A Drinking Couple with a Traveling Problem: A Murchison Safari

Katie and I have taken so many safaris in Uganda that we are starting to know some of the parks like the back of our hand. For Alex and Sarah though, we were venturing out on their first ever African safari (Matt had done a safari in Kenya before, but was still excited for a Ugandan safari). Since cramming all of us into one car wouldn’t make for a comfortable safari, we hired a matatu driver to take us around and give our siblings the true Ugandan experience. The matatu is specially built for safaris, so it has a pop-up roof which makes animal viewing much easier than a regular car.

We all crammed into the non-air-conditioned matatu and headed off to Murchison Falls National Park which is about 5 hours North of Kampala. We picked Murchison over the other National Parks because this would be the only safari for Alex and Sarah and this would give them the best chance to see the most wildlife including most importantly giraffes (a favorite for Sarah). Heading to Murchison also allowed us to stop off at the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary so they could see the only remaining “wild” rhinos in Uganda. This time around the rhinos were unfortunately not very active and just lazed about in the hot sun, but it is still always cool to see them. Plus, you can get way closer to them than you ever would be able to in the wild, so that in itself is pretty cool.

The sisters' rhino trekking.

The brothers' rhino trekking.

The game driving in Murchison went extremely well and we got to see tons of lions, elephants, hippos, and of course the giraffes. This was also the first time on safari we ever got to see Side-striped Jackals. We took our siblings on a boat trip up the Nile River to Murchison Falls (which is where the river gets pushed through an 8-meter gorge and is pretty impressive). On the boat, we even got to see a huge crocodile basking on the banks of the river. For some reason a person sitting near the croc though it would be a good idea to bang on the side of the boat while we all marveled at this prehistoric beast. That supreme killing machine spooked by the noise dove towards the water which happened to be in the direction of the boat and the wise guy that did the banging jumped behind me to protect himself. The guy ended up getting a lot of evil stares and was called an idiot by the guides, but it was cool to see the croc move as fast as it did and splash into the water.

Our first ever Side-striped Jackals.

So many Giraffes!

Funny faces from Mr. Lion.

3 lion cubs, with two mamas close by.

Elephants in front of a beautiful sunrise.

Brothers enjoying a Nile Special on the Nile.

A crocodile just before we reached the falls.

All of us in front of Murchison Falls.

A crocodile just before jumping into the Nile River.

All in all, it was another fun safari and we think the siblings really enjoyed themselves. It was fun watching them experience a safari for the first time and I think they might have actually enjoyed nature a little this time around. For all our other photos from this trip, check out our SmugMug page.