Murchison Falls Conservation Area (MFCA) is so named because of the huge and dramatic Murchison Falls (below). After winding its way from the source in Jinja, the River Nile reaches a gap of just 7m. Here, the water is squeezed through this tiny gap and then dramatically falls to a frothing pool 43m below.
The National Park is 3480 sq km and is situated in the North West of Uganda approx 90km from Masindi town and a full days drive from the capital city of Kampala. Home to some of the densest populations of Nile crocodiles and hippos, the park is slowly recovering after years of turmoil. For more information about the National Park, please refer to the Bradt Guide to Uganda.
In early 2007 Soft Power Education embarked on a new and exciting project in close partnership with the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA). The project encompasses three levels:
2010 looks set to be a fantastic year for The Murchison Project. This is George (below) and our new Conservation Education Outreach vehicle! Thanks to some very generous folk in the UK, George is transforming this truck into an amazing outreach vehicle to deliver conservation education to the communities surrounding Murchison Falls National Park. The work on the truck is well underway, it has an excellent engine and we had to fit various new parts to make it suitable for Uganda such as extra fuel filters. The short wheel base and four wheel drive should make it an excellent vehicle for getting to remote villages. At the moment, the rust is being blasted off and then it will be painted. We intend to ship it to Mombassa in January to have the cabin built and from there it will head to Uganda!
George Durie (left below) has finished the mechanical work on our outreach truck. It is now in excellent working order and has been grit blasted and painted so it's looking a lot prettier; if you can call a truck pretty. A huge thank you to George, he has done an outstanding job. The work of building the coach is now to be done in the UK by Mark Daniels (pictured with mechanic Daryl). Mark has a huge amount of experience of building overland vehicles for Africa and has driven them across the continent; so he knows the quality of build that is necessary to cope with off road conditions. The truck is scheduled to be shipped out to Uganda at the end of May. It will act as a delivery truck, meeting room, mobile educational cinema and safari vehicle rolled into one!
Huge thanks to our funders and of course to George for making this possible.
Watch this space for more updates on the progress of the transformation soon!