Lots to tell since our last post! We've been busy.
February 8-9, 2012
Our time in Kampala was spent preparing for our upcoming safari tour and travels to schools following the safari. The highlight of our time was certainly a surprise visit by Aggrey, Donna's Ugandan friend who she had not seen in 10 years! Aggrey currently teaches in a high school in Iganga, about 3-4 hours from Kampala. Aggrey took a taxi to Kampala to see Donna and join us for dinner. Donna was thrilled to see him, and we made plans to visit him in Iganga following our safari tour.
Less notably, we were able to visit the Garden City Mall in downtown Kampala, where we were able to change travelers cheques, find a few souvenirs, and explore a great bookstore. The mall is frequented largely by expats, tourists and some Ugandans. Outside of the airport, it was the most "Muzungus" (non-Africans) in one place since we arrived in Uganda.
February 10, 2012 - THE NILE!
Today we rafted the Nile River near Jinga, Uganda. It is the only place (as far as I can tell) that commercial rafting is possible on the Nile, mostly because there are no hippos or crocodiles in the section near Jinja. The river was HUGE. At least a 1/2 km wide in most places with multiple channels, islands, class 6 rapids. We rafted a 22 km stretch with 8 rapids and 1 portage. There was a lot of flat water, but the rapids and waves were big.
Big J, a native of Jinga, was our guide and our crew was rounded out with 2 other Americans and 2 Canadians. We paddled hard into each rapid and spent most of the ride through in the bottom of the boat. We flipped in the 3rd of 8 rapids, one called "go left and die". Everyone was fine through the flip, just ingested a little bit of river water. Donna had the only loss during this rapid – she sacrificed her sunglasses & beloved NRS sunglass strap to the Nile. The 4th rapid, called "the bad place" was the class 6 rapid and we portaged most of it. Over the 100 meter course of the rapid there were drops of at least 30 meters.
We returned to Kampala that evening exhausted and looking forward to moving on for the safari the next day.
February 11, 2012
Our official safari tour began today with Robert, our guide for the next 8 days from Borderless Travel, arriving at about 8:30 in the morning. I now had the cold that Donna started the trip with, and upon entering our safari vehicle, I promptly took some cold meds and spent much of the 6+ hour drive from Kampala to Lake Mburo National Park in and out of consciousness. We did stop at the equator (going from North to South), took a few pictures, and watched a demonstration about water circulation in the different hemispheres - fascinating, but not well explained for the 5000 shilling price (about $3).
We arrived in Lake Mburo National Park just as my cold meds were wearing off at about 3 pm. Robert gladly drove slowly and stopped often to show us the wildlife of the park - 7 mammals and 8 new bird species. Robert is incredibly knowledgeable about the birds and mammals (whenever we see a mammal he quickly lists the gestation period and life span; with birds he knows them by call and immediately shows us the bird in his handy bird guide); nevertheless, he is quick to acknowledge gaps in his knowledge too, hence the amusing exchange between he and Donna:
Donna - "Do you know how the land formed here?"
Robert - "It formed naturally. It's all natural here."
After our arrival, Robert checked us in to our very rustic tent camp and we settled into our tent, "brown parrot", in a scrub-type forest about 1 km from Lake Mburo. We sat and chatted on the deck until supper time when Robert drove us down to an open air, lakeside restaurant. The restaurant sits on a beautiful little peninsula into the lake where hippos and warthogs frequent. We enjoyed our supper and sunset and headed to bed shortly.
February 12, 2012
We had an amazing safari day. We began with an early morning game drive with Robert; seeing many of the same mammals as on our arrival but adding lots of new birds. A highlight of the birds was the beautiful lilac-breasted roller (pictures to come soon) perched above the road. Many cheers for Robert's great birding!
We returned from our game drive to dine at our new favorite lakeside restaurant again for breakfast. After breakfast we went on a 2-hour hike with knowledgeable naturalist and park ranger, Godson. He had lots to share about the animals and plants, and he took us through a valley near a water source for many of the parks animals. We were very close to zebras, impalas, water buck, and saw a few buffalo from afar. Godson carried a large rifle with him to protect us from any charging buffalo. We had a great hike with him as well as interesting conversations about the challenges of conservation and wildlife management in East Africa.
In the evening, we took a boat ride on Lake Mburo with another park ranger, Noel. With encouragement from two avid Canadian birders, Noel helped us find 10 more new birds to add to our list, the highlight of this birding was the woodland kingfisher (turquoise and orange in color). We also saw a lot of hippos and a few baby crocodiles sunning themselves on the side of the lake.
We finished up the day with some porch time and dinner at the lake. We slept well after all the amazing adventures of the day. (The cold meds worked; I woke up today feeling much better!)
February 13, 2012
We left early to drive to Queen Elizabeth National Park (ideally a 3ish hour drive). Although it's the dry season, we woke up to a light rain that continued on during the morning. We made it out of Lake Mburo National Park and drove on west & north. We had a flat tire about 1/2 way there that Robert quickly repaired, and we made it to our lodging at Queen Elizabeth NP by about 2 pm. With the prospect of showers, internet, and a few relaxing minutes, we settled on an evening wildlife drive later. And here we are!
Spirits are high for both Donna and I. My cold is mostly gone just a bit of lingering cough. Donna is still suffering a bit from hers but much better than before.
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