Elephants and Giraffes and Baboons, Oh My!

First - I can't believe I've gone five months without writing a blog post and my last post was about my trip up north, close to where I am in this following post! A lot has happened since then, but I think I got distracted by the whole messed up foot situation (which still isn't completely healed but much much better!) and just got so busy with work, life, etc. I can say I'll try to do better - and I really will - but I think I said that the last time and look what happened!

Now on to this post - My Safari Adventure!

WARNING: This blog entry is deliberately designed to encourage every reader to plan a trip to Uganda to go on a safari! There are several national parks in Uganda that aren’t visited nearly as much as the safari destinations in Kenya and Tanzania, but you’ll see as much, without the hordes of crowds, and at a much lower cost than the “high end” safaris in other countries. Just sayin’….you all need to come!

The Ugandan Kob, the first animals we saw

As we bounced along the rough track through the savannah of Murchison Falls National Park, I couldn’t help but wonder at my great fortune and feeling that God has indeed smiled on me in my life that I should be where I was at that particular time. My friend Carolyn and I had left early on a Wednesday morning and made the roughly eight hour drive north to the park and now we had paid our park fees and entered into another world. Almost immediately upon entering the park, right at the perfect time of day to see the animals – around 4:30 p.m., we came upon herds of the Ugandan kob – an antelope specific to Uganda – they bounded on either side of the track as we drove along, sometimes intermingled with the smaller duiker and later we chanced upon the Jackson’s Hartebeest. All of these animals come out in early mornings and evenings to graze, avoiding the heat of the day. Then my eyes landed on my first warthog in the wild! I couldn’t believe how excited I got from seeing these ugly little creatures. They roam about around the other animals, usually running in families of a father, mother, and one to three little ones. I was glad I couldn’t remember the words or tune to the “Lion King” song HakunaMatatasung by Pumbaa the warthog with his meerkat friend Timon or I would have been singing it!

Warthog! I fell in love with these guys!

Carolyn has been to this park a few times, and she wouldn’t promise me that I would see much that first evening – the plan was to get up early in the morning – most people leave to tour the park around 7 a.m. as the animals emerge for their morning grazing. But my heart dearly stopped when we rounded one curve and there were giraffes! Several giraffes were standing about a copse of trees, necks arched upward to get to the tasty leaves. I was beside myself and Carolyn indulged me as I jumped out of the car to start snapping photos. On this first evening the giraffes were on the west side of the road so I was shooting into the sun, getting most of the giraffes in silhouette. I could only hope at that point that I would find more giraffes later on in the trip where I could get better shots – but at that point it didn’t matter – I was seeing giraffes in the wild.

Giraffe in silhouette

We had deliberately gone into the entrance to the park furthest from the lodge where we would be staying so we could have this first glimpse of the animals. So it took a good hour and a half to wind our way through the track as more and more animals like water buffalo, Kob, warthogs and giraffes made themselves known to us. Carolyn still insisted that we likely wouldn’t see elephants that first day, and about the time she said that we went up an incline and around a curve, and there in a small valley below us was a huge herd of elephants! Bulls, females, and lots of little ones moving about, both grazing but also looking as though they were making their way to some place to spend the night. While I had no fear of getting out of the car to take photos of the giraffes, I didn’t try that with either the water buffalo or the elephants. Both animals are known to charge if they feel threatened, and we didn’t want to give them any reason to feel threatened. This herd of elephants was far enough away that I wasn’t concerned, but it wasn’t long before we chanced upon a lone family, bull, female and baby standing a bit closer to the road. Just our stopping on the road, even though staying in the car, was enough to concern the bull and he started walking toward us. Not running, but just ambling along to let us know he was there. He was coming closer and Carolyn was saying, “I’m getting ready to floor it if he comes much closer,” when he finally decided we weren’t that much of a threat and turned and headed the other way. Meanwhile, the mother shepherded the baby off into the bush until we could no longer see them.

LOTS of Elephants!




This bull elephant was getting a little too close!



After this first amazing evening drive, I was thrilled that we had seen as much as we had and thought that if I never saw another animal on the rest of the trip I had seen what I had come to see. We made it finally to the Paraa Safari Lodge where we had booked two nights. Carolyn was understandably exhausted having done all the driving and we had been on the road nearly 12 hours. We were both grateful to get to the lodge which was rustic looking but with all the amenities. This was not an inexpensive proposition but this lodge was cheaper than others in the park, and the price of the night’s stay included “full board” which meant that the cost of breakfast, lunch and dinner was included. In fact, knowing that people would be out driving around during the day, you had the option of having lunch in the restaurant or asking for a take away lunch to eat while moving around the park. After settling into our room and resting a bit we made our way to the restaurant for dinner. Our assigned table for the whole stay was on the verandah of the restaurant with a beautiful overlook of the Victoria Nile. What I have learned since being in Uganda is that THE Nile River that we associate with Egypt and which is the longest river in the world, is not a solid south-north running river – but branches off into secondary rivers. The source of the Nile is considered to be Lake Victoria, just southeast of Kampala and when it reaches the North, the Victoria Nile branches off from the White Nile and heads west. In fact that whole region of Uganda is called “West Nile.” There, the Nile meanders through the area that is now a national park and spills over cascades called the Murchison Falls. Then it eventually empties into Lake Albert. And Lake Albert straddles the border of Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, so the mountains we saw in the far distance when driving along the river and the lake were the DRC.


View of the Victoria Nile from the Lodge restaurant



Back to the dinner – the lodge, depending on how many guests it has, will either offer a buffet for dinner service, or in our case offer a limited menu – we could choose a soup or salad, then an entrée, and dessert. I had an Indian meal which was a little hotter than I usually like my Indian food but I managed to get most of it down. However, later in the night, after going to bed I was awakened with a rumbling stomach and spent the next 30 minutes losing all of my dinner. I can only imagine that something wasn’t cooked right or the tomatoes hadn’t been washed properly – all I know is that I was sick, and of course panicked that this would ruin the rest of the trip. I got as much rest as I could and when Carolyn woke up the next morning I told her what had happened. I was feeling better but still queasy and unsure whether breakfast would be a good idea. Subsequently we took longer to get going that morning and worried that we would miss the animals’ morning routine. But it couldn’t be helped and we knew we had another evening and morning if I ended up needing to stay in the lodge for the day.

Not to worry – I managed a light breakfast, then we grabbed our box lunches and headed out. We may have been a little past the best time to see the most animals, but we surely weren’t disappointed. Right off the bat we came upon troops of baboons, families with mothers carrying young ones on their backs, or for the very little ones they clung to their mothers’ underside as she moved. And we came across more warthogs, hartebeests, water buffalo and Kob, and then came upon Defassa’s waterbuck – which, for the does at least, bear striking resemblance to elk.

Stranded school children with bus stuck in mud!

It’s recommended to hire a guide to go with you on your trek if you’re in your own car – they supposedly know where to look for animals and can point things out that you might otherwise miss. But Carolyn and I chose to go our own way and we didn’t feel like we missed anything. It had rained the night before and the track was a bit more muddy in places, but we still didn’t have any problems with driving through. However, as we neared the delta where the ground got marshier as we were closer to the river, we chanced upon a tour bus that was completely mired down in mud! We wouldn’t be able to get past them unless we could find some drier ground and as we investigated further we discovered that the bus was full of primary school children from a school in Kampala. The teachers and chaperones were annoyed with the driver, who had been told not to attempt to go across the muddy bog, but did, and the children were hot and hungry, and a little scared. They didn’t want to get off the bus because they were afraid there would be lions around! We had to reassure them that they were safe in order to get them off the bus, thereby lightening the load. Carolyn and I could’ve found a way around them, but they had already been out there two hours as the driver was haplessly and uselessly trying to bail water out of the ruts that was an exercise in futility, and we just didn’t feel right about abandoning. However, the driver wasn’t interested in hearing Carolyn’s suggestions for getting the bus out and so he both literally and figuratively kept spinning his wheels trying to solve the problem. Carolyn has a four wheel drive and they eventually found some rope and Carolyn tried to pull the bus out – but only succeeded in breaking the ropes. The school group did have a park ranger with him and he finally called for help – not real sure why that wasn’t the first thing he did! I tried to entertain the children but they were getting increasingly whiney. After about another hour help finally arrived – with food and drinks for the children and stronger ropes for pulling out the bus. Finally the bus was dislodged from the mire and everyone happily went on their way.



Hartebeest



Waterbuck

Cape Buffalo or waterbuffalo



Mama Baboon with baby on her back

Carolyn and I spent the rest of that day driving throughout the park, and the safari gods were with us and more animals made themselves known.  We had come across the hippo pool where huge pods or herds, or families of hippos were basking in the water. They were being lazy so didn’t get clear views of them, but I knew I would see more the next day on the river cruise. Saw a few a more elephants, but my delight was coming across a herd of giraffe grazing in the trees. This time the sun was in the right position and I was able to get shot after shot of these beautiful creatures – I never have had a true appreciation for giraffes until this personal encounter with them. They are so graceful in their awkwardness – if that makes any sense  - their long necks so delicately arched as they survey the land about them. I was able to get out of the car and approach them, they would watch me and never let me get very close before moving away from me. At some point, they collectively got tired of me being their presence and as a group they began a slow lope across the road and down the valley. I wished I had thought to turn on the video camera to get their graceful run in action. It was truly something

One of the many things I liked was observing the animal’s behavior. They were as curious about us as we were about them, and I daresay they have seen their share of tourists coming through their habitat. I don’t think they get as many visitors as in some of the bigger reserves in other countries like Kenya, but the animals don’t seem particularly surprised that there are these strange creatures stopping to gawk at them. As a rule, whenever we saw animals and stopped the car – whether I got out or not – as I was trying to get that perfect shot, the animals would stop and look directly at the camera. Then just as I took the shot, they would turn and move away. It was almost as if they were saying “Okay, I’ll pose for you. Now you’ve got your photo op, time to move on!” Secondary to how the animals behaved around humans was when I could observe they’re natural behavior.  We rounded a bend in a road to see a group of giraffes a distance away near a stand of trees. Two giraffes were sitting on the ground – I’m guessing they were females who had just given birth or were about too. What fascinated me though, was that circling these two giraffes were other giraffes who were facing away from the ones in the center. It looked as those giraffes were acting as look outs or sentries. Which makes sense – it would be quite a struggle for a giraffe to get up quickly, so she would need lots of warning. Perhaps these other giraffes were keeping a watch out for predators in order to give ample warning to the reclining giraffes if they needed to get up and run.

And speaking of predators, I never got to see a lion – there aren’t many in this park and they are quite reclusive during the day. However, when I was stalking the giraffe herd, I found evidence that either lions or leopards were also stalking them – big cat tracks in the sand below my feet.

The baboons, who were plentiful everywhere, also fascinate me. They are so human like in the face and they’ll sit and gaze at you with the most human expressions. They have definitely gotten used to people and they know to go to places where people are in order to beg for handouts. So they aren’t fearful at all of humans – but don’t think that means you can just walk up to them either – they can be fierce when they need to be. We had a cooler of food in the back seat of the care, and on our last morning in the park we were waiting in line at the ferry to cross the river. A number of baboons were around the cars hoping someone would toss them a scrap. Carolyn had gotten out of the car – I was still sitting there in the passenger side, the cooler of food behind me. I heard a noise and thinking that it was Carolyn getting something out of the car, I turned to see a baboon trying to climb in the window to get to the cooler! He (or she) was shouted away, but within half an hour a different baboon tried again…and we rolled the windows up!

There was a female baboon at the ferry crossing with a tiny little fella that was riding on her underbelly. When she stopped he would climb down and explore around her, as she was also teaching him how to look for food in the ground. I wanted to try to get some good shots of him and stealthily (I thought) approached them. She never acted as if she knew I was there but I noticed that the closer I got or if I brought my camera up to take a picture, she would either shift her position to block him from view, or would gently push him behind her. If I tried to change my position to still get the shot, she would shift him again! Crafty and protective mom!

After spending another long day driving around the park, we returned to the lodge and had a relaxing evening. I chose a bit more wisely for dinner that evening and didn’t have any further gastric issues. We had also booked a river cruise to Murchison Falls for the following morning that promised good views of river animals like hippos and crocodiles, so it was an early night.

Early morning breakfast on Friday morning and then we were off on our cruise down the river Nile! Still couldn’t believe I was where I was and that I could say I had floated down the Nile River. While standing on the shoreI had taken off my shoes and stuck my foot in the water so I could say I had dipped my toes in the River Nile!

It was a small boat with just another couple and Carolyn and I with our guide. We weren’t disappointed – we saw croc after croc - mostly sunning on the banks although a couple plunged into the river when we approached (I think to get AWAY from us – not to try to EAT us!) We saw more hippos than I could count and our guide had a lot of information about hippos. I think I can safely say I learned more about hippos that day than I ever cared to know! We managed to score seeing a huge bull elephant as he had come for his morning drink from the Nile, but we couldn’t get very close before he moved away. As the guide said, he was “shy.”  We finally got as close to Murchison Falls as was allowed and moored at a small island of rocks that were midstream. The falls are fierce as thousands of gallons of water are forced through a narrow gap. We couldn’t go closer because the river got very rocky and had lots of rapids. The rocks the boat was moored to actually had trees on them and hundreds of weaver bird nests were hanging all over the tree – looking like Christmas tree ornaments. The weaver birds are tiny yellow birds and they were everywhere. It was quite the sight.


Awesome looking saddle-billed storks



Marabou Stork - these guys are ugly
scavengers and are all over Kampala

African Jacana



Yellow weaver bird



Pied Kingfisher

Gray heron

That was another unexpected pleasure of the trip, and indeed my whole sojourn in Uganda – the varieties of birds. I’ve never been a birder, but I think I could become one here. Uganda has over 1000 original species of birds, and ranks I think third in the world for variety of birds. Many varieties are on the hill where I live and work, and on the safari I came across a few extraordinary ones – namely the Saddle-billed stork – amazing looking bird. We also saw a rare purple heron, gray herons, a little duck like bird called the African jacana, pied kingfishers and of course the egrets – which are everywhere. My family and friends who love bird watching would do well to take a trip to Uganda – you will be richly rewarded!

After the river cruise we checked out of the lodge and headed out of the park. If I could have afforded it I would have liked to have spent one more night there just so we could have a day of complete relaxation. Poor Carolyn did all of the driving and every single day we were on the road many hours. It wasn’t much of a vacation for her since she had to focus on the road the whole time.

We did however, take, as my father used to like to say, the “scenic” route home. We deliberately went in a northwest direction and then started heading south on a road that wasn’t much better than the dirt tracks through park. But it also took us through a beautiful area geographically – the Rift Valley. We had Lake Albert on our right hand side and beyond the mountains of Congo. We gradually began ascending a steep and winding road up the escarpment – the side of the valley formed by earthquakes many years ago. The sight was breathtaking as we went higher and higher. And to our surprise, when we got to the top of the escarpment, there was a little village. I could truly imagine having a cottage on that ridge looking out over that beautiful view. It was really something.

But after much more driving on better roads and worse roads, being grateful that there had not been rain to cause us to bog down and get stuck in the road, we came to the little town of Hoima where we spent the night in a hotel owned and operated by a Catholic organization.

I had written so much more, making this blog much longer than it is now, but fortunately for my readers, I didn't save it and accidentally closed the file. Probably a good thing, not much more to say and you've already invested a lot of time in this. I hope you enjoyed it. This was a trip of a lifetime and one I hope to make again. And one that everyone should put on their "bucket list!"

Note: I took over 200 photos and could not put them all here. If you want to see my full photo album of the safari, visit my Facebook page.