Preface: After watching birds I felt like seeing something bigger. That's why I called a local tour operator1 in the evening after reading for the entire day. He was nearby and we met and negotiated about a private safari. He made a very friendly and trustworthy impression to me and after handing over some money to fill the Land Cruiser's tank for the next day I was left anxiously awaiting the next morning in anticipation what we'll see.
I haven't slept well, and I'm already awake before the alarm goes off. It's early in the morning. Robert and his wife Doreen pick me up from the White House Hotel. It's still dark. There we go. The hunt may begin.
Right as we enter the park, we see a Spotted Hyena, an ugly creature but a very rare view and a great start into the day. Soon after that there is the sound of excited trumping coming in our direction. Mating elephants, full of hormones running around like crazy. Funny. After seeing some female lions from very close we drive on and are lucky to see hunting ones engaging some suspicious antelopes. I really want to see Rhinos, but there are none in the park. Still haven't seen any Rhino in the wild.
It's getting hot and the animals begin to disappear into the shade of the patches of low bushes and trees that are like small green island in the low brown grass of the Savannah. Time to leave back to the main road.
For the time until lunch, I've decided to go on a drive up and along volcanic craters, also a part of the park. We're about to enter a Tsetse infested area. A ranger warns us and recommends to close the windows. Soon they fly like Dolphins swimming in front of a boat along with the car. They look nasty. Why are there no pretty blood sucking insects? It would kind of ease the thought of getting bitten... The closed windows have a side-effect. It gets very hot and sticky in the car. We have to open them and for the next hour we are battling the beasts inside the car. There sting hurts, but not as much as I've imagined. I don't care much that I only wear shorts, because they even manage to bite through clothing. Robert has the bad job driving the car and concentrating on the extremely bumpy road while Doreen and I try to kill all the flies.
Suddenly they are all gone and we're finally able to admire the scenery. Rangers put some bush fires, but there are still parts of rich green fields of grass. An amazing view and totally worth the hassle with the flies.
Before lunch, we visit a very expensive lodge and then we order three portions of fish, rice and matooke (mashed bananas) at a nearby local place. Good food, but with a tad too much of curry. When we begin to eat, we get company of two greedy Marabou Storks and one Warthog. The Warthog tries to steal food from the kitchen and then goes sleeping under a tree next to the house. The storks are begging for food and we throw fish-bones at them. They're very skilled to catch them out of the air.
After lunch, I go together with Doreen on a two hour boat trip on the channel connecting Lake Edward and Lake George. There are almost too many animals around. I get tired of listening to the very knowledgeable guide, who knows the name of every bird and animal she spots and hitting the shutter button of my camera way too often. We see loads and loads of Elephants, Kingfishers, African Fish Eagles, Buffaloes, Hippopotamus, Black-and-White Colobus and many other species. Lots of material to process for the next couple of nights to come.
After we reach the shore, we go back to the car, where Robert enjoyed a refreshing nap while waiting for us. I'm tired, it's been a long day. As we're driving quietly out of the park listening to some Michael Jackson songs, Robert spots a Leopard right besides the road. He goes hard on the breaks. Panic in the car, we are not prepared at all. He shouts at me: "Get your camera!". I reach into my backpack, grab the camera, throw the lid away, open the roof, scramble outside. Black sensor. Crap! Canon-camera-Sigma-lense-malfunction. All black. I fumble around, turn it off and on again. Finally it's working. But I've lost valuable time and only manage to take a picture of the Leopards tail as it leaves for the bushes. We are all on fire. We cheat and follow the Leopard with the car. There it is, I take picture after picture while Robert is still driving. Then it's gone. Down to the water. Wow! I've never seen a Leopard that close before. And this one was a big one! What an experience. We're not tired at all any more.
We drive back to Kasese in a happy mood. It didn't need the spotting of the Leopard for a perfect day, but it was the icing on an already delicious cake. What a day!
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