Murchison Falls National Park - Uganda

The Nile is one of the most famous rivers in the world and the headwaters are in Uganda, or at least part of the headwaters. The search for the source of the Nile was a big deal in the mid 19th century. Explorers John Speke and Richard Burton went to East Africa in 1856 to try and find it. In February 1858, after severe illness and injuries, they became the first Europeans to reach Lake Tanganyika (the world's second-largest freshwater lake by volume and second deepest) which is the border between Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with additional small portions touching Burundi and Zambia. However, it empties into the Atlantic Ocean. 

During their journey, Speke and Burton heard of a second lake, to the northeast, so in May 1858 they decided to explore it on the way back to the east coast of Africa. At one point, Burton was too weak to continue, so Speke did a 47 day side-trip that was a total of 452 miles and became the first European to see Lake Victoria in July 1858 (the world's second-largest lake by surface area after Lake Superior) and he gave it its name replacing the African name. Lake Victoria eventually proved to be one of the sources of the Nile. 

From Wikipedia

Now we know that there are multiple sources of the Nile and the Nile has two major tributaries. The Blue Nile contributes 80% of the Nile water and originates in Lake Tana in Ethiopia. The White Nile is generally considered to be the headwaters, because it is longer. It begins at Lake Victoria and flows through Uganda, South Sudan and flows into Sudan at Khartoum, the Sudan capital, where it meets the Blue Nile which flows in from Ethiopia. The furthest source of the Nile may be in Burundi or Rwanda, there are still arguments about it. The White Nile leaves the north end of Lake Victoria at Ripon Falls near Jinja, Uganda, and is known as the Victoria Nile. It flows north 81 miles to Lake Kyoga, then 120 more miles west to near Masindi Port, where it then turns north to Karuma Falls. Then it turns west through Murchison Falls NP to the northern shore of Lake Albert. After leaving Lake Albert, the river continues north through Uganda and is known as the Albert Nile. Some say the White Nile begins when it leaves Uganda and is the Victoria Nile, then the Albert Nile up to that point. 

This map of Lake Albert has a dotted line entering it at the northeast end which goes east to Karuma, the beginning of Murchison Falls National Park. That is the Victoria Nile going through Murchison Falls NP and emptying into Lake Albert. Then just north, the beginning of the Albert Nile flows northwest out of Lake Albert.  Of course there is other water flowing into Lake Albert which is where the arguments are for the origins of that water being the longest source of the Nile. 

This map of Murchison Falls NP is from here. We entered the NP at Karuma, on the east end. The Victoria Nile shows up as a blue line. Our road (small red line) was just north of the Victoria Nile. During our night drive, we saw a hippo in the middle of the road, a limping hyena and several spotted eagle owls. We drove to and stayed two nights at Pakuba Lodge, which is northwest of Paraa and quite a bit south of Pakwash, quite close to the Albert Nile. Our game drive was between Pakuba Lodge and Paraa. I also took a Nile cruise from near Paraa east to the bottom of Murchison Falls, noted on the map, and back, while Judy and our granddaughter did a culture visit elsewhere. Later we all visited the top of Murchison Falls. 

The Victoria Nile (or White Nile) forces its way through a gap in the rocks only 23 feet wide and falls 141 feet, as Murchison Falls, then flows westward into Lake Albert. 

The is my photo from the bottom of Murchison Falls while on a boat from Paraa to the base of the Falls and back. White froth in the river which continues for some distance is evidence of the power of the falls. 

Hereafter are photos of wildlife from our visit to Murchison Falls, from our game drive between Pakuba Lodge and Paraa, my boat ride from Paraa to Murchison Falls and back, and from the grounds of Pakuba Lodge. 
The first three photos are Abyssinian ground hornbills, first a male, second a female, and third, a juvenile male. I was ecstatic to see these birds early on our safari. It is a bird I really wanted to see. 

An African darter seen along the Victoria Nile.  

An African fish eagle seen along the Victoria Nile. 

An African jacana seen along the Victoria Nile. 

African savannah elephants.

A black-crowned tchagra.

A broad-billed roller along the edge of the Victoria Nile.

A brown snake eagle along the bank of the Victoria Nile. 

A cape buffalo with a piapiac (bird) standing on its back and some cape buffalo wallowing in mud.

A common bulbul.

Hippos in the Victoria Nile.

A croaking cisticola. I saw several different species of cisticola and have a very hard time differentiating them, so my identification may be wrong. 

A defassa waterbuck. A favorite. They spent the knight at Pakuba Lodge on the grass on our way to the restaurant. This one, however, was in the road on our safari.

An Egyptian goose in the Victoria Nile. 

A Eurasian osprey near the Victoria Nile.

A Finch's agama, a beautiful lizard. This one was near our room at Pakuba Lodge.

A giant kingfisher along the Victoria Nile.

A Goliath heron on the Victoria Nile near Paraa.

A gray heron on the Victoria Nile.

A gray kestrel near the Victoria Nile at Paraa.

A gray-backed fiscal.

A gray-headed kingfisher along the Victoria Nile. 

A hamerkop. I believe this was along the Victoria Nile. 

A helmeted guineafowl. A wonderful bird. We used to have one loose in our neighborhood, years ago. 

A Ugandan kob, a beautiful antelope I'd not seen before. It looks a lot like an impala. 

The lelwel hartabeest or Jackson's hartabeest, another antelope I'd not seen before. 

A lioness in the long grass, then out onto the road. 

A marabou stork. There was always at least one standing on the grounds at Pakuba Lodge or on the roof of the restaurant. 

Nile crocodiles along and in the Victoria Nile. 

A northern red bishop, a striking small bird, that always stood out wherever it was. 

An oribi, a small antelope I'd never seen before, but similar to the dik dik. 

A piapiac, a bird I'd never heard of before but grew to love. It was very common and often standing on the back of a cape buffalo, rhino or elephant. A black bird with a long brown tail, or the immature bird has a red bill. 

A pied (black and white) kingfisher.

A pin-tailed whydah, a spectacular bird with a very long tail. This was right outside the restaurant at Pakuba Lodge.

A red-throated bee-eater, a spectacularly beautiful bird. These were photographed from the bridge over the Victoria Nile near Paraa. 

A rock pratincole. The first was photographed near the bottom of Murchison Falls and the second near the top of Murchison Falls. 

Murchison Falls had lots of wonderful Rothschild giraffes. Another favorite. They are so large and awkwardly graceful.

Ruppell's starling.

I saw several saddle-billed storks along the Victoria Nile, one of my favorites. 

A village weaver.

A Vinaceous dove.

A western banded snake-eagle.

A white-browed coucal.

A yellow-billed stork along the Victoria Nile.

A yellow-throated longclaw, which reminds me of our western meadowlark. 

Murchison Falls is an outstanding national park. We weren't there long, but had some wonderful animal encounters.