Amazing Safari Adventure

Last Thursday a group of six of us headed off to a Safari. We took a taxi to Kampala and went to the Red Chili Hideaway where we stayed the night. We had dinner and some people played scrabble and then we went to bed. We stayed in a dormitory where the six of us stayed in bunk beds with other people in the opposite room and we all shared a bathroom. We got up at 7 the next day to eat our bread and peanut butter that we brought with us and went outside to be prepped. We got in our safari van and began the drive to Murchison Falls. About 2 hours into it we picked up two other people to add to our van. We ate lunch in Masindi and then headed out again. We got to our campsite – the Red Chili Rest Camp – in Murchison Falls National Park and got to spend the rest of the day hanging out.

We spent the rest of the afternoon playing cards and eating a ton of beef jerky and amazing trail mix. We had a great dinner and went to bed super early. That night though we did get to see a hippo in our camp!

The next morning we got up at 5:45 am ate our bread and peanut butter, watched the sunrise, and got in our safari van. They had put the roof up and we drove down to the Nile .We crossed over on the ferry and then began our Safari!!

I expected to only get to see patches of animals here and there. We literally almost always had some sort of animal in sight. There were giraffes everywhere it was amazing.

On the land safari we saw pumbas, giraffes, aldabeasts, elephants, other deer gazelle looking things, buffalo, hippo, some birds, and a couple jackals.

At one point they let everyone get out of the van in case they need to pee, and so that we could get up closer to the hippos. While we were looking at them some fisher boys were paddling their boat towards them and they all started moving! Hippos are seriously HUGE. Then we got to see a momma hippo and her baby walking around. It was so cute!

At another point Alayna and I jumped off of the van (we were sitting in the front/back outside of the actual back) with the permission of our guide of course and tried to get closer to the giraffes. Obviously they were scared of us although I am not really sure why they are obviously way bigger than any of us are! But it was SO amazing to just like be in such a close proximity to such an incredible animal! We were basically running with them!

After our land safari we went back to our campsite and ate lunch and took naps in our crazy hot tents. About 1:30 we got up and got ready to go on our boat Safari. We drove down to the Nile and got on a boat. I sat up in the front so that I could take pictures the whole time!

It was not the most exciting thing ever, but we saw lots of crocodiles, hippos, and birds. On the way back we saw elephants down at the Nile. There was a whole herd, including two babies!! It was one of the coolest things everrrr!!

That night we hung out together talking and staying up late. Becky (my tent mate) and I decided to scare the others while they were in the bathroom. We climbed under their beds until they walked back in and grabbed their legs. Then all four of us went to the other tent to scare the last two. It was hilarious!

The next day before we had to head back we hiked up to Murchison Falls. It was one of the most beautiful sites here. It made me fall in love with Africa and Uganda even more. We hiked to a point where you just got soaked from the mist spraying up and then hiked all the way up to one of the falls where you literally could of just walked right in. It would have killed you in seconds though. It was so incredible powerful and beautiful. There was a constant rainbow over it, that was just so incredible to see.

Then we drove back. It was hands down one of the best weekends that I have had here. So so amazing!

You can see all my safari pictures on facebook by clicking this link - you do NOT have to have facebook to view them!!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=245958&id=649925770&l=93b172eb95