After ten weeks in Busingiro we took our first road trip. Like many places named by their British “discoverers,” Lakes Victoria, Albert and George, Mr. Murchison never laid eyes on his namesake falls. Baker (or Speke) honored Murchison who was the director of the Royal Geographic Society. The falls aren’t impressive because of their size or their height but are famous because the mighty Nile is channeled into a gorge only 6 meters wide. It’s quite interesting, even from a distance.
The holiday began on Friday when we were invited to spend the night with Richard and Kara, although they would not be there but at a gathering at Nyabyeya Forestry College. We arrived as Kara and her friends were playing Mah Jong. Fatima is from Ethiopia, very exotic looking and married to a Brit and Pat is from Kenya via Seychelles.
When Richard and Kara left we walked to the club for hotdogs, deciding not to stick around until 9:00 for steak. Stuart and Luke were there celebrating the birthdays of some of the Sonso girls, all in their 20s and from Canada, UK, and Holland. They all looked like they would be more at home at the Tri-Delt sorority house than in Budongo Forest, but they are all involved in research.
Back at Kara’s, showered and caught up on emails, we relaxed and waited for R&K and discussed the conflict between Lebanon and Israel, two future stops on our trip. I guess we can devise an alternate plan. Breakfast was another treat with Kara’s homemade bread and freshly brewed coffee. Then it was 100 Km by motorbike to MFNP.
Cassim met us at the gate and let us in for free, saving us $60 in park fees. He knew we were going to Parra, not Pebidi, and we will have to get him some money without getting him in trouble. The ride went without mishap until Connie got caught in some ruts and dropped her bike. It was a real scare for both of us but aside from some bruises (topical and ego) and road rash and a bent bit or two, no major harm was done. The unplanned stop introduced us to some Murchison wildlife no one had told us about, tsetse flies, zillions of the evil things. It’s not like they sense your presence and gather, they are there waiting. And they attack like sharks. Surely someone could have warned us, “Oh, and mind the tsetse flies!” And one needn’t stop, merely slowing below 25 kph is enough for them to attach. At higher speeds they rush towards your face shield like black snowflakes.
We arrived at Red Chile dirty, bruised and bitten in time for lunch and in need of adult beverages. Red Chile is on the south side of the Nile at the Parra ferry crossing. Most of the game is on the north side but to view it you need a guide ($30) and a vehicle, not a bike, so we birded on our side and arranged for a Sunday morning boat trip to the falls. Dinner was cheap – beef curry for me and fish for Connie – followed y showers and sleep.
We joined a large group of forestry/conservation students from Makwere College and set off on a rainy Mile morning. We saw lots of birds, hundreds of hippos (there are about 2000 in all), buffalo, antelope, warthogs, elephants and countless crocodiles before we reached our destination about 500 meters from the base of the falls. You could hop off there and hike to the top, catching the 2 PM boat back and arriving at 5:00, but we didn’t bring lunch and weren’t too keen on battling gee f *@%-ing tsetse flies.
We augmented our fruit with Red Chile’s anemic sandwiches and Nile Special lager and birded along the river for a while. A group of ten elephants including four young’uns splashed across the river from us among the hippos and warthogs. Then it was time to catch the four o’clock ferry across to Parra where we could tank up the bikes. It’s 100+ kilometers from Masindi and our bikes can go 200 kilometers on a tank – max, so we were worried to hear there was no power but were saved when the guy arrived with the hand crank. There was no return ferry until 6:00pm so we had a couple of burgers at the oh-so-very-posh Parra Lodge. We even checked out one of the rooms suitable for Hemingway but at nearly $200 a bit much for us.
The Red Chili camp area was packed as we settled in our non-ensuite room, neatly encircled by canvas safari tents and the inevitable noises. An unexpected thunderstorm drowned out the noise but didn’t do much to cool things down. We are so fortunate here in Busingiro – quiet and cool and no tsetse flies! A little birding this morning and we head home.
Sally has returned from the UK and we talked with her while we ate our toasted cheese sandwiches. The ride back was dusty but once home I bathed and checked things out. All is in readiness for tomorrow’s first students except due to a just-announced election it will be kids and the adults will follow Wednesday.
