If I Had A Tail

Giuchie, giuchie, oh la la.


TL;DR: amazing day at Queen Elizabeth National Park, doing game drives and a boat trip.


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Over 600 photos taken today, trimmed down to two thirds. There was simply too much to choose from.
I chose this one because I'm proud of it photographically and it's not your standard or cliche African safari photo (I hope). Of course, this was taken with my new baby 70-200. This was the first day I truly got to appreciate it's magnificence in the context it was meant for!


So what did we get up to today? Very early wake up before dawn, followed by quick breakfast and then Jeffrey came by to pick us up. We made our way to the game tracks of Queen Elizabeth National Park, on the north side of the Kazinga channel. This is my first safari (excluding this one of course)!
On the way in, we already saw a herd of elephants crossing the road. As the sun started rising across the savannah, we started seeing plenty of Uganda kob. Kob are what you'd consider your standard african antelope everybody gets bored of, but they're still elegant and interesting creatures. They and the buffaloes are almost part of the landscape here, scattered amongst the giant cactus trees and marshes. The cactus trees are really impressive, branching out towards the sky, covered in other plantation growing over them. When you drive by, you can hear plenty of birds inside, they're like microsystems.
The location was incredibly scenic, with the Rwenzori mountain range (highest mountain range in Africa) visible at all times. We drove around little dirt tracks and Jeffrey let Kris and me sit on the roof. This in itself made the safari twice as cool, sitting on the roof the whole time!!

Soon enough, we caught sight of a couple hyenas far away, returning from a night of scavenging. Then came the big deal, a leopard hunting. It was really hard to see given the distance, and the binoculars actually held me back, but I did catch a couple glimpses.

Then we were back on the road: kob, buffaloes, warthogs, elephants, waterbuck, bushbuck... The whole lot are amazing. Of course, as the sun rose, there were less and less animals about to see. But then Jeffrey gets a call from one of his ranger buddies and he tells us to get back in the car. He drives off at full speed across the savannah. Turns out there's a pack of six lions sleeping near a bush! Boom, jackpot. The lions themselves were being lazy, but they still looked magnificent.

After the well-satisfying morning of game viewing, we headed back to the lodge. On the road, we got our first encounters with inquisitive baboons and playful vervets. Wildlife is rich here!

I'm probably rambling on too much, so I'll just cut the crap a little bit. We chilled for a bit at the lodge, then had lunch at a place called Tembo Canteen, with a great view on the Mweya Peninsula and the channel, where we enjoyed our first meal of goat. Then we embarked on a boat ride on the channel with other tourists for more game-viewing. Plenty of birds and mammals, but most interesting were the hippos, Nile crocodiles and elephants, all of which we got to see from very close up. Some fish eagles were also impressive to see flying over! The perfect way to spend the afternoon really, snapping away with my telephoto while Kris attempted risque shots of hippos using the gopro.

After that, Jeffrey took us straight on an evening game drive through the tracks again. There was less game, but that was more than largely made up for by the fact that the sunset was incredible, turning the savannah into a burning red field backed by the Rwenzoris on the horizon! We also stopped by a couple crater lakes, to admire the work of the Great Rift!
By the time night had fallen (and it falls really first here near the equator), we headed back to the hostel for a 4-course meal and much desired sleep.

Altogether, it was the sickest day, and one of the highlights of the whole trip! My first safari was a success and I'm very proud of the photos from today. Winning.

peace