For some weeks now I have been intrigued by the ‘waterfall’ waypoint marked on my GPS by its previous owner. Having never quite made it to the end of the Mugiri trail and the promised location of the fabled fall I was keen to investigate, and with chimpanzees being sighted near there yesterday afternoon today seemed like a good opportunity to do so.
Upon entering the forest early this morning we set off upon the 8km journey to the waterfall, pausing frequently to check tracks and shaken branches for clues to the chimpanzees’ whereabouts. The walk took us further than I’d previously explored and before long I found myself in an excitingly unfamiliar area of the forest, where the normally gently bubbling river changed into a torrent of tumbling water.
I always love the exploratory feel of my first encountes with previously unvisited portions of the trails, and this part of the forest was particularly beautiful. Additionally, the act of searching for a waterfall known only from a GPS point and the accounts of previous visitors gave the trek a definite air or adventure.
Eventually we were greeted by the incessant pounding of water that signalled our arrival at our destination. In reality there is not one, but two waterfalls at the site - the one further upstream being the more impressive of the two, with a cascade of water around ten metres high carving intricate crevices into the surrounding rocks and leaving them glistening with spray.
Ever eager for the chance to explore I suggested to Eli, our ranger for the day, that we climb up the valley sides to the top of the second fall to see what could be found there. Somewhat unexpectedly Eli agreed and so he and I set off up the steep slopes scrambling over rocks, roots and vines in our quest to discover what lay atop that second waterfall.
It turned out that beyond the second waterfall lay a third fall. This one was smaller but, in my eyes, more beautiful, with the dark red, spray-drenched rocks that framed the falling water glistening in the sun. Once I had insisted on crawling out over a ledge to peer down over the cascading water of the fall we had just climbed up, we naturally decided to find what was upstream of waterfall number three.
Upon reachig the top of that third waterfall it seemed that the time had come for our exploratory foray to come to an end, as we were presented with no falls but merely a new stretch of river. Disappointed to find no more waterfalls to climb, but having thoroughly enjoyed our brief exploration we headed back down to where Duncan and our chapatti-filled lunch box were waiting.
With our bellies filled we headed back downstream. My hopes were briefly raised when a trail of partly eaten fruit suggestive of chimpanzees was found, but unfortunately that trail soon led to a dead end and so we arrived back at camp with no chimpanzee sightings to report, but able to verify the existence of the fabled fall and to announce our discovery of the third waterfall.
Despite the lack of chimpanzees, today has been a great day. Having been here nearly 8 weeks now there are few sections of trail remaining unexplored for me, and so today’s excursion into unfamiliar territory, and the included scrambling search for what lay beyond the known waterfalls, was a brilliant adventure.
Written on Sunday 29th August
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