Murchison Falls, gateway to the so-called 'Abyssinian region,' is a park beyond the scope and budget of my last trip. It promissed alot more lifers than the axed Queen Elizabeth NP, not as many as Kidepo but much less of a distance and easily combined with the adjoining Budongo Forest. This gave me the chance to chisel away at East Africa's 1200+ bird species while giving Ramata a chance to see lions. There would also be some bee-eaters to fill Steve's memory card so something for everyone.
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| Piacpiac |
First stop, the park entrance to settle our fees. Once again, Ramata's Senegal passport with Nairobi as the birthplace was duly accepted and so she paid $10 as opposed to my 70. Park fees are complicated because different conversion rates apply to different fees in the formula, making it advantageous to pay the 'park entrance fee' in US and all the other fees (vehicle, etc) in Ush. I was familiar with this bizarre system from my past travels. The last ferry of the day was due to leave in 10 minutes' time so time was, of the essence.
Nevertheless, Steve was quickly on the scene to of course verify my calculations, which got us in an argument and dangerously close to missing the ferry.
Luckily we didn't and were soon crossing the Nile River, bound for the legendary Murchison Falls in search of lions, leopards, elephants, shoebills and nightjars
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| The mighty Nile, world's longest river |
For the first night, we chose the 'public camping site' which was fare cheaper than bush camping' and which I though would be more lame and contain many people. To my surprise, the 'public camping' was not only far cheaper (like 12$ a person I think) but also quite wild indeed and really awesome. We heard a Standard-winged Nightjar while preparing dinner but it was deep in the bush and we were forced to heed Emmy's warnings against venturing in there due to hippos and buffalos. Despite some reckless light flashing in a hurried rush to see it, I don't think we would have anyway. Time to enjoy ugali, or as they call it here, posho.
If nighjars were off the table, we might as well have a good time and so had a dance party to some Navy Kenzo in the wilderness...
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| Dance party in the bush |
We were up for a pre-dawn game drive in search of lions and leopards. Nothing eventful was seen other than this Oribi antelope and a colourful sunrise.
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| Oribi |
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| Silver-backed Jackal |
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| Abyssinian Ground Hornbill |
The savannah, with its familar acacias, was also dotted with many interesting-looking palm trees, which gave the place an exotic feel. These of course were occupied by the occasional Palm-nut Vulture (or is it an eagle?).
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| Palm-nut Vulture |
As the rising sun bathed the land in an orange glow just as it has done for millions of years, my destiny was achieved: to see all the storks of East Africa.
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| Abdim's Storks |
I was very confident we would see lions. Recent tracks were on the road (it had been raining about daily), and we found 4 different kills during our two days in the area.
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| A recent but well picked-over kill |
We prowled far and wide but still no lions. Fortunately, we are birders which vastly increases the possibilities of great finds! Imaging being a regular tourist only looking for a handful of large, distinctive mammals. Boring!
Once again, Emmy brought us to a lunch spot that was NOT randomly chosen. Just as I was about to say something, he nonchalantly pointed out the songs of a flock of Red-winged Gray Warblers, localized in the extreme north-west corner of Uganda. I was thrilled!
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| Emmy's plan to 'secretly' have lunch in the territory of the Red-winged Gray Warblers |
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| Red-winged Gray Warbler responding to my phone |
It was time for our Nile river cruise. More of a 'leisure cruise' with a bar on board, it was full of tourists but I made sure to have a word with the crew to make sure we checked for Pel's Fishing Owl, which has been seen from this boat. The guide seemed knowledgeable but unfortunately it was not the right season so our chances were virtually nil. I already figured as much since Emmy had elected to sit this one out. He definitely needed a break from us!
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| Marabou |
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| Admiring the handywork of Village Weavers while waiting for our boat |
We had to make a tough decision because the alternative boat cruise, the one that pretty much guarantees shoebill, was extremely expensive (between 300-400 dollars I seem to recall). Since I've seen it already, I figured we'd cheap out on the regular one and hope we could get the shoebill on our own at the delta. It was kind of a tough call.
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| Murchson Falls |
Who knows what we would have found on that cruise, but we had an amazing time on this one. Kicking back and sipping appropriate Nile beer, we relished in good times with good friends while hippos and crocs frolicked in the water. Nobody did a cannonball.
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| Hungry hungry Hippos |
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| Nile Crocodile keeping an eye on young |
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| Goliath Heron - the largest |
We passed by a colony of Red-throated Bee-eaters and Pied Kingfishers. The Bee-eaters seemed to be somewhere else. We carried on...
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| Locked and loaded |
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| Colony of Red-throated Bee-eaters and Pied Kingfishers |
As we approached the main attraction, the Murchison Falls themselves, I noticed an irregularity on one of the large boulders protruding from the water. Could it be? No! I raised my bins and studied it closely. "Hey, look at that rock. I don't wanna promise anything but..." We all studied the rock and as we drew nearer it morphed into a bird. It was my nemesis, and I don't throw that word around lightly! (For Steve, basically every bird he's looked for for 5 minutes and not seen is his nemesis). Rock Pratincole! This was revenge for my and Martha's botched effort running around eastern Kenya in 2016. Definitely the bird of the trip!
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| ROCK PRATINCOOOOOOOOOOOLLES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
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| Red-throated Bee-eater with appropriate prey item |
Back on land, we continued our safari with Steve taking the wheel. Emmy duly warned that we'd be fined $100 for honking the horn, and you can probably guess what Steve did next (by accident of course). Luckily our brush with the law went unnoticed and we continued on our way (once the parking break was released).
All around us breeding season was in evidence.
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| Tripod |
Kobs raged with testosterone as they attempted to mate with females without their consent. One lusty buck tried to mount an unwilling partner four times, each one resulting in humiliating failure. If that didn't work, the males would chase each other around in frustration if anything.
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| Well hello there! |
Buffaloes too were a slave to hormones, unable to contain their raging erections, occasionally taking out their frustration on fellow males.
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| Deploying his red rocket - that looks painful! |
Some females were already with young, so it looks like at least a few males had some success at passing down their genetic code. Good for them.
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Kob with young
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| Cape Buffaloes with young |
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| Buffalo are easily startled. But they'll be back, and in greater numbers |
The breeding season did not bode well for our lion search. All this prey meant that their hunts were successful and therefore brief, giving them ample time for lounging out of sight. The added greenery from the rains made spotting them even harder. The final difficulty was that the park had recently tranlocated half the lions to the other side of the river, something to do with oil exploration in the park. This mean that the once-tame pride was more reclusive than previously. Furthermore, along the shoreline we noticed unlimited, unchecked fishing activity which caused grave concerns about the integrity of park management. I've written to them about it but have not received a response. I wonder if this could have affected the shoebill population?
We failed to find a shoebill, but as compensation there was a family of Saddle-billed Storks at the delta. Further driving around nabbed us Temminck's Courser, Gray-crowned Cranes, Senegal Lapwings, Black-rumped Waxbill and we even flushed an African Crake while driving around!
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| Saddle-billed Stork |
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| That look on Emmy's face does not bode well for Shoebill |
Decided we had exhausted possible spots for shoebill, we moved inland in the hopes of getting a lion, but were always one step behind. A kill was being feasted upon by bloodthirsty warthogs shoving their entire heads into the viscera of a Kob. Ew!
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| White-backed (left) and Ruppel's Griffon Vulture (right) |
Here are some more pics:
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| Patas Monkeys are well-adapted for life on the open Savannah - they are the fastest-running monkey |
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| Swallow-tailed Bee-eater |
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| Patas Monkey |
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| Temminck's Courser |
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| Grey-crowned Cranes in courtship |
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| Jackson's Hartebeest |
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| Rothchild's Giraffe |
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| Warthog |
Our 'bush camping' came with a ranger in the form of Robert who was an excellent and jovial character which whom we shared many laughs. I told him the other guard looked like his brother which I came to regret for the rest of my life.
The best things we found were a Square-tailed Nightjar and Long-tailed Nightjar flying together. This ended up being our only Nightjar encounter in Murchison Falls which was a bit of a letdown especially since we'd heard Standard-winged in the area. Still, 2 lifer nightjars is nothing to complain about.
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| Rock Python narrowly escaping the attack of a White-tailed Mongoose which we scared off |
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| The perfect dung ball - a thing of beauty |
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| Gennet |
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| Water Thick-knee |
Our 'bush-camping' experience came at a hefty price. $35 US per person (if you reserve in advance which we did), even for the guide and even for Wilson. Ramata, Steve and I decided to split it. It was a neat experience but didn't result in us seeing anything new I don't think. Overall, the public camping site was great and actually pretty wild. However, our guide Robert was a really fun guy to have with us and he probably did help us find some cool stuff. He gave us a night game drive and a morning game drive and stood guard in our camp through the night. If you take that into account then you understand why the 'bush camping' is expensive.
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| When watching game you forget your stomach (credit: Steve) |
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| Roger guarded our camp from hippos all night (credit: Steve) |
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| Heuglin's Francolin |
Just before dropping Robert off we were on the tracks of some elephants. Minutes later they appeared, creating a roadblock and forcing us to sit in awe of their tusky glory.
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| (credit: Steve) |
What happened next was one of the most exciting and AWESOME things that's ever happened to me on a trip. I am not able to show the photo or talk about it on here!! But you can ask me what happened!!
Further driving around became less and less fruitful so we decided to call it a day and head back south to deliver Ramata to the airport. I could not believe we did Murchison Falls without a single lion, a shoebil or a Standard-winged Nightjar, but we certainly made a lot of great memories and an abundance of wildlife - including the elusive Rock Pratincole.
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| Denham's Bustard |
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| Spotted Hyeena |
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| Reedbuck |
Lastly, we stopped to assist a Flap-necked Chameleon cross the road. I and Emmy both detected the song of a Red-winged Warbler. However, he told us it was time to go. Having been extremely patient, repeatedly turning the Land Cruiser on and off and backing up for the perfect photographic angle, I told myself: "I can let this one slip away."
"Ok, let's go."
