We woke up this morning bright and early at 4.30am (!) and after getting dressed jumped in the bus and headed for the National Park. We trundled along in the dark for 1 and half hours until we reached the 'ferry' (which incidentally was a big metal raft with an engine). While crossing over to the National Park, we caught sight of some hippos in the water. Upon reaching the island, we met our guide, Gloria, and got into the bus, with the roof up ready to see some animals.

We saw a huge variety of animals on our 4 hour drive, the first being giraffes, who the guide told us varied in colour according to their age (the older the darker). In addition, we saw uganda cob, hartebeast, vervet monkey, oribe, duiker, warthog (Pumba!), waterbuck, baboon and a monitor lizard. We also saw many birds, including guinea fowl, fisheagle, crowned crane (which is on the Ugandan flag), red chested bee eater, and a Northern Red Bishop. The tour was of the 'Big 5', and we saw buffalo and elephant but unfortunately weren't able to see any lion or leopard.

After a long lunch at Red Chilli rest camp, we hopped on a boat for the Nile River Cruise, where we saw a huge number of hippo (including a floating dead one…) and an elephant closer up. As we travelled down the Nile, it became overcast and we started to hear thunder. We got closer to the falls and stopped by a steep slope and disembarked, and began our Murchison Falls walk towards the top of the waterfall. The weather became increasingly worse and it started to rain heavily. This, coupled with the spray splashing up from the waterfall, meant we got absolutely drenched! It was a difficult climb to the top, and when we finally reached it we took loads of photos, ignoring all the water because we were so amazed at the sight of the enormous waterfall.

It was a short walk to the bus from there, as Medi had driven round to pick us up. It was a long ride home, and we sat in the bus, freezing cold, hoping for a nice hot shower back at the lodge. Unfortunately when we got there, we realised that there was no hot water as the heating was run on solar power, and the weather had been pretty dreadful that day. We changed into warm clothes though and had a nice hot meal, and got into bed with some extra blankets.

Jess, Steph, Fiona and Imogen