Bigger Game to See
South to Mweya Lodge and a place that I have fond memories of from my last visit. This is more-or-less as close as you can get to real safari in Uganda. Together with Murchison Falls National Park in the north, Queen Elizabeth National Park is a true game reserve, with numerous antelopes, herds of buffalo, many elephants and lions (who famously climb trees in the southern Ishasha section of the park). The road south from Fort Portal should be fairly good, but kilometres of road works make it pretty rough going. Why the road authority can't just finish a couple of kilometres at a time instead of doing forty- or fifty-kilometre stretches is beyond me.
The lodge is a bit of post-colonial splendour overlooking the Kazinga Channel from a peninsula that juts out into Lake Edward. It offers spectacular views of the lake and the channel, with massive pods of hippo, many very large crocodiles and hundreds of birds attracted to the water. The service is excellent, the food is great, the beer is cold and the wifi actually connects you with the outside world.
I loved it the first time and I loved it the second. It could almost feel like a second home. There are places to relax when you want to and also no shortage of things to see and do. We've plenty of time for a couple of game drives, a couple of birding excursions and a nice boat-ride on the channel to see all those water birds.
The undergrowth is challenging, but we do manage to see elephants, buffalo, waterbuck, Uganda kob and hippos on our first big game drive.
The boat trip is as good as always. The birds are falling over one-another to be called and identified, almost too many to take in at once with photos being taken thick and fast. There's a sleeping (not for long) hyena on the bank and the water is full of hippos and buffalo. Hippos in the water are not the most exciting, but they are always worth a few photos and the birds are interacting with them in interesting ways.
Later we encounter Giant Forest Hog – much bigger than the warthogs on the lawn – and a family of elephants walking back from the river. The Forest Hog are not keen to be photographed, but we do manage to get a few shots before they disappear into the dense bush.
Our following day's birding excursion takes us along the channel towards the east and the grounds of another lodge where we are lucky enough to see the elusive Shining Blue Kingfisher. This is my bird of the trip and could well find itself high on my all-time favourite list. Add a blue-fronted Kingfisher to the list and a really great encounter with a lone bull elephant on the main road coming back and we have a really good day to remember. Somehow, however, the wildlife is being quite elusive. I would love to see more, particularly elephants but it doesn't seem to be our time to be lucky.
The only worry with our stay at Mweya? Well, it was quiet – really quiet. In fact, there were never more than ourselves and a handful of other guests in a place that could accommodate 100. We would have to wait and see if this was something of a trend following the recent Ebola outbreak across the border in the Congo. Was I worried about Ebola? Well, about as much as I worried about Malaria or Rabies. Take pills if you can, don't touch if you can't. For rabies, just don't touch any animals, whether they are wild or family pets. For people, I'm not really going too close to the affected areas of the Congo, but technically speaking, this close to the border is something of a risk. If you're introduced to someone who others know then by all means shake hands. If you don't know them, probably don't touch them. And remember, the locals are as wary of the disease as you are – possibly more so as they may have first-hand experience of previous outbreaks.
As for what I didn't like? Well, being caught for my birthday was really unpleasant. I managed to stay in my seat, but it was a close-run thing and it won't happen again. A word to the wise – don't give me a surprise! I don't like them and won't thank you for it, not at the time or ever after. If you only get a neutral reaction consider yourself lucky.
Ultimate Luxury
South to Buhoma means a long and bumpy drive from the Kazinga Channel down through the Ishasha Sector of the park. I've travelled the other way before and know that the road is a bit of a mixed bag, ok in places but badly rutted in some others. Such was the case this time. The first half of the trip was on a fairly good surface, but the road started to become quite deeply rutted by the second half of the drive and there were a couple of trapped trucks to add to the excitement.
Ironically, it's the trucks that are the real cause of the problem. They put too much strain on a road with a fairly weak substructure and the results are inevitably big holes full of water. The drive is, however, a quiet one. There are a few troupes of baboons along the way, but they are wary of traffic and disappear as we approach.
Having negotiated the narrow gap left by a large truck – the driver is stood alongside trying to figure out how to get it out of the deep hole it seems to be stuck at least partly in – we see more vehicles ahead in the distance. They are safari vehicles – fellow travellers – and the logical conclusion is that there must be lions. Sure enough, there are a male and female on the roadside, perhaps 40 or 50 metres from the high bank that marks the edge of the sunken roadway. Fred and I need to get onto the roof of the car to get a view and I'm glad of the 500mm lens on the camera. Patience pays off though, as the pair are looking keenly back across the road. Emmy spots some cubs on that side and after a couple of minutes the pair we are watching move to the road, pause for photos and then walk across the road behind us before once more vanishing into the undergrowth.
Onward we travel, ever southwards into the foothills of the Bwindi Mountains. Our final destination is reached in the rain in late afternoon. Sanctuary Gorilla Forest Camp is one of the most exclusive (and expensive) places to stay while in Uganda. The eight luxurious tents have hot water, power and even a full set of furnishings and furniture. That may sound odd, but many lesser places don't have a desk or chair, a table or even a wardrobe. The big benefit of the big budget is that it is all-inclusive. We have a free bar, free wi-fi and free laundry. Everyone is pleasant and helpful with a good memory for our likes and dislikes.
By this stage, I'm finding the trip a taxing one and am happy to take the first full day as one spent resting in the lounge or on my balcony. I can't even face the 90 or so steps down to the road for a walk along the edge of the forest. Maybe it is advancing years (I hope not) or just a general feeling of being run down by my ongoing cold, but I do seem to be struggling to be motivated. Perhaps it's just because I've seen it all before and am becoming a little jaded with the experience. What was created as a fairly relaxing trip around the south-west of the country looking for birds and wildlife seems to have become more of a slog as the days have gone on. The roads are bumpy, the treetop birds are high above and the camera gets heavier with every passing minute spent looking into the dark undergrowth. It may just be that my Africa is the Africa of the savannah, not of the forest.