At a dark 5:50am last Friday, our car pulled out of our driveway and pointed its bonnet towards Uganda's Murchison National Park.
Six and a half hours later, the same car pulled up at Murchsion Rover Lodge campsite and out tumbled 5 dishelleved Parkers.
Andrew got to work immedicately: we soon had our tent erected in this beautiful camping spot.
Last time we visited this campsite, almost three months ago, the ground was roasted brown, the trees were leaf-less and the heat of dry season bore down unmercifully. What an incredible difference the life-giving Rainy Season brings to the African bush!
That night, we cooked pasta and tuna on our campfire under the starry skies. We breathed in the fresh air, the space and the scent of adventure that comes with sleeping in a tent so close to Uganda's wild-life.
During the night, I woke up with an urgent need to go to the bathroom. This is a moment I dread. The thought of What Is Out There scares me! I fight against the need to make the trek across a dark campsite to the bathroom block on the other side of the field! Horrors of what might be lurking fills me with dread... snakes? scorpions? maybe a ravenous leopard, ready to savage my leg off and send me limping back to the tent covered in fresh blood??
I had to be brave. I unzipped the tent, scanned the campsite with the weak beam of my head-torch and stepped outisde. The coast was clear! Phew! I was able to use the facilities and slip back into our tent.
Two minutes later, Ben stated that he now needed the toilet! All that noisy unzipping of tent doors had awakened the family.
"It's OK, Ben", responded Andrew. "Mum has just been out there and there are no hippos around. It is perfectly safe for you to go to the toilet".
Ben crawled to the tent door with his head-torch ready, unzipped the flaps and poked his head out into the African night, the light of his torch piercing the black. "ARGH!!!" he squealed, "There's a hippo!! Right in front of our tent! A hippo! Look!"
We couldn't believe it! I had just been out there and had not noticed a thing! We all scrambled to take a look, but by the time the rest of us got to the door, the heavy frame of a night-grazing hippo was disappearing out of the campsite, swallowed up by the darkness.
Ben and Joel were subsequently too terrified to go outside until the light of dawn!
And I learnt that, just because you don't see it, it doesn't mean it's not there when it comes to African wildlife!
Evidence in the muddy ground! Esther and Ben pointing at the fresh hippo-hoof-print close to our where our tent was pitched:
Later that morning, we enjoyed the beautiful swimming pool of the river lodge, with its view over the vast River Nile.
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Last time we had visited this place, a cheeky baboon had come along and joined the children while they were swimming! He noisily slurped water from the baby-pool while Esther, Ben and Joel stayed dead still, too transfixed to move!
This time, there was no sign of naughty baboons. We relaxed enjoyed the cool water. However, we didn't realise at this point that the reason we didn't see the baboons at the pool was because they were actually busy visiting our campsite!
When we got back to our tent, we were most indignant to discover that a Bad Baboon had not only discovered our food supplies, but had broken in to the storage box and stolen the goods! Remnants of rice cakes, my special hobnobs (they're expensive in Uganda!!), Andrew's sugar-coated peanuts, our large packet of crisps and the marshmallows to toast around the campfire... all these were now strewn messily over the campsite! Large bites had been taken out of each packet! This rude baboon showed no respect whatsoever.
After a subdued lunch of noodles, we prepared for our outing into Murchison National Park. This afternoon, we planned to do the tourist trail and walk the path carefully laid out for visitors around the edge of, up over the top and down to the river outlet of Murchison Falls.
All I can say is, "Wow!"
Murchison Falls is one of the most powerful waterfalls in the world- and one of the most breath-taking places I have ever visited. The following photos do not do it justice. Suffice to say, we had an exhilarating and uplifting family hike. An experience I will not forget.
There is much more to tell about Murchison and the wonderful wildlife we saw the following day... nut for now, this will suffice... :-) It is holiday time already here in Uganda and my children need their mum, so it is time to sign off...
TO BE CONTINUED....
