A Final Visit to Murchison Falls

One of our favourite places to visit in Uganda over the past 2 years has been the Murchison Falls National Park (MFNP) Since we bought the annual pass for the parks last September we have been able to get into all of the parks as often as we like. Overall we've visited the MFNP 5 times, with what will almost certainly be our final visit last weekend.

MFNP has everything. A spectacular waterfall, the river Nile, interesting wildlife, both in the park and by the river, and a favourite place to stay at the Red Chilli camp.

The Murchison Falls waterfall is very narrow and therefore very fast flowing with the Nile squeezing through a narrow gorge 7m wide and plummeting down a 43m drop. The water level was very high when we visited this time making it even more spectacular.

The river Nile cuts through the Park with the north bank the place to see the animals and the south bank largely forested. The way across the river is the slightly dodgy Paraa Ferry. However, all was well in both directions and we arrived safely across the river. We rewarded ourselves with a chicken and pineapple salad by the pool at the smart Paraa Lodge on the north bank.

As usual we found plenty of animals to watch and photograph in the savannah area on the northern bank of the Nile. We have never been disappointed with the wildlife viewing in the Murchison Falls Park.

View of Lake Albert 

At the edge of the park we found a large single elephant blocking the road. We just had to bide our time until he decided to wander off!

On the way back through the park we stopped for the night at the Red Chilli camp on the south bank. We always love sitting in their banda over dinner watching the sun set over the Nile and lights coming on in the Paraa Lodge just on the other side of the river.

In the morning we watched some cheeky baboons climbing up on the safari tents!

Sad Goodbyes and Tree Planting

With just over 6 weeks to go I've started visiting places for the last time. In the last 3 weeks I've made what will probably be a final visit to Gulu, a first and last visit to Kitgum and a final visit to West Nile. Each final visit involves a whole lot of goodbyes to people I've worked with over the past 2 years. I going to miss all of the lovely friendly welcoming people I've met during my time here.

We both went to West Nile last week and were very honoured to be invited to plant a tree each in the College grounds. These will provide shade for classes held outside or for cars parked once they've grown. I planted a mango tree and Glen a nut tree. Glen was much more expert at the whole operation than I was!

The Kitgum trip was for a meeting of the Land Platform and was very interesting with a theme of agriculture and land. In the evening we checked out the bars in Kitgum meeting up with a Kitgum based volunteer and various attendees from the Platform.

From Kitgum we drove back south for an hour and a half over another bumpy murram to reach Gulu.

I've developed a days training on organisational level budgets, core cost budgets and cost recovery methods, including a long case study to work through bit by bit which finishes with a role play of a meeting with a funder. I've added another half day including a more complex example of a grant reconciliation to make a final one and a half day training programme to be delivered 3 times in different places. This time I'm training all of the partner organisations from the three programmes.

I delivered the first set in early August in Gulu for the organisations based in and around Gulu. It went very well, although I'll do some tweaks before I do the next set in Kampala at the end of the month. We invited all of the participants, both resident and non residents to stay at the hotel for supper after the first day and I ran a short quiz. This went very well with lots of laughter and jokes. The prize was a large pot of chocolate, which always ensures active participation!!

While in West Nile we finally managed to visit the fantastic fabric market in Arua that all of the volunteers have recommended. We bought 3 long lengths of cloth to make a skirt or two for me and to take home to use in our house in Poppleton.

Shops in Arua

Yorkshire Day

Yesterday (1st August) was Yorkshire Day and we found ourselves thinking back to our life in York and looking forward to going home. I posted a blog 2 years ago about cycling along the river bank and listening to the steam trains. In the evening we went to a pub in the Morris Minor and sat in the garden on a lovely warm evening.

I was also thinking about travelling to Uganda in 2 months time and the wonderful opportunity to live and work here. We are now into our final 2 months here and can look back on an enjoyable and successful placement. We've also had lots of opportunities to sit outside on warm evenings.

This week has seen a flurry of activity as British Airways suspended their flights from Heathrow to Entebbe after 2nd October. They have reviewed their flights and closed uneconomic routes of which Entebbe is one. This means that there will be no direct flights from the UK to Uganda. It has always been good to know that we can be home in 9 hours if we need to.

Unfortunately we were booked on the flight leaving Entebbe on 17th October. Glen moved his flight back and after discussions with my placement I've done the same. So our thoughts are now moving to closing down, finishing work and packing up.

View over Kampala

View of York