If the World is my Oyster, Uganda is its Pearl

 Ah, Africa!  My seventh continent.  So much to offer that I want to see.  But my last trip to Antarctica, Patagonia, Iguazu Falls, and Buenos Aires taught me that I have to pace myself.  So, I studied the things each country had to offer and narrowed my trip down to two countries and one landmark area.  I felt with these specific choices, I could maximize the animals and scenery in the time that I could probably handle without wearing myself out.

For East Africa, Uganda has it all.  All of the animals that can be seen in most all of the parks can be found in Uganda.  You may not find lions lounging in the middle of the streets because the parks are larger and not as crowded with animals that they have no choice other than to be in the middle of the road.  I felt confident that I could see most of the animals in the parks without needing them to be so crowded they had to hang out in the roads.  And the tour guide I chose had a way about her that just gave me confidence in her ability to ensure I saw the animals I wanted to see and then some.  Though Masai Mara in Kenya and some other parks are more popular than those in Uganda, I felt I would see more just sticking with Uganda than going for the popular and overcrowded parks and racking up more countries visited.  So, I booked my trip to the Pearl of Africa (Uganda) with Kalema Hasifa of Great Expeditions East Africa.  My concentration was on the Big 5 (elephant, water buffalo, rhino, lion, leopard) and the primates - mountain gorillas, chimpanzees, and golden monkeys as well as the smaller monkeys.  Kalema also asked all the questions when I let her know I had some health issues and would be traveling with a BiPAP machine.  She knew my doctors were working with me to be able to do the uphill treks, but that I would need to be in the easiest groups and may need to use the "African Helicopters", as the sedan chairs were called.  She said she would make those arrangements.

Even after the medical scare that almost caused me to have to cancel this trip, I felt confident that Kalema had everything covered for this part, and she exceeded my expectations.  I flew in late at night, and she had a hotel arranged with a driver waiting for me at the airport.  Susan, the other girl who was on this and the next part of the trip, was already there.  Kalema and her driver, Godfrey (Gody for short), picked us up early in the morning, and we started our drive to have lunch with the rhinos at the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary.

As we were leaving Entebbe, it amazed me just how much the countryside, architecture, and city planning resembled Ecuador.  Kalema reminded me that even though the two countries are on opposide sides of the globe, they are both on the equator and share a variety of items, such as climate (microclimates), crops, and weather.  Cattle graze along the side of the road, though you don't tend to see the Ankole long-horned cattle in Ecuador.  

Uganda is also apparently working with Ecuador to develop the oil reserves, in which Uganda will participate in the oil market like Ecuador does.  I would expect gas and oil will also be subsidized in Uganda once the market is developed.  One of the things that distinguished Uganda from Ecuador (aside from the animals) was the termite mounds just randomly along the side of the road!

When we arrived at the rhino sanctuary, we got signed in and headed into the park.  The first animal we encountered was the vervet monkey.  These guys were adorable and pretty common everywhere we went.

Also making their appearance was the warthog.  Turns out "Pumbaa" means slow-witted, stupid, can't remember crap, etc in Swahili.  Because the warthog fits this description, they have been referred to as Pumbaa long before Disney used the name in The Lion King.  I think it's adorable they way then get on their front knees to graze, as if they're too tall to reach the grass!

Then we saw the targeted white rhino lying under a tree

And several bushbuck, including this male.

When we made it to the office/restaurant/gift shop area, we learned about the rhinos in Uganda.  The rhino went extinct in Uganda during the rule of Idi Amin.  Long after he was removed from power, a lady decided she wanted to reintroduce them to the area.  So, she obtained land, enough to raise white rhino and other animals, and purchased some rhinos around 2006.  She purchased two from the US, from Disney's Animal Kingdom, and four from Kenya.  One of the first breedings was a cow from the US and a bull from Kenya.  The resulting baby boy was aptly named "Obama".  Since then, there have been many births, and the total number of white rhino currently in Uganda is 41, all living at Ziwa. The rhinos obtained from Disney have since passed, as it turns out they were not in very good health when they were purchased.  There is discussion about releasing some of the rhino into Murchison Falls National Park.  Before doing so, they need to put together a plan to prevent poaching, as the park is very close to both Congo and South Sudan, two countries known for not discouraging poaching and known to have poachers who cross borders.  But the goal of the Ziwa reserve was not to just have the rhino on this land.  It was to repopulate the country of the white rhino that previously roamed most of the land.

After our briefing, we went for a walk to find some of the rhino that live there.  After just a short walk, we came upon a whole crash who had decided to wallow in a mud puddle.

Sorry about the shake.  My tremor was pretty bad by this time.  In fact, I started getting dizzy and had to take a seat on the ground in the shade at one point while we were watching these guys.  This crash ended up having about 9 members that kept crowding into this little mud puddle!  And we were so close to them!  It was amazing!  And this was before lunch on my first day!  Speaking of lunch, I wasn't able to eat my lunch, but I did drink a lot.

After getting back in the safari van, drinking more water, and taking a nap, I felt much better.  Which was great because when we pulled into Murchison Falls National Park, we were greated by troops and troops of baboons!  This would become a pretty common sight all over Uganda!

We also came across a Blue Monkey.  Sorry for the poor quality.  It is the only sighting of the blue monkey that we had, so a poor picture is better than no picture!

And we made the first sighting of my favorite monkey, the Black and White Colobus Monkey!

All of this while we were making our way to the top of the falls.  Murchison Falls is pretty impressive.  The spray traveled a long way!  They are billed as the strongest falls in the world based on how strong the water is as it is squeezed through the open area.  I didn't take any measurements or even look up what the strength of the falls are compared to others.  It did not look as impressive as Iguazu, but the spray was pretty strong and traveled a very long way!

As we left the falls and were passing over the Nile River, we encountered a beautiful sunset!

We also encountered other animals, such as a waterbuck, water buffalo, elephants, and a hyena, but it was too dark to get those shots.  This one came out beautifully, though.  I almost think it's prettier than the one over the Nile!

When we finally made it to our hotel for the night, we saw the shadow of an elephant passing by, but it was too dark to actually see the elephant.  I had busted out the new camera, a Canon mirrorless with a Tamron 150-600 lens, and I was cradeling it in my arms so the weight of the camera didn't rest on the lens.  As the hotel staff took it from me to help get my belongings to my room, it became dubbed "The Baby" because of the need to be cradled like a baby.

I'm excited to see what animals we see in the park while we're actually looking for them tomorrow!  All in all, a pretty solid first day in country!