A NIGHT & A DAY IN THE WILD.

I decided to have a different night and day, a wild and adventurous one. Murchison Falls National Game Park was the chosen destination.

When you are having a different day in Uganda, you either stay in the city or drive to the village……your home village! I was doing neither of the two so, when people asked, I didn’t really know what to say, because I was actually going to a Game Park with friends: Jan, Rowe, Dan, Amanda, Rico, and Will.

It seemed such a foreign idea to me, to be going to the Game Park for a different day……but then again, how many opportunities do you get to take time off with your friends and take a trip out of town?

The friends who accompanied me on the trip had visited the park before. But I was a first-time tourist. We set off with a driver to the north western district of Arua, to spend a night and a day in the scenic comfort of Murchison Falls National Game Park.

The trip started from Gulu Town where my friends and I had visited my family members a day after Christmas. The traffic jam that led us out of Gulu Town all the way to down to Arua should have prepared me for the hordes of people in every town we entered, but I did not expect this to be the case in the Game Park. With hind sight, I realize I should not have had any misgivings about telling people where I was headed.

There were numerous other Ugandan and white families spending their holiday in the Park. Apart from it being a learning experience for the children and a fun activity for the family, this experience opened my eyes to how much we had all been missing out on by sticking to un-written rules in Uganda of what one can or cannot do during a different day.

By the time we arrived at the Park, we were already late for the evening Game drive. But on the way entering Park, we had seen antelopes, didicks, kob and we had also managed to catch several close-range sightings of elephant families as they returned home grazing.

The driver and I headed back to the Murchison Safari Camp Canteen to buy some chapartis and drinks for dinner for the gang. The staff at Murchison Safari Camp, our home for the night, were friendly, and the accommodation and scenery so amazing.

A different day dawned bright and beautiful but we were running late for our early morning Game drive. Our object of affection on this day was the Lion pride. we saw three of them lying beside the path yawning normally. I can almost say I know how the three wise men from the east felt as they followed the bright morning star to find Baby Jesus. The question on the tourists lips was, ’’Have you seen the Lions?’’

The peaceful giraffes were also lovely to look at and there were many other wild animals to see. There was also the nice green vegetation and lovely savanna with bright cloud cover up in the sky and the cool air blowing freely. The weather and the landscape were absolutely fantastic.

We were lucky to have seen the three yawning lions as we had to cut our game drive short to catch the 11:00am ferry ride across the Nile. Our plan was to put the van on the ferry, cross the Nile, have breakfast on the other side, and then to head to the Murchison Fall.

Luckily, we managed to get to the ferry crossing point in time and we secured seats on one of the two launches headed out at the time. Several families were left stranded as all the day’s planned trips were fully occupied by those who came earlier. They had to settle for a tour of the visitor’s information center, where they got a brief history of the park.

I was pleasantly surprised to discover that our ferry was almost equally filled with both Ugandans and foreigners. This showed me how much we have come to appreciate our indigenous holiday destination.

While we were on the ferry we saw, on the far shores and in the waters of the Nile, hippoes, buffaloes, several species of birds flying on top of the water, and beautiful scenery of the cliffs alongside the Nile. Our driver and guide had interesting tid-bits of information on the different things we saw. I was really excited to see several real life pumbas (warthogs) and timmons [merkats].

We enjoyed a tasty, special different-day breakfast at Chillie Restaurant before embarking on our next adventure to Murchison Falls.

At the Falls, we only saw a handful of people!! The Falls were a cascade of sparkling water against the rocks, causing water vapor to be blown by the strong wind and falling over us, even though we were almost 15m away. For me, this was like snow falling over me.

Suffice to say that a different day in the National Game Park was an interesting day. The other tourists who didn’t get to see the lions were like King Herod looking for the elusive baby Jesus.

I can hardly find the words to describe the beauty of this area. A typical Kampala dweller would kill to have the cool weather Murchison has to offer; the fresh air, the lovely sound of streams rushing over the beautiful Rift Valley as they flow towards Sudan and Egypt to water the refreshing greens of the Murchison river flats; the feeling of being at the shore of the famous River Nile as you look north and imagine the water flowing into the Mediterranean Sea beyond Egypt!!It was all breath taking.

WHO AM I?

My field name is Nyerology but my real name is Nyero Christopher

I am a Ugandan and I am currently a secondary school student.

I was born in the district of Gulu in northern Uganda in 1991 on 29th January. My mother is Mrs Laryang Juliana and my father is Mr Kolo Bilentino. My mother is the second of my father’s two wives. I am the last born and the youngest.

I was born during a period of war between the Ugandan government and the rebels of Lord’s Resistance Army (the L.R.A) led by Kony Joseph.

My parents left the countryside for Gulu town at a time when the conflict was worsening - rebels had begun killing civilians, abducting young healthy boys to serve as child soldiers, and assaulting women and girls.

Unfortunately my step mother refused to flee to Gulu town, and in 1999, two years after my father and mother had fled the countryside, she was killed with 11 other family members.

The war lasted for more than 25 years and ended in 2005 when peace talks were held. However, the rebel leader Kony went into exile without signing a peace agreement.

Displaced northerners, especially those who were living in the countryside, are now returning back to their villages as they are seeing signs of peace returning to the land. However, the return is complicated by the issue of land rights. There is much dispute over who owns land and many people are making grabs for land that is not theirs.

My parents, like most people in northern Uganda, depend on subsistence farming, but now that they are older farming is difficult for them, especially my father. When I am home I worry when I see them doing physical labour on the land.

When I visit my home, I help with the work on the land. But I also spend time listening to my parents’ stories of the place and its history. They introduce me to relatives and show me places I have forgotten.

I am tall and I am proud of my height. Being tall is unusal south and central Uganda where I have spent my school years, but in the North tallness is common.

HOW I JOINED CHILDREN OF UGANDA
In 1999, after rebels had killed 11 members of my family, Major Kakooza Mutale’s ordered that children whose parents had been killed should be given help. And so in 2000 I was taken to Kampala to the home of Sister Rose Muyinza. Sister Rose founded the organisation Daughters of Charity [http://www.uccf.org/], which is now a partner with the international charity Children of Uganda. I still remember the lovely Christmas I had in Kampala that year.

MOTHER KEVIN PRIMARY SCHOOL
In 2001, I was taken to Kiwanga home near Kampala and I completed my primary schooling at Mother Kevin Primary School where my best friends were Agaba Nicholas and Ntege Andrew.

The home administrator, Mrs Serwanga Rhita, was a lovely lady who was good at her job and used to listen to our views and problems. She is now somewhere else and we miss her so much. But life has to go on - nothing can be done.
I love sport so what follows is a bit about sports I have played and how I have learnt to play them.

When the basketball court was built in 2001, my friends and I had little interest in playing. Instead we would play soccer, which I am good at, on the basketball court. At Mother Kevin Primary, my soccer nickname was Ata’a for being good midfielder, and whenever a team was being formed, they would scramble to have me on the team. Unfortunately, that is no longer the case!

Uncle Richard, who works for Children of Uganda, used to be on the National Basketball team and he started training my friends and I. Slowly, I began to learn how to play basketball, learning from Uncle Richard the rules and regulations that govern the game. By the time I was in my seventh year of primary school I was good at it.

In 2006, I did my Primary Leaving Examination (P.L.E) and passed it with a second grade.

LORD’S MEADE VOCATIONAL COLLEGE.
In 2007 I began my first year of secondary school, S.1, at Lord’s Meade Vocational College[ http://www.lordsmeade.org/], which is also in Mukono district. Lord’s Meade is also close to Jinja district which contains the Nile Beer Brewery, the Nightile factory, and of course the lovely scenery of the river Nile, with Owen Falls dam close by.

At the end of every term, which was always on a Friday, we would be let out of school early so that we could go touring the river Nile and other beautiful places before Uncle Richard would arrive to take us back to our homes for the holidays.
At Lord’s Meade, Ssebadduka John Paul, Mubiru Francis (both hockey players), Tizzo, Cool.B, Juba Charles, Odoi Samuel, and Egunyu Lampard (a basketball player) were my friends.

I was in the school basketball team as well as the junior cricket team. One day after school, while I was still new at the school, I was playing soccer and cricket coach Mulogo Jude (the uncle of Juba Charles) caught sight of me me as he was training the cricket team. He came over to and said ‘’Hey giant boy, come here. Have you ever played cricket? I replied, “No sir”. He said “Okay, now go and try it”. After I had bowled, batted and fielded in front of him, he said ‘‘You are a quick learner. Don’t go back to soccer, you should be here. Your height is good for cricket, volleyballand basketball”. And he continued training me in bowling and batting.

After two days, I went back to playing soccer but Mulogo Jules came for me and put me in the junior cricket team. Although junior cricketers did not play in tournaments, we travelled with the senior team and so I got to watch my first ever cricket tournament. At that tournament, the school lost by only three points.

Mulogo Jules didn’t know, however, that I was already good at basketball. When I was in the basketball team, he came to me and said ‘’My Cricketer, now you have decided to join the basketball team and leave my team’’. “No sir”, I said

In 2007, the school participated in a basketball tournament held at Lake View Senior Secondary School in Jinja. The Lord Meade’s team trained for five days straight. Our coach was tough on us and I grew tired quickly as this was the first real training session I had ever done. I had such pain in my muscles that I dodged one session of training. But despite that I was picked for the tournament. My name was the fourth to be read out for the line up. Our captain, Juba Charles, was quite tall but not as tall as me. I was nicknamed Lewis Bryant for my good passes, shoots and dribbles.

Playing the tournament was the highlight of my basketball career. I was very nervous when I due to play because it was my first time in a real tournament. Even thought the player voted best of the tournament, Odoi Samuel, was on my team, we didn’t play well.

MBUYE FARM SCHOOL AND SABINA HOME.
I completed only one year at Lord’s Meade, before I was transferred to Mbuye Farm School in 2008, which is in Rakai district. Rakai is five districts south of Mukono.For more link:www.mbuye.net 

Sport is not a strength of Mbuye Farm School. My skills in basketball stagnated as it was not played at the school.

At Mbuye, my best friends were Tanzanians, including Rigobert Rwewubizza and Florian Rwegoshorah, who was a talented footballer. My Ugandan friends were Sozzi Brian, Mukesi Ali, Twahah Kaddu Rwaga, Jumba Joseph, Kaluhanga Louse and Mugarura Charles. Mrs Kizito Roselyn Ssali, the Depurty Principal become my great friend as well. If you are wondering why girls are not among my friends, you may as well know that I am still quite shy around them and do not yet speak with them much.


At Mbuye, I had many nicknames, including the Engineer [because i did brick and concrete laying course], the Prophet, Alvin[movie actor], the Doctor, the Secretary, My daughter, Odongo Otto, and American Height[for being tall].
While in Mbuye Farm School, I began to spend my short holidays at Sabina Home in the nearby town of Ssanje. In the long holidays I would push home to Gulu.

At Sabina I acquired more interest in farming because there I helped on the Sabina Permaculture Project:http://childrenofuganda-permaculture.blogspot.com/. I am still helping on this project in my holidays. From my work at Sabina, and after completing a Permaculture Design Certificate there. You can link here:http://permaculturedesigncourseinuganda.blogspot.com/for more information.I have discovered new ways to create a sustainable environment for human beings, without the use of harmful pesticides and herbicides. I have learnt ways to support natural ecological systems and help fight the problem of global warming. 

At Sabina mynicknames are Permaculturist and Inspector.

In this blog,I will be writing about my life, including friends and family, special projects and interests such as permaculture and building, as well as art, work and achievements.


'Nyerology' - it really means "the world according to Nyero".