Queen Elizabeth National Park

On our way to drop Alice off at Entebbe we detoured to the Queen Elizabeth National Park which sits in the Western rift Valley astride Lake Edward and Lake George. The Rwenzori mountains (“Mountains of the Moon”) give a splendid backdrop and the Congolese border is on the other side of the Lake. We stayed in a simple hostel in the park at Mweya though Alice did treat us to a sumptuous meal at the very superior Mweya Safari Lodge.

Having our own transport made life easy and we did our own touring sometimes with a guide on board.

A trip on a boat on the Kasinga channel was lovely. There were hippos by the dozen who were quite used to being looked at by the touris ts.

Many birds whose names we instantly forgot, fisheagles, herons and even a spoonbill. Buffalo and waterbuck mixed in.

Magnificent old volcanic craters, some with lakes which attract the birds and animals.

Later we came across some elephants crossing to water so when we went back next day we found then again. We sat watching them drinking then mucking around, sitting down in the water, making waves with their trunks or the youngsters just charging about splashing. Later they dried off in the sun, sprayed dust on them selves then crossed right besides us foraging about 20 yards away.

We did a trip to the Kyambura Gorge where some chimpanzees hang out. We went with a guide Bernard who led us through the forest. There were redtailed and colobus monkeys and many birds. He helped us over a tree bridge (Annie has no idea how she got across, heart in mouth, as the tree in question had a huge branch in the middle which had to be climbed onto….); we smelt and tried the temperature of fresh elephant dung, heard hippos snorting and burping in the river behind the bushes and eventually caught a fleeting glimpse of 2 chimpanzees as they descended a tree. Magical rain forest walk.

The Kasenyi Plain is the Ugandan Kob breeding ground and there were kobs aplenty. The male sits in splendour and waits for a female to declare her affection. If only life was so easy for us. The lions follow the herds and we were fortunate to find a mother and 2 cubs secreted in a thicket by the public dirt road. We spent a happy hour just watching them. No one else came or went in that time.

The QENP is not a place to score the game one has seen but a good place to just be in the African savannah and see what happens. It was wonderful to be so close to the animals and birds.

Alice in Kagera

After our trip to Rubondo Island Alice spent 2 weeks with us in Kagondo. She spent some time in the Care and Treatment centre and some in the Reproductive and Child Clinic. She helped sort out some details in the HIV register and made an alphabetical index of our patients, which will be very useful. Annie took her on an outreach clinic and she boldly did the registration and weighing.

We went to Bukoba for a weekend and we enjoyed the beauty of the beach at the Yasila Hotel and met up with other volunteers including a tour of Valerie’s garden.

We went up to Ndolage to see the waterfall but an intended walk along the escarpment was frustrated as there were young men stripped, washing and drying in the sun at one crossing of the river and similarly under clad women at another!

We enjoyed celebrating her Birthday. Annie cooked a Moussaka which was followed by an delicious pineapple cake. All too soon we had to leave to take her to Entebbe whence she was to fly to Addis Ababa to visit Pete then back to Australia to continue nursing at Alice Springs.

Rubondo Island

Alice has arrived after a 40 hour journey from Australia via Hongkong and Entebbe. It is lovely to see her and catch up with all the news of the last 9 months including her 2 month journey around New Zealand with Amanda. There was much to talk about and we were so pleased to show her our life in Tanzania.
We shot off to Rubondo Island National Park (rather, rattled our way down the side of Lake Victoria) for a long weekend. It is an island a couple of miles offshore and very forested with many birds, hippos, crocodiles,bushbuck and a few elephants. We were the only visitors and spent the time talking whist watching the hippos in the bay, the weaver birds weaving , the fish eagles soaring and the black kites swooping. Occassional bushbuck grazed past the bandas and a few blueballed monkeys (I am sure that is not their proper name!) scampered past.

The bandas were very smart with tiled floors, lovely beds and even hot showers heated by a wood fire. Peter cooked us lovely meals which we would eat at the hippos snorting in the bay. Super took us on several walks and was good company.

We went on a boat trip and saw more than enough crocodiles, a family of hippos grazing who rushed for the safety of water, 2 elephants, a giraffe, otters, iguanas and of course lots of birds. It was not a place to score animals but a place to relax and enjoy.

Sitting sipping a beer looking over the Lake, watching the birds and hippos then later seeing the full moon rising (28 days after we had been to Mafia Island) was very special.



(If you double click on the photos they should enlarge).

Wishing you all a Happy New Year

We gathered at the ultra modern home of a Swede Thom and his waHaya wife Happiness and had a happy New Years Eve. They have built the house on the escarpment overlooking Lake Victoria so we had a lovely view of the lights of the fishing boats and the spectacular starry sky.
We all contributed and had a joyous evening.
Pics later!