Born Free 🦁🦁🦁

The drive from Kibale to Queen Elizabeth National Park (our safari destination) was about 4 hours, with a stop on the way for a view of the crater lake that is on the Ugandan 20,000 schilling note, and a lesson on how the Ugandans prepare vanilla.

We had never seen vanilla in the bean before:

We also had a quick stop at the equator, and the guard for QE Park kindly snapped a shot for us.

We discovered that everyone carrying impossible loads on their head actually uses a banana leaf cushion to soften the load. One of our guides showed us how they are made and I tried one on but with no load. Now I see that most people use this cushion!

It only took about 15 minutes to start our safari after crossing into the park, we saw an elephant on the highway!

We arrived at the Bush Lodge at the end of a terrible road. However, it was worth the trip in and out every time as the location was spectacular, right on the channel with hippos right below us. They woke us with their snorting at the perfect time, 5:30 am. You have to get up early before it gets too hot to see the animals. Luke, our driver, had a hippo snorting around his outdoor shower one morning, good thing they escorted us from our banda’s to the dining tent when it was dark, too many hyena’s and hippos around to let us walk alone 😳! You could hear the hippos most of the time, it sounds like they are right there but they are actually down the hill in the water all day.

Dean loved the outdoor shower:

View from our banta to the lake, home to the hippos:

Here is one out of the water, where they spend the night eating.

They spend the day in the water to protect their skin from the sun:

We really scored on our first safari drive, seeing a variety of animals, but also two male lions in a tree. Uganda is known for its tree climbing lions, an adaptation that has happened here but not elsewhere in Africa that we are aware of. (In South Africa and Namibia we only saw leopards and cheetahs in trees.) We had to wait a long time to see them, it was a hot afternoon and they waited for the cooler evening air.

Our second day started early with the sunrise and our first sighting were male Cape buffaloes wallowing in the mud, apparently this is the old man’s club that got kicked out of their herd…

They look much better clean:

The water bucks are spectacular, large like our elk:

The kobs are smaller, like our deer:

Amazing herons:

A monitor lizard:

And lots of elephants:

In the afternoon, we took a boat ride down the Kazinga Channel connecting Lake George and Lake Edward We saw hippos everywhere, which was amazing, but the highlight was seeing the elephants come down to the water and and frolic right beside the hippos. It was a very hot day (about 32 °C/90 °F) and everyone was enjoying the water.

Those bumps in the water are hippos!

Luke is a big birder and loves photography, so shared some great photos:

See the fish in his mouth?

Late morning we stopped for a break at the Mweya Safari Lodge, a historic hotel where Queen Elizabeth stayed in 1952. She became queen while she was on her African tour, when her father passed away. It was a lovely, big old majestic hotel with an amazing view:

Looks like many of us qualify…

Luke got a call from one of his many buddies that there was a lion sighting in another area of the park so we jumped in the truck and away we went. We got there just in time to see two female lions crawl into a tree to start their afternoon siesta, avoiding the heat of the day. Our plan is to come back at sunset to check them out.

Here’s the tree, see anything?

We never saw the two female lions later, but were thrilled when we saw a lioness with her four cubs. It was magic:

Resting in the shade, waiting for the sun to fade:

Positioning for the best shot in the safari truck:

Walking away when it cooled:

Our last morning leaving Queen Elizabeth National Park:

No dogs allowed in the park, but we did see some friendly baboons and a very new baby:

Next stop: Mgahinga Gorilla National Park 🦍🦍🦍🦍