You gotta Fight....for your Right.... to Safaaaaaari!

Finally! We have gone on a Safari! Yesterday at 6:30 we hopped into Eddie’s vehicle and took off for Queen Elizabeth National Park. Eddie was our Safari guide for the day. I wasn’t sure what to expect from a safari man, but I was hoping it would be some half-crazy animal nut with a large appetite for adventure! The first sign that it was going to be a great day was recognized just as we pulled off of our road and began leaving town. Since it was still a bit dark, Eddie failed to see the giant speed bump that we barely just creep over every day as we drive to school. Needless to say we did not see it coming either. We hit and all of us nearly smoked our heads on the heightened ceiling of the giant black pop-up safari can! Not even 2 minutes from the house and we had already caught some air. Eddie does not disappoint.

Eddie Posing for a Sweet Pic!

So as I have prefaced, I would consider the day a safari success. We went to two different areas of Queen Elizabeth National Park throughout the day and saw many animals. The park was named after Queen Elizabeth 2 and it was established in 1994. We visited it in 2013. The park locations where we visited were actually quite close to where we live and teach. The first 25 minutes of the ride there actually made me feel like I was going to teach a lesson, because we took the same route that we take to school for much of the way. We actually pass by much of the park every day on our way to school. So after passing the turn off we normally take, we crossed the equator and shortly were greeted by two warthogs on the side of the road. About a mile down from that little critter we saw our first elephant of the day. We had not even gotten into the park to pay our park fees yet and were already making contact with the wild ones!

So anyway, I don’t want to give a play by play, so I will just come out with it. Throughout the day we got to see warthogs, tons of buffalo, tons of elephants, a few small alligators, a giant lizard, kob, waterbuck, female lions, many mazungu(s), two different types of primates, hippos, and very many species of birds. I was really amazing. We even had our vehicle charged by an elephant! Another was thinking about it too. It was a bit scary but quite comical too (in my mind anyway). I was thrilled to have seen so many elephants throughout the trip in so many different locations. I just love their size, the way they move, and the way they interact with their environment. Hands down they were the highlight of my trip at the park.

Just a Little Guy

Mating Hippos

Kob

Second to the elephants was the lions that we saw. It was especially awesome because we got to see it track a baby kob and attack it. Then it let its cub attack it. I think it was training the cub to hunt because it just wounded the kob and backed off so the cub could take care of it. It was funny too because it was just like watching my cat go for animals. It attacked it but let it run a bit. It was basically playing with the prey before killing it. Lion roars are absolutely awesome (thought about you the whole time Samantha)!

One other species that was quite strange to see an abundance of was the dense muzungu population that roamed the park. For those of you who missed it in my previous post, muzungu is the local name for white people. It is funny because we are basically used to being the only white people around. We are used to being looked at and it was a funny feeling, especially when we first arrived to Uganda—knowing that eyes are on us. Now we felt like the tables were turned because we were the ones staring at all the people! Anyway, it was funny. Maybe you would need to spend some time here to understand, but it was just an interesting situation.

There were landmarks there that were great to see too. Lake Katwe lies in the park and has ensured the survival of the Katwe villagers since the 16th century. The lake is salty, so the villagers have historically harvested sun from its waters and continue too to this day. It was such a beautiful lake. The air totally smelled like sulfur on the way their too.

We also drove through a small fishing village where we stopped to see hippos. The fishing villagers and salt miners were all on the land before it became a national park, so they are protected from losing their land and I believe they get a portion of the profits from park entry fees. The major fishing in the area takes place on Lake Edward and Lake George. The main and most commonly known fish harvested is Tilapia. I have had it twice now and it is delicious here. I even had it for lunch on our safari.

After lunch we took a 2 hour boat tour on the Kazinga Channel, which is a 40 kilometer natural channel that links Lake Edward to Lake George. Lake Edward is the smallest of the African great lakes on the border that separates Uganda and the DRC. We did not see Lake Edward though, just Lake George. We only went along the shoreline of a small portion in the channel, but it provided non-stop action in the animal department. This is where we saw a majority of the elephants and hippos on our tour. This portion of the trip was really great because we were not seeing all the animals in separate areas from one another. They were all in the same area, so I could basically snap a picture that had a buffalo, bird, elephant, and hippo in it. Plus it was just great to be on a boat on a new body of water. I live on the pirate ship in the summer, so I absolutely love any opportunity I get to get out on the water and enjoy beautiful scenery.

So that was the day. After the boat trip we loaded back up in Eddie’s van, drove back North of the equator, and settled in back home for the evening tired and happy from our adventure. It pretty much fit what I had imagined a safari to be like, but I was actually surprised that we had seen as much as we did. Uganda can be such a wonderful place. I am so lucky to be here.