The Nile...It Ain't Just a River in Egypt

I’d like to start off by thanking all of you who have commented on my blogs. I appreciate the compliments about my writing, however, I have noticed many typos and grammatical errors. I typed most of them late at night, so my editing skills weren’t very sharp. Thanks for liking the posts anyway!

March 4, 2010 (new photos just added....click on them to enlarge)

We left our accommodations at 5 am to head for the game parks which are about 5 hours away. Waking up at 4 am was brutal. Luckily, our teammates woke us up as neither Bonnie nor I brought a watch or cell phone with us. We have been relying on them the whole trip.

As we got close to our destination, we stopped where the Nile River has a waterfall. So, the Nile River… I’ve always associated it with Egypt and Moses. Otherwise, I didn’t know these other facts. For example,

1. The Nile River originates at Lake Victoria in Uganda

2. The Nile River flows from south to north, which is not the normal flow of rivers

3. The Nile River is HUGE, like the Mississippi

4. The Nile River has a waterfall

The Nile River’s waterfall is called Murchison Falls and it is amazing! The wide Nile narrows and falls down this rocky channel. The rocks are huge and the water fall is powerful and loud. We sat there and watched it for a while. The rainbows formed from the falls are vibrant and spectacular. The water spray from the falls was a welcomed relief because it was “Africa hot” today!

Again, I wish so much I could post the pics but you’ll have to wait until I get back into the States. Between me and my teammates we probably have about 3,000 photos! We are trying to figure out the best way to share them with each other and post some on the internet. So stay tuned. Some of the shots are phenomenal.

After the falls, we made our way to the game park. We needed to cross the Nile River with a ferry, so as we were waiting for it, I went and touched the Nile River with my hands and feet. It was awesome!

Once we crossed over, we checked into our hotel and ate lunch. I ordered Nile River Perch with saffron sauce. It was DELICIOUS!!!! Then we got ready for our evening safari.

Our bus for the safari had a canopied roof so you could stand up in the bus and look at the animals while being protected from the sun…and potentially the animals. Our guide showed up with a shot gun, just in case the animals (or one of us) got out of hand.

As we were leaving the hotel grounds, we saw many baboons. They were so cool! In the game park, which is thousands of acres of protected land along the Nile River, we saw:

• water buffalo

• water bucks (similar to our deer / rams)

• Jackson Heart Beasts (if an antelope and a horse had a baby…it would look like a Jackson Heart Beast – a horse faced animal)

• Warthogs

• Monkeys

• a herd of giraffes

• hippos

• amazing yellow birds

• amazing bright cobalt blue birds

And, oh yeah… as we were driving along, an elephant strolled by and crossed the road right in front of us. It was SOOOOO UNBELIEVABLY COOL!!!!!

Even the reptiles here are cool! We came across and orange and blue lizard that was beautiful! And I hate lizards.

I can’t wait to see what our safari holds for tomorrow!!!