Murchison Falls Day 2

Christmas Day

We're up and ready to go at 6.30. We have to be at the ferry jetty to make sure we get a spot on the 7am ferry or else we have to wait another hour. We park behind a few other minivans. There are many foreigners here and a bus with a dozen Indian tourists. I eat my oatmeal while we wait for the ferry. We cross the river on time and began our game drive. Within 10 minutes a small herd of 3 elephants come out of the bush just as we drive by. We stop and they cross the road behind us. Apparently elephants aren't seen much in this part of the park and we are told by our ranger/guide that we are very lucky. The terrain of the park is hilly savanna but has taken on an otherworldly appearance due to the annual fires that have burnt all the parks grass. I'd say as much of 80% of the park that we saw has been burnt. Sometimes the road proved a formidable border for the fire and provided a stark contrast from one side of the road to the other. There were many kobs, Jackson's hartebeest, some giraffe in the distance and oribis. Oribi are the largest of the 'small antelopes' and it's my first time seeing these cute animals. In the not so far distance is the largest herd of buffalo any of us have ever seen. There must be hundreds of them. We stop for a look and most of them look our way, pondering our next move. They blend in perfectly with the burnt background. Further on we come to a gathering of vans, tipped off that there were lions around. We join the group and look in the direction everyone appears to be looking in but see nothing. Our guide points our where the lions are and it takes me a few minutes to even see where they are. There is a lion and 2 lioness on the hill opposite us but very far away. Even with binoculars they are hard to see. It's always cool to see lions but I hope we get to see them a little closer. This is Catherine's first safari ever, so I feel excited for her and hope we have some closer sightings.
Our 'destination' for the game drive is the delta where Lake Albert meets the Victoria Nile and becomes the Albert Nile. This area is supposed to be good for lions. The problem is the area is 35km away and we can't stop as much or as long as we would have liked to on the way there to photograph some of the animals. We are able to get out and stretch our legs at the delta, which doesn't look like much except a lot of blue water and aquatic plants. We carry on but then turn around on the word of more lions. They are on the same road we took to the delta but were closer to the water in the dense vegetation, that's why we couldn't see them on the way in. One of them crosses the road in front of us and 4 others are close by. They are all about 1 year old cubs and not the full grown lion size yet. We all wondered were mom and pop are but we don't see them. We can only stay a few minutes with the cubs because we have to catch the 11am ferry back to Red Chili. We are able to take some good photos but we all would've liked to stay longer with them. We drove fast back and had to pass on animals and photo opporunities. I didn't like this at all and it felt much too rushed. What's the point of a game drive if you can't stop and look and photo the animals you are they to see? I think they should have pushed the time back an hour so we could catch the noon ferry to have more time. We only had 3 hours and most of this was spent driving to the delta.
Back at camp we all had lunch but the restcamp was out of some food and I settled for a cold pasta salad. We had till 2.10 till our afternoon boat safari up to the falls started. It was almost 29C in our tent but there was a breeze and I took a short siesta as did most of the others in our group. We met at 2.10 to get to the river for the 2.30 ferry. The ferry is one of these party style ferries with 2 flat levels, accomodating about 25 people on the bottom deck and a few less up top. I don't like being in the direct sun if I don't have to and decided to sit on the bottom level on a lifejacket. The rest of the group sat upstairs. The ferry was full of all the same people from the restcamp and the Indians. The journey up to the base of Murchison is 17km and we moved at a snails pace. I liked this very much because it gave us plenty of time to observe the wildlife along the way which included many hippos, some Nile crocodiles and a few elephants. There were also many birds, kingfishers, fish eagles and bee eaters. A few unlucky birds were having their nests dug up by 2 Nile monitor lizards. Baboons and vervet monkeys were on the shore and in the trees. The trip was filled with wildlife on all fronts.
It took a few hours to get to the base of Murchison falls. We stopped at one point were the river widens again after coming through the narrow channel of the falls. Many fish die going over the falls and many crocodiles wait on the shore here for an easy meal. We continued to a small rocky island closer to the falls but still almost 1km away. I spotted black and white colobus monkeys in the trees and pointed it out to the guide. Surprisingly he didn't seem interested though I thought we was a good guide. He reluctantly told the rest of the boat but by this time they had disappeared out of sight. We pulled up to a large rock and tied the boat. The current was very strong here. Most of us jumped onto the rock for some good photo opportunites. Murchison falls doesn't actually drop that far but the wide river upstream is forced through a gorge only 6m wide and results in probably the most powerful surge of water in the world. I didn't know it then, but we would be able to get much closer to the falls on our walk to the top tomorrow.
On our return trip we stopped at the same place with a dozen crocodiles hanging out. An elephant was there now and was eating a bush very close to the crocs. Hippos were in the water. It was quite a scene to see all these large animals so close together. The elephant almost stepped on some crocs and forced them into the water. We saw most of the same animals on the return but didn't stop this time. We arrived back at camp at 6.30 and arranged for our Christmas dinner to be at 8. I showered in the slightly cold but refreshing shower and read till dinner. There was only one option for dinner and it was a matter of deciding between having a 3 course meal or just having dessert or a starter with our main course. I decided to have the dessert with my main. There were 3 main courses to choose from. I went with the chicken which included potatoes, beans, and red cabbage and almonds. It was all very good and the lemon lime refrigerator cake for dessert was one of the best desserts I've ever had. Catherine treated us all to a glass of mulled wine. I've never heard of it before ( which does't mean much, I don't know a lot about food admittedly) but apparently its big in Europe around the holidays. The wine is heated up and spices such as nutmeg, ginger, cardamom and cinammon are added. I liked it more than regular wine. It kind of reminded me of a sort of chai wine. We stayed up chatting and listening to Christmas music. At 10.30, Stefan and I were the only ones left and I suggested we go to our tent so they could close. It was a very merry Christmas and one of the best ones I've had in a while. Although I felt the game drive was rushed, the boat up to the falls was a great experience and the closest I have ever been to hippos and crocodiles.