S 0º 11' 33.16"
E 29º 53' 53.30"
Alt 585m

After the chimps and the few hour drive through the middle of nowhere we got to Queen Elizabeth National Park in early afternoon. Promptly jumped on a boat on the Kazinga Channel, which connects Lake Edward and the smaller Lake George in Western Uganda. Not quite as good as Murchison Falls, but pretty close. The weather was cooler, and hence less animals at the water. But still tons and tons of hippos and water buffalo. Plenty of birds and Fish Eagles. Lake Edward was beautiful, with Zaire mountains in the background.

On the boat I met Emma's brother Albert, who is also a tour guide for Uganda Africa Adventure net. Who was giving Melissa a tour. The four of us had diner that night. She was an Indian from Australia, working for the UN in Southern Sudan, on her R&R. We had a great time discussing Albert's search for a woman and their sister Sharon's dating an American twice her age she met on the Internet. Diner was at the lodge where Melissa was staying, who had been living in tents for months. I was in the youth hostel down the road, which had hot water so I was happy. A hippos stumbled past the dorm as I was going inside, right behind the row of parked cars. Africa....

Up at 6:30am for a game drive through the park. Despite Emma being a medicine man, he had no cure for a hangover. By a bit after 7 we had come across a pack of lions though. No male, but probably at least seven females, all waking up for the day. The pictures blow, but it was amazing to see all of them. Just giant. There were probably about 3 vehicles swarmed around the lions, which was the only time this happened all safari long. Apparently in Kenya and Tanzania this is business as usual.

Then plenty of other animals all morning long. A lone Hyena, tons of cobs and buffaloes and water bucks and warthogs, hippos, and mongoose. No pics of the mongoose, but they were cool as all. Just a ton of them running around together. Apparently when the team up they can take down just about anything. Usually stay in the bust and dig into the termite mounds looking for the queen.

Crater Salt Lake
We passed a crater salt lake, several of them actually in the park. We went to visit one of them and the villagers who predated the park had divided chunks of the lake into little plots of land. Each villager knew which plot was his, and would siphon the salt off the surface each day. They had random stacks of salt on the shores, which everyone knew whose was whose. A dirt poor unprofitable venture, but when the fishing was bad it was their backup cash crop.

Fishing Village on Lake Edward
We drove through a dirt poor fishing village on the shores of Lake Edward. Then for about two bucks Emma got two guys to give me a lift for a bit around the lake. Really nice being on the lake. Congo on the other side. Fishing is pretty much the bottom rung on the economic ladder here, these guys had just about nothing. Sad but beautiful, crazy.

Got back from the morning game drive, back to grab lunch, a nap, and a cold shower. No power that day, hence no warm water. Try again tomorrow. Then on the afternoon of the 30th we left the main part of Queen Elizabeth and went to some surrounding areas. First stop was the bat and python cave.

Half hour walk into the woods with a guide and we game to the cave. Millions of freaking bats flying around in the early evening. They couldn't find room to land. Just ridiculous. The heat from the cave was immense, with a million little mammals generating body heat. The stench of millions of warm bat droppings was also a bit much. But incredible to see. And hear, they made a ton of noise.

There were also pythons in the gave, eight feet long or something. I could only see a bit of them curled up in the corners. Easy life. Whenever they got the least bit hungry all they needed to do was open their mouth and they'd have a snack within seconds.

Baboons
Back on the road, one of the few paved roads of the trip, we came across a bunch of baboons. They were the only really tamed baboons we found. They came right up to the car and looked for food from us.

Chambura Gorge
A quick stop at a huge gorge on the way. If they can't get chimpanzee trekking permits to Kibale, this is the backup location. The gorge is full of chimps apparently, not quite like Kibale. Really cool to see, too bad we didn't have time to climb down there.

Leaving the gorge we picked up some hitchhikers and started a long drive down some of the worst roads of the trip. Two or three hours long. The scenery changed two or three times on the drive.

Another quick stop on the way to visit the tree climbing lions. Went to see a river that was supposed to be full of hippos. Wasn't at the moment. But on our side was Uganda, and Congo was on the other. A bit nuts. Walking through the village there we found the rangers escorting 5 poachers out of the park with their spears confiscated. They were apparently hunting hippos for meat.

Tree Climbing Lions
Dropped off the hitchhikers and entered the section of park where the grass is so high the lions climb trees to see their prey. They just hang out up there waiting for a cob to wander underneath, and then pounce. They only eat once a week actually, so not very often. And though I didn't get pictures, we saw plenty of elephants and other animals. We had to drive off road for a bit to drive around the elephants that were on the trail in the park. Crazy.

Then on our way to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest to visit the Mountain Gorillas in the morning. We picked up the hitchhikers we dropped off outside the park as we left. And took them the rest of the way to the next town. Slept in a hut at the foot of the forest.