Saturday August 7, 2010 – Rhino viewing, shopping in Masindi, and sitting out the rain in Boomu

Saturday August 7, 2010 – Rhino viewing, shopping in Masindi, and sitting out the rain in Boomu


I’m sitting in a banda at Boomu ladies project, a few hundred metres outside of the gate to Murchison Falls National Park, typing on the computer by the light of a flashlight tucked into the crook of my knee. Sarah is snoring in the bed next to me and Elizabeth is tucked into her banda and is watching a movie on her IPod. What a digital life we lead. It’s pouring rain out – thunder and lightning, and we’re delighted to be indoors.
We started the morning in a tent in Ziwa rhino sanctuary, not that many km but several hours from here. It was a beautiful night under the stars, with a small crescent moon coming up in the middle of the night. After a solid English breakfast we piled into the car, added a ranger, whose rifle fascinated Sarah, and followed by Chris on his motorbike, set off to track rhino. It all went amazingly well. The rhino were about 5 min walk off the driving track, which solved the potential problem of Sarah wimping out. There was a mother and a calf born in January – and we were really close. And even closer as they moved over to the shade we were standing in so the baby could lie down for a rest. We backed off – Sarah doing an excellent job speaking in a low voice as explained to her by the guide, who I think was a bit worried she would get excited and start squeaking and then the rhino would charge. I would hate to be the tourist whose life was saved by a ranger shooting one of the 9 white rhino in Uganda!! We watched them for a while, and then the “dad” rhino joined them, and then behind us Sarah spotted a second mom and calf in the brush before the guide knew they were there. Maybe she has the makings of a game ranger! After today we have seen 5/7 rhino at Ziwa and 2/2 at Entebbe, making a total of 7 out of the 9 Ugandan rhino! These are all Southern white, imported from Kenya and from a zoo in the US, to restart a herd, although the highly endangered northern white is the one that was originally here.
After taking down out camp and saying our goodbyes to the family here (and their various animals) we left the park and headed west for Masindi- the next “major” town and our lunch and shopping stop. Masindi is a very typical small and dusty town with the major street blocks lined by small shops selling all kinds of household goods, and several groceries about half the size of the average 7/11 at home. The streets are very big on potholes with the traffic, such as it is, weaving back and forth to avoid them. Somehow it took us almost three hours to buy some basic (and I mean basic) provisions, top up on diesel, find paraffin (aka kerosene) for the stove, and have lunch. Masindi is the cutoff point for the road heading north to Murchison.
After a few hours we came to our stop for the night – Boomu Women’s group site with bandas for tourists. And a shop selling lovely baskets at amazingly inexpensive prices. Showering seems to be our nemesis – the tank that the shower hooks to was empty but was quickly filled with a couple of 20 litre jerrycans and we were all fresh and clean – even Sarah who has been quite vigorously resisting the idea of washing her hair. The bandas are small round houses with mud brick walls and thatched roofs, and beds with clean freshly pressed sheets and mosquito nets. It amazes me how the laundry can get so clean when it is washed in small tubs and often laid out on the ground to dry. The trees are filled with the nests of weaver birds – it must be breeding season. So we passed the rest of the afternoon checking out baskets, organizing in the car, and reading our books. Sarah made a new little friend and spent some time in the caretaker’s house carrying on some sort of a conversation with the caretaker and her daughter. We made it an early dinner, and an early to bed night just as the rains started – the first we’ve had here.