Ankole Longhorns at Lake Mburo

At  4 in the morning,  after a rough flight (I gave up my carefully chosen seat to let a husband and wife sit together and ended up in the aisle next to the toilet, constantly bumped by passers-by), I step out of  the terminal at Entebbe in to the balmy African night. My first visit to Uganda, the result of about half a year’s planning; later this evening the rest of the group will arrive but for now it’s just me.

A silent driver with a sign meets me and drives me to the nearby Lake Victoria View Guesthouse were I soon fall asleep in my simple bungalow, soon to be awoken by the most astonishing manic cackling and shrieks. I step outside and soon spot the source – my first Ugandan birds: Eastern Grey Plantain Eaters. A good start and soon followed by lots more as the sky brightens and I meet the guesthouse staff, enjoy my first Ugandan Mangoes (Yum) and am joined by Tony our tour operator and a keen birder too. As we sit and chat,  a familiar sharp call turns our attention to the nearby tree-tops: a pair of small Falcons are dashing about and making quite a din. These are African Hobbys, a beautiful small hunter, cousin of the European Hobby that I know well from the woods around my home in Belgium. I have a thing about Falcons (there’s a whole story about that, perhaps later) and I consider them a very special, fortunate sign. This is a very good start.

Tony takes me down to the lakeside to the “Royal Botanical Gardens”,  supposedly a good birding area. I had expected neat rows of potted palms but really it is almost a jungle, huge towering trees with just some bits cleared in between in to some semblance of a lawn. The birds come fast and I pick up 20 new species in a bout half an hour including the spectacular Great Blue Turaco. Then I just can’t take any more and beg a break so we sit and have a cold drink at the lakeside café, whereupon a Spotted-necked Otter casually swims past! I have never seen an Otter before and am thrilled.

Great Blue Turaco

After a siesta I sit out in the evening and watch from the guest-house terrace as the Ethiopian Airlines flight carrying the group comes in over the lake and lands. However, after more than an hour with no sign of them I finally get hold of my brother Saul who is with them and discover that one of the suitcases has not turned up – hence the delay.  Of course it is Zvika’s – full of expensive high-tech gadgets  and there is much phoning to and fro with him, Tony and Ethiopian Airways to figure out how to deliver it when ( hopefully) it shows up.  Eventually, all sorted out, the gang arrive, sit down to dinner, rooms sorted, plans for tomorrow etc etc etc. Not an ideal start, especially as we have an early start the next day.

Next morning it’s a bit complicated: Entebbe is on a peninsula; rather than drive a long way round we will use a ferry, but to avoid a long wait, our car was already ferried across last night. Instead, two cars from the guest house take us and our luggage to the ferry crossing where we are loaded in to a rather rickety canoe and carried over to the waiting Land Cruiser where we finally meet Hilary our Guide/Driver for the next 12 days. It takes a lot of explaining but finally everyone gets it and off we go , resplendent in our bright orange life-jackets.

The reason for our early start is the nearby Mbamba swamp, home to the legendary Shoebill Stork.  This prehistoric looking bird is a must for any bird-lover visiting Uganda and early morning is the best time to catch them going around their business of slurping up slimy catfish in the swamp. Soon enough we are on site, get into two more leaky canoes and set off through a channel in the Papyrus beds to the more open water where Jacanas and Crakes romp among purple water lilies while we search high and low for Shoebills.

Searching for the elusive Shoebill at M’bamba Swamp

…and there it is!

African Jacana

Zvika smells the flowers

Big success. Shoebill seen, no one fell in and the swamp is the real thing, we could happily spend the whole day here. We say goodbye to our boatmen and drive on stopping at a cluster of shops and restaurants next to alarge concrete 0 marking the equator. While Zvika shops around for replacements for his missing wardrobe we enjoy a lunch of fish and Guacamole, then head on to our next destination, Lake Mburo National Park. Along the road Long-crested Eagles stand watch on the telephone poles, but everyone is fast asleep so Hilary and I let them pass, we will see more later.

We reach our Lodge – the aptly named Rwakobo Rock, perched on a granite dome overlooking the park and after the usual business of welcoming, briefing, finding the rooms (not so easy here as they are hidden in the bush) we have a short break and head in to the park for a game drive to be followed by a night drive: high chances of seeing Leopards, I am told!

The game drive is very nice. Zebras, Impalas, Buffaloes, Topis and Giraffes. Some nice birds and also our first Baboons (more about them later on). Then we stop at the park headquarters to pick up a ranger and a spotlight for the night drive. And then we drive for hours and hours and hours; the only thing we see (besides quite a few other cars doing the same) is one Scrub Hare. Fed up we drive back to the headquarters to drop off the ranger (a few Hippos out grazing nearby cheer us up a bit) and make the long drive back to the lodge for  a much too late dinner. I ask the very cheery lady at the reception what they mean when they say “very good chances of Leopard” – and she says that just the other day someone saw one! Hmm. I have been taken for a fool.  Oh well, live and learn, I already make a note to cancel the planned night walk at Kibale forest where we are supposed to have good chances of seeing a Potto and Lord Darby’s Anomalure for 40$ a person!

Next morning I schedule a relatively late start so everyone can recover from our late night debacle. But I am up early and sitting on the lodge’s rocky outcrop with my coffee and binoculars  watching the birds in a big fruiting fig tree nearby. To my delight there are two Ross’s Turacos hopping around. This is an amazing bird – uncommon, brightly coloured and long on my wish list. I watch them happily, even manage a blurry photo but by the time Edna and Yehudit, first to appear from our party, show up they are gone. Just a treat for me.

Ross’s Turaco

The others show up and as we finish our breakfast I realise Saul is not here – and we leave in 15 minutes! I rush to his room and find him blissfully asleep. “No problem” he says when I wake him and tell him how late it is and, indeed, by some miracle, he manages to pack, have a sizable breakfast and be at the car on time.

Our next stop is a just at the bottom of the hill, an Ankole family home where we are shown around. When the Beautiful Longhorn Cows arrive from their grazing, milking is demonstrated and we get a taste of their rich milk out of a traditional wooden milk-pot.

Edna liked it

Then we set off on the long drive to Queen Elizabeth National Park. It’s a long way, since we are heading to it’s southernmost tip, a place famous for tree-climbing Lions. Judging from last night’s Leopard experience I am wondering if it’s worth the long drive, specially since we will have to drive back part of the way tomorrow. Maybe I had better call Tony and ask to find somewhere else for us to stay the night? I am busy thinking about this when Hilary pulls over and announces we have a flat tire. The spare wheel when we fit it on doesn’t look too great so we pull in to the next small town to fix the flat tire. This will take some time (someone is sent off to look for glue) so a rather smartly dressed young man offers to take us to a nicer spot to wait. We end up in a rather snazzy open air night club (empty at this time) and hear about Agri’s (the young man) ambitions to become a fashion designer. It’s a nice introduction to local life and feeling the group are in safe hands I return to the garage and get on the phone with Tony and sort out a place to stay nearby, just at the edge of QE N.Park. Higher forces seem to be taking decisions out of my hands, all for the better.

Zvika and his suitcase, reunited

We spend a pleasant night at the simple Pumba Lodge (in spite of some complaints about the tough chicken for dinner) and set off early for a game drive in the park.  At the gate a number of vehicles are just about to set off, including one equipped with a tracking antenna for finding radio-tagged Lions.  Hilary is eager to follow them but they are way ahead of us and we just roll along through herds of Uganda Kob and some Hartebeast. We drive around and see more Kob and then not much at all. Finally we head off towards a crater lake but stop at a small water hole where all sorts of birds are mucking about. Then we get word of Lions and head back in to the grassland and finally see one Lioness, or rather a bit of her ear. Well, nice if not mind boggling. But the highlight of the morning is yet to come: Zvika’s suitcase which had been sent to the distant lodge we didn’t stay at last night, has now arrived at the park gate – Hilary has been notified and we are keeping it secret. So after a visit to the crater lake we head back and make a “short stop” at the gate and invite Zvika in to the office to meet his long-lost beloved. What joy!

Uganda Kob

For the afternoon we have a boat ride in The Kazinga Channel – a wide body of water that runs between the two lakes – George and Edward that border QE park. First we check in to the rather fancy Mweya Lodge and after a brief siesta (I have dip in the pool and photograph some Firefinches and a Fish-Eagle) we head to the jetty for our boat.

The boat ride is terrific. We drift up close to Elephants and Buffaloes at the water’s edge, marvel at the size of the basking Crocodiles, and weave or way through herds of Hippos. Then as the day cools down and the animals move away in to the bush we get down to business with the masses of birds along the banks. Ibises, Spoonbills, Kingfishers, Bee-eaters , Sandpipers, Cormorants,  Saddle-billed Storks and more and more. A bird-watchers feast.

Everyone is in a great mood after this, the hardships and tensions of the long drives and ups and downs of the last days forgotten. We enjoy the comfortable lodge , don’t mind it’s rather slow service and spend the next day exploring the area around it. There are not many animals – just some rather unfriendly Elephants – but lots of birds and it’s good to slow down a bit, there’s still a long way to go. More in the next chapter.

Sunset on the Kazinga channel