Apex

Once more, I took a wealth of photos today. An unorthodox photo choice to upload, I stand by it of course, no need to reaffirm my minimalist tendencies in photography. Hope you like it though!

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We've reached the last climax of the story!

As usual, we had a 6AM wake up at the campsite, before stuffing some breakfast in and heading off in Mohammed's car to the barge and across the Nile. The sun is a great big ball of fire rising from the foamy waters of the Nile, downstream of the great Murchison Falls. Then we were off on the game tracks under the dark gray sky and on the crisscrossing roads of the green savannah, home to herds of kob, hartebeest and buffalo, as well as wandering groups of elephants, giraffes and lions. We're at the Great Rift, which means the earth is fertile and the grasslands ripe with birds and other animals. Several things blew our minds today on the game tracks.

The first was when the car in front of us suddenly pulled off the road towards a watering hole 30m away. Now that's illegal, and you can get fined huge amounts for going off the road. But hell, we followed them straightaway, as what they were heading for was a lion couple hanging out near the watering hole in the morning sun. I kid you not, we got within 10 meters or so of the animals. They were magnificent, see for yourself from Ali's photo. Amazing! They were absolutely unfazed.

After that, we went back on the tracks, through swamps and grassland, passing by hippos and other strange animals. Following the other car wasn't such a bad idea, as the 5-star hotel guide was clearly very experienced (classic longtail). The high grass made it harder to spot animals than in Queens. We managed to fit all three of us out of the sunroof though which was sick, while driving around.

The second highlight was running into a pack of giraffes practically on the road. Beautiful creatures and lots of fun to photograph. Then, two of them started fighting, bashing each other with their huge necks, in a display of force I figured you'd only see in documentaries. It was impressive as hell!

Seeing all these animals in their natural habitat is incredible. Around 10-11, when the sun got too high, we retired to a rangers lodge by the river for lunch. You see, cheapos that we are, we can't afford all the fancy accommodation and restaurants in the park, so lunch consisting of avocados, tomatoes, bread and bananas it was. We managed to finish most of our lunch before the baboons hanging around got interested in our food. They then slaughtered our leftovers, not afraid of us at all.

Third experience was when a baboon walked right up to me and stood less than a metre away from my face, staring at me. Then a warthog walked up from behind, nudged him away and stared at me instead, from even closer. Next, he grabs up a plastic bag, stuffs the whole thing in his mouth, before spitting it out in a tiny ball. Not so much scary as it was intense! Too cool an experience to move away really.

When we'd had our share of photo and video-taking, we headed into the rangers place, where there was a pool table and we got thrashed by a local. Brolexes and water helped steam off from the heat, which is much stronger than in Fort.

Next stop, the Paraa lodge African Queen boat, for a cruise up the Nile with a bunch of rich dudes wielding filthy cameras and binoculars. Good stuff! The cruise was similar to that of Queens, but faster and probably less interesting, except for the hippos which could be seen fighting among the reeds. But the sights were still amazing, and after a while we reached the much-anticipated Murchison waterfall!

What an impressive sight the falls are! The most menacing of water structures ever, the water crashes on jagged cliff sides, decimating anything unlucky enough to be in the flow. No wonder crocodiles hang out at the outlet, waiting for dead fish to pass by. But no seriously, the falls are tremendous, gushing through a very narrow space, making the water current speed up considerably. The boat dropped a bunch of us off at a path, which then led us up along the cliffs. The whole time, we could appreciate the beauty of the place, from the sounds and the sights. We got to the top and were taken aback by the merciless nature of the falls. Obviously, we took some epic videos with the gopro.

Before long, we had to rush off to get the car with Mohammed though, as our counterfeit permit was gonna run out! We rushed along a muddy road, thank god for Mo's epic driving skills, as we skidded side to side on the mud. Even he couldn't stop us from getting stuck at one point though, and we had to do the classic 'get out the car and push' maneuver to dislodge ourselves from the muddy ditch. Good fun, but stressful, time is ticking. Luckily we didn't get stuck again, and instead enjoyed the crazy ride through Rabongo forest, scaring the monkeys and warthogs along the way.

We made it to the gate at 18:49, while our entrance permit was for 17:08. Not good enough! A tense discussion between Mo and the guard lasted a while, but he managed to sweet talk the dude to let us through, in exchange for a little bribe. What a relief. After that it was smooth running back to Masindi, arriving past nightfall. We thanked Mohammed, agreed to meet the next day, dropped our stuff at the lodge and headed straight to Traveller's Corner. Beers and fajitas were well in order, as was the first shower since leaving Fort! So much red dust... Then straight to sleep. What a massive day this was!

peace