Breakfast at 6:45 and off from the Masindi Hotel at 7:30. We re-entered the forest and birded along a road very similar to the Royal Road, except that it was sunny and so bird activity was slightly better. Unexpectedly, we ended up walking for a mile or two as Eriab moved the vans and our gear before we realized what was happening, so we were without our stools, snacks, water, etc. But we saw some nice dwarf kingfishers and other birds.
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| Birding the Road |
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| Interesting Ferns |
Piling back into the vehicles we quickly emerged from the forest and found ourselves on grassy hillsides with occasional small trees and shrubs, which overlooked the Lake Albert rift zone far below. After consuming our box lunches on the edge of the road, Brian started walking off into the hills with us following and once again we were leaving our vans without a plan. Sandra and I started back and sat and chatted until the others returned an hour later.
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| The Others Disappearing up the Hill |
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| Northern Red Bishops |
Lake Albert was visible from the escarpment as we slowly wound our way down to lake level, stopping frequently to check out various birds.
We turned off our wide well-graded dirt road into a very narrow single lane bordered by high grass. Eriab, following Paul, drove along at about 30 mph, pretty fast considering that school kids, women carrying bundles on their heads, and others were using the road also. As we passed we blew a cloud of dust up around them and they had to step off the road into the grass to avoid being hit. Even so, they all waved and smiled at us. All the little kids delight in waving and yelling greetings at us which keeps us busy responding in kind! We finally reached the Kabalega Wilderness Lodge at 6:45, had our welcome drinks and watched the wide Victoria Nile flow past.
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| Our Cabin, #3 |
We were taken to our rooms - each room is a separate building built to resemble the local houses of clay walls with thatch roofs, although ours are quite a bit bigger. We have a large king-size bed with solar power lighting. So it is weak but efficient. Also a fan which operates off a large solar-charged battery. The bathroom room is huge with a tub over looking the Nile, shower, and double sinks! Since the room was pretty dark by that time we had to rummage around a bit organizing our gear and then I grabbed a shower - all before our guard arrived to escort us to the dinning hall. As we’re on the Nile, hippos come up in the evening so we are not allowed to walk around without a guard.
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| Kabalega Cocktail Lounge |
William, our guard, arrived at 7:35 and took us over to the open dining hall where I ordered a double shot of Barcardi with a “Stoney”, a delicious local ginger soda - sort of a Ugandan Dark & Stormy, and very good!! The List was started and continued until we were served delicious chopped veggie salads . That was followed by soup, good baked chicken with BBQ sauce and rice and a bit of cake and sauce for dessert - definitely a step up from most of the food we have had.
The List droned on until nine when we were informed that breakfast would be at 6:30 with a full day ahead!
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