Safari Weekend

Before the official work of interviewing starts, first - a safari!  On Saturday we got up at dawn and set off for Queen Elizabeth Park, a 6-hour drive from Kampala. (Brave Adam rented a 4WD and was the sole driver - this meant at least 10 hours of navigating dirt roads with giant (truly giant) potholes and inexplicably large speed bumps through rural Uganda, as well as 2 hours of weaving through survival of the fittest traffic chaos downtown. And some of that at night too!) The plan was to arrive at Queen Elizabeth around midday, have lunch at the lodge, rest and recover at the pool (or with a massage), and then go for an evening safari drive.

All went as planned for the first 4 hours of the morning. We were in good spirits, excited to see the animals, and (for the other 4 who had been in Kampala for two weeks) happy to leave the city for the weekend. There was lots to look at, so I didn't mind that the ride was bumpy and dusty. (Dry season means that the red earth of Uganda is turned to orange dust that is churned up by cars and that ends up on EVERYTHING. Entire matoke trees caked in dust, all orifices covered in a chalky orange film.)

Kampala in the early morning - matoke (green bananas) stacked high on a truck. This staple is transported by truck, by matatus (the van taxi), boda-bodas (motorbikes), and even bicycles. Ugandans are experts at balancing.

Matoke on a boda entering a village

Ugandan cows with their distinctive horns

We marveled at how everyone stayed on, and then thought about how we mustn't complain about our bumpy ride. Later on, we would look at these guys enviously as they passed us.

Then, around 10 am, without warning, our car died. No sputtering, no jolting, it just all of a sudden turned off. None of us were any good at cars, so we simply had to call the rental car company and wait for them to send us a replacement car - four hours away from Kampala. I must say, my heart sank. I am the type that, when I was in teaching in Hong Kong, would bust out papers to grade for a ten-minute train ride. I don't do well waiting when I am not prepared for it. 

Stuck!

We were fortunately at a town. After getting out of the car and walking around (in an attempt to find some food), we found out that we were at Mukunyu. It was a very sleepy town, with not many open shops (we couldn't buy even a coke). The children were very interested in us, yelling "Bye Muzungu" repeatedly and waving at us. I sat with a family for a little while, sharing chocolate cookies with the children. But with them speaking little English and me speaking none of their dialect at all, we ran out of things to talk about. I wish I had a picture book or a game with me!

These babies were one of the first to greet us.

Finally, after hours of reading and card games and several offers of help from kind passersby and boda drivers (and one phone number from a guy looking for a date with one of the girls), our rescue car came.

We tried our best to make up for lost time, but car-sized potholes and numerous speed bumps made it hard to go very fast. We got to Mweya lodge at 6:35 pm, 20 minutes after the evening safari had left. We were all disappointed (this would have been the best time to spot lions), but our air-conditioned rooms, warm showers, and DELECTABLE lamb chops for dinner served as a balm for our frustrating day.

The next day, we again got up at dawn to start the safari. Three minutes outside the lodge, we crossed paths with a herd of elephants having breakfast. It was breathtaking to be so close to the giant beasts placidly fanning their ears and reaching for leaves. The morning and afternoon continued as such - one delightful sighting after another, graceful kingfisher and antelope and blubbery hippos and warthogs and water bucks and more elephants, the disappointment of the day before wiped away by wonder, wonder, wonder.