UGANDA: MURCHISON FALLS AND PAKUBA SAFARI LODGE

 July 21, 2025

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.

UGANDA 2025: MURCHISON FALLS NATIONAL PARK, WOMEN'S CO-OP

 July 21, 2025

After our safari drive, we took Bob to a dock area where he would catch a boat to take him to the bottom of Murchison Falls.  We left him at 9:15 and it left at 10:55, so he had to sit and wait for a long time!

William took Ella and me back through the entrance to the park and about a block further to a women's cooperative for single moms called "The Boomu Women's Group." The word boomu means "together." This co-op was formed in 1999 with the goal of reducing malnutrition and poverty levels and to enable children to go to school through income made at the co-op by their mothers. 

There were four women waiting for us who were ready to do some demonstrations. The leader was a woman who started to co-op in the 1990s (I think). She had a lypoma the size of a small orange growing on her jaw, but in didn't seem to bother her and in a picture next to an award dated 2007 that was hanging in the gift shop, it looked exactly the same as it did when we visited. I think she is beautiful, and her confidence made her even more beautiful.

UCOTA is the acronym for Uganda Community Tourism Association, a group that empowers local communities in sustainable development through small-scale tourism and handcraft enterprises. There are 42 member-groups in Uganda, representing 2,121 people of whom 64% are women. This group uses the money they make to help single mothers raise their children and keep them in school (which is not free in Uganda).

Here we are, waiting for our first demonstration on basket weaving. Note the looms behind us that they use to weave their own cloth. They use reeds, fiber from banana plants, and purchased raffia for the baskets. They dye the material themselves and then cut it into thin strands. 

UGANDA 2025: MURCHISON FALLS NATIONAL PARK, SAFARI DRIVE

July 20-21, 2025

We got to the entrance of Murchison Falls National Park at 6:45 p.m., just 15 minutes before the gates closed for the night. However, they did a ridiculous amount of paperwork that included making copies of our passports (which we later learned was standard for all national parks in Uganda). It took 25 minutes, and we didn't actually go through the gates until 7:10.

Not too far in we saw our first baboons walking down the road, kind of like an escort or welcoming committee.

A little later on, we saw an eagle owl at the side of the road that flew off when we drove by and then a mongoose that scampered across the road, both too fast for us to get a picture.

The highlight of the 45-minute-long drive through the park to our lodge was a huge wet hippo standing in the middle of the road facing oncoming traffic. The car in front of us wouldn't pass by it on the side, even though there appeared to be room. Apparently, hippos are known to charge cars. As cute as they are, they are mean dudes.

After a while, a boda-boda (motorcycle) came by and cautiously passed the hippo on the side. Shortly after that, a ranger drove up and directed us to turn off our car lights. He turned his flashlight beam to the far side of the road, and the hippo turned towards it like a moth to a flame. Though he still stood in the road, we could at least drive past his backside where he might not notice us.

UGANDA 2025: A LONG DRIVE AND THE ZIWA RHINO SANCTUARY

 July 20, 2025

We had told the camp folks that we would be leaving at 9:00 a.m., but for some reason they saw fit to wake us up at 7:00 a.m. when we were all still asleep. We grumpily got out of bed, packed, and mad our way to breakfast where we met William, our guide for the next six days.

After our rude awakening, breakfast was maddingly slow, but there were a bunch of vervet monkeys on the grounds outside that entertained us. These are Ella's photos:

We finally got on the road at 9:30, which was what we had planned, so why get up at 7:00? The roads were ridiculously bad--mostly ungraded dirt roads full of potholes and gullies. It was very hot, and our 4-wheel-drive vehicle did not have AC.  My nemesis, motion sickness, hit me hard around 11:30 a.m. when I lost my breakfast. The irony is that just two blocks later we finally merged with a paved highway that took us the rest of the way.

After we had been on the road for four or five hours, we stopped for box lunches that William had called ahead to order. Bob and Ella had goat and rice; I had mashed potatoes and could only eat about half. An hour-and-a-half later, we arrived at Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary where we were welcomed by this statue.

Based on the order of my photos, this school must have been in the sanctuary:

UGANDA 2025: NGAMBA ISLAND CHIMPANZEE SANCTUARY

 July 19, 2025

After our trip to Mabamba Swamp, we returned to the lodge for lunch and then split up for our afternoon activities. Bob's plan was to spend the rest of the day birding on the property with Wilson as his guide, and Ella and I had booked a trip to Chimpanzee Island. To get there, we had to drive all the way back to Lake Victoria, take the motorized canoe across the finger of the lake to Entebbe, take another drive through Entebbe to another part of the lake, then take a 45-minute speedboat ride to the island. 

For what it looks like to drive through Entebbe, see this video I took from the back seat of the car. It is almost as interesting to watch the driver's video screen as it is to watch the street!

Before our final segment (the speedboat ride to the island), we had to wait over an hour for another large group of 19 people to arrive, which made all the rushing we had done to get to the dock pointless. However, we were at least waiting in a nice resort. Ella spotted a red-headed Finch's agama basking on one of the concrete squares. It looks like it had an unpleasant encounter with someone or something and lost part of its tail:

Photo by Ella

The group of 19 that joined us was an American mission group that was in Uganda doing spine surgeries. They were friendly and fun, and on our way over to the island we were all singing along to Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline" and other songs from the 70s. I included a map of Lake Victoria just to show how large the lake is. Uganda is the upper left portion, Kenya to its right, and Tanzania below.

UGANDA 2025: MABAMBA BAY

 July 19, 2025

Our first activity in Uganda was a trip to Mabamba Bay (perhaps more accurately called by some Mabamba Swamp), but first we enjoyed a very nice breakfast in the lodge. We had a beautiful view out the windows. The lodge is located on 40 acres of indigenous forest adjacent to the Mabamba Wetlands, so it is a prime location for birding enthusiasts.

I don't think Bob finished breakfast before he was outside with the other birders and their cameras, and Ella was not far behind him. The were photographing two black and white hornbills.

Here is a closer shot. Bob had put together a camera and lens for Ella to use on this trip from some of his extra equipment, hoping she would join him in his bird photography habit and to give her something to do. She seemed to enjoy it. She is in the blue shirt on the far left, and Bob is two people in from her in blue shirt and dark pants. 

These two photos were taken by Ella:

UGANDA 2025: DOHA TO ENTEBBE TO NKIMA FOREST LODGE

 July 18, 2025

On arrival at the Entebbe Airport, we knew immediately we were not in Qatar anymore. We walked down stairs to exit our large jet.

Ella took her first steps on the African continent. (Qatar is considered West Asia.)

Instead of being met by a large golden teddy bear, we were greeted by a gorilla.

The airport bathroom met us giggle . . . 

. . . as did the sign over the baggage claim area:

UGANDA 2025: DOHA, QATAR

 July 17, 2025

Qatar is a tiny country in the Middle East that pokes out like a thumb from the Arabian Peninsula into the Persian Gulf. It comprises 4,471 square miles (slightly smaller than Connecticut) and has a population of about 3.2 million (slightly less than Connecticut).  Unlike Connecticut, 80% of its population is centered in one place, the capital city of Doha.

We arrived ini Doha at around 6:00 p.m., and by the time we got through immigration, it was beginning to get dark, which means the city was beginning to come alive. Our guide, Dharma, was a man in his early 40s from Nepal, of all places. He was friendly but very difficult for us to understand and misinterpreted many of our questions.

Doha is a visual paradise, and it quickly became apparent that the city is all about architecture. One of the first things we saw was Stadium 974, built in 2022 for the FIFA World Cup. Its name comes from the fact that it was built with 974 shipping containers.

Our first stop where we actually got out of the vehicle and stepped into the sweltering heat was the National Museum of Qatar, opened to the public in 2019. 

UGANDA 2025: A TRIP WITH OUR GRANDDAUGHTER

 July 15-17, 2025

In 2023 we took our oldest granddaughter Savannah on a trip to Colombia. She didn't get to choose the destination. We were already planning a trip there, and when we learned she was interested in the country, we invited her to join us. She was 16 years old and made a great travel companion, so we decided to take her younger sister Ella on a trip when she was 16. Because of the advanced planning, she got more say in her destination. In 2024, a year before we intended to travel, we asked her where she would go if she could go anywhere in the world. Without hesitation, she said "Africa!"

It didn't take Bob long to start exploring where we could go in Africa where he and I had not been before, and he decided on Uganda. Uganda?? Really??? Well . . . okay. Like Colombia, it straddles the equator, and we all survived that trip. How much different can it be?

A lot, as it turns out. Here are just a few significant differences:

-  While their populations are almost identical, hovering around the 53 million mark, Colombia is about 4.74 times larger in total area than Uganda. 

- Colombia has a richer, more developed economy. ($7,914 GDP per capita vs. Uganda's $1,073 GDP per capita)

- Uganda has a much younger population, in fact, one of the world's youngest populations with 43.5% of people under age 15!

- Uganda is landlocked while Colombia has both Pacific and Caribbean coastlines.

Before our trip, I knew very little about Uganda, other than that it was ruled by the brutal dictator Idi Amin during my teen years. Of course, I also had known little about Colombia other than that it had been the home of the infamous drug lord Pablo Escobar who was particularly active during the 1980s and 1990s.

Gee, those both sound like great countries to take your granddaughters to, right?

GERMANY: HITLER'S MUNICH

 May 25, 2025

Our very last joint activity on our family trip to Germany was a guided tour of Hitler's Munich. But before I get to that, I just have to throw in this photo of a silver lion that we passed in the Old Town square. Munich has several statues of lions, once a symbol of Bavarian strength. Besides the Old Town Square, they can be found flanking the entrance to the Munich Palace, on the top of the triumphal arch, and at the Lowenbrau Brewery. My high school mascot was a lion, and I'm a big fan of the books The Wizard of Oz and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, both of which prominently feature a lion, so I am always drawn to statues of lions. This one looks powerful. I like it!

Munich is considered the birthplace of the Nazi Party (aka National Socialism or NSDAP), and a visit to Munich is not complete without seeing a few of the sites involved with the Nazi Party, especially in the 1920s and 1930s.

Our first stop on the tour was the Hofbrauhaus, a historic beer hall that started as a supplier for the Bavarian court. 

Our guide took us up a long stairway . . .

. . . to this dining hall. It was here in February 1920 (so early!) that 30-year-old Hitler, the propaganda chief of the National Socialist Party, announced the party's official program to a gathering of about 2,000 people. Seventeen months later, on July 29, 1921, he was elected to be the head of the Nazi Party here.

GERMANY: DACHAU

 May 25, 2025

We visited Mauthausen Concentration Camp in Austria in 2012 and Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp and Treblinka Concentration Camp in Poland in 2019, so we assumed we were more or less prepared for a visit to Dachau. However, I learned that you can't actually be "prepared" to face horror on the scale of a concentration camp.

Historians believe over 1.1 million people perished in Auschwitz during its less than five years of existence, 800,00 to 925,000 Jews were gassed in Treblinka in just over a year, and 90,000 to 120,000 people were killed or died from the horrific conditions at Mauthausen during its seven years of operation. In contrast, "only" 41,500 or so people died in the Dachau concentration camp and its extensive subcamp system, and that was over a period of twelve years. Auschwitz-Birkenau and Treblinka existed primarily as extermination centers--the "final solution to the Jewish problem." Mauthausen started as a labor camp, but eventually became an extermination center as well. Dachau was a prison camp--a place in the beginning for the Nazis to intern their political opponents; then groups regarded as criminals such as Jews, Romani, homosexuals, and Jehovah's Witnesses; and finally, foreign nationals from countries that Germany occupied or invaded.

We arrived in the city of Dachau by train, and I was kind of surprised that there was a city--I had only heard of the camp. A map at the station highlights "Historic Old Town," "Dachau Palace," and  ways to experience nature near the town of 50,000. The last thing on the list is a "Place of Learning and Commemoration"--the concentration camp.

We had a private guide who showed us a map of the major concentration camps in Germany itself--most of which I hadn't heard of--along with the subcamps and Aktion T-4 centers. There are so many.

Grafeneck, where our grandfather was murdered on May 21, 1940, is on the map.

It was gloomy and rainy at Dachau, appropriate weather for the experience.

The Dachau concentration camp was opened by Heinrich Himmler in 1933, the first concentration camp established by the Nazi Party and the longest to be in operation, from March 1933 to April 1945 when it was liberated by American forces.