Day 15: Safari Day

This morning's four and a half hour safari through Murchison Falls National Park was excellent! We left early in the morning with a ranger from the Uganda Wildlife Association (UWA) named Taban, who escorting us through the safari with a serious rifle. As we started out, he outlined the basics of the massive park: 3,900 square kilometers, 76 species of animals, 450 species of birds, reasons for patterns of erosion and gulleys, the best times of year to see different wildlife... As we drove across the open, hilly savannah, I noticed that the fields here were also mostly burnt. Burning is necessary to clear the brush and make way for the new grass. There was a lot of new growth in the park, little seedlings poking their heads, watered only by the nightly see. Apparently it briefly sprinkled at 1am, so it will soon by rainy season. One of the first animals we saw was a Jackson's Hartebeest, which is a cross between deer and a horse, with some antelope and prehistoric goat mixed in. They have beautiful curled horns and long, thin faces, with an air of regal strength. We began to see other animals peacefully grazing... waterbucks, warthogs, Abyssinian ground hunters, and several gigantic Cape Buffalo. Taban explained the symbiotic relationship between the buffalo and the little black piu-piu birds that sit on their backs. The buffalo are a great place to find food for the birds, which eat flies and ticks off of the animals and also have much better eyesight, so they are able to warn them of danger. Win win. Dad and I captured a couple good shots, but it seems like every time we stop to take a photo, the animals all turn to walk away, so we have lots of photo of their rumps. I decided to take photos when they would be exceptional, but really try to keep the camera down so I could relish the moments near the animals without a device between us. We saw so many more animals: elephants, giraffes, monkeys, antelopes, oribi, squirrels, colorful birds, not so colorful vultures, dragonflies, butterflies ... As we searched through the brush to determine if there were animals hidden behind shrubs or trees, it was often hard to tell what were termite mounds or animals. As we neared "the game", they either trotted away or looked up from their grass to stare at us. The Park was filled with tons of Ugandan kob, which are a lot like American deer with long, curled horns like Maleficent. We saw more kob than any other species, they were everywhere! They travelled in small packs and were gently alert, gracefully bouncing as they ran away from our safari van. Haban pointed out a kob carcass hanging from a tree branch where, most likely, a leopard had dragged it to feast. The Nile was parallel to us in the distance as we drove and several small herds of 3-10 elephants slowly were making their way to the water. Haban told us that there are approximately 14,500 elephants in the whole park. He spoke about each animal in terms of their strengths and weaknesses, what they eat and who eats them, how they mate, how many they keep in their herds, their level of territorialism. In the back of my mind, I realized I categorize people in a similar way. The African savannah has so much depth and breadth. An alarming number of animals coexist and their ecosystem is a beautiful microcosm that speaks to the broader planet as a whole... It was nice to back up and take a fresh look at a completely different way of living. I am reminded that we are all surviving. I am very grateful for our fantastic driver Geoffrey, who manned the vehicle with diligence, expertly handling the rough terrain with focus and ease. Not easy! My favorite part of the safari was driving around standing up in the car, inhaling the smells of the savannah and looking out in awe at the great expanse of rich wildlife and quiet nothingness that I had never taken in before. This is what getting some space in your head means, I thought, experiencing the greatness of nature and not thinking about anything else. We had lunch at Paraa Lodge and then waited for boat cruise up the Nile to the base of the falls. While we waited we took some photos of local baboons and warthogs who hang down at the ferry dock. Which is just normal here, apparently. There were two mom baboons nursing and it made me miss my mommy co-workers at Rock of Ages. (Normalize Breast-Feeding!) The daddy baboon was a bit scary though, charging women to try and steal their bags and jumping on cars trying to break into their windows. We enjoyed watching one of his kids poop on a car hood. Bet that kind of bedlam doesn't happen in American National Parks! The boat cruise was also operated by UWA. We chugged slowly against the current two hours to near the base of Murchison Falls and quickly returned in one hour. The boat steered us very close to the shore so we could see Nile crocodiles on the riverbed sunning, some with their shiny sharp-toothed jaws agape. We saw a zillion hippopotamuses (hippopotami?) sleeping in the bright green deltas off of Lake Albert wetlands area of Nile, their snouts and backs slyly peeking out of the water, defying their enormousness. Elephants calmly bathed and snakebirds eyed us as we floated by. I was feeling really crappy as we approached the falls and slept most of the way back to the dock. As I discussed my symptoms with Isaac (nausea, diarrhea, weakness, and general fatigue), he pointed out that it's possible that I could be reacting to the malaria medication that I'm on. Bingo! Finally it all made sense. I went to the clinic at the lodge and Betty the Sassy Older Nurse gave me doxycycline, an alternate malaria medication that will hopefully agree with me better. I just ate yet another meal of simple foods (rice, potatoes, and bread) and I'm going to bed now at 8:30pm. I need to get a solid night of sleep.