Murchison Falls

Trip Start Jul 02, 2006

Trip End Aug 30, 2006

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Flag of Uganda Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda
Monday, August 21, 2006

Last week, Nicole and I finished conducting our interviews and said goodbye to the TPO staff in Soroti. We went to Obuku camp and also said our final goodbyes to the volunteers that helped translate our interviews, as well as heard some final pleas from women in the community to return in the future and spread awareness about their situation not only with regards to the LRA, but the Karamajong situation as well. It was strange leaving and saying good-bye....I don't think it has really hit us yet that we will be returning back to the US soon.

On Thursday morning, we started our adventure to Murchinson Falls. Since Ugandans don't travel to Murchinson, there is no direct public transportation available to the area and most tourists head up there in travel groups. As all the tour operators turned out to be extremely overpriced, we decided to pack up all our gear, try our luck, and find our way up north by ourselves via public transportation. We first headed north to Lira via matatu. (Matatus are shared minivan taxis which are technically supposed to fit 14 people, but usually contain between 20-24, with some people standing hunched over or sitting on each others laps.) . After Lira, we transferred to two other matatus in two other cities before arriving in a town called Masindi about ten hours later and with about an inch of dust covering our entire bodies. We spent the night in Masindi, took another matatu to a town called Bulisa in the morning, and eventually hopped onto some motorcycles, massive backpacks and all, which brought us to our hotel at Murchinson Falls, safe and sound and not a hitch on the way. Arriving early, we relaxed by the pool and met a couple from Holland/Australia who had been traveling in Africa for almost three months via safari truck, and had been traveling in South America for a few months before that for their extended honeymoon!

The next day, we took a ferry to the falls, seeing hippos, elephants, crocodiles, and water buffaloes along the way. We then did a hike up to the falls which was one of our biggest highlights in Uganda so far. The falls were gorgeous and quite impressive, consisting of a 6 meter gap that the Nile passes through before headed up further north. (Hopefully, we can get some pictures of them up soon.)

Camping that night, we met a Dutch woman who offered to drive us back to Masindi in the morning.. We hitched a ride with her and met up with the Dutch/Australian couple there who brought us back down to Kampala. The couple then treated Nicole and I to the best meal we've had so far in Uganda at a wonderful Indian Restaurant. Thank you again Claire and Marnix! It was great meeting the two of you. We were extremely lucky to have met you, and I'm sure our parents our happy that we met you too! For a somewhat unplanned trip, our journey went wonderfully due to the help of some very kind travelers we met along the way.

Soon, Nicole and I head off to the southwest of Uganda to track gorillas as our final hurrah in Uganda. We'll keep you posted......

Kampala hotels

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