Rhino Tracking and Fort Murchison Lodge

Driving Through Uganda

We are on the road at dawn. Even though it is early the streets of Entebbe are busy with cars, motorbikes, safari vehicles, kids walking to school and perfectly poised women walking with large packages on their heads.

We have the whole ten person van to ourselves and our guide Bosco.

We travel through a large city called Kawempe. Traffic on the two lane road is crazy busy with trucks, cars and motorbikes seeming to go all over the place. It is packed with people. We pass a busy market. Click here for a short video.

Uganda was formerly a British colony so cars drive on the left, all signage is in English and everyone we have met speaks English. Over 84% of Ugandans are Christian and 14% Islam. Ugandas main industries are agriculture, manufacturing and mining ( gold, oil, gas, tin, tungsten and phosphate) . Main crops are coffee, tea, sugar, cotton, tobacco, grains, dairy products and edible oils.

We continue to pass large numbers of pilgrims walking to a Catholic shrine for the Ugandan Martyrs Day Celebrations in Namugongo on June 3.  Click here for a short video. 

There are a lot of white vans on the road with religious slogans. These vans act as the local bus system picking up & dropping off passengers. Colourful buses do the longer routes.

When a stretch of highway opens up, we drive very fast, passing many vehicles. I don’t see any speed limit signs…maybe there isn’t one.

We are not seeing any dogs or cats anywhere.

Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary 

In 3.5 hours we get to the turnoff for the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary.

We drive down a dirt road to the sanctuary. We are moving at a brisk clip when suddenly Bosco let’s out a yelp, the van flies up and our heads hit the ceiling. Fortunately we are wearing seatbelts. There are large unmarked speedbumps on the red dirt road and Bosco missed one. John and I are fine. 

We check in at the gatehouse. There is a poinsettia bush just teaming with numerous kinds of butterflies.

Our first sighting is a bushback which is an antelope type creature. 

We arrive at the main station where we meet our tracking guide Max. He shows us a board that has individual pictures with given names of all 48 of the rhinos in the park.

We head into the van and into the park. We pass a family of warthogs, some with birds on their backs. Apparently the birds are picking off parasites from the warthogs.

Now I truly do feel like I’m back in Africa. It’s so good to be back.

We get out of the van and start to walk through the bush. Soon we spot a family of rhinos; a mother, calf and two young males.  I can’t believe how close we are to them. We can even hear their soft snorts. They are white rhinos.

Out of nowhere a ranger with a gun joins us. He is there to keep an eye on the rhinos, not only their health and safety but also protecting them from poachers. This guard can recognize all the rhinos by name.

In the distance we see another large rhino coming towards the family. It is the park’s alpha male. He comes over and challenges one of the younger males who runs to the pack and the mother. The younger males does a snort of submission. They face each other for minute, then go back to all grazing peacefully together. Click here for a short video.

Did you know that male rhinos find out which female is ready for mating by sniffing their dung.  The dung of females in heat has a different smell than normal dung. Imagine having to sniff dung all day to find a date.

We head back to the base station, passing a troop of vervet monkeys.

After a delicious lunch at the base we are on our way to Murchison Falls.

Drive to Fort Murchison 

Bosco is stopped by the police for speeding. He is given a choice of paying them right away or being ticketed. If you pay them cash it’s a smaller amount and apparently the police keep the money. 

We stop to take pictures at Karuma Falls. They utilize this falls for a hydroplant. It is part of the Nile Bridge.

We cross the bridge to northern Uganda. Baboons greet us at the other side of the bridge.

We pass many small villages with short, round homes and grass roofs. I enjoy my hair blowing in the wind as we speed down the two lane highway.

Soon our pace slows because the road is filled with potholes. Often we drive in the dirt at the side of the road which is marginally smoother but kicks up a lot of red dust. The road improves a bit.

We pass an elephant feasting by the water.

Fort Murchison Lodge

Fort Murchison Lodge and Tents is lovely. We are right on the edge of the Blue Nile River. Our tent is  great with it’s mosquito netted bed.

There are all kinds of neat birds around including the very cool Eurasian Hoopoe.

John and I go for a swim in the pool and then shower before going to dinner.  My hair is almost impossible to comb because it is so tangled from blowing from the window. I practically pull half of it out of my head with the comb before it becomes tidy again.

We watch the sunset from our dinner table and then eat a delicious four course meal. Yum. This is far exceeding my expectations.