Dispatches
Nile Safari Lodge: Take me to the river
March 19, 2008
We loaded up Rhino Fund Uganda’s seasoned Land Cruiser, strapped our gear to the roof rack + headed to Nile Safari Lodge. We relished a few stretches of tarmac, though our path was primarily hard packed dirt as we passed through small towns and herds of massive- horned Ugandan cattle on our drive toward Masindi.
Our route traversed a portion of Murchison National Park and, for the first several kilometers, scores of baboons filled the roads, chastening our noisy advance by loping into the woods, offering only their bright red primate butts as they disappeared into thick foliage of the park.
Approaching the lodge, we caught glimpses of Lake Albert before turning north toward the Victoria Nile. A final dusty lumber brought us to reception at the Nile Safari Lodge where we were met by friendly faces bearing cool white towels with a hint of eucalyptus. The volume of dirt peeled from arms and faces?
Oh my.
Sorry about your towels…
A short walk from reception leads to a magnetic location just out front of the dining room: a vista across the River Nile into Murchison National Park from a comfortably appointed platform shaded by a massive cluster fig tree teeming with vervet monkeys - a nice spot for a cool drink, if I do say so myself.
GeoLodges, the parent company of Nile Safari Lodge, utilizes local materials to build their properties whenever possible, so the timber, stones for masonry, thatching materials and skilled labor are all sourced from the community. Nile Safari Lodge collects solar power for electricity; other lodges in the Geolodge family leverage water catchment systems and use even more substantial alternative energy programs on more recently built properties.
Geolodges also has a community outreach program called EarthworkS that assists local residents with vocational training including a project that assists women from Mubaku and other villages adjacent to Nile Safari Lodge in earning an income that allows them to work from their homes, allowing them to care for their children and tend household responsibilities while earning an outside income. Bead for Life is an environment/community friendly program that sources used magazines as materials that local women craft into colorful beads. These beads are strung into jewelry and sold at retail outlets (including the lodge). Profits benefit the bead makers and help sustain the EarthworkS program supporting further community development.
EarthworkS also assists a local farm collective that promotes the sale of village produce to the greater community and the Nile Safari Lodge where the menus are primarily locally sourced. The results are multifold – money for supplies go back into the community while minimizing fossil fuels expended in bringing outside supplies to the lodge property.
We took a boat tour of the fabled Nile the following morning. A light mist rose off the river and the lodge’s low profile bungalows blended cohesively into the papyrus-addled riparian landscape. The portion of the Nile adjacent to Murchison National Park is wildlife rich: hippopotamus, kingfisher, crocodiles, water buck appeared in profusion and we counted ourselves fortunate to linger a few minutes in the presence of the endangered, elusive shoe bill stork.
Upon our return, I bee lined to the cool open air of my bungalow’s private outdoor shower, retiring to the porch with a cup of coffee as an African elephant trolled the marshes of Murchison Park with a few white-feathered hitchhikers perched atop its back.
Both the birds and I had found fine landing spots, indeed.