A handful of us - me, Ellen, Bradford, Jessica, Hanni, Abdi, and Ashley - wake up early to go on a game drive in Queen Elizabeth National Park. William picks us up from the Simba Lodge at 6:30am and we eagerly begin our journey. William knows these parks pretty well, so he's very much in his element here.
The sun rises as we enter the park.
We learn a valuable lesson on this early morning game drive - sometimes you don't see much.
The only game that seemed to be out and about were more kob, waterbuck, and the occasional warthog.
As William would say, "Why do you want picture of Mr. Warthog, he is so ugly!"
We, however, thought Mr. Warthog was rather cute.
Heed these signs!
After driving around for a bit, William eventually led us to the Crater Lake area.
It was beautiful and very picturesque here.
I call this my Greta Garbo pose.
We spend a couple of hours in the park before making our way back to our lodge. Breakfast awaits.
After we eat, we pack up and get ready for another long haul.
For the curious among us, here are a few interior shots of my room at the lodge.
Abdi helps tie our luggage
We would always tell Abdi: "WWBD - What Would Bradford Do?"
Bradford is a southern boy, enough said.
Who's ready for another 4 hours in the hot, dusty van?
The road to Kanungu is long and difficult, very bumpy. Those of you that have not been to Africa do not know what a real pot hole is like.
Many sleep on this leg of the trip, especially those who woke extra early to go on the game drive.
If you fall asleep, expect to get your picture taken.
We see many areas that are burned, either via a controlled method or by lightening strike.
A little over 4 hours passes and we finally cross into Kanungu.
Josephine, Sheila's mom, meets us on the road not far from the district border. Her driver will lead us to our lunch destination. Here we lose Donna to Josephine. It is a reunion for them and quite adorable to watch, actually. Sheila and her family know Richard and Donna very well from Sheila's PSU days. They have always remained in contact and this was their first time seeing each other since Sheila's graduation a few years ago.
After a filling buffet lunch, it was time to see where we would be lodging for the next few days: The Joy Guesthouse. It was mid-afternoon and we were hot and dirty. Yet we only had a small window to choose our rooms, freshen up, and head to our next stop.
Once Ashley and I have settled into our rooms, we attempt to leave only to find that we're locked inside. The doors lock via key - inside and out. They're a little old and misaligned but they obviously work. Finally, one of the guesthouse employees instructs us to hand him the key through our bedroom window. This must happen frequently. We decide to use their other method to lock our door at night:
A rusty nail. Whatever works!
Soon we're back on the road and heading to a women's forum/group benefiting from Heifer International.
First we view some rice that they had been harvesting.
Josephine talks about the group and rice distribution.
(Above photo by Hanni)
Then we head to the goats!
This was actually really cool to see - an actual women's group in a small rural village in Uganda raising and benefiting from the goats they received from Heifer International. H.I. is a company I am aware of, as I'm sure many of you are, and I was able to see tangible results!
What started out as 1 or 2 goats has grown to many. They are distributed to many families and, in addition to their use for meat, they also fertilize their gardens.
Me, excitedly taking notes (Photo by Dr. Richard White)
Afterwards we hike over to a drained wetland that they are using as a tilapia farm. They eat a lot of tilapia in Uganda.
We don't stay too long at the tilapia farm before jumping back in the van and heading down the road.
Our next stop was with a women's group as well, only this one was focused on crafts - in addition to the animals they receive from Heifer Intl.
After introductions, they performed a traditional welcome dance for us.
Afterwards, we looked at their crafts and spoke with our hosts.
I found a lovely carved elephant to purchase. I love it!
Soon, we were back in the van and heading back to the Joy Guesthouse.
The saying goes: In Africa, you drive on the best side of the road.
(Though, they do drive on the left)
The road home
We arrive back at the guesthouse to clean up.
Dinner comes and the electricity goes, resulting in a lovely candlelit dinner.
We head to bed, eager to explore Sheila's home town tomorrow, clean and fully rested.
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