Almost time to go?

Have I used up all of my organic jasmine green tea bags?



It must be almost time to go.

But not until we've seen some white rhino's.






There are less than twenty of these in the world because poachers know that they can get nearly a quarter of a million US dollars for the horns. Really. Apparently some misguided Asians don't realize that the plain old keratin that rhino horns are made of is the same stuff that's in human finger nails and they think that murdering these poor stupid creatures for their horns will give them some sort of magical powers that chewing and swallowing their own finger nails might not. So very not smart or nice of them. At any rate, the nice Ugandans have figured out that their cultural heritage, not to mention their tourism industry, will be enhanced by protecting and conserving the white rhinos and bringing them back to the grasslands by the River Nile where they belong.

Back to business, now that the rhinos have been sited it is time to move on. But you can't move on in Africa without at least one flat tire.



Fixed in less than ten minutes by Isaac and Gordon.

Then, of course, the radiator cap has to blow.




Who knew that a radiator cap gasket can be temporarily replaced with a Ziploc bag?

Then, must not forget about the traffic in this country.



Will we get to the airport in time for that flight?


-Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Murchison Falls National Park to Entebbe, Uganda

If you choose to go....

Before I left for Uganda I was constantly wondering why anyone would want to go there. Once I got there I couldn't help wondering why anyone would not want to go there.

I hope that it isn't just me who thinks that there is something cool (besides being able to write off your airfare as a business/charitable expense) about volunteering and bringing something to a foreign country besides your tourist dollars. Even if you aren't a health care professional/educator there is plenty to do in Uganda and plenty of NGO's that would love to help you to do it. Then the safari part makes it all seem very worthwhile and I would be happy to help you to arrange a trip with good places and people. If you are a healthcare professional/educator CALL OR WRITE TO ME. We need to connect and communicate; HVO Uganda needs to coordinate its efforts.

Things to know before you go:
At the moment, Uganda is really a very safe place. That said, you really can't use a credit card anywhere but in the most expensive grocery stores, hotels and restaurants. Your best bet is to take cash. Clean, unwrinkled $100 US bills dated 2006 or later will get you the best exchange rate in Kampala. There are lots of ATM machines but the fees are steep and the exchange rates aren't as good as you will get for those $100 US bills. You still need to carry Ugandan shillings with you outside of the city. Everyone keeps asking me (of all people) why you need US bills printed 2006 later so I found out the (very interesting!) answer: Kim Jong Il of North Korea has been keeping his economy afloat by counterfeiting US bills. Bills printed since 2006 are much harder to counterfeit so the North Koreans print ones matching the older bills, typically with dates before 2000. The Ugandans know this and, thus, are VERY reluctant to take any US bills with dates before 2004 at the earliest, preferring 2006 or later.

I am very glad that I brought: Anti-malarial prophylaxis an,d my own supply of back-up antibiotics, an REI insect repellent and sweat absorbing sleep sack, umbrella and rain jacket, Pepto Bismol, scarce medical supplies for my specialty (good quality bone marrow biopsy needles in my case). You need to carry your own toilet tissue and hand sanitizer everywhere (even in Kampala). A fanny pack is handy for being able to carry things like your "bathroom kit" along with your passport, cash and a small camera (and, Dr. Troy Lund would advise you, a knife).

Probably should have brought: Better camera, actual laptop (for work and better internet access), 50X oil objective lens (but I would probably have gotten talked into leaving it there and that is a pricey thing to do)

Brought but didn't need to bring: I brought medical textbooks and everyone told me that Africans don't need more books, they need people to help them learn the things that are in the books

Up the River Nile. Like, who needs a paddle?

On its website, the Samiya River Lodge looks like another Fabulous Eurospa. In reality it is more like Discovery Channel Meets TLC Network. Specifically, it is a semi-seedy older hotel with minimal amenities at the end of an incredibly long and dangerously tse-tse fly and killer baboon-riddled road, as well as being populated by overweight German tourists all uniformly quite desperately in need of a makeover.



We inquired of Chief Gordon as to why anyone would want to stay there and he assured us that if we met him in the lobby at 5:30 AM with packed breakfast and lunch he would show us why.
Why pre-dawn again? So Gordon can be first in line for the ferry boat.







What ferry boat? The one across the River Nile, of course.



Why cross the Nile? To enter the Game Park.






















But enough of all that. After a picnic lunch it is time for the Tourist Boat up (that would be southward) the River Nile.















Just past the cocodiles we will depart the boat for a little hike to the top of Murchison Falls.













It really is a beautiful hike, but it is still a little bit of a relief to reach the top.



So, as they say in Real Estate, location is everything and two nights in the cell phone and internet free zone of Samiya River Lodge suits me just fine.

-Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda

Keeping Score

The green areas of the map are all Uganda National Parks and in every single one there is either a British, North American, or German tourist keeping score. I Am Not Kidding. These people are devoting their leisure time to recording which rare or wild beast, fowl, flower or whatever they have seen or photographed. I dare say it may be contagious. Here is mine:

UGANDA SCORE CARD
Mosquito bites - Just one!
Children who begged me for money - Just one and then he said, "I am just joking!!!!"
Excellent pineapples eaten -Lost count
Male lion sighting - check
Female lion with cubs - check
Giraffes - check
Gorillas- check
Gorillas having sex - check
Chimpanzees - check
Elephants with babies - check
Rhinoceros - check
Crocodiles - check
Fish eagles - check
Scary bad guys - none
Nice People - lots
Orphans - too many; help them by going to Medicine for Sick Children

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Out and About Around Western Uganda

Everybody LOVES Gordon!

I have to admit we were a little bit suspicious of Gordon at first but now we (just like seemingly everyone else in Uganda) worship him as the Chief of the Safari Guide Tribe. Remember how he seemed to fix everything with the Bwindi Gorilla Park people? Well it was more of that all day every day. Everywhere we go people stop us to ask Gordon where to eat, sleep, find lions to photograph and to rescue them or some tourists,
















Did I tell you the one about when Gordon was hurrying through some small town traffic and a woman carrying a baby stepped out from behind a bus directly in front of our vehicle? Gordon expertly swerved, just missing her but putting the vehicle into a ditch.



A crowd gathered to thank God and praise Gordon for saving the woman and the baby's lives and to offer help to get us out of the ditch.



Gordon just smiled, shifted into 4WD, backed out of the ditch and moseyed on.



Travelling with Gordon does mean stopping briefly at a school in Hoima to say hello to his sister who is a teacher there, and giving a ride to some Goeringish Stranded German Tourists, but......



It also means we meet and talk to lots of interesting Ugandans, we get to see the lions first, we get the best seats on the tourist boat, we are special guests at the Chimpanzee (plantation) Guest House in Kibale Forest, etcetera, etcetera.





Gordon's (poorly kept) secret agenda? He is starting to guide privately (not with Afritours).
Ya Wanna Gander Uganda???

GORDON! Find him at:

gordon.gongo@yahoo.com

Uganda MTN cell phone from Uganda

256 782 8710 87

If calling from the USA, be sure to check and see if you need to put a Uganda country code first. I think it's 011 256 7828710 87

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Where else but On the Road in Ugaaaanda

The Excitement of a Sunrise Game Drive

When Gordon instructed us to meet him in the lobby of the Fabulous Eurospa, packed and ready to move onward at 5:30 AM the following morning, we were compelled to ask ourselves, "What could induce us to leave a place with a Fitness Center and shiatsu massage?"



We consulted our Revised Itinerary and learned that we were being enticed by, "the excitement of a sunrise game drive and the enchantment of the Kibale Forest."

So, 5:16 AM, we were packed and ready to go.



Before dawn, we said good morning to the baby elephants.



Then we greeted the sunrise.



Then we drove around and looked at wild animals and learned from Gordon about their habits and habitat.




Then we drove through the Western Uganda hill country past banana, coffee, tea, pineapple, avocado and sugar cane plantations. Gordon offered us the option of spending that night at another Eurostyle hotel with internet or at the guest house of a Ugandan owned plantation and guess what we chose?











After a tasty Ugandan lunch of local fresh water tilapia and chips




We went off in search of chimpanzees.



We were warned by Gordon and the park ranger that we might hike for hours through treacherous terrain and never see even one chimp (have I heard this before somewhere?). We walked for about 15 minutes on a trail similar to the unpaved paths by Cedar Lake near downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota (but with far fewer mosquitoes!) before we started spotting chimps just everywhere.





















I got so tired of taking chimp pictures that I started taking pictures of humans with better cameras than my cheap little one.



And then my camera battery died and I was able to just enjoy myself hanging out with the chimps.

The dark haired young man shooting photo's in the previous shot is from Peru ( my other favorite blogging spot). He took a photo of Isaac with a chimp and let me transfer it from his mini disk.



Isaac is the one in the foreground. The chimp is in the tree.

I must admit, though, later in the day when Isaac and I were walking around the plantation and a woman and her children stopped to talk to us in a happy and animated manner in a language we couldn't understand, I had such an overwhelming desire to tell you about it that my brain turned back on and I remembered that my cell phone is a camera and I snapped away. I am pretty sure from the hand gestures that they were telling us about the fertile volcanic soil, the blessed rain, the abundant crops and the healthy children of Uganda (and not some local version of Yankee Go Home!).

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Mweya National Park to Kibale Forest, Uganda