Murchison Falls

Murchison Falls is perhaps Uganda's most famous waterfall. The falls were once world reknown for an abundance of wildlife. Plus, the Nile River (the longest river in the world) is squeezed into a 6m width crevice at the base of the falls making it possibly the world's most "powerful" (perhaps most pressurized is more descriptive) ejection of water for a waterfall. The falls itself isn't much to brag about in terms of beauty nor height (I'm guessing it's about 20-30m tall) and it tumbles in multiple stages often shrouded in mist thanks to the power of the Nile. But the chance of combining an exquisite wildlife experience with the power of the falls is really what makes this one of the must-do activities in Uganda.

Now I did mention that the falls was once one of the premiere wildlife viewing sites (at least until the 1960s). That was until poachers and soldiers with automatic weapons wiped them out for one reason or another. But since those turbulent times (especially post Idi Amin and post war with Tanzania and its aftermath), the area is seeing a resurgence in tourism and more importantly a lot of time for the ecosystem (namely its wildlife) to recover. We can attest to the wildlife sightings as our boat trip involved numerous sightings of hippos, crocodiles, elephants, cape buffaloes, water bucks, and numerous birds. In fact, it was way more impressive than our sunset cruise on the Zambezi River above Victoria Falls.

There are two ways to experience Murchison Falls. One (as alluded to earlier) is via a boat ride near the ferry crossing at Paraa. This gives you a chance to see the heaps of wildlife along the banks of the mighty Victoria Nile on the way to the so-called Devil's Cauldron, which is a large, foamy whitewater area at the base of the falls. You don't get all that close to the falls so you can leave your telephoto lens on your camera body to shoot both the wildlife as well as the falls from the boat.

The second way to experience the falls is from its top. This is possible by hiking up to the top after the boat drops you off (you can request this option prior to the tour so vehicle transport can return you to your accommodation) or you can take a road leading to a car park a short walk away from the top. Either way, the trail to the top of the falls brings you very close to the rushing whitewater as it squeezes into the narrow crevice below. The ground can be felt trembling from Murchison Falls' power and the resulting mist from the turbulence often produces morning rainbows. We think the falls is best experienced from its top (one of the few waterfalls where you can say this), but the boat ride is well worth it because of the wildlife (the view of the falls from the bottom can be disappointing).

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The falls dwarfing Julie

Make sure you don't get too close to the rushing water!

Notice the rectangular column by the falls. That used to be a bridge (washed away by a flood back in the 60s) that connected you to an island, where you could see the rest of the Nile River join with the falls before being ejected from the crevice!

Rainbows in the mist

Hippos are common, but they might be angry if the boat gets close. One actually lunged at our boat and it was a good thing our boat took off because the hippo turned up where our boat was situated! Yikes!

Whatever you do, don't go into the water! Nile crocodiles abound.

This is a tsetse fly and they're quite common in Murchison Falls National Park. These annoying buggers do draw blood from you and can spread parasites like mosquitoes. However, DEET is ineffective against them and even though it's said they're attracted to black and blue colors (thinking you must be big game), they still bit me even when I wore bright colors. So consider yourself warned!