SUNDAY MARCH 5th 2017
Pat and I are spending a quiet day today although I did manage to get to church St 8:30am. Sallie has given us some Gabarol to sort out our tummies!
It is hot again, back to the thirties - midday today it has reached 30.8 but it was tremendously hot in the Game Park on Friday. We got up at 4:30 am and I ended up helping Chef Walter pack the chicken and chipped potatoes into their containers for lunch! Then we loaded up the pickup with the lunches and the eggs,mendazi and sweet tea for breakfast. The schoolchildren ate their eggs etc standing up or sitting on the verandah as dawn broke then we loaded up the 5 minibuses and set off for Murchison Game Park!
Even before we reached the entrance to the Park we passed loads of baboons - troop after troop and I wondered if it might become necessary to cull some ( it seems they did kill some of the baboons that cluster around the ferry and Red Chili Camp). We also disturbed several flocks of black and white birds with big yellow beaks.
Entering the Park took some little time, but eventually we were driving to the ferry where the Uganda Wildlife Authority boat was waiting for us. We had a lovely passage down the Nile, and saw three or four big crocodiles basking in the sun as well as many hippos and loads of gorgeous birds nesting in the sandstone cliffs. We saw a giraffe amongst the trees and many waterbucks and warthogs coming down to drink at the river edge.
Lunch back on land was not too much of a success as the Manager at Red Chili Camp was expecting a big group of contestants in the annual Fishing Contest to eat there. He very kindly allowed to use the toilets and wash our hands and fill our water bottles then showed us across the road to a camping site.Sadly there was no shade so we ate our chicken and chips quickly in the minibuses then drove back to the ferry .
Everyone enjoyed the Game Drive - we saw herds of Oribi and Jackson's Hartebeeste,bushbuck and waterbuck buffalo and loads of giraffes .We drove down to Lake Albert where I managed to see a SHOE BILL bird through the Rangers binoculars across on the opposite bank!
Then on the way back to the ferry we came across a kill with vultures and Marabou storks and in a thorn thicket nearby we could just make out the shape s of six lions! Finally we could just about see the tail of a leopard hanging down from a tree branch!! Of course no good pictures but just the fact that we had been in the vicinity of lions and leopards! The only elephants we saw were far away.
We managed to get back to school just before dark so that the children could get home in the light.
No comments:
Post a Comment