Oil has been found in the Albertine basin on the border between Uganda and DRC by Tullow Oil (a UK oil explorer) and its two partners, Total of France and CNOOC (the Chinese National Offshore Oil Company). The finds are significant - enough oil on the Ugandan side to potentially add anything between $2bn to $6bn per annum for the next 20 years to Ugandan tax revenues. The problem is that some of the oil has been found underneath the Murchison National Park and a...

We have rarely seen so many giraffes in a National Park, so it seems appropriate to have a giraffe photo on this blog. Murchison really suffered during the civil war here in the 80's and from subsequent poaching, but animal numbers have recovered and there are now large herds of water buffalo, giraffe, Uganda Cob and hippo. We have also seen quite a few elephants and a few crocs - but no cats at all. The guides assure us that they are here and it's just the long...

Elephant on the bank of the Victoria Nile showing his displeasure about being disturbed by us.

The vehicle ferry over the Victoria Nile downstream of the Murchison Falls is pretty wacky. Like many in Africa its basically a large pontoon, but rather than being pulled across on chains either side, it has two "Hydromasters" attached, one on each side (the yellow bit of kit in the picture is the starboard one). These are British made propulsion units (which I gather have been made in Thurrock by a firm called Sykes for the last 60 years or so) which are largel...

Working road graders used to be one of Africa's most endangered species, but they appear to have made a big comeback since I last spent time in Africa more than 27 years ago. We have seen significant numbers of the operational species in both Kenya and Uganda - in Kenya in the game reserves and conservancies and in Uganda on some of the big inter urban road building projects which have been underway for some time now. We even saw one in the Congo (pictured) - c...