fan and so we were very warm. We would have liked to have opened our big sliding glass door, but it had no screen door and we were afraid we would have some unwanted visitors. |
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