Sun, Jun 24 - A Boat Trip to see the Shoebill

We got up at 5:15, packed and repacked, and walked over to breakfast where Bob had the Ugandan breakfast and I had the “Health” breakfast of fruit and Wheatabix.  Another van arrived for the luggage so we didn't have to worry about how much we could take for the trip. Also, we split up; the two couples in one van and the two single women with Brian in the other. 

Papyrus marsh

We took off towards Kampala passing inlets of huge Lake Victoria, turning west and after an hour reaching a small boat launch where several narrow, long skiffs were anchored.  We took three boats, with Bob and me and Paul, our local guide, in one.  We took off through narrow channels, cutting through a lovely marshland of papyrus.  We eventually got to open water and cruised along the marshy shore.  The goal was to see the amazing Shoebill, a 4-foot tall, stork-like grey bird with an enormous mottled bill and blue-grey eyes.  It can take a quite a while to find one, but suddenly, there one was!  He was huge and very reptilian - you could see the connection between dinosaurs and birds!   He strode through the marsh eating little fish and seemed to be the ruler of all he surveyed!

Shoebill

We continued cruising the area and saw some other papyrus specialties, including the gorgeous Papyrus Gonolek.

Papyrua Gonolek

We returned to the launch area, loaded onto the vans again and headed south, stopping at the equator crossing point where we had lunch.  I ordered a Ugandan plate of plantain mash, avocado with a delicious bowl of peanut sauce.  The highway went through miles of small shops, brick-making enterprises, small houses with bananas and papaya gardens.

We continued south stopping occasionally to bird and finally turned off the highway onto a rutted dirt road that is the entry way to the Lake Mburo National Park.   Almost immediately we began seeing some of the many African antelopes  and the terrain became classic African open savannah with grasslands and scattered thorny acacia.  We saw our first zebra and Impala, and as we were not yet in the park, some herds of the fantastic long-horned domesticated local cattle - just magnificent beasts!!

Grey-crowned Crane - the national bird of Uganda

We entered the park and it was already almost six PM.  We saw baboons, waterbuck and several other species before finally arriving at Arcadia Cottages, a pleasant rustic lodge.  We ordered our dinners and then had 30 minutes to clean up.  We have to be accompanied to and from our cottages after dark by a rifle-toting guard as hippos and buffalo can wander around!

We had some more Nile beer and I had lasagna and Bob had fried fish and we both tried the Chef’s Surprise for dessert: crepe with some syrup.  We dashed back to our cabin, “Leopard” and  I grabbed a shower as the electricity goes off at 10:30!  It also means that charging the batteries, laptops, etc. requires a lot of juggling!