Ugandan Safari

Finally, I am writing a blog post about our 6 day safari. I can hardly believe that it was 3 weeks ago that we left on the safari with Mum and that she has already ended her 3 weeks here. Time passes so quickly!

Initially, we were only going to do the gorilla trek but in talking with Denis, we planned to add lions and zebra to the safari since they were all in the same direction. And once you are travelling any distance on the roads in Uganda, you might as well make it worth your while.

You know the stories about the roads in Uganda. They are simply awful. At one point, we were travelling 40km and it took over 2 hours. No word of a lie. Our maximum speed for those 2+ hours was 20km/hour. One of the biggest hindrances to development and progress in Uganda is the roads. But that is a whole other blog post.

We returned to the same tented camp in Ishasha that Corey and I visited in 2009 but the tents are now even more deluxe and have become raised cabins. Two nights there were amazing, especially as we had the entire place to ourselves. The staff was amazing too. It was a great way to start the trip. I would return to Ishasha Jungle Camp a third time, even to just relax and read my book for a few days in the peace and quiet of the Ugandan savannah!

We did an early morning game drive and saw a hyena up close. Unfortunately, it was too dark to get a good photo. You have to make do with a blurry one.

 

On our way back, we got well stuck in the mud and had to crawl out of the van. A very friendly local walked us back to the camp while Davis waited for 10 other guys to arrive to push the van up and out. 

There was a threat of rain and Mum was tired so we decided to rest at the camp before heading out to see the tree climbing lions. Davis took off to see if he could find them for us so that we didn’t have to bump around for hours looking for them. Just as we were sitting down for lunch, he came and said he had found six but the storm was getting close and we had to go. In the van we jumped to see the lions before they took shelter from the rain. It was perfect timing because they had just come down and were resting in the grass before hiding in the bushes. Mum had never seen wild lions before so it was a thrill to see so many of them together. It was also great to be there at the off season because there was no-one else fighting for a spot to have a clear view. It was just us and the majestic beasts. It was amazing.

 Our next two nights were spent at the Silverback Lodge in Bwindi. The first night we had the ‘pleasure’ of sharing the lodge with a group of travel agents from all over the world exploring what Uganda had to offer but the second night, we were the only occupants again. Amazing food, great service, and an amazing view made this stay as pleasant as the first.

 Our gorilla trek was unbelievable. We were assigned to the closest troupe so that we wouldn’t have to trek for hours to see them. We started along a nice path with our walking sticks, packs and porters and while we had to climb a bit, it was not that bad. 

Then we diverted into the bush and were told to put everything down, including the walking sticks. Gorillas don’t like when groups arrive carrying long sticks!

Trekking began. We were crawling through bushes and grabbing roots to hold on so that we could either pull ourselves up or stop ourselves from sliding down the steep bank of the mountain. Mum’s porter was amazing and made sure she had a strong hand and good footing. Thank goodness for a hat, long sleeves, long pants, good boots and leather gardening gloves. Corey slipped and wrenched his shoulder once as he held the branch while his feet slid down and down and down. Not sure how we would have got him back up if the branch had broken.

Then there they were, playing, swinging and eating in the tree in front of us. We watched in awe for a few minutes before Goreth, our guide, told us to follow the trackers down to the base of the tree and into the ‘open’ forest. We saw the silverback, a mother feeding her baby, and the family just going about their business as though we weren’t there. Every so often the silverback would grunt and Goreth would reply. It’s the same sound you make as you are clearing your throat. It simply means, “I am here and I see you.” 

While we were photographing the female feeding on the bush (that’s when Corey got his photo that is on his blog: corzungu.blogspot.ca), Mum was in the forested area with Goreth watching the juveniles playing and chasing each other. One even pushed past Mum as she was standing there!

We had an amazing hour with the gorillas before Goreth told us that it was time to go. We wondered about having to trek back up the mountain to get our stuff but I was sure the porters had brought it all down for us. I was right and we only had to keep heading down before we were back on the initial path and back at base camp. Our trek lasted 2 hours and 15 minutes. It was perfect.

We had been given a boxed lunch to eat while on the trek but we were back at the lodge and eating the lunch on the patio by noon. We were nice and muddy but we were heading back into the bush in the afternoon to learn about the Batwa pygmies so we didn’t change.

 Our last stop on our trip was at Mburo Lake National Park for our final safari night. We made it in time to do the 4pm lake safari (we left Bwindi at 8am…) and it was terrific because we were close to hippos, baby crocodiles, buffalo, and we saw amazing birds. Our guide was a birder so it was great to have him identifying all the shore birds that were around.

Mburo is the only park in Uganda where there are impalas and zebra. We didn’t see impala but we did see zebra, another first for Mum.

Still no leopard… I wonder where we will have to travel next to maybe catch a glimpse of these elusive cats!

BTW - This is my 100th post on this blog. Wow!