Papa’S Camp

Papa's Camp is named after Ernest Hemingway, one of the twentieth century's greatest literary figures, who survived not one but two plane crashes in this precise location in January 1954. The first crash occurred while he and his wife Mary were flying on a day trip over the Nile; the second happened the following day when the aircraft sent to rescue them also crashed. Hemingway walked away from both with injuries but with characteristic resilience, and he later described the period of recovery that followed as among the most interesting of his life. The camp that now bears his name stands in the same extraordinary landscape that captured his attention: the southern bank of the Victoria Nile in a newly designated low-use zone of Murchison Falls National Park, 25 kilometres upstream from the falls, in wilderness that very few visitors to the park have ever reached.

Five luxury en-suite safari tents are positioned along the riverbank in a grove of fig trees, each 36 square metres with king-size beds, outdoor showers under the African sky, and private verandas from which the river rapids are both visible and audible. The physical intimacy of the camp, where the Nile is never more than metres away and the sounds of the current, the hippos, and the night birds are constant companions, creates a quality of wild immersion that is simply not available at the larger and more conventionally comfortable lodges elsewhere in the park.

The central lounge and mess tent evokes the classic safari aesthetic of the mid-twentieth century without pastiche, using comfortable sofas, antique furniture, warm lighting, sumptuous textiles, and Persian carpets to create an atmosphere that is deeply appealing and entirely original. Deep sofas, a well-stocked bar, and communal dining tables invite guests to linger and talk. Meals are prepared from fresh, locally sourced ingredients and served in the tent, under the stars along the riverbank, or in the field after morning game drives.

The wildlife in this remote zone is exceptional. Lion sightings are frequent, including the rare tree-climbing lions of Murchison. A habituated hyena den near the camp provides some of the best hyena viewing in Uganda. Game drives through this private low-impact zone encounter animals that have never been habituated to vehicles, providing sightings of a quality and intimacy that the park's more trafficked areas cannot offer. Papa's Camp is the only property in this zone except for its sister property, Kulu Ora. For travellers who want Murchison Falls at its most private, most literary, and most genuinely wild, it is an irreplaceable experience.