It was a pleasant morning of August, and I was having breakfast at the Para Safari Lodge, in the Murchison Falls National Park of Uganda with my good friend and ranger George (The younger George, not the older and comedian Mzee George Atube who is in his sixties and has since retired).
The Para Safari Lodge, belonging to the Madhvani Group is one of the finest and most luxurious lodges in the Murchison Falls National Park and is also the only one in the main reserve area. Often the wildlife like elephants, hippos, sometimes even the lions end up right at your veranda!
George was accompanied by his college going niece Sylvia, who was on a vacation and eager to explore the Murchison National Park.
There was a group of Chinese tourists who were equally excited to see the wildlife having breakfast with us, and they were actually late for the game drive, it being way past 8 am. Usually the right time to start off for a game drive is very early in the morning just before the sun rises, if you really intend to see some serious wild life like the lions. We on the other hand were taking it easy, as today we were on an altogether different mission than the routine game drive; to search for our long lost friend, Butcherman the lion!
Murchison Falls National Park (MFNP) is a national park in Uganda and managed by the Ugandan Wildlife Authority. It is in the north-western Uganda, spreading inland from the shores of Lake Albert, around the Victoria Nile, up to the Karuma Falls.
Together with the adjacent 748 square kilometers (289 sq mi) Bugungu Wildlife Reserve and the 720 square kilometers (280 sq mi) Karuma Wildlife Reserve, the park forms the Murchison Falls Conservation Area(MFCA).
MFCA and the adjacent Bugondo Forest Reserve have 76 species of mammals as well as Uganda's largest population of Nile crocodiles. 450 bird species are present ranging from easy variety of water birds, including the rare shoe-billed stork.
The Murchison Falls National Park borrows its name from the Murchison Falls situated within the park, also known as Kabalega Falls, is a waterfall between Lake Kyoga and Lake Albert on the White Nile River in Uganda. At the top of Murchison Falls, the Nile forces its way through a gap in the rocks, only 7 metres (23 ft) wide, and tumbles 43 metres (141 ft), before flowing westward into Lake Albert.
The outlet of Lake Victoria sends around 300 cubic meters per second (11,000 ft³/s) of water over the falls, squeezed into a gorge less than ten metres (30 ft) wide. Sir Samuel and Florence Baker were the first Europeans to find them. Baker named them after Sir Roderick Murchison, president of the Royal Geographical Society.
A Video of the Murchison Falls from the top.
We saw the Chinese piling into a minivan and drive ahead of us, and we started off shortly behind them. We were about 10 kms away from the Para Safari Lodge and generally in the area where the initial game drive begins. I saw a Jacksons Hartebeest standing on a small hillock and giving a very nice pose very near me, and I stopped the car to click a few good photos of his.
Now this Jacksons Hartebeest is a very funny animal, it is a mix between what I would term a horse and a deer. The male of this species will always find a small hillock, stand on it and pose for the benefit of his female counterpart. And they are found in ample in this part of Africa.
However, the unfortunately funny thing about this animal is that it has a very short term memory, which I believe lasts for about 10 mins, so if the poor beast is being chased by a predator, after running for 10 mins it will stop, because he forgets why he was running in the first place and will fall an easy prey to the predator.
After I finished clicking the Jacksons Hartebeest I glanced at the road ahead, it was a straight road and going uphill at about 400 meters, at the top this hill I saw a van stopped ever since we had arrived, and it was there for about 15/20 mins, any vehicle stopping in a national park for such a long time usually means two simple things, either the occupants have seen a remarkable wildlife and have stopped to click pictures or there is a breakdown.
I pulled up beside the van, it was the one with the Chinese Group. I spoke to the Ugandan driver if he had a problem as I could not spot any wildlife around, he pointed straight ahead and said Tembo!
From where we were, the road went downhill and curved slightly to the left and Lo and behold 500 meters ahead standing right in the middle of the road and facing towards us was the largest and most massive bull (that is what a large male elephant is called). A fully grown Savanah elephant!
Naturally the driver was without an armed guide was afraid to move ahead. The elephant had his ears flapped towards the front and was swaying his front left leg from left to right, this clearly is an indication that the elephant is aggravated and in all probabilities would do a mock charge just to scare us, he would come running and trumpeting towards us, but about 100/200 meters away from us would leave the road, once he was satisfied he had scared us enough!
In my vast experience with the wildlife most elephant charges are usually mock charges. The elephant is letting you know that you are making it uncomfortable and wants you to back off. An elephant will mock charge to test you, to check if you are aggressive or something that should be considered a threat.
However, a lot of people also mistake a serious charge of a wild elephant to be a mock charge and either hold their ground or start running late. When the elephant has got a serious intent, you can see that its trunk is coiled inwards and its ears are close to the head, in such a case, more specifically if you are on foot, you really need the help of the almighty! Because make no mistake, the elephant can often run and reach a speed of 40 kms per hour, so never underestimate its body weight and never underestimate his ability to climb fast uphill! To give you a more clear picture, Usain Bolt's average speed was 37.8 Kmph!
We waited for 20 mins hoping the bull will move away, but it was an adamant chap. The Chinese group which had already started for the game drive late and had not seen a single wild life yet were also getting restless, and about 6/7 other cars had piled up behind us, including an ambulance.
That is when I conferred with George and decided to confront the bull and make him move off the road. It was not that we wanted to provoke a wild animal for no reason, ideally we would have backed off to an alternative route in these circumstances, and that is the most ideal and wise thing to do.
However, the ambulance was carrying a very ill woman from a nearby village to the hospital in Pakwach, on the other side of the park and for the ambulance this was the only road feasible. We were in Prady (my Prado land cruiser) in whom I have full faith that he will hold the ground when required, and George had cleaned his single barrel gun that morning in which he had full confidence.
So the ever cautious George stood in the middle of the sunroof with his gun uncocked and ready, and I instructed the driver of the Chinese Van to stay where he was and accordingly instruct the other drivers also to stop. I engaged gear and drove ahead about 200 meters and stopped, killing the engine.
The brute seeing us approaching was not happy and trumpeting loudly started walking towards us. He too walked about 200 meters and stopped right in the middle of the road, closing the distance between us to 100 meters, trumpeting loudly with his trunk high up in the air.
I was a bit rattled as I assumed he would move of the road, especially seeing a large vehicle approaching, (which he would attribute to a large enemy approaching) but he did nothing of this sort and stood his ground firmly, which was really surprising! However he still showed all signs of a mock charge and that gave me some confidence.
After a little show of rage and probably making up his mind on his next move, he started walking towards us slowly! Now usually people in such a situation, seeing the bull approaching will reverse their vehicle, which in majority of the cases though may seem the right thing to do at that point of time, will be a huge big mistake!
The elephant will assume that you are a weak foe, and that will give him more confidence and may change the mock charge to a serious and full charge!
Being 80 meters away I could now see the bull clearly and so did George, and simultaneously it dawned upon both of us! Standing before us was no ordinary bull, but the notorious rogue of Murchison National Park!
He already had a few human trampling’s and killings to his credit and was not the one to easily back down! That explained his fearlessness and callous attitude! To make matters even worse, we both realized that he had a large discharge from the side of his head indicating that he was in musth!
Musth is a periodic condition in a bull elephant, characterized by highly aggressive behavior and accompanied by a large rise in reproductive hormones. Testosterone levels in an elephant in musth can be as much as 6 times greater than in the same elephant at other times. So not only did we have a rogue elephant before us, but also a mad and highly energized one!
I conferred with George and we thought that the best and reasonable thing to do in this situation was to move slightly ahead confusing the elephant, and halting his advance albeit temporarily, and by the time he gathered his wits, quickly reverse, turn around and flee!
I glanced in the rear view mirror and was in for the second shock of the day! The stupid van driver, ignoring our instructions and for reasons best known to him, had driven right behind us and was barely 2 feet behind us! George was furious and shouted at the driver in explicit Acholi language to reverse!
I glanced in the rear view mirror and watched him turn around and flee for good, probably the Chinese had enough of wildlife experience for the day and decided to return back to the lodge! However this entire commotion had excited and triggered the rogue! He was trumpeting loudly, trunk coiled inward and his ears flat to his body! All the unholy signs indicating his intention of a serious charge!
Now I have been in a lot of elephant mock charges and am rather experienced in it, but this was my first experience of a full and actual elephant charge, that too from sch a massive brute! The best thing I did in this situation was to keep my head and my camera clicking away as best as I could with one hand. George on the other hand is a man of the bushes, he has grown in these bushes and has grown up with these elephants!
And then the inevitable happened! The rogue with the intent of a full charge started walking towards us, gaining speed!
As on cue, a large drop of sweat trickled down my face, and probably in the first time in my lifetime I felt my palms sweat! I was totally confused and unsure what to do! George shouted loudly from the rooftop and told me ‘Roy, be ready, start the car engage it in gear and drive forward when I say!
Move forward? Into this approaching massive bull who appeared to grow in size every minute? Had I not known George for a long time I would have sworn he has gone ‘Malala’ (crazy in Lugandese) just like the elephant! But over the years on or numerous trips our friendship has grown, and so has our mutual respect for each other. So without an iota of doubt I did as he told me to do and was ready, albeit for a war!
The frenzied rogue picked up speed and now was walking towards us at full speed, he wanted to crush us, trample us, toss us away! As it happens in such situations, and for reasons best known to God, everything suddenly got into a slow motion mode! 80 meters, 60 meters, 40 meters 20 meters and the brute was upon us, I could now even see the rage in his eyes, he was that close, and then Kaboom!
George fired accurately at the tusk of the rogue, he was startled and stopped in his tracks in such a fashion it appeared as if he had suddenly applied emergency brakes! He shook his head, trumpeted loudly and walked off the road on my right. I though it was finally over, but the rogue proved me wrong again!
His ego was badly bruised and rage was multiplied! He walked for about 10 feet off the road, and decided he was not going to give up and turned around.
On intuition, I quickly raced the car ahead while the elephant charged again towards the vehicle, and this time the charge was from the side on the car and not from the front as before. The rogue had all the advantages of turning the car turtle that too probably with a single dash!
It was a close call and we barely passed him 3 feet away from us! I had handed over the camera to Sylvia who was sitting behind me and Sylvia clicked a good picture of him at the right moment as we passed him to close for comfort!
We were fortunate, but two soldiers from the Uganda Army were not so fortunate as us. A few soldiers of the Uganda Army were camping near the Para Safari Lodge area on a routine exercise, patrolling the Murchison Falls National Park for apprehending poachers.
Three days after our incident two of the soldiers wandered into the dark bushes, probably to answer the call of nature and unfortunately and unknowingly walked directly into the rogue. The rogue trampled and killed one of them instantly while seriously injuring the other.
A year or two after this incident I have heard on and off news of him attacking other humans not only on game drives but also in villages within the perils of the national park.
The above incident I purely term as unfortunate, however the further two incidents were purely due to negligence and carelessness of human beings, and could have been best avoided. We were really fortunate but not the other two men in these incidents!
I would like to take a moment here to apprise my readers here that that no way should the above incidents deter you from visiting the beautiful national parks whether in Uganda or anywhere else in the world, however extreme care and caution has to be followed. Under no circumstances should you leave your vehicle and always follow the instructions of the rangers and safety guidelines laid down by the park, and most importantly under no circumstances should you provoke any wild animals and animals with babies are best left alone as the motherly instinct of any animal or for that matter even humans are very strong and the mother will go all out to protect the baby as the further incidences will show.
In April 2005 a group of Indian tourists were visiting the Murchison Falls National Park and during the course of their game drive approached a herd of elephants. One of the men from this group ignoring all warnings of the ranger, got down from his vehicle carrying his 8 years old son in his arms with the intention of showing the elephants from a close range to the boy, a very fatal mistake as fate later proved!
Now usually elephants in Africa specifically in Uganda are often victims to poachers, who get close to the elephants and kill them for their ivory. So a human presence very close makes the elephants jittery and uncomfortable. In the herd which the man approached with his son, there was a female elephant with a calf. Naturally she felt threatened for the safety of the calf and before the man could realize what was happening, she charged at him, picked him in her trunk and flung him at a nearby tree, luckily the man was able to toss the boy away to safety. The elephant further proceeded to trample the man and gore him with her tusk. It should be noted here that while goring the man the elephant, though she had the opportunity, left the boy unharmed and unhurt!
In another similar incident in 2008 a French National on a game drive in the Murchison Falls National Park provoked a female elephant with her calf. The elephant attacked their vehicle, a Pajero car, turned it upside down gravely injuring the occupants! Again in this case, the man had a small daughter, who fell out off the window as the car turned turtle, but the elephant left her unharmed and unhurt!
With these blogs I want to share my experiences with the readers hoping they take the positive side of it. Nature is beautiful, the wild life is alluring, respect it love it and it will reciprocate likewise!
And no, we could not find the Butcherman, he is elusive till today!
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