Into the heart of Africa. The source of the Nile. Murchison Falls.

Many an explorer lost his life in Africa during the 19th century. Some sought power. Others the gold mines of Solomon. Others still, sought the source of the Nile. in 1859, Speke and Burton were the first europeans to “discover” Lake Victoria as the source of the Nile. Burton, Richard, (not Elizabeth Taylor’s repeated husband) was a well-known explorer, spoke 29 languages and rendered the first english translation of the One thousand and one nights. The Arabian nights as it is better known in English.

There are several additional tributary sources to the White Nile flowing from Lake Victoria including the Mountains of the moon. (A fabulous name!) and a separate source to the Blue Nile in Ethiopia.

Those photographs were taken a long, long time ago at Murchison falls in Uganda. (They’re now called, I believe, Kabarega Falls. Makes it hard to follow the constant changing of names!) The year matters little. We were living in Kenya under the rule of President Mzee Jomo Kenyatta. Milton Obote was in power in Uganda. I was about 14 or so. (Do the math!) We took a safari (just a simple Swahili word meaning “trip”) to Uganda and the Murchison Falls. The source of the Nile. Or close to.

Buffaloes along the White Nile

The lodge we stayed at had a visitor, as often happens: a young, immature elephant had taken the custom of visiting the lodge grounds and raid the corn fields the lodge employees grew nearby. This one was probably 8 or 10. A biiig baby!

Facing us tourists with an intimidation pose. We were intimidated. Well-done job.

Turning around for the camera. Thank you.

Not so small was it? You can judge the distance from where I took this shot. Right afterwards, the elephant grabbed the chair with its trunk and flung it at another tourist who’d gotten too close. Elephants – though only slightly larger – are like monkeys (see a previous post): don’t mess with’em!

By the Falls proper. A small rainbow was forming in the centre.

See the slightly dilapidated wooden fence. Do not go beyond that point!

My mother, always armed with her latest model 8mm camera, and my “little” sister.

Murchison Falls in all its grandeur.

The next morning we took a flatbed boat at dawn from the lodge to the falls. Jungle Joe at its best. Though the engine ran on petrol and not steam, but close.

Crocodiles everywhere! Never seen such massive concentrations. Lying by the water with their jaws open. Crocodiles don’t perspire, that is the way they “exchange” heat with their milieu.

And, oh! Do not believe the story about crocodiles being slow on the ground. No, no! They run veeery fast on the ground!

Then as we were coming close to the Falls, the boat captain spotted a group of hippos. Pushed the boat towards the hippos to make them come ashore. Raised considerable interest as you can see below:

There’s an elephant in the tree line to the right. The captain pushed the boat closer. But there was a baby hippo. See below in the centre:

Most of the hippos fled to the shore, but one turned around, underwater, and charged the boat! BAM! The boat shook. The captain turned around. And so did the hippos…

 

The hippo in the foreground is the one who turned around and charged us. Mean pink stare. 🙂 Adult Hippos can weigh up to 1.5 ton. And ours was a small, thirty feet long boat at best. A nice thrill.

That’s all for to-day.

The usual (c) text and photos by yours truly.

Have a lovely week-end wherever you are!