Safari Experience in Murchison Falls National Park
Murchison Falls National Park is, in my mind, “a place stunningly beautiful of geographical transition, and of transition in time”.
3 days Murchison Falls National Park Safari
The largest protected area in Uganda since 1952, it is where the forested mountains of the old Kingdom of Bunyoro and the fertile Rift Valley meets the expansive, drier plains of Acholi land.
Victoria Nile traverses it from east to west, through a series of rapids and waterfalls (the eponymous Murchison Falls being the most impressive and awe-inspiring), to reach Lake Albert, and change name, character and direction to outflow, in a sharp northwards bend, as the broad, placid, slow Albert Nile, which eventually reaches the Sudd Swamp in South Sudan.
Murchison Falls National Park can be divided in three different sectors:
The northern plains, which are bounded to the south by the Victoria Nile, and to the west by the Albert Nile, where open savannahs support the highest game density of western Uganda. This is the main area for game viewing in Murchison falls national park
The higher ground in the extreme south of the park towards Budongo, Kabiyo Pabidi and Rabongo is characterized by forests hosting a decent elephant population, giraffes (recently introduced to the south), a wide variety of primates and forest birds. Chimpanzee tracking is the main activity here.
The central section, between the forest in the south and the Victoria Nile in the north, where the land gradually declining toward the bank of the Nile is covered by a sort of mixed woodland, to my educated eye very much reminiscent of miombo woodlands found in Zambia or southern Tanzania, but whose soil seems richer (and the abundance of tse tse flies will reinforce in the visitors the similarity with the miombo….). Game in this area is sparse and not very visible.
In the 1960s Murchison Falls had arguably the highest biomass amongst all protected areas in Africa, courtesy of 14,500 elephants, 14,000 hippos and 26,000 buffaloes, as well as 35,000 Uganda Kobs, 16,000 Jackson’s Hartebeest and a multitude of other animals. You will be amazed to discover that most of this wildlife was found in open grasslands south of the Victoria Nile, where the above mentioned mixed woodland currently is. Apparently, those huge populations of herbivores maintained a lawn like landscape and nibbling out emergent trees and bush.
Then two major disasters happened: the crazy years of Idi Amin Dada regime in particular, post 1972, when wildlife was an apparently endless reserve of meat for Amin’s troops, and, after Amin’s fall in 1979, the massive surge of ivory poaching all over Africa which Uganda in a state of turmoil, was less prepared to contain than neighbouring countries.
The above story is common to all protected areas in Uganda, as the threats and challenges that the current population growth and ensuing encroachment are posing at least — as far as I understand — Murchison Falls had not experienced the further plundering perpetrated to other parks, most notably Queen Elizabeth, by the invading Tanzania Army that put an end to Amin’s regime).
Anyway, by the mid-1980s wildlife numbers in Murchison Falls were at an all-time low, and without the pressure caused by herbivores open grasslands on the south side of the Victoria Nile were gradually transformed into the current vegetation type. Animal populations have been steadily recovering for several years now, but apparently there are not as many elephants as to reverse the trend and lead to more open vegetation (tree growth is also enhanced by a rather fertile soil).
Why did such a vegetation change not happen to the plains on the northern side of the Victoria Nile? I have not been offered a detailed explanation, but I personally think it could be a mix of i) wildlife on the northern side having been somewhat less affected by poaching and having thus recovered faster, since the area is kind of tucked between the Victoria Nile and the Albert Nile, and so more difficult to access and easier to protect and ii) the soils on the northern side are markedly different from the southern side: much more, and less conducive to a thick woodland cover.
With 10 years of regular visits to this park I understand a lot about the geographical features of the Murchison Falls, as well as their history and famous visitors, from Winston Churchill (1907), who visited the falls with gloves and veils to ward off the tsetses — at that time responsible of a major sleeping sickness outbreak in the area -, to Ernest Hemingway, who crashed in his plane by the falls in 1954. with Victoria Nile, 50 meters wide, is all of a sudden forced into a gorge of merely 7 meters of width, and simultaneously plunges down 43 meters, creating the most powerful tap of water in the world.
And yet, always totally blown away by a spectacle of sheer power and beauty to which — no matter how regular I see — am always fascinated.
At this time of the year the river is full of water, and the noise was incredible. The foam created by the falls was massive, like the biggest soap factory ever and you could still see big batches of foam floating in distance of 30 kilometres downstream. Several rainbows appear at the same time. But, most impressive of all, you could really feel the earth trembling and shaking. Just unbelievable.
It is very different from the Victoria Falls in Zambia/Zimbabwe, but every bit as compelling as a natural spectacle. No wonder the Murchison Falls are one of the main attractions in Uganda. And, as such, you would have expected a good number of visitors enjoying them — obviously not as many as for the Victoria Falls, but still a decent number.
As you embark on the boat cruise, you approach the spectacle from the river, travelling to the bottom of the falls on a boat. Boating upstream from the Park HQ, you could notice the Victoria Nile changing: foam is more prominent, the current progressively stronger, and the riverbanks — at first flat and gentle — becoming increasingly steeper.
Birdlife is superb: a flock of African Skimmers here — always awestruck, Red throated Bee eaters there, African Fish Eagles and Yellow Billed Storks everywhere….
Hippos are also in great abundance, Elephants, buffaloes, Bushbuck, Jackson’s Hartebeest and warthogs are peacefully roaming the shore. When it is hotter and drier (from December to March) you see greater numbers of animals coming to the river to drink.
As you reach the falls, you notice a lot of huge crocodiles amongst the largest ever seen amassed together. The place is called “Croc Bar” and is very aptly named: in fact, all those monster crocs are happily waiting for the big Nile Perch coming down from the falls, either dead, or injured, or traumatized or groggy. And it is a big feast for the reptiles: Nile Perch can weight up to 100 kg. and provide an endless source of food.
This dietary regime is the reason why Crocodiles in Murchison Falls grow so big. By the same token, since normally they do not predate on other animals, you could expect that they are less of a danger if you happened to fall into the water. I would not test such a theory though….
Past the “Croc Bar”, the bottom of the river starts to become increasingly shallow and rocky, so you reach for some emerging rocks in front of the falls, secured the boat to the biggest of them and, spend almost an hour contemplating and absorbing what is in front of you. You can choose to continue up to the top of the falls from were you encounter spectacular views of all the two falls.
At Murchison Falls National Park game drives which normally last the best part of a day on the northern side of the Victoria Nile, mostly in an area generally known as “the Delta” or “Buligi”, as well as along the Albert Nile.Once crossed the Victoria Nile on a ferry at Paraa, and left behind a narrow bend of riverine forest, you find your self climbing up a series of rolling hills, interspersed with valleys traversed by a few ephemeral, seasonal streams. In the fresh air of the early morning, the scenery was just magnificent and quite reminiscent of certain parts of the Masai Mara, but with totally different trees (most notably, impressive Borassus palms). Animals start to appear everywhere, in spite of the longish grass: a group of Defassa Waterbuck by a sandy watercourse, elephants browsing by the road, hundreds of Jackson’s Hartebeest going peacefully about their daily routine, big herds of buffaloes down in the valley, journeys of Rothschild Giraffes walking up the hills, or standing on the ridges, providing a fascinating skyline.
Murchison Falls is the main stronghold in Africa for Rothschild Giraffe, which is the tallest amongst all giraffe subspecies, and is easily distinguished since it displays no markings on the lower leg, giving the impression that it is wearing white stockings. In 2007, it was proposed that the Rothschild Giraffe be considered a separate species and not a subspecies of giraffacamelopardalis.Even if fairly easily kept in captivity for instance, at Giraffe Manor in Nairobi, Rothschild Giraffe is considered Endangered under the IUCN Red list, and populations in the wild seem to be rapidly declining. Murchison Park appears to contrast the trend, and according to an aerial survey conducted in March 2010, roughly 900 animals are living on the northern plains, a large portion of the overall subspecies (or species) population. It is really heart-warming to see so many youngsters during the game drives, which may render a somewhat hopeful future for these stately animals, at least here at Murchison Falls and Kidepo Valley are the only parks in Uganda where giraffes are found
Proceeding westwards, in the direction of Delta Point and the Albert Nile, the scenery changed subtly: no more hills, but short grass plains with patches of light woodland, gently descending towards the northern tip of Lake Albert and the big river.Thousands and thousands of graceful Uganda Kobs grazing, resting, staring at us, with the backdrop of the Albert Nile and the western wall of the Albertine Rift, whilst the Blue Mountains of the Congo are visible to the south. It is stunning and peaceful at the same time, and you could have contemplated the view for ages. It appears that Uganda Kobnumbers in Murchison Fallsat least in this part of the park are almost back to the pre — Amin days. In general, they are by far the most common antelope in all western Uganda, and the risk for the visitor is starting to take them for granted, not differently than what happens with impala in other parts of Africa which, by contrast, in Uganda are only found at Lake Mburo these days, even if Kampala means “hills of the impala”. And it is a pity, since Uganda Kob are really beautiful creatures, with a very interesting and peculiar social life.
Another localized inhabitant of Murchison Falls is the attractive Patas monkey (Erhytrocebuspatas), a ground dwelling monkey probably the least arboreal of all African monkeys, which has a patchy distribution throughout open savannahs and semi-deserts of West Africa into East Africa. Not easy to photograph though.
Birdlife on the plains is also impressive, and keeps you constantly entertained, with a profusion of colours and species, ranging from flocks of Crowned Cranes to Abyssinian Ground Hornbills, from Greater Flamingo near water to Northern Carmine Bee eaters on trees.
Following a northbound track running parallel to the Albert Nile, you enter into a tract of the most beautiful and pristine Acacia siberiana woodland ever seen, where you search for leopard with or without success. Elephants seem to favour the area a lot!!!
Cutting back towards the hills to the south you reach an area which looked like a Borassus palm plantation, so plentiful were the palm trees and so seemingly evenly distanced between each other: another special view, where you could have expected a dinosaur to walk by. The main road towards the west spreads out in a series of game viewing tracks, and it is very easy to be on your own all of the time. All in all, all the game drives are very productive. Game in Murchison Falls is clearly on the up and — at least on the northern side of the Victoria Nile — numbers of a few ungulate species are almost back to what they used to be in the glory days. Still, I can not help but think about how things used to be back in the 1960s. It must have been unbelievable. I have mental images of thousands of elephants bathing in the Nile, amidst masses of hippos and the usual profusion of birdlife. Or gigantic buffalo herds moving through the palm fringed plains. I am not aware of any collection of vintage films and photographs dating back to that era,that would be really interesting at present. Whilst the location of the Buligi/Delta area, tucked between the Victoria Nile and the Albert Nile, it has helped the northern plains to remain mercifully free from the human encroachment so rampant in other Uganda protected areas. It is a meagredefence from the last human activity in the Albertine Rift Valley: oil drillings. Large oil reserves are contained to the east of Lake Albert, and oil business is now the name of the game in Uganda, with all connected developments. You continue to explore the downstream section of the Victoria Nile, where the river, tranquil again after the turmoil of the falls, approaches and enters into Lake Albert. So here you can embark on small boat for ten kilometres or so, the Victoria Nile changes once again, and papyrus become progressively more prominent on the riverbanks, and creates small “islands” in the river itself. Apart from the trickle of general game and elephants coming to the shore, this section provides great bird watching opportunities — the Shoebill being the most coveted prize.
A magnificent Shoebill doing what he normally does staying still and motionless waiting for the right time to take its prey in this area, mainly big lung fish. Here we had stay with it for close to an hour, then continue to motor down the river, admiring other birdlife and a few elephants, and when we reached the proper Delta area, here we go: other two Shoebills! I could not believe our luck.
Finally reached Lake Albert, where fishing boats of local fishermen are busy fishing, and then turned back.
