Chasing Giraffes and what not.

Last weekend we went on a safari in Murchison Falls National park on the western boarder of Uganda.

The Safari started out by waking up at 5:30 AM to catch the ferry across the Nile just as the sun was rising over the bush.
Our team divided up into the separate van's and prepared to embark on the adventure of a lifetime.


Once we got into the park there were animals everywhere! Especially antelope and wildebeests. We snuck up on these elephants as we were winding our way through some pretty high bush.
My favorites were the Giraffes. At one point we ran into a huge herd of them. Actually we ran into lots of herds but this one was particularly special.
I asked our driver what giraffes would do if you got too close and he responded by asking me if I wanted to get out and feed them. Heck yes I did!! It sounded a little too cool to actually work but I was going to give it a shot. I wasn't worried until our guide grabbed his rifle as we jumped out of the car. I grabbed a bush and slowly started walking towards the herd. They didn't actually let us feed them but we did get within about 15 yards. It was pretty awesome!!
P.S. Here is a random fact for you. Did you know that Giraffe's markings get darker the older they get? There was one in this herd that was practically a charcoal color.
After wandering around in the bush all morning and seeing hundreds of animals we finally headed back to camp to get ready for our trip up the Nile. Even our camp was surrounded by wildlife though. There were these warthogs just lounging around all over the place. They seemed domestic enough but a few volunteers experienced just how wild they could be when they attempted to get too close. We were also warned to watch out for the hippos who liked to come up to our camp at night to graze. CRAZINESS!
Speaking of Hippos-- we saw lots of them as we rode a boat up the Nile. At one point we got too close to a male trying to protect his herd and he almost charged our boat. I wish I had pictures of it. It was so cool!
We saw lots of Nile crocodile too.
And even more elephants.
Then we came around a bend and there were the falls. Can I just say beautiful?
The ride back to the camp was nice and relaxing after a crazy day in the bush and the jungle.
The next day we went and visited a Rhino sanctuary. Rhinos went extinct in Uganda back in the 1980's because of poaching. The sanctuary we visited was the first one to reintroduce the rhino's to Uganda. Now there are 9 of them including a little baby named Obama because his dad is Kenyan and his mom is American. People here LOVE Obama!
We also saw lots of Baboons everywhere we went. They were so cute!!

So that was pretty much our Safari. Pretty much it was one of the coolest things I've ever done! (I know I say that a lot but that's because life just keeps on getting better :)