We drove from the women's Booma Co-op to pick up Bob from his boatride, which was a drive of about an hour and ten minutes. The distances are actually not that long in the park, but the primitive dirt roads slow things down a lot. From the dock we drove to Murchison Falls, the site for which the park is named.
We were told that Murchison Falls is the most powerful waterfall in the world if measuring pressure. It is located on what is known as the White Nile, which is one of the two tributaries of the Nile (along with the larger Blue Nile). In Uganda, it is known as the Victoria Nile from where it begins at the northern end of Lake Victoria and until it reaches Lake Albert, and then after than it is called the Albert Nile until it reaches the border with South Sudan.
Just before it reaches Lake Albert, the river is compressed dramatically by a gorge that at one time was only seven meters wide, but that has significantly expanded over time due to erosion. At that point it plunges 140 feet to the river below, where it quickly flattens out. It makes for a very dramatic display of drenching spray and thunderous roaring.
The first Europeans to see the falls, Samuel and Florence Baker, named them after Roderick Murchison, the President of the Royal Geographical Society.
When we first arrived, were competing for a good view with a group of students from what first appeared to be an all-girl high school on a field trip. We did see some boys, however. I think they were just letting the girls go to the viewing platform first. I loved their dresses and found it interesting that they all had shaved heads.
It was very fun to have Ella with us. She was really enjoying the impromptu shower.
You can see from Ella's pants and my hat that the rushing water also created a fairly strong wind.
All the walkways near the river were wet from the spray, but Bob found a dry bench and was perfectly happy to stay there.
Bob had taken a boat ride to the base of the falls earlier in the day while Ella and I were at the women's co-op. This was his view:
A fun story about the falls is that in January 1954, Ernest Hemingway took his fourth wife, Mary Welsh, to East Africa as a Christmas gift. He hired a pilot and a small plane to take them on a sightseeing trip over the Ngorogoro Crater in Kenya and Murchison Falls in Uganda. As they dipped low over the falls so that Mary could take some photos, they clipped a telegraph wire and made an emergency landing in the bush 300 meters from the Nile and about three miles below Murchison Falls. Though injured, they made their way to the river bank, where they spent the night. The next morning Hemingway was able to flag down a passing boat. A search party found the plane wreckage and assumed the famous writer and his wife were dead. Word spread quickly around the world, and several major newspapers immediately published obituaries. However, the rescue boat had dropped the Hemingways off at Buiaba, located on the shores of Lake Albert, where they had boarded a second small plane bound for Entebbe. Unbelievably, that plane crashed and caught fire just after takeoff. Hemingway sustained a concussion and skull fracture from butting his head against the window to break it for his escape. Go here for a short (3:14) video by PBS about the two crashes.Time to head back to Nkima Forest Lodge for dinner. We had another elephant sighting on our way . . .
. . . three giraffes . . .
. . . and a hungry baboon:
Ah, almost home.
"Be aware" is not quite the same as "Beware." 😁
The Pakuba Safari Lodge isn't super fancy, but when we arrived at the main lodge, we were always greeted with fruit juice and cool washcloths . . .
. . . and the grounds were full of interesting wildlife, including colorful agama lizards . . .
. . . lizards on our cabin walls . . .
. . . warthogs grazing on the grounds . . .
. . . marabou storks strutting their stuff at dusk and dawn . . .
. . . and the herd of waterbucks that bedded down for a safe sleep every night.
We loved watching the waterbucks and warthogs from the balcony where we ate dinner.
I loved Murchison Falls NP and the location of our lodge. The lodge itself was okay, but so wonderful to have a long view of Lake Albert.
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