Karuma Falls

We left Murchison Falls national park on its eastern border, and drove through the village of Paraa with its round, thatched mud huts.  The Luo and Acholi people live in this part of Uganda.

Before heading back to Kampala, we stopped at Karuma Falls which are also on the Nile and mark the boundary between Northern and Southern Uganda.  Karuma means 'the meeting place of the roads'.  The Falls are reached through a pretty forest walk where butterflies flit in the sunny glades - pure white, sulfur yellow, various shades of orange, red and brown, as well as black velvety ones.

Across the river a man was fishing - he threw his circular net on to the water and within a few minutes had caught a fish (probably Nile Perch) for his supper and gathered it up in the net like a string bag, disappearing into the trees.  Downstream from the falls in a calm eddy by the riverbank is a pool where crocodiles lurk just below the surface - if you watch you can see their bony backs rise above the water and fall back again.  These pools are a great place for them to snap up the fish that come tumbling over the rapids.  Our guide had pointed out a similar pool at the base of Murchison Falls the day before.