Annemarie:
We’ve driven like mad things to get from Fort Portal to the Murchison Falls National Park in time for an evening trip down the river. It’s been a bumpy ride and we had to leave before sunrise, which for those who know me is not my best time of day so I’m a bit grumpy. We make it to the boat with seconds to spare but had not had time to check out the camp-site first so it’s a bit of a pain when we eventually get there after dark and find that the accommodation for people with their own vehicle is actually the car park. Quick decision to take a ready erected tent and we’re soon laid out in twin camp beds, which is probably a good move given that M has caught my moodiness and just ‘wants to be alone’. I stomp off to the bar and order a drink and some supper and am just opening my beer when in walk three enormous warthogs! Cool as anything they don’t head to the kitchen area or tables but root about by the bar tipping over the bin full of empty cans. I could have sworn I heard one grunt ‘Arf a lager and a packet of crisps’ ….
Next day we’re both in better tempers and head off (earlyish) to view the dramatic falls themselves, but maybe Murchison has a bit of an effect on couples: it’s famous as the site for Bogart and Hepburn’s ‘African Queen’ and they bickered like anything. Another couple came off badly when they visited; Ernest Hemingway and his fourth wife were flying low near the falls in a chartered Cessna, the plane crash-landed, injuring them both and they spent the night on the river bank. The plane they chartered to get them away again then crashed on take off, causing Hemingway more injuries and bad burns. The couple who named the falls in the first place seemed to have had a good time though, Florence and Samuel Baker, exploring the source of the Nile in 1864, were so overawed on paddling round a corner and witnessing the falls they said it was ‘the most important object along the course of the river ‘ and named it in honour of the president of the Royal Geographic Society. In recognition of our encouragement by the current RGS, we took a lot of pics including one with our much travelled RGS bag, and Monkey.