Connie noted that we have had rain, sometimes a shower, sometimes a deluge, every day since 28 July. And this isn’t considered the rainy season! Like the rain, birders keep arriving. Yesterday Elias (Far Horizon) and Herbert (Bird Uganda) were both here, Elias with 10 and Herbert with a couple. All were equipped with the latest in spotting scopes, cameras and such. They get excited over birds Connie considers ordinary. Our treasury, (park fees and float) counting both shillings and dollars is over 2,000,000/= so we will bring some back to Entebbe.
Two nights in a row young backpackers arrived after dark on their way to or from Murchison Falls. Some had camping gear while others were hoping for a banda. As adventurous as we are we wouldn’t consider getting dropped of literally in the middle of nowhere after dark. The Lonely Planet guidebook, even the ’06 editions, can’t keep up with changes and are just guides, not holy scripture, although many of us consider it our bible. I let them stay in the center probably a bad precedent but what else could I do? Once this “holiday rush” is over things should quiet down and we will encourage Debby to let the backpackers’ haunts know about the changes both here and at Caniyo Pebidi.
Africa is a place of ants – other insects, of course, but it’s the ants I notice. From nearly microscopic to over an inch long, they comprise a staggering number of species and probably googles of individuals. Anything dead, dying or otherwise edible is covered in minutes and quickly devoured. But it’s the driver ants which I have also called (wrongly?) soldier or army ants that fascinate.
They are often seen crossing the path like a rivulet in inch to a foot in width, packed with ants all hurrying along. As I watched a two-inch wide column, before the outrider’ bites drove me off, I estimated 20 per second streamed by, 1200/minute; 72,000/hour. And this went on for hours. Today the flow is 25 inches wide with some eddies and calm areas around the swifter currents. How many? Where are they going? Why? Woe to the creature that rests in their path. They swarm and bite, injecting a drop of stinging formic acid that feels just as you imagine it would. And they are on the only path to our latrine!
