Safari

Going on an african safari was always one of those things I had on my bucket list just like everyone else does, and like everyone else it was always something that I thought would be cool but never really thought I would have a reason to go to Africa or the time to go there. But thanks to the internship I found myself living in Africa for 4 months so I had to take advantage of the opportunity. The summer was divided into 3 waves of 6 weeks. Each wave some people would leave and go home and new people were going to come. Since I was spending all 3 waves there I decided I wanted to save my "vacation days" and go on a safari at the end of the summer, after I had finished my eye and dental camp. I enjoyed my entire summer, visiting tons of remote places in Uganda and meeting tons of amazing people. I got to see a lot of amazing places and came to understand why Uganda was given the nickname "The Pearl of Africa."

August came quicker than I had wanted it to. It was sad to realize that I was heading home soon but I was also very excited to go on the Safari with my best friend Kevin, we both came to Africa for our internships. We checked into various Safari Agencies (there are tons of them in Uganda) and talked to people in our group that had already been on them to see what they liked and didn't like about their group. We found one that was a 3 day trip and offered a lot more than just a drive in a reserve. So we booked a weekend with them and set off for an adventure.

I will show you my safari through the pics I took. I figure that the best way to describe a safari and what we saw and did is through pictures. Plus there is no way I would be able to fully describe how awesome it was. Enjoy! (sorry the color in the videos is weird, my camera's video settings were messed up and it filmed everything in a weird color.)

Day 1- The Drive up to Murchison Falls National Park. We spent the night before in a hostel in Kampala because we had to leave early in the morning and drive a couple of hours north to the park. We drove to a Rhino Reserve first. Rhinos became extinct in the country and over the past couple of years Uganda has built a reserve for them to be re introduced. Right now there are only 10 Rhinos in Uganda and we got to see some of them!

Day 1- Rhino Reserve

Mother with baby

We hiked in and got pretty close to them.

Our tent for the first night.

 Day 2- Safari Drive in Queen Victoria National Park

Entering the park

There is a lion in this picture.  They have such great camouflage. We were probably 7 feet away from it in our car.

These elephants were just off the road cooling off with some mud.

You are correct, that is a 3 legged lion. 

The Crane. Uganda's national bird

There was a herd of Giraffes that surrounded our van. It was awesome!

That was my seat for the entire safari. Best view

Baboons were everywhere. 

Murchison Falls. We got off the boat tour and hiked to the top of the falls.

At the top of Murchison Falls. The entire Nile river is funneled through this little area. It was so loud.

Day 3- Chimpanzee Forest Walk-

Mom with baby holding on

Rafting the Nile River

The minute we got settled as a group in Uganda, we immediately began looking into different adventures to go on. Our first major adventure of the summer was to go white water rafting on the Nile River. The Nile River actually starts in Uganda. It flows out of this enormous lake called Lake Victoria.  This lake is so big it even has small islands scattered throughout it, with remote villages on them. It's a massive lake. Before getting to Uganda, I never really realized that the Nile started in Uganda, in fact it is the only river in the world to flow north.

Since the Nile River is so deep, it is one of the few rivers in the world that contain true class five rapids and you won't have to worry about hitting any rocks. These rapids were insanely huge and by far the best adrenaline rush I have ever had. I loved absolutely every minute of it and our boat managed to only tip over once (other boats weren't nearly as lucky). There was even a section of the river we had to get out and hike around because the waterfall was too big and dangerous for people to raft over. And on the calm parts of the river we all jumped out and swam in the Nile. We didn't see any large crocodiles, just a baby one floating along next to us swimming. We spent most of the day out on the river and of course we came back with some painful sunburns. This was an experience of a lifetime and I would give anything to go back and do it again!

They had people go ahead of us and take pictures of each of the boats coming through the different rapid sections. I posted some of the best ones from my boat and some of my favorites...