The First Game Drive

Today is the day for my very first ever game drive!  Yesterday doesn't count because we just saw things on our way to the briefing spot at Ziwa, the top of the falls, and to our hotel room.  We weren't out specifically just looking for whatever animals we come across driving through the park.  After breakfast, we got in the car and headed to Murchison Falls National Park.  The park is close to the northwest corner of Uganda.  It's on the Victoria Nile and Lake Albert.  This is the area of the old Bogie and Hepburn movie, "African Queen".  I had seen the boat several years before.  It's docked in Key Largo, Florida.  Just walk out on the docks, and she's right there - or at least she used to be.  Anyway, the movie really isn't relevant to the game drive - just a side note.  On the other side of Lake Albert is the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and just a bit north of the park is South Sudan.  There's the geography and movie trivia lesson.  Now, on to the animals!

After breakfast, we headed out.  Not even half a mile down the road (a kilometer to you folks who don't live in the US), we found our first elephant!  Absolutely beautiful in the morning mist!

Soon after entering the park (which was very close to our hotel), we came across more bushbuck and more elephants.  Then, in the same general area, we found patas monkeys

and our first Jackson's hartebeest.

There were also lots of oribi.  We thought they were baby bushbuck, but they are not.  They're just very small.  This is a male bushbuck (with horns) and a female oribi (without horns).  They just happen to be in the same place.

Not long after, we came across another elephant, this one with a bird on his back.  I think it was a piapac (related to the magpie), but I'm not sure.  

Keep in mind that we are just so enthralled with these animals, that Gody has to prompt us to move along after watching each of them for a while!  

Soon, we got our first look at Lake Albert in the distance

and some vultures roosting in a tree.  

After some baboons in trees (which we did stop and photograph, but there will be plenty of baboon pix, and these were nothing special, so I'll skip them), we came upon a couple of giraffes!  Nice and stately with long necks and beautiful reticulated markings!

They have birds that like to hang out on them, eating ticks and other bugs.  Ladies and gentlemen, meet the red billed oxpecker!

By mid morning, we made it to the lake, where there were facilities that needed to be used!  There was also a couple of bloats of hippos in the lake, close to the shore.  Their bird of choice appears to be that most exotic of exotic birds, the common egret!  (LOL)  Note how this bird balances on the stack of hippo heads beneath it!

A warthog had also taken up residence in the shade of a small tree by the restrooms!

After stretching our legs and exploring this shore of Lake Albert, we got back in the car - er, safari vehicle.  Before taking off, though, we had Gody take a picture of me, Susan, and Kalema and our safari vehicle!  Ain't we adorable?!

On the way back out of the park, we skirted the lake and soon came across our first road block.

We did have to wait just a bit until shenanigans were complete before moving on.

We hadn't even completely passed the herd of water buffalo before finding a flock of that majestic bird, the national bird of Uganda, the African crowned crane.

I couldn't choose one of these over the other, so they both made it into the blog!  Traffic was very busy because only five minutes down the road, we met our next road block!

After he crossed the road, we hung around taking pictures of him, like we have for all of the other animals.  Apparently, he was not in the mood.  He doubled back, faced the road, and fake charged at us with his ears puffed out.  We decided that since this was his living room, we would follow his instructions and leave before he decided to charge for real!

Driving on through the park, we came across more giraffes and other animals, and after about 25 minutes, we met the King of the Forest.  He was more in a savanah, but still!

His queen was nearby, under the shade of a bush.

We hung out as long as we could watching these guys, but Gody had come a bit off the road so we could get decent pictures, and Kalema said we had plans for the afternoon and needed to get back for lunch.  So we headed back to the hotel with only a few stops for other animals, including the large herd of elephants that went by while we marveled at the babies.

Only about 24 hours since our first animal encounter at the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary and we already have four of the Big 5 (rhino, elephant, water buffalo, and lion, missing only the leopard) and two of the Ugly 5 (warthog and vulture).  Of course, I haven't even been counting the Ugly 5 yet!  My head is spinning about the animals we have seen already! 

Following lunch, we headed to the Victoria Nile, where we were scheduled for a cruise to the base of the falls.  Nothing like the speed boat under the falls I did in Iguazu, but it was safe to take the camera on this one!  It was a catamaran, and our guide was named Olive.  She said her nickname was "Baboon" because the baboons in the area were olive baboons, so she was good with that!  Staff kept trying to run this little guy off, but he kept coming back.  For a minute, I thought he was going to drive off with this little center console!

We saw tons of hippos and I took loads of photos.  I didn't manage to get any with their mouth open, though, hard as I tried.  If you look closely at this one, you can see the baby in the middle.

We watched this fisher eagle go fishing.  Thankfully, he recognized that his prey was actually a piece of garbage and not a good meal.  I wish we could have stopped and picked it up out of the water. 

We crossed paths with our first crocodile.  I smiled at him, but I don't think he saw me.  ♫♫♫♫

We passed this flock of white faced whistling ducks.  They look an awful lot like Canada geese!

This female giant kingfisher was sitting rather stately on a bare branch!

We passed lots more hippos, a giraffe that I couldn't get a decent shot of, more hippos, some baboons and some warthogs, all of whom came down to the water's edge.  Then we came to a cliff.  This cliff is apparently the home of bee eater birds.  They drill their holes high in the cliff to stay out of reach of the monitors, which we didn't see.

A small herd of elephants with a baby also came to the water's edge for a drink.

Olive called this the "loser" herd of water buffalo.  These are apparently males who had lost breeding rights in their original herd, so they were kicked out.  They know they need to join up with other "losers" for safety from predators.

It amazed me how far back we saw the foam from the falls.  Foam was visible at least 15 minutes before we were in view of the waterfall itself.  That's a sign of a pretty strong waterfall.

When we got close enough to the falls that we had to turn back because the water was too fast for us to safely go closer, there was a small island with a tree full of cormorants.  Their throats were expanding and contracting like frogs, but more quickly.  Olive said this was how they cool down.  It was pretty hot out.  I tried to take a video, but between the boat shaking and my tremor, you just couldn't tell what was going on.  I have an appointment with my neurologist to talk about starting treatment for it.  He says we have some options.

On the way back to the dock, we saw much more of the same things.  Finally got a decent shot of a crocodile.

And saw a beautiful juvenile gray heron.

On the way back to the hotel, SURPRISE!  Another road block!  This time a herd of bushbuck crossing the road.  I think they're hilarious the way their back ends move when they run!

A few more elephants and some other pretty birds that I couldn't get shots of, and we were back at the hotel for the night.  All in all, an amazing day, and I was more than ready for sleep!