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.