Murchison Falls

Last weekend I took a trip to Murchison Falls, the tallest waterfall on the Nile.  The river plunges through a rocky gap only seven meters wide.  The falls are also known as Kabalega Falls, named after the king of Bunyoro-Kitara.  In 1962 during a flood, a second set of falls formed beside Murchison which are known as Freedom Falls or Uhuru Falls, since that is also the year in which Uganda gained independence, 50 years ago.  Murchison Falls national park was the first to be gazetted in 1952 and is Uganda's largest national park, covering an area of over 5000 square km.

We enjoyed opportunities to view the falls from above, beside and from the water.  African palm swifts swooped through the spray feeding on flying insects; they nest in the Sudanese borassus fan palms that pepper the park, that were brought here by elephant 'movements'.  Bats live in the sandstone caves above the falls.

Go Nancy, Go!

Nancy and I went for a walk after work and met these girls in the school yard.  Nancy dived in and in no time had organized us into two teams for a soccer game. 

At one point the ball rolled under a locked shed but we managed to extract it with a palm frond.

The girls were good players and had no hesitation rushing in to tackle even with bare feet.  I found my métier in defence - getting in the way and slowing the ball down even if I don’t kick so well…I had a great goalie too.  The girls got hold of my camera and started taking pictures – this little girl didn’t realize she was taking her own portrait which caused much merriment!

The game ended in a very honorable 5-5 draw.  

The next day when we were on the way back to Kampala, driving through the countryside on the murram road, a volleyball came rolling into the path of the car.  Nancy leapt out to retrieve it and before  we knew it she had been invited to join the volleyball game.  The whole school came out to watch.  It was a very memorable event for all of us.

Lake Albert

On Thursday afternoon our hosts Aggrey the project documentation officer and Emma (Emmanuel) the project data officer took us to see Lake Albert, beyond which lies the Congo.  Below from left to right are Nancy, Emma, Aggrey and Ali (our driver).

Some local people were climbing up from the lake with fish they had caught.

The road was steep and rocky so we walked part of the way – our driver Ali deserved an Olympic gold medal for off-roading!