For nine days in December, I was lucky
enough to have my mother come visit me in Uganda. Queen Elizabeth National Park
in the southwest and Murchison Falls National Park in the northwest were the
highlights of our tour around the “Pearl of Africa”. It’s rumored that it was Winston Churchill
who first gave Uganda this moniker.
Whoever said it got it right.
Our first destination was Queen Elizabeth
in the southwest. As we wound our way through Bushenyi, I couldn’t stop taking
photos. I kept clumsily leaning over Mom or steadying the camera out of my own
window to capture the landscape that so was vastly different from the plains of
Eastern Uganda. We were trying to reach Mweya Lodge before dark with enough
time for an evening game drive, so we only made one or two quick photo stops. Paths crisscrossed the hills blanketed by tea
bushes that glowed almost fluorescent green in the late afternoon sun. Huge
leaves of banana and matooke trees leaves dotted the mountains just before we
passed an alpine lake. I was in awe. But it couldn’t prepare me for what was just
around the bend.
After rounding a curve, we were suddenly
overlooking an endless plain. As far as the
eye could see, it was nothing but acacia trees covering the savanna. It was magnificent. The waters of Lakes George and Edward were
silver on the horizon. Although it’s
cliché, I couldn’t help but think “Wow! This is just like what I’ve seen in the
movies. Only this is better because it’s real
life!” After stopping for a few
minutes to take it all in, we descended through hairpin turns and finally
entered the park. I was glad that I had
sunglasses on because I had tears in my eyes.
Seeing the acacia trees and tall grasses at ground level was just as
breathtaking.
With the Kazinga Channel to our left,
cactus trees flanked the road between the gate and the lodge. Within five or ten minutes, we were lucky
enough to spot a family of elephants less than 50 feet from our van. As I was taking pictures, the mother elephant
looked right at us, fanned out her ears, and took a few steps in our direction. Mom got concerned and said “Umm, I think
she’s coming over here. She doesn’t look too happy.” A few minutes later we
climbed up the peninsula to Mweya Lodge just as the sun was setting behind pink
and orange clouds. Everything I had seen
in the past hour seemed too good to be true.
The next morning we set off for a game
drive before the sun came up. The convertible top on our van was raised so we
could stand up to have a better view. We
were lucky enough to have a wildlife guide accompany us. The first animal we saw was a “loser” male
water buffalo that had lost a fight with a younger male, and as a result, was pushed
out of the herd. Throughout the morning
the guide kept calling out “loser”! Uganda cobs, which are similar to gazelles
or impalas, were all over the savanna. But I never got tired of seeing them. Water bucks paused by the side of the road as
we passed. We stopped at a village next
to the lake where hippos were dangerously close to the shore, but the locals
paid them no attention. Cattle, goats,
and marabou storks wandered around the mud and trash. On the way back, I spotted three large birds
in front of some old abandoned buildings.
When the guide told me they were crested cranes, I said, “Oh my god”! I
had wanted to see the elusive national birds as soon as I saw photos of them on
the internet back in June before I left the States. Abby, our driver, slowly went towards them so
I could get some pictures. I can’t believe that I’ve turned into a birdwatcher
like my Mom and brother, Eric! Trust me;
I’ve fought this aspect of my genes for years.
That afternoon after lunch, we saw some
warthogs hanging around outside the lodge in the rain. I seriously couldn’t help but think of the
character from the Lion King. With about
six European tourists, we boarded a small pontoon to cruise the Kazinga Channel,
which connect Lakes Edward and George.
Directly across from the launch site, we saw elephants, hippos, and a
crocodile slip into the water. Most of
the time was spent hovering close to the tree-lined banks to see birds: eagles,
pelicans, herons, storks, cranes, ibises, and kingfishers. Ah, the kingfishers! The black and white pied kingfisher would flutter
high above the open water before quickly swooping in to catch fish. But the most spectacular bird we were lucky
enough to see was the malachite kingfisher.
Slightly larger than a hummingbird, it had a purple body and a neon
orange beak. It was during our pursuit
of the malachite that I started to feel some serious camera envy. Some of the guys on our boat had huge lenses.
Although my six year-old Sony Cybershot
takes great pictures, I will have to zoom in about a million times on Instagram
to be able to identify a lot of the wildlife. Upon spotting a “loser” water
buffalo, Mom said one of the funniest things I’ve ever heard her say. “So his new job is modeling? He just stands there and lets us take pictures
of him”. As we drew closer to the end of
the channel, some young elephants were jousting in the water. It was incredible to see them splash around
with their trunks and tusks raised up at each other.
On our last day in Queen Elizabeth, we were
scheduled to go chimpanzee trekking. After driving on the paved road for about
ten minutes, we turned off onto a muddy road towards the top of Kyambura Gorge. The gorge, which is only 1 km across, 100
meters deep, and 8 km long, is almost a completely different ecosystem. It’s basically a rainforest in the middle of
the savanna.
There were six other foreign tourists going
on the hike with us. Our guide was a woman named Petra, who told us that we
would be trekking a community of 20 chimpanzees, but couldn’t guarantee that we
would see any. She also explained that occasionally they see
lions near the river at the bottom of the gorge. Petra warned us, “If we do see one, just move
on and act like we didn’t see it. Don’t
take pictures or it may charge. But
don’t worry. That is why Albert (the
other Uganda Wildlife Authority ranger) has a rifle”. Great. I’ve wanted to see a lion my whole life, and
now if I do, I can’t even look it or take a picture and it might get
shot?! It had been raining heavily that
morning and the top of the trail was steep and slippery. Mom decided to stay behind and do some bird
watching with our driver. She even got to see some black and white colobus
monkeys.
After about five minutes, the trail leveled
off at the bottom of the gorge. We could
hear hippos snorting and spotted one at a wider part of the river. Petra kept looking for and pointing out
animal prints and poop on the trail. Specifically, she was looking for the knuckle
prints of the chimpanzees. Even though
we didn’t get to see a hyena, it was pretty cool to see its tracks. We got to see a few olive baboons (through
binoculars) pretty high up in the trees.
Eventually we reached a boardwalk that
stretched across the river where we stopped there to look at a tree on the
other side. Wouldn’t you know it, there
was a chimp sleeping! Now, at this point, I felt pretty satisfied that I even
got to see one. Petra told us in the
beginning that it’s only luck if we get to see any chimps at all. She also apologized to us in advance that we
might have to cross water because of the heavy rains. To reach the boardwalk, we would all have to
take 3-4 steps through the river. All I
could think about was getting schistosomiasis. I was wearing my Earth tennis
shoes that I had worn barely twenty times since I bought them in May. I knew I should have packed my gum boots! But
I didn’t want to miss anything, so like everyone else, I got my feet wet,
literally and figuratively. I thought our wading was over at the end of the boardwalk,
which was only about 30 feet long. But
then we were knee deep in what looked like a mangrove. We saw another chimp that was really high up,
but it was difficult to see through binoculars in the thick, dark forest
canopy. As it started to rain, Petra
decided we should go back as our chances for seeing more chimps were getting
slimmer. I realized how unprepared I was
when everyone else was wearing rain ponchos as I fumbled around with my plaid
umbrella in the middle of the rainforest. After we regrouped on the other side, Petra
was telling us more about the life of chimps.
Then, we heard some of the females make a distress call. Upon hearing this, Brutus, the alpha male
swung down out of that first tree, just like a scene out of Tarzan.
I still can’t believe I got to see something so rare. Not being able to top that, we made our way
back up to the top of the gorge.
Mom got to see the more “human” side of
Uganda in transit between the parks. After spending one night in Fort Portal, we
had an eight hour trip over dirt roads to Murchison Falls. The scenery was beautiful. A few hours into the drive, we saw a group of
kids playing and bathing near a pool of water beside the road. One boy had his back to us and it looked like
he was doing a little dance. Both of
these are pretty common sights here.
When he turned toward us, we saw that his pants were down. But he kept dancing for us despite his lack of
underwear. Mom and I just died laughing.
A few days later, after we left Murchison
Falls, we passed through a small town at about 10:30 am. We noticed there was a man lying in the road
behind a parked bus. Then, as we got
closer, we noticed he had a beer in his hand that had spilled all around
him. Another man dragged him across the
road, and when they got to the other side he slapped him across the face! But the drunk guy just smiled and laughed at
him. I don’t know if we were more
disturbed or amused. But again, we
couldn’t help but laugh.
Late in the afternoon on Christmas Eve, we
arrived at Murchison Falls. But first we
had to cross the Nile River on a ferry.
I’ve crossed the Nile at least ten times on the Owen Falls Dam in Jinja
(which I still marvel at), but to be standing just a few feet from it was
something else. A lone elephant stood on
the opposite bank and a hippo bobbed in the water not far from the ferry. After waiting about 30 minutes, about 10 cars
tried to outmaneuver each other onto the ferry, resulting in a minor fender
bender. I noticed an older gentlemen standing around a vehicle with his
family. A few days later our driver told
us that it was Sudir, an Indian who is one of the wealthiest men in East
Africa. He owns Crane Bank, Munyonyo
Resort, and several buildings in Kampala.
On Christmas morning, we sat off on another
game drive before dawn. I thought that
the landscape of Queen Elizabeth would be hard to match. But the rolling hills
and winding roads of the savanna in Murchison Falls were just as, if not more
beautiful. We were really able to see
all the colors of the sunrise as oribis (small gazelles), Uganda cobs, and
Jackson’s Hartbeests peeked through the grasses on both sides of the road. I really became fascinated by Jackson’s
Hartebeest, which are only found in Uganda. They are like a hybrid between a
deer and a wildbeest, with long, odd faces, graceful bodies, and slender horns.
We wound our way through a small but picturesque
grove of acacia trees and saw a few random giraffes which was pretty
exciting. As it got lighter, we arrived
near the banks of the Albert Nile where we saw water bucks and several
different birds. We kept seeing the odd
giraffe here and there until we saw several cars parked on the road. There were about 25 giraffes near a watering
hole. It was surreal. Mom said it looked the wind was pushing their
necks in the same direction. There was
one who was alone on top of the ridge and rays of light streaked behind his
silouhette. I thought “Come on! This
can’t be real!”.
For those who don’t know me well, I’m a cat
lover. This includes big cats. At the prospect of seeing lions for the past
few months I was anticipating a lot of emotions for the moment when I actually
got to see one. Honestly, I thought I
would cry the same way that Kristen Bell did when her husband surprised her
with a sloth. Look it up on YouTube. It’s hilarious. But I have to say that the giraffes topped
the lions. Near the end of our game
drive, we again saw several cars stopped.
There were two elephants munching on some shrubs. But then I noticed two beige dots at the edge
of the thicket. I suspected they were
lions and when Abby confirmed it for me, I grabbed the binoculars. I could feel a grin of satisfaction spread
across my face at seeing the two females stretched out next to each other. Between the elephants and the lions were a few
Jackson’s Hartebeests grazing. Again, I
thought “Seriously?! Are you all working
for a postcard company?!”
After returning to the lodge for lunch, and
some lounging around the pool, we boarded a double-decker boat named the “African
Queen” for a Nile River cruise. One of
the most interesting things we saw were tiny holes in the side of a cliff that
served as homes for beecatchers. The
tiny birds shone iridescent green with hints of red as the flew around the tan
cliff, resting on tree branches. As we
got closer to Murchison Falls, we spotted some black and white colobus monkeys.
Unfortunately, we weren’t able to get close to the falls because the river
became shallow and rocky. Murchison
Falls is supposed to be the most powerful waterfall in the world, which was
still incredible from a distance. As we
headed back towards the lodge Mom and I split a Nile Special beer, which has
become my favorite here in Uganda.
That night, all of the tables were placed
outside around the pool for dinner.
After getting properly stuffed, we were treated to a performance by
Acholi traditional dancers. The Acholi
are one of the larger tribes in Northern Uganda. The men sported white feather
headresses. The women performed one dance
where they placed small red pots on their heads on certain drum beats. I don’t’ know if I’ll ever have a more memorable
Christmas.
The next morning we left Para Lodge to make
our way to Soroti. Instead of turning
left towards the Nile, we turned right to make our way out of the Northeastern
gate of the park. Only meeting about
five other vehicles, it felt like we had this whole area of the park to
ourselves, which felt kind of magical. Palm trees were everywhere, a stark contrast
against the golden savanna. Abby told us
that elephants brought the palm trees as they migrated down from Ethiopia. We were lucky enough to see elephants, Jackson’s
Hartebeests, black hornbills, and giraffes one last time . It still blows my my mind that I got to see
all those animals on the same day that we arrived in Soroti.
After spending two nights in Soroti, we
spent the afternoon in Jinja, where we took a boat ride to the source of the
Nile River. The next morning we took Mom
to the airport at 2:30 a.m.. I took two
busses back to Soroti, one of which almost tipped over in a ditch. I won’t go into the details, but it’s the most
scared I’ve been travelling here. It was a a really bizarre ending to such a
wonderful trip where we only had a few minor glitches. TIA!
I just have to acknowledge how incredibly
grateful I am to have a mother who was willing to spend almost 48 hours on a
plane to spend only eight days with me.
She has a sense of curiosity, adventure, and humor that transcends any age.
I can only hope that I will be half as extraordinary as her as I get older. We have travelled in Europe, Asia, and Africa
together. I can’t wait to see where life
will take us next…
