We had planned on getting up at 6:00am and being on the road by 7:00am but had second thoughts when it began to rain at 5:30am. We decided to chance it – a good decision. It was a wonderful day. The entrance us just under 40 kilometers from Kalinzu and we arrived plenty early to catch the highly touted 9:00am launch trip. After paying our entry fee and motorcycle fee (64,000 shillings) we rode 20 kilometers through the park to the visitor’s center to book our trip. Along the way we surprised a herd of elephants and a small group of water buffalo. Seeing animals from a motorcycle is certainly getting up close and personal but it leaves one feeling a bit vulnerable. The launch requires 20 people at $10 a head or you can split the $2000 amongst “X” people. So there would be no 9:00am or 11:00am. Or 1:00pm So we booked the 3:00pm launch which would depart even if we were the only passengers. Then we set off along the dirt roads and trails in search of adventure. In addition to the elephants and buffalo we saw waterbuck, Ugandan kob, bushbuck, warthogs, mongoose, and hippos. And lots of birds – some new, some old friends.
It was nice to be back in an Africa we recognized, the savannah with its familiar sounds. Before Edi Amin it must have been wonderful. And perhaps it will be again some day. But there are few animals visible, no vast herds of zebra, no giraffes or rhinos. We saw baboons outside the park but none inside. Closer to the Congo border there are some unique tree climbing lions but there doesn’t seem to be enough game to feed many.
We ate the fruit we bought for lunch by 10:00am so we went to the Mweya Lodge for lunch. It’s pretty upscale with rooms for $130. The food was expensive by local standards – fish (fresh tilapia) and chips cost $5.00 and beer was $2.00 but it was good. We logged 5 new birds from our table.
The launch trip begins at the lodge and cruises the Kazinga Channel towards Lake Albert and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The place is packed with hippos and buffalo. It is also a paradise for birds. One of the guides, Benedict, helped us identify about 20 new birds. We turned around at Kazinga fishing village where our lunch came from and where the villagers share the shoreline with hippos and buffalo. Benedict told us that in 1989 a lioness killed 10 of the villagers before she was shot.
We left the park by 5:00 and arrived home well before dark. This was our best day yet in Uganda.
