Day 7 - The Royal Mile

I enjoy the peace, the silence. It is also nice and cool in the forest, even though the sun shines abundantly today and it promises to be a warm day. The dense foliage keeps out the heat and also the sunrays. You only hear the silence, except for the whistling and the squabbling of the bird population present. And that is a big population. More than 360 varieties even. Small twigs on the ground creak under our feet. My backpack occasionally gets stuck on a branch as we squeeze through small openings in the forest. Fortunately, we don't really have to climb. The flatter terrain is a godsend for me. It makes hiking a little less strenuous than elsewhere.

Budongo Forest is part of Murchison Falls NP and is the largest mahogany forest in East Africa. In addition, it is also home to the largest number of chimpanzees in Uganda. And let that be the main reason why we make this stop on our way to Murchison Falls. Our guide is in close contact with the trackers, but no results for the time being. We find a first track ourselves when we almost step into a gigantic excrement. As said before, chimpanzees like sweets in the form of delicious fruits. They find them in the tops of the trees and you have the best chance of spotting chimpanzees high above your head. High up in the trees is also where they sleep, where they enjoy a good night's rest in large nests. A dense shadow in the trees puts us on the wrong track when we mistake a nest for a chimpanzee. For the time being, the great apes seem to be hiding well.

Meanwhile we hike deeper and deeper into the forest. We navigate between the gigantic wide trees, we throw ourselves over high tree trunks and go knee deep under thick branches.

Chimpanzees do not know a language, but express themselves with sounds. There is a form of communication with which they call each other. You will hear them sooner than you see them. Suddenly, the chirping of the birds is overruled  by chimpanzee noise in the distance. The trackers are also on the trail of the chimpanzees. We eventually find them  on the ground disguised by the thick foliage. Unlike in Kibale NP, we are only a group of six. Wonderfully tranquil for us and clearly also serene for the animals. I don't notice any stress with them and they let us go on quietly. They look at us with the same wide eyes as we look at them. Hello brother and sister, how are you doing? After a few minutes they continue on their way. We let them go in peace. After all, an animal on the ground can move very quickly. We experienced this personally two days ago. A little further we find another little brother high up in the trees. Seeing is a big word. We see a dark shadow between the foliage and occasionally a long arm reaches out to pick a fruit. We keep an eye on him for a long time, until our necks gets stiff. 

He eventually leaves his favorite spot and  jumps down from branch to branch to eventually disappear into the darkness of the forest. A little further, little sister is also enjoying her snack. High up in the top of the tree, she is undoubtedly enjoying the sun too. With the batteries charged, she decides it's enough and eventually strides down like a Hollywood star. Fortunately for us, because our neck is now really getting painful. The dense foliage always prevents an undisturbed view, but it is so nice that we watch the animals so relaxed and without stress.

Obviously we got to see more in Kibale NP but the stress on the animals and chasing them didn't make it the best experience. Here the atmosphere is a lot calmer, the number also a lot lower but it is great that we can enjoy them so much. A pleasant meeting with our brothers and sisters, the closest family of humanity. Today the chimpanzee was the animal and the tourist a human. An animal with human characteristics and a human with animal characteristics. And that is all there is to it.

January 23, 1954. A small plane circles above Murchison Falls to take pictures of the waterfall. Suddenly the plane swings to avoid a flight of ibises, but herebay hits a telephone wire. The plane crashes into the dense bush. A horde of curious elephants, buffalo, crocodiles and hippos come to take a look. Paparazzi avant la lettre. The pilot, author Ernest Hemingway and his wife Mary crawl out of the wreckage. They were on their way for a panoramic flight over the Belgian Congo, a Christmas present from Ernest for Mary. With no food on board (unless you count bananas and a bottle of gin as a substantial diet) and life-threatening animals in the vicinity, a quick rescue is important.

Fortunately, a fire keeps the danger at bay. The rescue comes the next day in the form of a riverboat, the SS Murchison, which transports tourists to the park. The SS Murchison was already known for something else, it was used in ‘The African Queen’. A real movie star. The boat takes the Hemingways to the Butiaba airstrip for their flight to Entebbe. When taking off, the plane hits an ant nest and they crashs for the second time in two days. Ernest wrote the short story ‘A Christmas Present' about his adventures in Uganda.

The banks of the Nile here are considered to be one of the least accessible areas in Uganda and are dominated by crocodiles, elephants, buffalo, lions and other big game. That inaccessibility prevented rescue planes from finding Ernest and his party.

Fortunately today, our entrance to Murchison Falls NP is slightly less spectacular than that of the Hemingways at the time.

The national park was established in 1952 with the top attraction being the waterfalls that are forcefully fed by the waters of the Victoria Nile. The Murchison Falls are the latest in a series of waterfalls and rapids spanning eighty miles. Where the Nile in front of the waterfall is still about fifty meters wide, at the waterfall the water is pressed through an opening of only seven meters. The water falls into a forty-five meter depth at high speed and is considered the most powerful waterfall in the world. The waterfall apparently sucks the last bit of energy out of the water because from the bottom of the waterfall, the Victoria Nile turns into a calm, almost rippling stream, which eventually flows into Lake Albert.

The speed at which the water falls, creates a water curtain that splashes over us like a haze. The cool water is welcome on this hot day. 

The top of the falls is our starting point for a hike down along  the waterfall. Ironically, the descent begins with a 200 m climb. The temperatures this afternoon have increased even further and the 200 m turns out to be a real battleground.  Thin air and therefore little oxygen and high temperatures are a bad combination. After an hour we reach the banks of the Victoria Nile completely exhausted. The river boat is waiting for us for a two hour boat safari towards our hotel. Not far from our starting point is the crash site of the Hemingways. A sign marks the spot. We are immediately welcomed by dozens of…. hippos. Yes, a Nile without ‘niles horses’, is impossible. They are clearly having a good time here. Heads go underwater and come back to the surface after several minutes. Not the lion, the leopard, cheetah or buffalo are the most dangerous animals: the hippo is the animal you have to watch out for. They are able to tip a small boat on the water, and if they come ashore make sure you never get between them and the water. Because do not underestimate them, they may look unwieldy and slow, they are certainly not. Not only the ‘bulldozers of the Nile’ are worth a look. The Lacoste family is waiting on the bank for a tasty lunch or nice snack. Murchison Falls NP is also known for its large amount of Nile crocodiles. 

Some are lounging along the bank, others are sliding into the cool water. Next to the wild animals, also birds have found their home here. One is easier to spot than the other, but the fluttering and beautiful kingfishers steal the show here.

Along the bank we suddenly see a lonely Rothschild giraffe. Its dark spots immediately indicate that it is a male. Probably expelled by a group, he spends his days alone in the park. Rotschild giraffes are funny because they look like they are wearing white socks because of  the lack of spots on the lower leg. Rothschild giraffes are facing extinction and can only be found in Kenya (Lake Nakuru NP) and here in Murchison Falls. 

Not only gorillas, rhinoceroses and chimpanzees are in danger of extinction, but also subspecies of generally  widely occurring animals. It therefore always remains a privilege to oberve these animals in their natural habitat. That is what safaris are about. None are the same, every time it is a surprise. It is and always will be the highlight (except of course our trekkings this holiday) of any Africa trip.

‘All I wanted to do was get back to Africa. We had not left it, yet, but when I would wake in the night I would lie, listening, homesick for it already’ (from Green Hills of Africa - Ernest Hemingway)