A visit to the game park.

We decided to take a day off on Saturday and visit Queen Elizabeth Game Park. My plans were reduced in stages from a two night stay to a day visit. This did mean that we could take Moses and Allen, our co-workers here, with us. Allen remembered a visit from her school days but Moses had never visited the park. There was considerable discussion with (driver) Charles and Moses about the route and the quality of the roads. All the options are unmade murram roads but their condition varies. Charles agreed to come for us at 6.45 as we expected the drive to be 80km and take a couple of hours. There was a power cut at the hotel, the staff were late appearing to make our breakfast, we had to call the driver and make another failed attempt to get cash from the ATM before we finally got under way. From my map it looked like a 60km drive but after a short while Moses told us the bridge was down (for the last two years, it will probably be repaired when the election is due) so there was a substantial detour. Some roads were quite fast, others very poor. Eventually we realised we were in the park having taken over three hours. We paid $94 to enter the Ishasha circuit, but no guide was available. We saw elephant, Uganda kob and some antelopes. After an accidental detour into the DRC we found the right place by the river and had a great time viewing hippos. Then it was decided we would go to a fishing village on Lake George that Allen remembered. In the village the women and girls were sorting out tiny shells and packing them in sacks, while the men and boys were preparing the nets for the next night’s fishing. A mentally challenged drunk man pestered us. A wide assortment of birds; waders, hammerkops, herons, egrets, storks, kingfishers were doing their business on the creek under the eye of the buffalo. Allen undertook a lengthy negotiation for two nice catfish. I wasn’t looking forward to their company on the drive home but it turned out they were to travel attached to the front of the vehicle. They drew some curious glances from people by the road, in addition to the usual squeals of “Mzungu”, grinning and waving by small children.

As well as the normal farming homesteads and shacks we passed, we noted several extremely grand houses with big grounds, tarmac drives and imposing gated entrances. They belonged to officials and politicians who had profited from their positions. Many do not live in these houses but use them when they are visiting the area, for example for family funerals. Wealth is available in this country but not fairly distributed.

We went on a newly refurbished road over the mountain on the return journey, passing Rushasha Salvation school where we once visited and played parachute games with the children. We arrived back, sweaty and tired, about 5pm.

I also used a pit latrine today, 95% successfully, but my trouser leg soon dried.

Reasons for unscheduled stops along the road in the last few days:

• Strange sounds from the gearbox – a missing sump nut causing an oil loss
• Road blocked: a lorry grounded coming off a temporary bridge, eventually pulled off backwards by the bucket of a JCB
• Attempt to buy some travel sickness pills (no luck)
• Get some leaves from a eucalyptus tree to treat travel sickness (quite successful)
• Greet an uncle
• Photograph a kob
• Allow an elephant or two to pass by
• Numerous “short calls”, mostly in the roadside bushes

Sunday we are off to church then resting in preparation for a busy week. Please keep reading and sharing the blog, it's going to get very interesting I feel! Also see darton2soroti.blogspot.com for Barbara's. Thanks for looking!