Safari Day 1 - Lake Mburo National Park


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Africa » Uganda » Western Region » Mbarara
July 19th 2014
Published: July 19th 2014
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Yay safari blog! Animal pictures! Eeeee!!!



The safari was absolutely incredible and I'm so excited to write about it and post pictures. I am going to post a new blog for each day. which might be a little annoying for anyone reading or subscribed to it. It's partly to avoid the blog entry getting too long, but mostly because we travelled to new places each day and the blog site I'm using allows you to map where you go with each entry. It also has an option to print the blog as a book when you're finished and I want the photos to match each day. And it's my blog and I can do what I want. Most of the photos are ones that I took, however a few of the shots, particularly any that are extreme close ups of animals, were likely taken with Ursula's or Leandra's fancy SLR's with big zoom lens'. HUGE thanks to them for sharing their photos with me!



Day one began with Frank's brother, Silas, picking us up in the morning from our MUST residence. Silas brought Ursula with him, who is a 2014 graduate from the WCVM, and would be joining us on the safari. She is also the daughter of Dr. Card and would be working on the goat project with me after the safari was finished. Not going to lie, I was pretty pumped to have another animal junkie on the safari with me so we could nerd out and share animal facts.



Today's big sight-seeing excursion would be a game drive at Lake Mburo National Park. Before even entering the park we started to see several African ungulates (hooved animals), so Silas popped the roof of our safari jeep, giving us a 360 degree view of the land around us. We all whipped out our cameras, stood on the seats, and peered into the land, freaking out and squealing with any new animal sighting.



Cruised through the park, with the wind blowing through our hair and dust in our faces, we saw many kobs, water buffalo, impalas, topis, antelope, bushbucks, baboons and vervet monkeys. Every time I saw an impala, “Expectation”, by Tame Impala started playing in my head. I highly suggest looking this band up if you don't already know them; they're pretty fantastic. We also saw many warthogs which are the cutest-ugly little creatures! At first I wasn't quite sure exactly why I loved them so much. Maybe it was because they were a little strange with odds tufts of fur or maybe it was the way they run with their tail poking straight into the air like little flag poles. . . and then I figured it out. As I watched a couple plop down into the dirt a few feet from the car I realized they kind of resemble Monty! He's a furry little hog and so are they! Oh how I miss that little monster pup!



While seeing all those animals was amazing, the most exciting definitely were the zebras. They were so beautiful! And there were herds of them all over the park! I just love their distinct and unique stripes.



After the game drive we would head to Bwindi for the night, driving down the shittiest highway in all the land – the Mbarara-Kabale Road. Or half a highway rather, as both shoulders and most of each lane were missing entirely. The road that was there was littered in potholes making for a long and bumpy drive. How Menopause made it down here to save us a few days earlier was nothing short of a miracle. In all fairness, it was kind of fun. Sort of like a roller coaster you're sure is about to go off the tracks; minus the safety harness because we didn't have seatbelts.



Daydreaming while on the road mixed with conversations with Ursula, got me thinking about all the quirks about Africa that I had gotten used to over the last few weeks, but would be quite noticeable to a new person in the country, like her. The insane driving and road conditions, for instance. At any moment you're sure death by car accident is lurking around the corner, but after a few hours in the vehicle, you realize there is some sense of organized chaos. They really must trust the other drivers that they're going to swerve out of the way at the very last moment. On the surface it might seem like it's everyone's first time behind the wheel, but I'm sure these drivers are some of the best in the world, as their reaction time is impeccable. Or at least that's what I tell myself every time I have to go for a drive. Another thing she noticed was the fact that people are everywhere! You could be in the middle of nowhere, stuck in construction and people will be there. Maybe they have incredible eyesight and can spot muzungus a mile away, but any moment we stopped, even for a second, children would come running out of the forest or spontaneously appear in the dust and be waving at us through the car window. Some even jump onto the moving vehicles! But it only takes a couple potholes before they're bumped off and back on the side of the road.



Anyways, a few hours later we would arrive at Bwindi, where we stayed in cute high tech tents for the night. High tech in this context meaning they had attached bathrooms with flush toilets and showers that not only produced a steady stream of water, but hot water at that! A big deal for us!. Remember we haven't had power in about five days at this point.



That's it for day one! Onto the next. . .


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