Murchison Falls

The weekend after our Masai Mara trip, Carla* and I continued the safari theme and headed up to Murchison Falls to see what Uganda had to offer in terms of wildlife. In chronological order, trip “highlights” (broadly defined):

- Birthday hats! The day we left coincided with the anniversary of my 26th year on earth.
- An 8-hour matatu (mini-bus) ride of deafening silence. Our attempts at get-to-know-you conversation were met largely with one word answers and a preference for ipods.
- Swarms of flies attacking passengers through open windows anytime the vehicle slowed. Retribution for anti-socialism, perhaps?
- Many, many rounds of cards. And accompanying spirits.

- Emptying entire salt shakers onto our meals in an attempt to find any modicum of flavor.
- Hippos sauntering onto the Red Chilli campground for their night’s exploits.
- Sleeping with our bodies, our bags, and any other remaining belongings on our teeny tiny cots, after Friday evening’s torrential downpour entered the flap in our tent and flooded our floor.
- An inspirational double rainbow sighting.
- Lions and lions and lions (...oh my!). After our failed attempt at a mane hunt in Masai Mara, we finally found our majestic male lion. Albeit slightly shaggier that we expected. We saw a lioness and her cubs eating a dead buffalo, and cubs climbing in and around trees, too. Definitely the highlight of the highlights.

- A boat cruise up the Nile to see the Falls from below, with incredible views of elephants and hippos and crocs and buffalo on the riverbank.

- A hike up Murchison Falls, which, unlike Victoria Falls circa September 2005, actually boasted gushing water!

You know where to go for the rest of the pictures. All in all, another safari success. Although we would recommend that anyone planning to do Murchison and Masai Mara in close proximity start with Murchison and end in the Mara :-)

*Between the time of this trip and the time of this trip’s publication, Ms. Carla Henke has officially become Dr. Carla Henke. As they say here, “Congs!” to Dr. Henke, as well as to Dr. Robert Fenning, Dr. Gaurav Malhotra, Dr. Joanna Mecca, and Dr. Keith Quencer. Let the prescriptions begin ;-)

**An emphatic “Congs!” also goes out to my brother Mitch and my cousin Rachel, who are among the latest Bentley University and Cornell University undergraduates, respectively, to be released into the wild. The world doesn’t know what it’s in for!

***I would be remiss not to give an early shout-out to my Zambian, Baltimorean, and Ugandan partner in crime Ms. Janani Vijayaraghavan, recent Masters of Health Science grad from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Anyone in the Canadian public health field, your assistance in helping her find immediate employment is greatly appreciated.

****Here too, is an early hip hip hooray for Kelsey Gardner, one of the Fulton Red Raiders’ volleyball team’s best hitters and G. Ray Bodley High School’s most and most outrageous Mix ‘N Match Day dressers. “Hit ‘em in the head with a Tachikara..."

Here’s hoping my beams of pride are trans-Atlantic and twinkle down on all of you there.