Lions and elephants and warthogs, oh my.....



Tugume, Danny, Merib





During this past weekend we took a Ugandan friend of ours, Tugume, and his wife, Merib, to Lake Mburo National Park. As is typical for Ugandans they had never been to any national park. The fee is only 5,000 shs ($2.50) for a Ugandan as opposed to $20 for a foreign resident and $30 for a foreign visitor. But the reasons most don't visit is transport costs and taking away the chance to earn a days pay.

The couple were amazed by the zebras, waterbuck, hippos, using the camera, water buffalo, the binoculars!, the cost of meals at the restaurant, the baboons, monkeys, etc.

Merib returned home prior to the next part of the trip but Tugume accompanied us along with 4 other volunteers to Ishasha Ntungwe River Camp. We were very lucky on the game drive in the Ishasha section of Queen Elizabeth National Park as we saw 3 tree-climbing lions sleeping in a tree, and further down the road we saw a big lion lying in the grass.

More pics are in my Flickr album - Tugume in the Parks:http://www.flickr.com/photos/anniedanny/sets/72157622181318587

Since we had a 24 hour park pass and we didn't need to return the next morning to attempt to spot the lions, we proceeded to the Mweya section of QENP. We spotted many elephants in various parts of the park as well as many other animals. The Kazinga Channel boat trip didn't have enough spots for all us so 2 volunteers and Tugume went. Tugume had never been in a boat before except for a canoe. He was absolutely thrilled with the 2 hour boat trip as he saw elephants, hippos, large crocodiles, birds, and water buffalo.