Those animals don't live in the same area... they are even from different continents....Africa...Asia...and North America depending on the type of bear!
So after today's adventure ... should is say lions... elephants... and warthogs oh my! Today I kicked something else off of my bucket list and as I lay here under my mosquito net in my bed at the foot of the Rwenzori Mountains... I want to share what all we saw...
This journey begins last Thursday when Hannington dropped me off in Kampala at my friend Sarah's house... spent the night there and then were to set off on our great adventure Friday morning. However due to some mechanical details with the car... we got a bit of a late start. Stopped by Makindi market for Alyssa to purchase some African made craft items. Then we got on the road praying for safe travel and to not get stopped by the police. Crossed the equator and then headed to Masaka where we met some of Sarah's friends at Hope Alive.
Saturday...while Sarah and Alyssa went on home visits and Saturday club... I stayed in the hotel with a massive headache. The power was out so all day so the workers below had the generator running for their power tools. Great for a headache! By evening was feeling better.
Sunday... Went to Masaka Baptist Church then met up with the driver that was hired to take us the rest of the way to Kasese. The road gets really bed and Sarah didn't want to take her car on the Safari. While driving down the road we saw monkeys and elephants and a myriad of other animals. By mid evening we made it to Kasese and met up with some English friends for tea! Sarah and Alyssa are staying with these friends and I am staying across the road at Rwenzori The Gardens hotel. So when I was ready to go the armed security walked me to the hotel.
Monday... started very early.... I was up a bit before 5am... met up with Henry our driver at 5:45 and then picked up Sarah and Alyssa. We headed to Queen Elizabeth National Park which was about 45 minutes away. We picked up a park ranger and paid our park fees and off we went....
The first highlight of the day was going to the bathroom... expecting to find a pit latrine and actually finding a clean toilet! Oh the simple joys in life.
As we are driving through the African plains we see lots of kobs which kind of look like deer and are everywhere... we see a few warthogs that when they run their tail goes straight up like a warning beacon. Then we come upon a lioness laying in the tall grass next to a rock just watching a group of kobs playing nearby. We sat watching her through binoculars from the top of the car before moving on. As we were driving I kept praying to see more lions and as we came around the bend there were two male lions just relaxing about 10 feet from the vehicle. Of course we stopped... turned off the engine and watched these magnificent creatures for about 15 minutes before other vehicles started showing up. These lions are brothers and looked like they had been out for the kill this morning as they still had blood in their mouths and one had an injury on his hind leg. It was an amazing glimpse of God's creation.
Throughout the drive we say everything from water buffalo to warthogs to several kinds of deer to a turtle and mongoose. Once we dropped off the park ranger we headed to the lodge for tea and lunch before heading out on the Kazinga Channel for a boat tour. I was super concerned about getting motion sick but it was quite a slow, smooth ride. We saw elephants playing in t he water... lots of cape buffalos and hippos. This was upclose and personal with the animals. Also saw crocodiles and lots of varieties of birds. Two hours of watching these creatures in their own habitat was absolutely amazing!
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