Monday, June 7, 2010

Murchison Trip!

This Thursday was Martyr’s Day in Uganda! While I find this to be a pretty unique reason for a holiday, it gave us a chance to take a group trip to Murchison Falls, a game park in Western Uganda. It was so much fun and a nice break! We went with the Forester family and Andrew. Here are a few pictures and stories:

Our more interesting experiences started when we drove up next to the Nile River. Baboons were all over the place, with huge teeth, and didn’t seem to hesitate to approach you or come swiftly toward the open door of the car. We quickly learned to keep the doors shut and the children inside. Here’s a picture I took of the baboon that had decided to come up to Ashley and me, I snapped a photo before jumping in the car. It was kind of close..



While still next to the Nile, we were also able to have a close encounter with some elephants. This experience came right on the heels of Kent telling us the story of how previously in the same game park an elephant had killed one of the visitors. As a few of us walked to the bathrooms, and Mom and her two baby elephants started walking toward us. We put the young Forester child in the bathroom as the family walked within 50 feet of us, the Mom staring as she walked by. Elephants are huge when in the wild (they actually grow to be larger when not in captivity), and it was pretty awesome:



Our boat trip down the Nile was full of interesting animals. The most memorable experience was probably when we passed a dead hippo. Our guide estimated that he had been dead for 2 days (probably after losing a breeding rights fight with another hippo) and there were around 20 crocodiles feeding on him. It’s kind of hard to see well in the picture, but it was definitely a lot rather large animals in one place:



And lastly, Ashley and me in front of the falls:



"Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all."
-1 Chronicles 29:11

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I think the alligators would have freaked me out!