Category: Africa

When you think of the Nile, the meandering river through Egypt’s temple-dotted, desert landscapes probably comes to mind. But a 4,258-mile waterway is bound to flow through a huge array of ecosystems. As for the Nile, it begins in a very different environment, far from desert sands: among the lush forests of Uganda. As the river flows out of Lake Victoria, it is known as the Victoria Nile—or the White Nile for the color of its clay. The waters are calm and uneventful until they make a dramatic entrance into the Lake Albert region.

Here, the wide river is funneled into a 23-foot-wide gorge, creating a surging torrent of tremendous force that spills 141 feet. Murchison Falls, named for a celebrated 19th-century British geologist who once presided over the Royal Geographic Society, is one of the Nile’s most magnificent stretches, and you can see them up close during a scenic river cruise with your small group during Discovery Tours’ new Uganda Wildlife Exploration.

You begin your cruise downriver from Murchison Falls, then set off near the delta waters that split into finger-like rivulets on their way to Lake Albert. Hippopotamus, crocodile and numerous other magnificent creatures linger in or near the water against a backdrop of rich green forests of papyrus and other trees. Elephant might come to the river’s banks in search of a drink or a bath. Ugandan kob may sip from the shore. You might even spot the heads of Rothschild’s giraffe peering over the canopy. Watch the trees lining the shore for some of the 450 species of birds that make Murchison Falls National Park their home.

With unspoiled wilderness and primeval wildlife all around you, it is easy to imagine yourself in Victorian days setting out to search for the source of the mighty Nile. It is easy, too, to imagine The African Queen river boat drifting past, helmed by Humphrey Bogart, as it was here that parts of the 1951 Hollywood classic were filmed.

Then, the centerpiece of your safari cruise: Murchison Falls. You just might hear them before you see them, a roaring cascade forcing its way through a narrow gorge from 141 feet above. Its foamy rapids spill into the calmer waters that surround you, then join the more relaxed current and continue to Lake Albert. Pausing to take in their unbridled power, you feel the privilege of witnessing the Nile half a continent way from its more famous setting in Egypt.

Join us during our new Uganda Wildlife Exploration to discover this seldom-seen and astonishing corner of Africa.

Deep in the dense jungles that skirt Uganda’s western Rift Valley, you follow the footsteps of your primate-specialist guides. All is quiet in this lush primeval world, the last remaining habitat of the mountain gorilla. There are only about 350 in this vast expanse of misty protected land. But you have faith that your long hike will pay off because you are in the hands of experts who intimately know the behaviors and routines of these gentle beasts. You have been reminded, too, that the families you are seeking have gotten used to human presence. Far from intruding on their territory, you are merely paying them a visit. So you persist, silently and meditatively losing yourself to the rhythm of your boots falling on the forest floor.

Then, a rustle in the bush, a soft crackling. Your guide raises his hand for you to stop and be still. Through the thicket of ferns and vines and past a cluster of trees, you see her dark form. You catch glimpses of thick black fur rising and falling as she reaches into the foliage for a snack. She pays you no mind as she sits on her haunches. There must be others around, you think to yourself, just as you hear more rustling farther up the slope. But your eyes dart back as she tugs at a branch, revealing the leather-like patina of her face: deep, sunken eyes, protruding snout, rounded jaw around pencil-thin lips. As she plucks a morsel from the leaves, she looks straight into your eyes.

It has been said that when you look at a mountain gorilla, you are in essence looking at yourself. No matter how you feel about the idea that humans are descendants of the great apes, there is no denying the mirror that they hold up to us. That is largely why the threat to their very existence (poaching has decreased their numbers to just 700) is so alarming. And why Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, works vigilantly to protect those that remain.

Make no mistake: though the realm of the mountain gorillas may not be impenetrable, it does present the visitor with some challenging terrain. You might walk for just an hour before spotting a family, or you might trek for several hours. It all puts a fine point on what a privilege it is to be in their presence … and on their turf.

But what a trek it is! This is thick African jungle, a tropical rainforest unlike any other. As you walk, you may encounter any of the 120 mammal species from bushbuck to forest elephants, as well as 23 endemic species of birds or vervet and colobus monkeys cavorting in canopy overhead. Even chimpanzees have been spotted here, though you are more likely to see them in Kibale National Park, which your itinerary also visits.

Join Discovery Tours’ new Uganda Wildlife Exploration for your chance to have a once-in-a-lifetime close encounter with the magnificent mountain gorillas of Bwindi.

“Habari?” You might hear this friendly Swahili greeting on the streets of Entebbe or when you awake in the morning to join your guides in search of Uganda’s magnificent mountain gorillas. “What’s news?” they are asking. And in Uganda, the answer is, “Plenty.” Here are some surprising facts about this little-known nation:

• From 1894 to 1962, Uganda was a protectorate of Great Britain. However, Queen Elizabeth continued to use the ceremonial title “Queen of Uganda” until Uganda became its own republic in 1963.
  Winston Churchill visited in 1907. He was so impressed by its natural beauty, he called Uganda the “Pearl of Africa.”
• This very green nation is home to plentiful tea plantations. In fact, tea is its third largest agricultural export, after coffee and tobacco. And the best tea here is plucked by hand.
• While in Uganda, eat as the Ugandans do. Two popular dishes are matoke, or cooked plantains, in a groundnut sauce, and rolex, an omelette wrapped in a chapatti, or flatbread.
• The Rwenzoris are Africa’s tallest mountain range. The highest peak, Mount Stanley, soars to 16,762 feet and is permanently covered in snow, despite its location on the equator. Its glaciers are one source of the Nile River, which flows 4,258 miles to the Mediterranean Sea.
• Speaking of the Nile River, on its way out of Uganda, it passes through Murchison Falls National Park. There, its waters explode through a rocky gorge that’s only 23 feet wide before plunging some 130 feet.
• Landscapes of Murchison Falls National Park were used as location shots for the 1951 movie African Queen, starring Katherine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart.
• Uganda borders Lake Victoria, Africa’s largest lake by area and the world’s second largest freshwater lake after Lake Superior in the United States. It supports the continent’s largest inland fishery.

Join us to discover the rising star of East Africa on our new 10 Day Uganda Wildlife Exploration.

“I had a farm in Africa.” So begins the 1985 film Out of Africa, with what may be the most famous 15 seconds in American film. What follows is a sweeping epic that spans some 15 years of Karen Blixen’s life in the highlands near Nairobi, Kenya. And with Discovery Tours, you can visit the stunning setting where her unbelievable story unfolded early last century.

In 1913, Karen Blixen and her husband, the Swedish Baron Bror von Blixen-Finecke, uprooted their lives in Denmark and moved to Kenya, then part of British East Africa. With family money, they set up a coffee plantation and employed members of the local Kikuyu tribe to work the land. Sadly, the marriage ended in separation in 1921 and divorce in 1925.

After her separation, Blixen began a love affair with a wealthy hunter Denys Finch Hatton. The adventurer was in the safari business, leading well-heeled clients in search of big game, and he used her house as a base between 1926 and 1931. After his death in a fiery plane crash in the bush, and with a drought and the world economy sending her coffee plantation into collapse, she left Kenya. Back in her homeland, she famously chronicled her story, which Sydney Pollack adapted into that Oscar-winning film with Meryl Streep and Robert Redford in 1985.

No matter your feelings about Britain’s colonization of Africa, the story encompasses far more than the doomed love story between Blixen and Finch Hatton. Both the book and the film were hailed as meditations on the loss of Kenya itself. During the early 1900s, the British believed themselves to be stewards of this paradise-like Eden. Elephants and giraffe roamed freely, life was lived by the cycle of the seasons and, as Blixen (under the pen name Isak Dinesen) wrote, “the pioneers lived in guileless harmony with the children of the land.” It was only when the march of progress intervened—as the British footprint expanded into the wild and expelled local tribes from their land, and as retired World War I officers took up hunting big game as sport—that the once-beloved paradise became an arena for land-grabbing. For many, Out of Africa captured the nostalgia of that loss.

Today, the coffee plantation holds a legendary place in Nairobi’s history. Located “at the foot of the Ngong Hills,” as Dinesen wrote, it was given to the Kenyan government by Denmark as a gift for the African nation’s newfound independence in 1964, just two years after Blixen’s death.

In a Discovery Tours small group, you’ll explore the house and museum, a magnificent snapshot of life in colonial Africa in the early 20th century. Stunning period furnishings and décor adorn each room, from old Danish stoves and a beautiful marble chimney piece to Denys Finch Hatton’s favorite chair and old African spears and other weapons. The house has been left exactly as she decorated it, giving insight into the author’s day to day life. Blixen’s charcoal and pastel paintings can also be seen in the house and museum.