Paraa Lodge - Day 1

We have a LONG trip in front of us. Today we head for Murchison Falls. We leave the house at 4am in order to beat the traffic of Kampala and arrive at Paraa Lodge by 2pm. As I get out of bed, I realize that I have a problem. I have put my back out of place from all the shoveling yesterday. The last time I did something like this was when we had a heavy snow in Liberal and I shoveled the driveway. The worst thing I can do is sit and I have an 8 hour bus ride ahead. I could stay behind but I did not come to Africa to miss out on an opportunity like this. As we board the bus, it dawns on me that I have an alternative, I can stand in the doorway and sit down as needed.

The bus is very quiet as everyone is still sleepy. We drive through Kampala very quickly, a stark contrast to the normal ordeal that we have come to dread. Even at this early hour, there are quite a few people up. Most of the traffic is heading in to the city. The further we get away from Kampala, the more people we begin to see. You see bicycles without headlights carrying whatever the owner is trying to sell in Kampala.
The sunrise is magnificent – truly God’s handiwork. The sky is ablaze with color and I have a great view. It takes my mind off my back pain (and the three Advil don’t hurt either).
We enter the national park and are warned that animals have the right of way. Something I had not mentioned up until now is the absence of wild animals in Uganda. Before I came to Africa, I thought Africa = Jungle = Wild Animals (elephants, lions, giraffe, etc.). Definitely a wrong impression – there are generally no wild animals EXCEPT on the game preserves – they have been killed for food or poached.

We head for Murchison Falls. The entire Nile River passes through a 20 foot gap. As we approach the falls, you can hear the roar. It continues to grow louder. As we round the corner of the path, you can see the mist of the falls. It is truly awesome. Words cannot do justice to how breath-taking this is. Hopefully you can get a sense of it from the pictures.
We head for the Nile River crossing – no bridge, a ferry that runs once an hour so we have some time to kill. On the other side of the river, we can see hippos and elephants. We don’t have much trouble finding things to keep as amused – simple things for simple people!
JJ sitting on top of the world

Once across the Nile, we can see Paraa Lodge in the distance. It sits on top of a hill overlooking the Nile. The elephants that we saw from the other side linger briefly, long enough for us to get some pictures but not long enough for us to get too close. They have a calf with the herd so getting too close is not a good idea. We have been warned that elephants are VERY protective of a calf, especially the mother. I guess if you spend 24 months carrying the baby, you are going to make sure that nothing happens to it.

The girls have a surprise for me when we reach Paraa Lodge. There is a massage therapist at the lodge. Renata and Michelle have scheduled a time slot but they give it to me so that I can get my back worked on. I’m overwhelmed by their caring and gladly accept their generosity. I’m not feeling too good after standing on a bus for 7 hours (lots of ADVIL). I’ve never had a professional massage before so I have no idea what to expect. It is very professional and this lady has magic hands. She works on my back for a long time and when she is done I feel 100% better. THANK YOU MICHELLE AND RENATA!

Next up is a safari. The lodge supplies a guide (Henry) complete with AK-47 for our protection. We head out in our faithful ROSA and Henry provides the narration and directions. He and Idah have lots of interesting tidbits of information. There are two types of predators in the park, lions and leopards. They are difficult to find since they really are only active at night. We ask Mike if we could drag him along behind the bus but Melody vetoes the idea.
The landscape is dotted with palm trees, definitely not native to this area. They arrived here courtesy of the elephants. Most of the elephants were brought here from Kenya. Apparently the fruit of the palm trees is one of the favorite foods of the elephant and the seeds were in the stomachs. They were ‘deposited’ and took root and the results are obvious.
We see vast herds of various species of antelope type animals. Giraffes, elephants, water buffalo, wart hogs and monkeys are also present. We see HUGE ant hills dotting the landscape. These are very complex with multiple spires of dirt. They look like a futuristic condo and obviously represent a lot of work.

Henry takes us all over the park trying to find the lions but we have no luck. I’m sure that they were in the tall grass (4-6 feet high) but not visible to us. It is well after dark when we get back to the lodge. It is time for supper and bed. Tomorrow, we take a boat ride on the Nile.