Queen Elizabeth National Park is situated in the west arm of the Albertine Rift Valley. This valley is formed from 2 plates of the African continent ripping apart. The north plate is pushing northward into the Middle East and the Mediterranean and will eventually build a mountain range somewhere in Saudi Arabia. The south plate is going, well south I think. Also known as the Great Rift Valley, it and its surrounding mountains are home to the Nile River and many of its tributaries. You get the idea. It’s big. The park vegetation is diverse. There are many lakes that support fish and wetland plants and trees. There is jungle so thick you can’t see more than a couple of feet into. And there is vast, vast, vast arid grassland just like you see on National Geographic. The valley is full of big animals and there are lots of roads to drive on for viewing them, which we did, Amber and I with our friend Cissi visiting from London. It was Easter weekend and all the lodging in the park was booked full so our plan was to spend the day in the park, have dinner at the fancy lodge, and then drive to Kasese just outside the park for the night. We didn’t know this would be a problem. No one told us you’re not allowed to drive on the park roads at night. Sure, it makes perfect sense now that we have driven on the park road at night. All those big animals come out at night. And it gets really dark in Queen Elizabeth. You don’t see them until you are very close.
Ok, Ok, back up a little. Let me tell you about the beautiful day before I get into the exciting night. We woke up at 6:30 a.m., still dark, full moon reflecting on a smooth black lake, and ate breakfast at our favorite place, Jacana Safari Lodge. You have to get an early start if want to see any lions as they go to bed early in the day. Also, the light is best for photographs when the sun is low in the sky. And that day was gorgeous. Within the first few hundred meters of our game drive we were taking photos of a huge herd of Ugandan Kob eating grass still wet with morning dew and with a full view of the Rwenzori mountains in the background. That alone was worth getting up early for but the drive continued to be beautiful and cameras were firing at will as we watched herds of waterbuck, buffalo, exotic birds, and even a lone hippo grazing out of the water in full sun. Hey hippo, are you so hungry, hungry you don’t care about getting sunburnt. (Hippos generally stay in the water all day to keep cool and to keep from getting sunburnt and then go out at night to graze. FYI) We had lunch at the lodge and a few beers and then were back out for a boat ride in the Kazinga Channel and more animal viewing just before sunset. The Kazinga Channel connects 2 huge lakes, George and Edward, and is a great place to see animals interact as they bathe, drink, and keep cool on the lakeshore.
Elephants clearly are the king of the jungle. Everyone moves out of their way as they stroll about getting wet and eating trees. Destroying trees actually. There are crocodiles strewn about the 
shore with their mouths open to attract bugs. The bugs, attracted to the saliva, will land in the crocs’ mouth and when there is enough to be bothered with the croc shuts it’s trap and down the gullet they go. We pass a sand bar with every square inch taken up by some bird drying their feathers and beaks off in the breeze coming off Lake Edward. I’m planning a blog entry entirely on birds so I’ll be going into this more then. There’s a fishing village on the channel. People living in harmony with the animals you think? Maybe but I met someone who works at the hospital nearby and she has seen many fishermen come in with injuries from hippos who get annoyed and decide to tip their boat and try to crush them. Hippos have a reputation of unfriendly behavior and they could snap you in half as easy as you can snap your fingers if they feel like it. The sun is going down and it’s coming up on time for dinner so we head back to the lodge for that and then it’s off to bed in Kasese.
It’s 9:30 p.m. and we’re at the gate to leave the park. The ranger, not the first one we’ve talked to, is the first one to tell us that it’s illegal to drive in the park after dark. He’s telling us we can’t leave. But the lodge is full, there’s no place for us to stay, we have to leave. Amber gets out of the car and tries to reason with him. The ranger radios someone and they discuss what to do. It took a fair amount of convincing on Amber’s part but the ranger eventually concedes, not without instilling some fear in us. He explains that most of the animals are nocturnal and to drive very slow to avoid hitting one. He also gives us his personal cell phone number with instructions to call immediately if we run into any trouble. It’s about 16km on a dirt road to the park gate and the tarmac highway. Almost immediately we are scaring away birds that were warming themselves in the road so I’m going pretty slow. We come around a corner and about 20 feet in front is something big squatting at the edge of the road. It’s head turns halfway towards us and we get a profile. It’s a big cat! It’s spraying or peeing on a bush at the edge of the road and doesn’t stop what it’s doing for us. We wait a few seconds while the cat finishes and starts to move. I inch a little closer and we finally get a look at the markings. It’s a leopard and it’s at least as big as me but maybe a little bigger, made entirely of muscle and teeth, and not afraid. The cat steps calmly off the road and gives us the death stare, its mouth hanging open as we crawl past. Yes the windows were rolled up as soon as we saw it. Oh, My, God! That got the adrenaline flowing. I pick up some speed and come to a hook in the road. On the inside corner of the curve stands a bush about 8 feet tall. Above the bush, as we round the corner, I see a big black shape about 12 feet tall moving across the road. It’s an elephant and it’s running to get out of our way! It gives out a deep loud squeal as we peel past and get a close view of its rear end. Being that close to a running elephant, even from inside a car, you feel every step in your chest. Ok, we need to get off this road. It really isn’t safe at all. But driving faster would be the wrong thing to do. So I set the pace at about 20km per hour as the fastest we can safely go and we continue. We catch the moonlight shining off the backs of 2 hippos grazing just off the road. Keep going Dean, there’s a lot of eyes glowing out there. We do eventually reach the gate, get on the highway and make it to the hotel with time to spare for a beer to calm the nerves. The only regret I have is there aren’t any pictures of the leopard. I don’t think a camera flash would’ve helped our situation and we would’ve had to have the windows down to take a photo. That was not going to happen.
The rest of Cissis’ visit has been filled, leisurely of course, with showing her around Mbarara. We bought produce in the market, she bought some African fabrics to make some pillows as well as some gifts for her friends. She took a few boda boda rides which are a must for anyone visiting Uganda. We took a special (that’s a what you call a cab here) down to the gas station to put her on a bus to Kampala. Hejdo Cissi until next time. As for me I’m left feeling lucky for what I’ve seen and done and also feeling like I have a lot more to see and do. One thing I’d like to get better at here is haggling. I just learned that a pineapple should cost 800 Ush. I’ve been paying 1500 Ush and feeling like I’m getting a deal. Mzungu Prices! So unfair. The exchange rate for US dollars right now is 2100 Ush to the dollar. So that’s only a difference of about 30 cents but every cent counts when you don’t have an income.
1 comment:
Wow!! I don't believe you Dean, that's incredible!
Great story, man. And to think here in the states we get paranoid about hitting a deer at night.
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