Queen Elizabeth National Park

                After spending several days in Kampala, my parents and I made our way out of the city and drove about six hours to Queen Elizabeth National Park – Uganda’s most visited national park.  Along the way, we crossed the Equator, saw a few zebra, and enjoyed the lush rolling hills of Uganda’s countryside.

Proudly displaying the Hooker Advance at the Uganda Equator so we will make have our picture in the next issue.

Zebra near Lake Mburo National Park

Being a Colorado native, I am continually amazed at how green some places are

                  Since my parents traveled so far, I decided to splurge and booked accommodations at Kingfisher Lodge.  The lodge is modeled after an African village with quaint white bandas with thatched roofs.  The bandas are built into the hillside, giving a stunning view of the park below.

Although we packed a lot in while we toured Queen Elizabeth, we did manage to take advantage of Kingfisher's beautiful setting, relax, and play some games.

There were tons of lizards at Kingfisher and around Queen; however, this one was by far the best



                  Our time in Queen consisted of several game drives, a boat ride on the Kazinga Channel, a tour of Katwe Crater Lake, and chimp trekking through the Kyambura Gorge.

Ugandan cob mating grounds - because the lions prey on the cob, you can often find lions around.

Warthogs were often seen roaming around the entire park.  Did you know that when they are being chased by a predator, they run backwards leaving the predator to deal with its tusks? 

Baboons were often seen on the road near Kingfisher Lodge.  Since they are fairly large and not scared of people, they are actually quite intimidating.

Water Buffalo

Our driver, John, trying to scare the water buffalo.  John won.

Vultures in Ishasha - seeing them and the lions definitely made me want to watch the Lion King

While in Ishasha, we went to the Uganda-Congo border.  Across the river is the Congo.  The little island in the middle is No Man's Land.  I should have claimed it while I had the chance...

                  The animal we saw most often during our game drives was the elephant.  One day we probably saw over 200 elephants.

Everywhere we turned, we saw a new herd of elephants

Note the herd of elephants crossing the road behind us

One of the elephants decided to follow us

Elephant family with a 2-week-old baby

There's even an elephant named Mary in a village just outside of Queen that has become a member of the community and hangs out with the villagers and tourists.

Mary about to eat my dad's camera

About to board the boat for our ride on the Kazinga Channel

We saw tons of hippos on our two-hour boat ride

If I were a birder, I might know what these birds are, but as I am not, your guess is as good as mine...

Uganda is a bird-watcher's paradise

                  The most exciting part of the boat ride (and maybe even the entire safari) was our leopard spotting.  As we were motoring toward the dock to end the tour, I saw something move in the brush and immediately began yelling “I see a cat!  I see a cat!”  We slowed down and watched the leopard for 10-15 minutes as it thought of stalking some cob.  Ultimately, it just decided to get a drink of water.  

You should be thoroughly impressed by these photos.  Our safari guide, who has been on more safaris than he can count, has only seen the leopard nine times.

                  Next on the agenda was a visit to Katwe Crater Lake where the locals collect salt.  On our way, we stopped in the fishing village on the way and met some of the local fishermen.

During dry season, the lake is 65% salt and is able to be harvested by the villagers.  Each family has a plot they tend - kind of like a community garden - for salt.

                  The final excursion in Queen Elizabeth was chimp trekking through the Kyambura Gorge.  We had excellent luck in not only finding the chimps, but also viewing them at a fairly close distance. 

Kyambura Gorge

Aren't they adorable?

Peering high into the canopy looking for the chimps

This is what we found

                   Near the end of our viewing, several of the chimps decided to come down from the trees.  Against our better judgment, my dad, Sebastian (a friendly German we met), and I decided to run after them through the jungle.  Only two weeks later did I find out that our guide thoroughly disapproved of this decision.

Every time the chimp turned around, my heart would skip a beat as I feared he would come rip my face off.  Yet I continued following him...

All in all, we had an amazing trip to Queen