Saturday I got to see zebras, and hippos, and crocodiles, and antelope, and baboons, and monkeys, and awesome birds. I’m not talking about zebras in a zoo though. I mean wild zebras! Zebras that roam around the park and live free and happy! They are amazing! They were also so close when we saw them. Jenna, Sandra, Claire, and I all went on a budget day Safari trip to see Lake Mburo park. Before we even entered the park we saw a heard of wild zebras. Our guide Faruke spotted them about 40 meters away from our vehicle. We stopped for a moment to see them then started to drive again. “Don’t worry,” Faruke said, “we will see them much closer.” Well to be honest, all four of us were a bit anxious as to how many animals we were going to see that day. Back home you could drive or hike in a national park all day without seeing any animals. We worried that it would be the same case here. We drove another minuet and then saw a heard of zebras less than 20 meters away. Not a single one of us could contain our excitement as we giggled and squealed like schoolgirls getting to meet their favourite celebrity.
At one point our driver said you could stand up. We all looked up. The roof was disconnected from the rest of the vehicle and raised up on rods. This created a space for us to stand up and see a 360º view of the park as we drove. I had to stand on my tiptoes though to get the protective bars out of my view. Along the way to the park we got stuck in traffic. Not any ordinary traffic either, even by Ugandan standards. We got stuck behind over 100 head of cattle. We tottered along the dirt road at a pace just faster than the walk of the cowherds, and slower then them at some points. The cattle both cows and bulls grew long horns that came up almost to the roof of the car on the larger cattle. Once we made it past the cattle though, we had the road to ourselves.
The sun had not quite peeked out from behind the clouds, which for the morning at least, worked in our favour. Because the temperature remained cool throughout the morning we were able to see more animals than if the sun had blazed in the sky.
The first part of the drive, both in and out of the park, most of the animals seemed to stand on the left side of the road. I stood on the right side of the car next to Sandra. Sandra didn’t have a camera so every time we came across animals I would duck back into the van stick my entire torso and half of my quads out the window, and zoom in on the animals. I then ducked back into the car waddled to the right side of the car and stuck my head out the roof. It must have looked rather comical to Claire and Jenna who were sitting in the row behind us.
After a few more times of sticking my body out the window I decided to leave it there. I could see more that way and didn’t have to strain my calfs. The way that my legs were held inside the car made my awkward position fairly stable.
We turned down a side road in the park, and soon came upon a herd of buffalo. A few lay in the dust of the road as the other pouted (or looked like they were pouting) to the right of the road. Some of the buffalo stared at us, but most pretended we did not exist. They were caked in mud, and some had birds riding on their backs. I felt like a photographer for the National Geographic. Well, if National Geographic photographers had Coolpix cameras at any rate. I sat on the window ledge to snap a better shot of the ones in front of us and decided to stay there.
We then came upon two warthogs, and each of us shouted “PUMBA!” Sandra said that she believed them to be ugly, but Claire came to their defence, and said she thought that they were cute. Jenna and I were to busy singing “Hakuna Matata” to weigh in on the subject. The more warthogs we saw the more we noticed a trend. Warthogs almost always appeared in pairs. By the end of the day Sandra would feel bad for the single ones we saw and wish that they had a mate to be with.
We drove down the side road for about another half an hour. I kept trying to get a good photo of the baboons, but they continued to scatter before I could get the shot. That or the driver would stop the van and it would roll until the non-moving monkey or baboon I wanted a picture of disappeared behind a tree or rock. For those of you who will see my photos of the Safari later I apologise in advance for all the blurry pictures, but a blurry baboon picture is better than no baboon picture at all. Along the drive our driver also spotted Ilands. They are the world’s largest antelope, and they are also very “shy.” We chased them down a game path, but when we got a little too close (800 meters or further) they scattered. I managed to get pictures of their bums. We saw them one other time far away through trees, but I got a couple semi-clear photos, again I apologize to those of you who will see them.
After half an hour we turned around to go back to the main road, and to our two-hour boat tour of the lake. We saw all the same animals, I took a few more attempted pictures of baboons, we scared a couple ibocks when we started our car again after stopping to look at them, and Claire, Jenna, Sandra, and I all felt awkward when we saw another van full of mzungu. Until that point the only other mzungu we had seen that day were an old couple driving out of the park. Once we got to the lake, however, we say lots. And by lots I mean initially we felt uncomfortable about being around five other mzungu. Another ten or so showed up, and we got Annecy. We’ve grown comfortable to not seeing other mzungu. We also felt uncomfortable with what the other mzungu wore. On our boat there were two girls and one boy from France. One girl wore printed baggy pants and a tight spegettie strap. Not too bad. The other girl, however, wore shorts so short that I could see part of her bum when she sat down. I understood that they were camping, and back home I would not care, but they were not in France or a western country. They were in Uganda, and in Uganda the legs are the sexualised part of the body. The four of us from my program agreed that the girl dressed disrespectfully, and we thought stupid mzungu. Another women also had shorter shorts. They were down to her mid quad, but by Ugandan standards she might as well have been in booty shorts. I mean I get that it’s hot, but please be at least somewhat respectful.
The boat tour took a while to being. We were required to put on dopy oversized orange life vests, but at least I felt safe that the boat drivers knew what they were doing. The four of us worried that hippo sightings would be scarce, but like the zebras we saw plenty. They hid in the shallow waters, and under the branches that hung from the shore as if they wanted to drink the lake water like the roots. We could hear them come up behind us with a deep “puff” sound they admitted when they exhaled. Claire could not contain her excitement.
The boat ride lasted two hours. That allowed us plenty of time to view hippos yawning, though we could not get a picture it was cool to see, a baby hippo, birds, crocodiles, butterflies, animals on the shore, and a local fisherman. As we prattled along we passed our cameras around excitedly, and tried to capture our friends with the picturesque backdrop of the hills and the lake. Our guide for the boat seemed just as astute as our guide in the car, and pointed out disguised animals we never would have seen. He also knew the names of the animals, most of which I have already forgotten.
Once back on shore we ate lunch, went to a gift shop where I purchased gifts for my family. I also purchased a little wooden zebra for myself to commemorate the day. An adorable baby, the shopkeepers, giggled and played with kicknacks close to the floor as we shopped for gifts. I almost bought a bracelet that read, “my name is not mzungu,” but like most things, it fit too big for my wrist. We then drove out of the park with Claire and Jenna in the front row and Sandra and I in the back. We were all home in time for supper.
