The Holiday

Sunday was the start of our 4 day " holiday " Sue stayed behind to troubleshoot a few items as Madeline, Shalan,Chris and I jumped in our tour guide's 4 wheel drive Toyota Van. Martin was to lead us on an incredible journey for the next 4 days. After we returned to get someone's essential of travel (Blackberry) we were off about 9:40 am. Heading north we stopped at the Rhino Game reserve. Many years ago the Rhino population was reduced to 1 after the wars and slaughter. At this park they are trying to bring the heard back and have made it to 12. After picking up our guide with his AK47 - this is for protection form poachers not the animals apparently, we were able to get up close to 3 that were lounging under a tree. These guys had been kicked out of the group as the mom had just delivered a new calf. It was interesting to see these guys especially since they were white Rhino's and were hopefully the start of something great. Off to lunch in Masindi then to the Boomu women's cooperative. A group of women had received a grant and set up this spot next to the village for travelers to stay prior to entering the Country's park. We walked around until supper enjoying the scenery and then a traditional supper of rice, potatoes, goat and fruit. We slept in individual, traditional thatched roof huts, but the stars were bright and beautiful. A quick shower under the barrel and breakfast we headed off on a guided tour of the village. We saw the construction methods of the mud huts, crops that were being grown and then to the blacksmith. He was 78 years old and had been trained by his father when he was 26. His tools consisted of 2 pots that he put skins over that acted as the bellows and a small sledge hammer. He made everything from arrows to axes. He was in the process of training his 10 year old son. The blacksmith has to approved the person who will takeover his job and culture has it that if a new person was to try and start up a competing business that person would die. The blacksmith also has special healing abilities with the ashes from his fire.

Next to a home where the mother explained how a birth is conducted. When the woman is ready to give birth the father has to go and find his sister-in-law to assist - Run through the fields as no phones here. Once the baby is born if it is a boy he must stay in the room for 3 days and a daughter 4 days. The father marks the birth with arrows and a spear so passer byes will stop and pay to see the newborn. Life is very poor in these families but they all seemed happy. The eldest son 13 years had just built is own house as it was time for him to leave the family home. One of the problems with this community is the number of young women (kids) having babies. There was one girl that looked about 10-11 7 months pregnant. Of course the "black and white" in me felt the solution would be to stop letting 13 year old boys have their own houses. (Simple solution) off we headed into the park. Martin was determined to have us across the park boundary by 11:30. Apparently 11:30 is the start of the day - who would have thought. Soon after crossing the gate we came across large birds, baboons and lots of landscape. We kept wanting to stop and take pictures but Martin had a plan. 45 km of washboard and potholed roads we arrived at a restaurant. The girls were directed to get a take out lunch and I stayed to go with Martin and pay some tour fees. Returning to get the girls then off to the Nile river, Martin arrived in time for us to gather our lunch and get on the river boat (double decked). We started to eat and noticed the herd of elephants across from us. The boat headed out and we started up the river towards Murchison Falls. Hippos, Elephants, Warthogs, Crocks, birds and beautiful scenery for 3 hours. You will have to wait for the pictures to see the "awe" of it.  We stopped downstream from the falls and stared at the beauty.  We returned through the same scenery and were dropped off at the other side as Martin had a plan to improve our game drive experience the next day. Martin picked us up and off we went to a gorgeous 5 star hotel overlooking the Nile. A drink on the patio and then a buffet supper of traditional meals then we were off to our night's lodging - a student hostel - bit of a shock from the restaurant but it was only to rest our heads as we were up at 5 to be on the way at 6. We picked up another AK47 toting game warden - this time for the lions- and off we went. We were the first on the trail and came across a pride of lions, cubs playing with each other and jumping on the parents. There was even a 3 legged male lion watching over the events. We were off and advised that this was the reason we were up so early as the lions were on their way to the woods and would not be seen for the rest of the day. Once again you can only imagine the Savanna as the sun rose and and we watched the herds of antelopes (4 kids) African Buffalo, Elephants, warthogs Hyenas (very rare) and yes, giraffes grazing and moving through the fields.

We dropped off the warden and stopped for breakfast with a wonderment of what we had just seen. Once again Martin had a plan and we were off to the top of Murchinson Falls. This was a beautiful area of the park and interesting to look down upon the same location we had seen the previous day. Next to the Buongo Forrest where we decided to stay the night at a facility reminiscent  of a provincial park except they had dorms. We went on a guided walk through the forest where we heard lots of wildlife and saw trees such as a 450 year old Mahogany. Strangler figs that grew up the outside of a host tree then killed it off. Dinner on the porch in the woods still talking about it all then off to the dorm. Madeline and I were up sitting watching the stars at 3:30 but an hour later and a few too many growls and movement in the bushes took away a bit of courage so back to our beds.

Wednesday morning we were up to head out on a chimpanzee trek  through the forest. We were briefed by the first female park ranger who was hired 17 years ago then off we went. The chimps are acclimatized to the presence of humans as the rangers have to do a shift in the park everyday to keep them used to us. We walked on a trail for 1.5 km then into the bush to follow them. Walking slowly we listen for the sounds of them banging on trees to talk to one another and imagine walking through the bird filled quiet of the forest then to hear the sudden screams of the chimps as they called out. We saw several sitting or moving quietly through the forest, occasionally they would jump and run or climb a tree. We were standing for 1/2 hour watching them in the trees lounging and grooming and when it was time to go we turned around to see an older male chimp on a log watching us. He was less than 10 feet away and probably wondering what we were doing as we could have just watched him..  The trip was exciting and once again Martin stressed to keep us on schedule - the one he knew - off through the bumpy roads of the park and to the gate where he had arranged for our exit fees.  The trip home after lunch in Masindi was a highway ride allowing us to catchup on our sleep.

A big thanks to our travel books and Madeline for taking the time to work with Martin and get this trip as awesome as could ever be imagined. We have Martin's number if anyone wants to experience Uganda with an excellent guide