Day 14 - Safari

We set off on time which was in itself an accomplishment (remember my earlier comments about Ugandan time).  Due to our early departure the people at the hotel came in extra early to prepare breakfast for us.  They even packed us take away lunches for the trip.  If you ever need a good hotel in Lira I’d recommend this one (Kanberra Hotel).

The drive to the park was uneventful and we arrived in good time.  We met the majority of the group as arranged and set off to the meeting place where the others would join us.  We hadn’t gone far before we got our first sighting and it was elephants.  Of course we all took pictures and ‘oohed and ahhed’ before continuing.  We were moving in a convoy of 3 cars and from then on it was slow going as every few minutes we’d see something else and stop for more ‘oohing and ahhing’ and more pictures.  As a result we were late for our rendezvous at the lodge where we met the remainder of the group.  We loved the bathroom at the lodge as the “facilities” in the field where definitely primitive. 

And so, we headed off to pick up our guides for the game drive.  We saw pretty much everything that the park had to offer including: lions (well actually only 1 pregnant female), giraffes, elephants, water buffalo, many kinds of deer/antelope type creatures, warthogs, wild pigs, hippos  and some of the most interesting birds.  If any of my colleagues read this – did I miss anything?  We drove for about 3 hours and headed off to do a boat trip up (or maybe it was down) the Nile to the falls.  Along the way we saw so many hippos in the water and elephants on shore that it would be impossible to keep count of them.  We also saw several crocodiles. The day before someone had fallen overboard from small boat and they hadn’t been found, it was likely that a croc had gotten them. 

We got back to baboons climbing all over the cars and so after chasing them away to avoid running over them we all set off to our respective temporary homes.  Our vehicle had a brake fluid leak so we stopped to have it fixed by flashlight in the dark.  I just couldn’t resist and bought another of the small stringed instrument that I mentioned earlier.  If I wasn’t sure what I’d with one heaven only knows what I’ll do with two.  With the vehicle fixed we headed home.  But there was one more surprise; in the dark we approached what almost appeared to be a big dark wall only to discover that we were passing right beside an elephant on the road.  By the time we realized what it was we’d passed it which was likely a good thing as if we’d stopped it may well have charged the vehicle and I wouldn’t be sitting here writing this if that had happened. 

And so we’re back in our temporary home.