The Beagle, a 2008 Toyota LC on a drift across Africa, piloted by Jim (FitzRoy) and Ann Colleen.
The Beagle, a 2008 Toyota LC on a drift across Africa, piloted by Jim (FitzRoy) and Ann Colleen.
There is time to contemplate how far we’ve come, from Cape Town to Kenya, to the beaches of Mozambique. Jim asked me where I thought we’d be without the Garmin and Traks4Africa – I said “Back home and divorced by now.” We are happily long past the point when every other minute brought on another decision. Tension ran high; that’s what comes of the being way outside your comfort zone. What would we change, now that we have time to think about it? Nothing, really. We couldn’t have taken this overland trip any sooner in our lives and the best time to go is when you go. The route has been successful – we calculated we’ve been on beaches of some sort since November, can’t 
complain about that. Neither of us has been sick. We’ve been through four different coffee presses, five decks of cards and one iPhone as well as countless cans of Peaceful Sleep insect repellent. We will not miss 
the mosquitoes.
There are places to return to and some gaps to fill, next time. Driving Namibia for months gave us a full view of that endless country. Botswana needs another look, hopefully before this trip is over. We’ve already been to Zimbabwe twice and will go back again later this month, so much to see there. Zambia is a favorite, where I am positive we waved to every single person in that friendly country. Tanzania nearly broke the 
bank but with its iconic parks it could not be missed. Zanzibar showed us our first taste of the slavers coast plus powered-sugar white sand beaches. The side trip to Ethiopia, that exotic place, was perfect. Camel 
caravans hauling salt into the sunset – what a scene.
Rwanda – a sobering lesson in humanity. One day we came to a nondescript village and it was time to get out of the truck. A large Genocide Memorial stood out, as in every single town and village. Only this one wasn’t quite finished yet. The very young security guard called an older gentleman to show us around this newly built but empty building. And the blank walls spoke as loudly as any placards. The hollow hallways echoed the footsteps of everyone who would never walk t
here. Finally we found ourselves in a basement containing 38 coffins, displayed neatly as if in a show room. Some had framed photos propped upon them, others had snapshots scotched-taped to them. To our undying surprise, the guide opened a coffin and handed us a small human skull. All these coffins have skulls, he said. At this location a church was bulldozed with thousands of people in it. His children are here, in one of the coffins. He shared his photos of them with us. We thanked him, signed the guest book and drove away. Rwanda; a country where everything is new because there was nothing left.
The primates in Uganda revel in the simplicity of life. We camped, all alone, in the Kibale forest and had a troop of 50+ baboons invade the clearing; they played, groomed each other and goofed off all morning, just having a good time being together. On the eastern side of the country we came to one of our better decisions – we really wanted to drive a certain road to enter Kenya. On the map it looked totally doable. But it was raining. Hard. And pondering the options,
we bypassed that road only to later meet a couple who had taken it; a heart-stopping track, they said “like driving on butter.” We spent a few minutes patting ourselves on the back for not going there. Of course that was prior to being desperately stuck in the mud twice in one week.
Kenya, that most organized of countries, gave us so many new friends. Eldoret town, Lake Turkana, the National Museum, JJs in Nairobi, Samburu Park, the fabulous Twiga and Barefoot beaches, Malindi town – I would go back to Kenya tomorrow. It took days for me to get 
over leaving Twiga; I kept asking myself why we left. But leaving there led us to Malawi and to time spent with our friends Jen and Jared. And on we go; more of Mozambique to see, more Zimbabwe, South Africa and camping with Adrian and Rentia, Swaziland, Lethoso, Botswana . . . where will it end?
Leaving Uganda, we will miss something found here and nowhere else. The Rolex. It is Ugandan signature street food, cooked at stands along the road in every town. There will be a small wood stand, usually with a cover, a stack of eggs and next to it a charcoal fire with a flat beaten skillet on it. There will be people lined up at a good Rolex stand and certainly guys hanging around shooting the breeze with the cook. The cook will roll out chapatis (made African style, thick and o
ily) and fry them up fresh, then scramble two eggs with tomato, onion and salt until they are cooked, top them with the fresh chapati – sometimes using two chapatis – and roll it up for you, sealing it into a plastic bag by brushing the plastic over the hot skillet. Good thing this is an open-air kitchen. We ordered up a Rolex everywhere we went. Hungry? Rolex. Almost Hangry? Get a Rolex. There’s one right there, pull over. Let’s eat.
Our experience with Ugandans was a pleasure, especially at the parks. Rangers, guides, and administrators were very happy to share their knowledge of life in the park. Local people like to talk politics – there is a move by the president to raise the presidential age limit so that he can continue to rule forever – parliament dissolved into fisticuffs on national TV – and they asked us repeatedly how Trump is doing. The uniquely Africa custom of greeting someone with long handshakes, smiles and hugs (even if you’ve just met) makes you feel special. And a smile always goes a long way, as is customary. Custom and tradition rule here even more so than President Musveni. As politically volatile as 
Uganda is, though, Kenya is a hot-bed of tension right now with a “fresh” national election coming up on the 26th – the August election was declared a fraud. We are keeping our heads down and staying in the western provinces where the situation is somewhat more stable. We will see what happens next.
Travel guidebooks, websites and forums will give you advice on how much to tip whom in Africa and how much you might expect to pay for services. They all caution against over-tipping and in some cases that is true, such as when a huge tip might make for little incentive to continue working. But while Jim and I tip whatever we feel like (and after nine months we have a feel) there are situations that cannot be covered by a guidebook or a forum. When this happens you are on your own.
Traveling south after spending a very rainy night in Kitoro we pass over soggy gravel/dirt roads and cross rivers over makeshift bridges without any problem. Then ahead of us we see a long expanse of running water and a lot of men gathered around. Before we could make sense of this we are surrounded by tribesmen. Turkana, Samburu, Maasai, and others crowd three deep around the truck. “We will push you across” the English-speaking tribesman says. “First take the air filter out, then shut off the engine and we will push you through the water.” 
Do what? How deep is the water? They indicate it is up to their waist. We roll up our windows to confer privately and watch as more men walk across – obviously the current isn’t too strong. Yet, anyway. We decide to risk it – to go around is at least a couple days out of our route. Using the engine here would be a disaster, water would surely soak the electronics. Push it is.
As we move about the truck to prepare we are literally embraced by half-naked tribesmen who have no sense of personal space but it is not uncomfortable. This is Africa. There is a confidence coming from them, they have pushed rigs across before us. “How much will this cost?” 50,000 shillings for each of the two channel crossings. OK, now how do we know if that price is too high or low? Do we dicker? Guidebooks aren’t going to help with this. How much are we willing to pay? What if we make it 
across and the car dies anyway should the electronics get wet? We’d be royally screwed at that point. I tell Jim, I bet they get us half way across and then raise the price. Sure enough, the price went up to 75,000 shillings for a total of 150,000 as we reached the far bank. That is about $42USD and worth it, the Beagle is 2,200+ pounds and the far bank was all uphill. I couldn’t believe 15 guys could get a good enough grip to move the truck through the water much less uphill. And the engine starts right up. Success is had and the price paid. This is what money is for.
But another group of local travelers did not fare so well. The engine on their Toyota would not start and we towed them 40 kilometers on the dirt road to the next town. A good deed, with many god bless yous given for our time. Hope it turns out ok for 
them. On we go, this time on a paved road. Boy, are we in dire need a car wash and we will tip well for it. Why not? This too is what money is for.
Road travel north of Murchison was quite challenging until a short time ago. The path to Kidepo (Ka-DAY-poe) National Park through the towns of Gulu and Kitgum were once dominated by the vile Lord’s Resistance Army. Despite its religious-sounding name, the LRA was just another bunch of terrorists too lazy to do anything but rob, rape and murder in the name of who knows what. The tribespeople who fought them weren’t much better and after years of brutality and horror (and gobs of money spent) the government made deals with both groups, offering jobs and amnesty to those who gave up their weapons. Aid has since poured into the province, roads are new and well-built and 
towns are thriving. So what was the warring about? The government of Uganda came out ahead, with an unmatched military arsenal now at its disposal. The president, who claimed he would submit to general elections 14 years ago, has held onto to the throne and recently flew his air force jets over a town just as the (completely meaningless) primary elections were taking place. Guess we know who is in charge here.
But I digress. Kidepo Park is well worth the visit. The two 
campsites there are spaced nicely along the Narus River Valley, the wetter side of the park. Further east in the Kidepo Valley it is drier and there, we are told, the tsetse fly rule. Tsetse flies have ruled many an acre in Africa, making land uninhabitable for cattle and causing governments to declare the lands a park since little else could be done in the flies’ presence. Maybe the tsetse aren’t so pointless after all.
We arrived at the park in late afternoon with time for a swift 
recon drive and camp setup before the rain started. A French couple we’d met at Murchison were camped near us and they asked us to tag along with them for a morning drive. Good for them we did, as their rental Toyota Rav4 high-centered on the muddy track right away. Jim opened his bag of tricks (the recovery gear) and quickly had them out of the mud. Presently we drove right up to this handsome lion – a young male who had been mating all night and was exhausted. Or was that the reason he was so tired? No, he is limping terribly. His left front paw is swollen and misshapen, it is a wonder he can walk. Hard to see this creature in his prime so sorely injured. At the ranger po
st we are told he broke his leg two weeks ago, maybe a zebra or buffalo kick, and he has been recovering slowly. Two other male lion and a lioness are apparently seeing that he has food and a vet has come out twice to tend to him. Yes, odd as it sounds, the lion are taking care of each other. No one wants to see him suffer or die, his presence and his genes are needed in the park.
Kidepo boasts four of the Big Five and by 9:45am Jim and I 
have seen all four – lion, buffalo, elephant and fantastically, a leopard. Movement in a tree caught our eye and the leopard looked at us and jumped down, disappearing in the long grass. To spot one is a real prize. Spotting an elephant sounds easy but yesterday there were none in the Narus Valley. Today there are over 100. Where did they come from? Out of nowhere there is a huge herd in front of us and they are not particularly relaxed. This bull is called Bulbul 
and he is notorious for claiming the road for himself. He thrust his tusk into the mud and stood on three legs with his one hind leg extended, just to show off, I think – quite a sight. We tried sneaking by him after waiting half an hour for him to move off and he charged – I jammed it in reverse and we turned around to find a different route. That’s what reverse is for.
Our Kidepo adventure continued; we became mired in the 
mud and were helped out by another Land Cruiser. The kids in the Cruiser took a video; hope that doesn’t go viral on YouTube, haha. Jim and the Beagle have never been so filthy dirty. In comparison these exceedingly handsome Abyssinian Hornbill graced the road, posing for photos. Look at those eyelashes! This zebra is a tough guy, missing the top of both ears from fighting with other males and with deep fresh scars on his hind quarters from a lion attack. 
Finally, we even missed our gate exit time, and they waved us through – very obliging of them – and we headed south through the tribal lands toward the Kenyan border, the intermittent rains pouring down and creating dramatic skies.
Over dinner at the Ruwenzori View Guesthouse the conversation turned to the experience of driving to Murchison Falls National Park from Fort Portal. Two couples had done the more straightforward route, but it took them 11 hours. After considering just how many things can go wrong on an 11 hour drive we decided to break it up by driving south then turning north.
After Jim miraculously fixed the battery cable that broke (and stopped us dead in the water) we drove half a day south of Kibale to Lake Mburo National Park. 
The area surrounding the lake resembles the big hobby farms of the western US. Ankole cattle, the unique Ugandan breed with enormous horns, are raised here in huge numbers and only the really rich could possibly own this many cows. The line between farm and park is fluid as we have seen in much of Uganda. The lake is lovely and birdlife is prolific.
Moving on, it took another three days to reach Murchison – Lake Nabugabo and the town of Masindi provided the stopovers. At Lake Nabugabo the noisy Black-Casqued Horn bills squawked repeatedly and loudly from dawn to 
dusk. They would have been annoying if they weren’t birds. However, in Masindi town at the long-running Masindi Hotel (famous for Katherine Hepburn residing there while filming The Africa Queen) birds were not the problem. It was the ridiculously loud speakers on the street that rang out terrible pop music from 6:30am to well after midnight. An assault on the senses that drowned out the song birds, this relentless barrage of bad taste made us grit our teeth and leave town as quickly as we could. We’d been warned that Ugandans love their loud speakers but this was beyond the 
pale. Even the out-of-tune screeching of the call to prayers in Zambia held no candle to this. Too bad, Masindi is a lovely town but you’ll want to be deaf to live there.
At last, we came to the Nile. The Nile dominates Murchison Falls National Park. One of the world’s seven great rivers, here in Murchison all of the Nile’s water pours through a crevasse only 24 feet wide and 80 feet deep forming the park’s namesake. 
All that water channeled into one tight spot – now that is a rock and a hard place. We imagine kayakers standing at the top (and you can stand right at the top of the drop) calculating which run to take. Haha. If the falls doesn’t kill you (and it will) the crocs at the bottom will find you numb and delicious. We traveled up the river by boat to experience another view of the falls: it is quite spectacular. If the Nile is running very high the falls become washed out but on our visit the water was showing the best drama. That will change. The rainy season is upon us.
Only the campsite locations detracted from thoroughly enjoying the whole of this Park. There is camping allowed in two places, both of them at the southern end of the park. Being Uganda’s largest park, it is problematic to game-drive it and make it back to camp before dark. We spent most of our visit near the Nile and did the far end of the park on our exit day. We encountered so many giraffe that morning, we nearly stayed another day just to play with them. Still, there is more to see in Uganda so on we went.
While tramping through the Kibale forest the emphasis was on primates. Birds 
could be heard but it takes a concentrated effort to see them and not something to combine with a chimp trek. However, not once did anyone mention snakes. I know I never gave them any thought, while following Toti and Black and the rest of the chimps. So imagine the feeling we had when we found this creature. It is a Gabon viper and it lives in the forest alongside the chimps and birds. Also called the Rhino viper because of its horned head, it has the longest fangs and the highest venom yield of any snake. Any snake. Anywhere. And here it is, freshly squ
ashed in the road with the eggs it would have laid scattered about its body. Holy cow! (or words to that effect). We’ve never seen anything like it and I for one am glad we saw it after spending the day in forest. We did take another photo but really, it is too graphic. Some things are better left to the imagination.
We found the snake on our way to the Bigodi Swamp where locals lead birding walks into the swamp (and there are many snakes). This community effort has been ongoing since the Kibale was gazetted. Cottage indus
tries have sprung up around the Bigodi, there are craft shops and a new restaurant, as well as a museum showcasing Bantu cultural items and offering village cultural walks. The museum is run by Jared, our chimp guide – as I said there is little he doesn’t know about the area and he has created a terrific cultural center. There is so much to do in Kibale and the camping is inexpensive – we stayed four days and did it all.
Owen is my birding guide in the wetland and while we did not get an early start we still saw plenty of creatures. The African Blue Turaco is a regular in the swamp and so is this African Dusty Flycatcher. Primates live here as well and the chimps often visit although they do not stay long. Baboons are a problem, they rob the nearby fields. This Grey-cheeked Mangabey looks like it has tumors but actually he is storing food in his cheeks for later. Owen shared that he doesn’t like the Mangabey “because he is grey.” Owen much prefers the striking Black and White Colobus. Yes, the Ma
ngabey is unattractive but they are really smart for what that is worth; I thought the Mangabey was a cool guy, to use Jared term for primates he likes.
Back at the cultural center my continuing search for chameleons was rewarded with this fellow. He is shedding his skin – fascinating that he is even more camouflaged than ever with his skin flaking off. He matches the colo
r of the Yellow Oleander branch so closely he was difficult to locate after I put him back on his perch. Lunch and a guided tour of the cultural museum rounded out the last day in Kibale Forest National Park. Uganda has done a terrific job with this park and the locals are benefiting. Now it is on to Murchinson Falls and the Nile River.
Did you know that female chimps initiate sex with the males? The female see a male with an erection and in five seconds or so the job is done, the female is off to find another erection and the male is left to tidy himself with some leaves. Chimps do things differently than gorillas or baboons. Females mate with any and all males and female juveniles move off to other groups to avoid incest. Male babies are still at extreme risk but female babies are welcomed. We saw this, and more, on our day-long habituation trek with Toti’s group of chimps. All hail Toti – on the left, to the right is Black. Toti is magnificent, the undisputed boss of his 200-member group.
Here in Kibale chimps have been habituated since 1992 and tracking them all day is good for their continued habituation. Jared, our Bantu guide, has been with the chimps since the park was gazetted and prior to that he hunted food in the forest. There is little he doesn’t know. The three of us, me, Jim and Lisa from Portland Maine, are lucky to have him. Jared cautions us that Toti can get physical. We aren’t allowed to get more than 20 meters from the chimps but no one tells the chimps how close they can get to us – as we will find out.
It is bright and clear at 6:30am and if nothing else, it’s an excellent walk in the woods. Soon we meet the first few chimps of the tribe. From the tree tops where they built their nightly nests, they come down to relax, groom and socialize. Almost instantly we are surrounded – not by chimps but by other chimp watchers – at least 18 people plus their guides and guards. What have we gotten into? The mad rush to photograph every chimp makes for a mob scene and one by one we back off to the perimeter with Jared. It is astonishing that the chimps don’t mind the mob. These people only have one hour with the chimps, similar to gorilla trekking. An hour with chimps is not like an hour in church – the chimp hour goes much faster.
Jared motions us to follow him – “let’s track this cool guy” he says of Black, one of the mature males. Presently we leave all the other people behind and it is just us and the chimps and the forest. Black climbs a tree – how does a creature that big sit on such a tiny branch? – and begins calling to his friends. Chimps have 52 vocalizations, all of them are loud and wild. Some calls appear obvious such as when the small male left behind began crying loudly, like a kid lost in the mall. He was quickly answered by the tribe and found his way to them. Black’s calls attract a female, the two mate and then, just as Jared predicted, the others show up. We sit down in their mids
t and watch them play and groom and we all converse about evolution, fidelity, chimps and humans. Why not, we have enough vocalization for that.
But Toti wants some action and he rouses the others into a frenzy by rushing about and hooting. Other chimps join him, surrounding us, then Toti leads a charge right at the four of us. Now what did Jared say to do when this happens? Oh, yeah, stand up and stand still. But this puffed-up primate is hurling himself at us as fast as he can – which is pretty f’n fast – and it is all we can do to breath. Toti swings past Jim and slaps him on the thigh, the rest of the chimps rush past and we all take a breath. “He is just showing off” Jared says. It was deeply impressive, especi
ally when Toti did it again, this time slapping Lisa. I was starting to feel left out. Jim said he’d show me how it felt but it’s not the same thing.
As the day goes on rain starts bucketing down. The chimps go into another frenzy, howling and screaming. They don’t care for the rain (yes, they live in a rain forest, but many people who live in snow don’t like it, right?) We try to wait it out but it is clear that we have no chance, we are soaked and the chimps are in hiding. The trail is a river of mud. Time to declare the habituation over. On the way out, slogging through rain and the wet mud we meet the last group of hourly visitors, just starting out for the chimps. Hope they had a good time. We certa
inly did. If you go, do the all-day habituation. You will not be disappointed.
Thirteen years ago we visited Fort Portal; I remember it being a nice little town and it still is. The Ruwenzori mountains dominate the view, streets rise and fall with the hills and valleys and there is a locally famous Toyota Authorized service dealer in town, the “Stitch and Sew” Toyota shop. Fame comes from a stint on a TV show where the staff at Stitch and Sew outfitted an overland vehicle with beds – the travelers were tired of cheap lodging and bed bugs. Yes, sleeping in the truck has its advantages. We just need welding done, the spare tire mount and the truck bed frame have cracked, easy stuff for Tadeo the welder. The shop is quite capable and we decide to have the second big service done here – looks like we will be in FP for a few days.
There is one campsite in town, not very inspiring, so we drive around to see if the guesthouse we stayed in on our previous visit is still operating- it was run by a Dutch woman and faced the mountains, that’s about all we could remember. After a couple false turns, the Ruwenzori View Guesthouse appeared before us. Score one for our memory. Ineke Jongerius just celebrated the 20-year anniversary of the guesthouse that she and her husband began as a project to give
something back to the community. Rather than work for an NGO they decided to start a business and employee people. Success shows in the photos of all the long-term employees and managers. Joseph the manager who was here back in 2004 is still here. The food is still wonderful – it is served communally – and the gardens have grown even better. The house dogs new. All that is missing is a cat, by my meager standards. The birding is excellent.
The Scarlet Spectacled Wattle-eye is about the most aptly named bird I have snapped on this trip. It is a tiny little guy but was most cooperative, a new bird for me. This Blac
k-headed Waxbill is new as well. A few feet from our room, just standing still in the garden, I added three birds to my list in about 10 minutes. After much searching, I’m ready to declare this a Shelly’s Sunbird – my bird book has 11 pages of sunbirds and none exactly match this one for details and range. Anyone is welcome to correct me! What a lovely bird.
Back at the Stitch and Sew, Alouys can put a new compressor in the refrigerator, hopefully finally fixing our frig issues. The work will take a couple days so we head out to Semeliki Hot Springs on a fresh new road. Years ago it took us all day to drive to Semeliki – today it only takes an hour. I cannot decide if that is good or bad – nothing like a good dirt road to eat up a day. The hot springs are impressive, the steam 
alone makes you think of the roiling magma down below us – and what’s to keep it all down there anyway? We boil three eggs in the water, it only takes a minute. That hasn’t changed.
The Ruwenzori View is a most pleasant place to be when it rains and they know how to make it rain in Fort Portal. Great streams of water are dumped over the town as our stay is winding down. The rainy season has begun in earnest. We head south, not to escape the rain (that is impossible) but to visit th
e chimps in Kibale Forest National Park. It’s a short drive on a good road and that is ok.
The probability of seeing mountain gorillas on a trek in Bwindi National Park is about 100 per cent. Trackers keep tabs on all the different groups and the gorillas are visited every single day by someone, habituating them to human contact. Seven people and one guide plus a guard form our group of trekkers. Jim and I have trekked to gorillas once before but we are as jazzed as the others and believe me, these peopl
e are over the top excited. They can scarcely stand still and when one fellow sneezes he really is worried that the guide will turn him back – don’t want the gorillas to catch a cold. No worries though, all of us sneeze a little while tramping through thick underbrush that the guide is slicing with his machete. The trek is respectable, up one hill and down another until the trackers meet up with us and we d
itch our gear and step into the magic of gorillas in the wild.
To be up close to gorillas is to wonder just how close humans are to our cousins from a different branch of the evolutionary tree. Their faces reflect emotion and it is difficult not to anthropomorphize. Why does this black-back, a 12-year old male, look so sad? Is he lonely? Can we talk to him? I know that 
sounds silly, you had to be there. Our guide David explains the young male cannot hang with the others, it is too much of a challenge for the silverback leader. But by hanging back, a willing female might accept the black-back’s advances. Well, maybe “willing” isn’t the correct term. David shares that females are afraid of the males and come mating time it is chaos and panic for them. Beatings are common and females bear scars and torn ears. What would it be like to 
watch a group day in and day out and witness all these fascinating interactions? It is easy to imagine how Dian Fossey was seduced by these gentle giants and she gave her life for them. As it so happens in Africa, her story was not all what it seemed. Farley Mowatt wrote a terrific book about Dian Fossey, Woman in the Mist. The Community Library has it – check it out. The story is as tragic as these great apes. Who wouldn’t love them?
The Bwindi Impenetrable National Park is not a large forest. Agriculture marches right up to the edge and there are crops inching into the forest. People are poor and families are large. Gorilla trekking is a great help to the community – if you visit there, the Buhoma Community Rest Camp is a welcoming and comfortable place to stay before you trek. Good food, great deck, very warm and friendly staff. We enjoyed chatting with a couple from Los Angeles who’d left their careers 
and sold their home to travel for a year and then resettle somewhere new. Needless to say, we highly recommended Idaho. Who knows, maybe this couple will show up on our doorstep some day.
There are more than twice as many people in Uganda now as when we visited 13 years ago. The population has doubled. Doubled, as in every person times two. It is almost inconceivable. Where do they live? What do they eat? Crops are grown on every surface that can be farmed and no slope is too steep. Agriculture keeps much of the population busy, but it is not a high paying industry unless you own the farm. We spoke to local people who told us teachers are poorly trained and rarely paid and the local paper’s headline said a high percentage of children cannot do sums and subtraction. From Rwanda to here, it is out of the frying pan into the fire. No wonder so many people ask us if anyone can make it in America.
We enter Uganda at the crumbling Katuna border post where the trucks are 
stacked 10 long and three deep. It is surprisingly efficient and we quickly adjust to driving on the left again – Rwandans drive on the right. Best to drive sober in all these countries. A few kilometers from the border, Lake Bunyonyi has facilities for us at the edge of lake – we are the only campers on this steep and lovely piece of property. There’s bandas (rooms) and a restaurant and since it is Sunday the local folks are making an outing of it, visiting the lake and having lunch. A group walks into our camp and exclaims, “look at the white people” to their children. They whip out their phones and pose for photos with us; they have me hold the baby and take photos, all the while chatting in their local language. What a hoot.
Uganda is a former British colony and to honor the visit of Queen Elizabeth back in the day, they renamed the Kazinga National Park – it is now Queen Elizabeth National Park. I find that charming for some reason. Queen, as it is called, is the second largest park, consisting of rivertine areas, huge grass-covered plains, and the remnants of volcanic explosion craters. Large mammals are a bit scarce, decimated by poaching in the ’70s but coming back slowly. Lions, elephant, elusive leopard, and prodigious bird life make it interesting. Here we scouted for the famous tree-climbing lions – their favorite fig trees are marked on the map! 
We did not see them, the weather was quite unsettled and much rain came down so likely they were wet and miserable under some bush. However, I did not feel skunked as I spotted this bird – the Ross’s Turaco – 
and it was kind enough to sit still for photos. I’ve seen it twice before, both times at Kapishya Hot Springs, and it was so twitchy I could never get close. These shots don’t do it justice – on the wing it has gorgeous magenta feathers that flash like neon. It is one of few birds with that color feather. Isn’t it adorable?
Other species spotted include this African Blue Flycatcher and this Fan-tailed Widowbird. The Black headed Gonolek has become quite common, I don’t go all primate when I see one now. Fire finches and Fine
-spotted woodpeckers are lovely. They are not on the “Ugly Five” list – not to be confused with the Big Five (lion, leopard, rhino, elephant and buffalo
). This Marabou Stork qualifies, in fact I think it is on the top of the ugly list. But what can you do when you’ve evolved this big air sac for flying high and it happens to be pink? Deal with it.
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