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Beautiful days. On Sunday we travelled a long long way north of Kampala to Murchinson Falls National Park. Walked up to the falls in the afternoon. Stunning. Powerful crashing water and soaking mist. Amazing how quickly you dry off in the equator sun. The rock was mica so it sparkled like gold dust, I got half a foot full of mud and the next day my shoe looked like it had be covered in gold – wow. We shared our camp with warthogs and a Jennet cat (beautiful yellow spotty stripey wild cat).
I can’t believe how much wild there is. Hardly ever see a view without a house in England but this was miles and miles and miles, hours of driving and all wilderness – jungle and shrub land. Amazing feeling hanging yourself out of the safari bus, wind through your hair, seeing giraffes and elephants and all kinds of deer/gazelles. Then we hit upon a male lion about 100m away. Just stunning, so wild. And then we found a female lion with her 2 cubs which was incredible just watching them for the little while we were parked by their tree. I can’t believe these animals actually live here in all this wilderness. Then we drove down to a beautiful blue lagoon on the edge of the Albert Nile and saw loads of hippos and egrets. It was so peaceful there, the water was so still. The hippos were just lazing around in the water. Boat cruise on the Victoria Nile in the afternoon up to Murchinson falls. 3 people at a time were allowed to climb up onto the roof of the boat but some people didn’t want to (crocodile infested waters below!) so I got to be up there for a good chunk of the trip. So peaceful floating down the Nile in the sun. We saw loads of hippos and a couple of big crocs and loads of different kinds of birds, bee eaters and storks and kingfishers and eagles, I didn’t realise how many beautiful birds there would be in Uganda, just teeming everywhere.

This morning we got in our safari bus and drove south to track some rhinos. At one time there were hundreds even thousands of rhinos in the wild in Uganda but unfortunately all of them were poached esp during Idi Amin’s dictatorship. We went to the rhino sanctuary where they are trying to breed rhinos to release into the wild again. The park is huge, acres and acres! It was so hot. But totally worth the heat! Felt very intrepid trekking through the bushes and long grass. Had been prepped on what to do if the rhinos started charging which is 1. Climb up a tree 2. Hide behind a big tree 3. Run sideways. Fortunately there was no charging, although it would have been quite funny to watch everyone in our group attempt one of the three options. The rhinos were massive, there was a mum, a dad and a baby. So cool to see them! Then we drove a long long way back to Kampala, our last long journey so spent the time looking out the window soaking up the last views of the African countryside. Lots to say to round up but not much time. Off to Pastor Steven’s school for a couple of days before we leave Africa on Thursday evening.

Wow see you very soon! Much love,
Christine