16 July, Day 33: rolling down the river

Making bacon this morning. Restarted the fire, was attempting to chop wood but this axe is way too blunt and it’s way too hot, and it’s only 09:00! Get bacon and eggs going and all fed by 11:00. Have it on some left over, freshly baked beer bread. We’ve got a little downtime until our boat trip at 14:30, so we make the most of it by doing nothing. It. IS. SO. HOT!

Walk up to the lodge, through a little path underneath a canopy of trees. Park off on the chairs, Mattie buys us cold drinks. I think I’m addicted to Fanta, orange. It’s soooo hot. Lodge bar reckons only 30 degrees. But this humidity is the real killer. It costs $10 for a splash in their pool. Steep, considering we’re paying $10 per night to camp! But at this stage, I’d pay a 100. I hop through the shower for the 3^rd time this morning, for free, at the camp site. Hot...

At around 14:15 we drive down to the dock and board the catamaran. We’re joined by quite a few Dutch speaking nationals as we cast off. Even before we do, we spot a rather large pod of hippos across the way, and Buffalo on the bank. We continue up stream towards Murchison falls, spotting many more hippos and baby hippos, crocodiles, fish eagles, loads of buffalos and even 2 Crown Cranes, Uganda’s national bird! The guide tells us this is quite a rare spot. The banks are high with grass so all sorts of birds and animals can conceal themselves easily from view. I manage to snap quite a few really nice photos. As soon as we approach a pod of hippos for instance, they kill the engines and we’re instructed to be silent. The hippos generally allow us to get close-ish, which is more than close enough for this big big lens I have attached to my Canon! The severe sun and heat is somewhat lessoned from the cool breeze coming off the water, as the boat cruises on.

As we approach the falls the guide points out a blue signpost on the right bank. This is the spot where a certain Mr Ernst Hemmingway made a crash landing in 1954, in the treetops. He was rescued a few days later, walking away with a broken arm. Interestingly, on his rescue flight out of Uganda they had another crash! Which he also walked away from.

The water is slightly more choppy here, framed with a subtle roar in the distance. Closer to the falls there is a little bay off to the left. The approach looks like something out of the Lost World or Jurassic Park, high overgrown green cliffs and rocky outcroppings. And of course, the 25 crocodiles lounging in the bay off the left. The guide mentions that this is called the Crocodile Pool (as opposed to the Voodoo lounge, or piggy splashy pool). They camp here because they’re opportunists: they gobble up any dead fish that met their end in the violent falls just around the corner. Coming back to Mr Hemmingway, you can imagine that he may have been quite perturbed by the presence of the crocs and the multiple pods of hippos in the area.

The boat moors off a rock in the middle of the stream (far away from the croc buffet) so we can disembark and take touristy shots. I take touristy shots. Mattie slips and falls. Bounces back up, all good, just a bruised ego. All done, we board again and head back. Just in time to race a MASSIVE storm cloud rolling in from the direction of the falls. Almost like the waterfall demands penance for our intrusion. I think I shot some of the most beautiful pictures of the trip during this time, full-awesome, mayor dramatic skies, gusts of winds that make even the hardiest hippos duck for cover below water. And our little boat racing to stay ahead... and losing. Frame all of this with a sunset of epic proportions and, well, I was in heaven.

At around 18:15 or so we dock again and disembark, running to the vehicles. I just had a realisation that our tent is half open (because of that damned heat!) and we kind of left our washing et al outside. The Bullet roars over the dark red, bumpy dust road as big rain drops hammer the windshield. Still hot and humid though, and I drive with the windows open to smell that fresh wet earth and scents rolling off the Savannah. Mud is splashing everywhere by now and I engage 4x4 (smiling slightly. This is way too much fun).

We arrive at base camp to find it pretty much destroyed. Well, the gazebo is a heap of metal and tarp, the tents are still standing, barely. Amos (our day-shift guard) had very thoughtfully closed our tents and packed the perishables (which was under the gazebo) in a spot out of the rain, and out of harm. Still wearing my swimming shorts from earlier, I just remove my shirt and dive into the carnage. Lightning flashes in the distance (so, exactly how good of a lightning rod DOES a gazebo make??). The 3 other guys jump in and we raise the gazebo and start knock in pins. Also tie the guy ropes down and add more ropes to the joints to support it in this wind. Bring the vehicles closer to act as anchors. All done, and holding! Just in time for the storm to pass, and the rain to stop.

Typical.

But still fun!

We all laugh and thank Amos ever so much for helping us out. Interestingly, that fire pit was still going through all of this, and it takes no time flat to stoke it up all the way again. First, we re-organise everything into a working kitchen again and get going. Salad, lamb chops, rolled lamb (yum! Deboned lamb joint but rolled up into a tube) and braai rolls (kinda like the bread I baked last night, but rolls.) Delicious. Of course Amos gets some chow as well, as well as a handsome reward in cold hard cash.

Annelie is feeling much better still, after her second round of antibiotics. Walter doesn’t seem pleased.

Highlights: Witness the crash site of Ernest Hemmingway

Hippos! Crocs! Buffalo! Oh My!

Workin' on my killer tan

Annelie feeling better

[G & A], out

Taking my time