After a great first week at RWO, I had an equally great weekend on safari. I went to Murchison Falls National Park which is to the north and the largest national park. The driver picked me at 7:00am in the morning and we started the drive north. This was the first time I had been too far outside of where I am staying. There are some highways, but also two lane roads which can be very congested when up on a town. There are no rules to the road other than to try not to get hit. We crossed the Katonga River, one of the only rivers in the world that flows both directions depending on the time of year. We stopped for lunch which was curry chicken. I enjoy the Indian influence on the food here. Our first stop was to the see the Murchison Falls (Kabalega Falls)from the top, which is one of the most powerful waterfall in the world. The Nile, the longest river in the world, squeezes through a gap and then drops down 45 meters. When you stand in a particular area it never stops raining from the force of the falls.
Then we went for an evening game drive. I never get tired of seeing the animals in the wild. This is the most lions that I have seen on a safari before. We would see them multiple times per day. They also have the largest herd of elephants and tower of giraffes in the national parks. Leopards are not easy to see as they mostly stay in the trees. But, our guide founds us several leopards which are always interesting to watch.
Our lodge was on the banks of the Albert Nile. The rooms are a cement cylinder with a grass thatched roof. This allows for pretty good cross breeze since they do not have fans. I think the reason they do not have fans is of inconsistent power and it would mess with the bug nets. One of the evenings the power went out at 11pm and came back on at 5pm. You always need to be charging your devices when you have the chance. I slept with all the windows open and the bug net down. We left at 5:30am in the morning the next day for a game drive. The
animals are much more active in the morning when it is cool so it great time for a drive. In the afternoon we took a 3 hours boat cruise down the Nile to see the Murchison Falls from the bottom. The water is so powerful that you have to keep your distance. Along the way we saw many hippos, crocodiles and elephants. This was my first time being on the Nile river. It is very peaceful, I hope to spend more time on it.
The last morning we left a little later and stopped at the rhino sanctuary. This is the last of the big 5 animals that I had not seen previously. The big 5 are the 5 most dangerous animals: Lion, Elephant, Rhinos, Hippos, and Leopard. The rhinos have been poached almost to extinction. Because of this they started a sanctuary just for the rhinos to allow them to repopulate and have the protection that they need. I also learned the difference between a white and black rhino. Like many I assumed it was a difference in color. But, in fact the two names came for a When describing the white rhino they actually
said wide (their mouth is square and wide), but white was heard and that became their name. The other one was named black rhino just to be the opposite. White rhinos are larger than black rhinos. Black rhinos are shorter, sturdier and An adult white rhino can weigh up to 2,300 kg, while a black rhino doesnt usually go over 1,000 kilograms. The two types will not mate with each other. At this time, the sanctuary only has white rhinos. They started with just 6 (two actually came from The Wild Kingdom at Disney world) and they are already up to 32 rhinos. The sanctuary has a lot of security to protect the rhinos, but they do not feed them or interact with them. The rhinos are very much living in the wild. The mothers can have babies starting at years old and can have a calf every 1.5 years. The sanctuary has a lot of teenagers that will soon be ready to breed.
