Queen Elizabeth National Park

Thursday morning Bry'Chell and I left for Queen Elizabeth National Park with Mark Olweny and three of his friends/former professors. It was supposed to be a five and a half hour drive but it was really more like seven hours, not counting the stops. If the roads were in better shape would have been about half the time. Fortunately, our driver was safe and careful, so we missed most of the potholes.

Bry'Chell was the only kid, but she thought the guys were funny and the animals were impressive, so she had a good time. She drank more pop in the last three days than she's had in the previous three months. When the adults are having beer and wine, it's only fair that she gets some kind of treat as well.

The park is located along the western edge of Uganda by the border of the Republic of the Congo. We stayed at Mweya Safari Lodge for the two nights we were there. Not only were the accomodations splendid, the food was phenomenal. The meals we had were by far the best I've had in Uganda, and that's saying a lot because we've had some good food.

The cool part was the animals. WOW! The elephants were beyond description. They're BIG--REALLY, REALLY BIG. When we arrived at the gate to the park, there was a small herd of elephants. We got out to take pictures. They were so cool. These were not really big elephants, but they were still plenty huge. They were juveniles and females and still they were big.

There were plenty of other cool animals. The wart hogs were funny. They look pretty fierce, but they run whenever they see anyone. Well, they run about ten feet then stop and turn around. You can't help but laugh.

The buffalo were cool with their curved antlers (or are they horns?) They just sort of hung out. Our guide referred to the small groups as the loser males--those who were kicked out of the herd because they couldn't find a female who would accept them. Oh well, poor boys. The large herds were females, calves and a few males. The sheer number and size of them was awesome.

The hippos were another sight. We went on a boat ride where we saw the hippos in the water--up close and personal. However, Friday night Bry'Chell and I were walking back to our room about 10 PM when we saw a hippo on the lawn calmly munching on grass. That's when I figured out the the staff standing around were not there just by coincidence. The young man calmly assured us that, yes, we could walk past the hippo. And no, it would not bother us. That sucker was big. In the water you can't see just how overall huge the animal is. One of her (or his--I didn't check) legs was as big around as I am. Her legs were also longer than I realized from the water view.

We were told that the hippos are actually the most dangerous animal in the park. Given that the animals in the park include lions, elephants, wart hogs, Nile crocodiles and a bunch of other large mammals and reptiles, that's saying a lot.

The birds were abundant, varied and beautiful. We saw two kinds of eagles--but I can't remember what kinds they were--sorry, bird watchers. I'll try to find out.