Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Day 11 - Wednesday, June 20


Safari Day

 “Today” (it’s actually Thursday, but I’m going to write as if it were last night) we went on a safari! It was really fun, and relaxing, and kind of once-in-a-lifetimelike. The bus ride, though most Americans would probably call it a van, was terrifying. We rattled down the road, barely avoiding potholes, people, and passing cars, for over an hour to get to the national park. Then we rattled down dirt roads, stopping to take pictures of warthogs, antelope, giraffes, water buffalo (they were actually cape buffalo), and even elephants, and some famous Ugandan Cranes (Great Crested Cranes, the national bird of Uganda). We stopped at a pond full of hippos, and we went to the bank of the Nile River. While there, we took lunch and fended off hungry baboons while waiting for the boat that would take us to Murchison Falls, known to the natives as “The Devil’s Eye.” On the boat ride, we saw many of the same animals we saw in the van, plus a glimpse or two of a crocodile. When we reached our destination, we climbed out onto a big rock and took pictures with the fall in the background. Then we found out that we couldn’t do the hike up to the falls that we had planned on, so we rode back in the boat. On the way, we stopped right next to a crocodile that was sitting on the bank. I was at the front of the boat, so the croc was probably about ten feet from me, staring at me with its mouth hanging open. I was, uh, only a little nervous.
 The rest of the day was pretty uneventful compared to all that, except that Emmery scolded a baboon that was about to try to take some trash from her, and then it hit her on the leg, and took the trash anyway after she threw it away. A beautiful sunset and another crazy bus ride later (Seriously, it was ridiculously scary. We were bouncing down the road, weaving back and forth around potholes, coming literally within inches of hitting pedestrians. I never thought I would be so grateful for a yellow line…), and we were back at the hotel for the night. More tomorrow… er, today…

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