Safari Weekend

My dad arrived in Uganda on Friday morning.  We met him at the airport and we drove directly to Fort Portal to kick off our long weekend.  We hit  some traffic on our way through Kampala and my dad got his first taste of the pot-holed dirt roads that exist in town!  I think his biggest laugh was that even with all the holes there are still speed bumps!  


It was a long day in the car and after a late lunch in Fort Portal Town we arrived at our accommodation for the evening - Kitojo Tourist Lodge (where I stayed on my last visit to Fort Portal).  I must mention that the place is incredibly basic and there is NO power.  We set out for a short walk which ended at the Ndali Lodge bar (a much more expensive hotel that was fully booked.)  We returned to Kitojo had a great dinner and then early to bed to prepare for Chimp Trekking.

Crater Lake near Ndali Lodge

The drive to Kibale NP was beautiful and by 745 we had reached the ranger station and were off to see the chimps!  We drove to our starting location (where they had last seen the chimps) and set off down the road in search of them.  It was a very different experience than the Gorillas.  The terrain was much easier to navigate but most of the time we were just walking through the forest - not on any path.  We were also only accompanied by one Ranger and there had been no spotters in advance.  When I went to see the Gorillas we had a guide, two armed rangers and spotters had already identified where we would find them!  The Chimps visit was great though.  We walked through a great forest and just listened to all of the sounds.  The frustrating part is that the chimps we found were mostly in trees (I almost got peed on at one point) and those on the ground were hard to photograph (well with my camera with no flash!).

Giant Snail we encountered along the way

walking along the path

Chimp on the ground

We had completed the trek by around 1230 and had lunch at a lodge nearby.  Then it was off to Queen Elizabeth National Park and an afternoon game drive.

me & my dad crossing into the Southern Hemisphere

Buffalo, birds and antelope in the distance

Buffalo taking a mud bath on the side of the park road

Elephants on the side of the main road!

Amazing dinner at Jacanda Lodge

Over dinner we discussed our plan for the following day.  We had an early morning game drive followed by an afternoon boat cruise booked.  This would mean a boxed lunch and very little time to spend at the lodge so we made the decision to forgo the cruise.  We were back in the park by 7am and had an exciting day of animal viewing ahead of us.

abundance of elephants

note the tiny one in the front and the ones about to fight in the background!

tourists out of their cars to get a better view of the LIONS!!!

(they were far enough away that I they can barely be seen in my photo....but still they are LIONS!)

Leopard!!

Great spot by our guide Robert

we had a private viewing of the leopard

(I have some good video of it wandering)

Lions mating

(I also have video of this!)

After all of the game drive excitement we returned to the Lodge for a huge lunch and some relaxing time.

well maybe not so relaxing - Thomas brought his slakk line and I attempted to walk on it

I have a very scraped elbow thanks to a tumble but did manage to balance on it

View at the pool

waiting for the sunset

view of the lake in the morning

crossing back into the Northern Hemisphere 

Most of Monday was spent in the car as we went back to Kampala.  There was one section of the road, just prior to the Equator, that was verging on unbearable (dust and bumps) but we made it home in one piece.

Tuesday morning I sent my dad off to Jinja and went to the office.  He will return sometime this afternoon (Wednesday) and very early tomorrow morning we will head to Zanzibar!!

In non-dad visit related news....I found COKE ZERO today at a store near the office!!!  This is the first time I have found it in Uganda since October when I found it in a village in Eastern Uganda!