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February 19

To Queen Elizabeth National Park

I got up at 7 AM, packed, and had breakfast: an omelet with bacon and toast. I didn't have enough shillings to pay the hotel bill, so I cashed a couple of travelers' checks at a rather unfavorable rate, 0.90 to the dollar. Baker was a bit late, arriving at about 9:00. I wandered around the beautiful grounds while waiting for him. Baker had refueled the vehicle. Catherine had told him that Jumbo was paying for the fuel, so there was no problem.

We stopped at a Forex downtown to change a couple more travelers' checks, since I didn't want to change more than necessary at the hotel. The rate here was 0.97 per dollar, not too bad. We started out following the highway toward Kampala, which is paved and was in fine condition, so we made good time. Then we turned up a dirt road toward Itashka, winding through the hills. We saw many Ankara cattle here, which have huge horns. I had Baker stop once for a cow picture. We passed through land where a crop used for its fibers grew, and then passed a hot spring. Baker stopped the car at a place where he thought the hills were especially beautiful, so I could take a picture, though it didn't seem very notable to me.

There were a couple of checkpoints along the way, but nobody stopped us. Finally, we descended switchbacks quickly to the plains below, rejoining the road to Kasese we had been on earlier, until we came to the entrance to Queen Elizabeth National Park leading to Mweya Lodge. Along the road, we passed assorted antelopes, especially water boks, and a few warthogs, which ran off before I could get a picture. We passed a group out for a game drive, but mid-day was not the best time for this. There were a lot of fires burning in the brush, leaving large sections of the plains blackened. Baker thought this was probably driving off game now.

We arrived at the lodge in time for lunch. The lodge was not fancy, but clean and neat. There was a large, bright dining room and bar in the main building, as well as a small souvenir shop. I got a table on the porch in back, overlooking the Kazinga Channel, which connects Lake Edward and Lake George. I ordered chicken stew with rice. Afterward, I looked for Baker to see if he had scheduled any activities for the afternoon. He had me booked for a 3:00 boat ride on the channel. This was the thing I thought sounded most interesting here, and I had specifically told Jumbo that I wanted to include it in my itinerary.

When it came time to check in for the boat ride, Baker was not around, so I paid 11,250 shillings for my share of the fee, which was divided among eight people. The more people go, the less it costs for each. Sometimes, people have to wait a day or two for enough passengers to show up, but now the lodge was full and this was not a problem. I had scheduled two nights here just to be sure.

I got a ride down to the launch site below the hotel. Six passengers were in one group, and they had a van. A hippo greeted us by the river, standing near the boat dock. The Kazinga channel is wide and open, not quite how I had imagined it in advance, when I was thinking of Uganda as being more overgrown and jungle-like, as in Bwindi. The boat crossed the channel and headed toward Lake George.

Hippos

We immediately came upon a large group of hippos. We would see many more hippos along the way. They were everywhere. We saw a dead hippo with its feet in the air and a monitor lizard on its head. It made me think of Elayne, a friend from the UT Canoe and Hiking Club who likes dead things, and I took a slide photo to show at a meeting.

We saw a crocodile and lots of birds, including some colorful storks and some fish eagles. We also saw water bok and buffalo. I could see three elephants in the river far ahead through my binoculars. By the time we got close, they had decided to leave the water and were heading up the hill. We also came upon some people swimming near a village. We headed back along the other bank, but there was less wildlife on that side.

A larger group was waiting to board the boat when we returned to the dock at 5:00. Baker was there to pick me up. He apologized for not being present when the boat left. I think he was talking to a lady friend in the bar. He reimbursed me for the boat ride. Then I went to my room, which was quite large and had windows all along one wall overlooking the channel. I showered and washed some clothes in the tub. Hot water was slow to come, and just slightly warm. I hung the clothes from a rope I stretched across the room.

Dinner was served at 7, buffet style. This buffet was larger than last night's at the White Horse Inn, with all sorts of things to pick from, including pork chops, chicken with mushroom sauce, beef Stroganoff, macaroni with tomato sauce, matooke, potatoes, rice, squash, French onion soup, rolls, fruit, and chocolate cake. I ordered a Guiness Stout with dinner. I like the label reading "Guiness is good for you", which unfortunately is not seen in the US.

Hyena

Afterward, I had some instant coffee on the patio. A fire was burning out back. I approached it, and heard someone say "watch out". Sure enough, there was an obstacle just ahead - a sleeping hyena. I met two ladies I had seen at the lodge in Bwindi. It turns out that they went tracking two days and had a great time. I returned to my room to get my cameras, and took pictures of the hyena. It seemed remarkably unconcerned about all the people around. I saw one waiter almost trip over it, and some other people pass within a few feet of it without noticing it.

A lady from New York came and sat by the fire, but not too close since it was still very warm out. She was here with a museum group of twelve who wanted to visit the mountain gorillas. They had been doing some project related to Diane Fossey, who made the gorillas famous. She said she remembered when her father would travel to Africa and bring back gorilla foot ash trays and real shrunken heads. This was not her first trip to Africa.

The lady got up and walked over to talk to the sleeping hyena. A waiter warned her about getting too close to the huge animal, since it is wild and unpredictable. She seemed reluctant to listen, and kept talking to it. The waiter said the only problem he remembered with the hyena was when it came inside the lodge once.

I saw Baker outside, and he reminded me to get up early tomorrow for a 6:30 sunrise game drive. I returned to my room and went to bed after 11. I could hear hippos down below throughout the night.

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