On Safari in Uganda

 August 30, 2024

Murchison Falls National Park

I've had no time to blog; this is a very short summary of a very long couple of days.  Yesterday morning we flew to Murchison Falls National Park in northwest Uganda, and immediately began our first game drive, which lasted until dinnertime.  We then checked into our game lodge, had dinner at 7:30 PM, and went to bed for our 5:30 AM wakeup call today.  We had a five-hour game drive this morning, and immediately had lunch, following which we drove to the Nile River and had a boat game drive.  The list of animals we've seen is enormous.  I don't have time to do any significant editing or writing.  I'll just send a couple of photos, as I need to get to bed for another 5:30 AM wakeup tomorrow morning.

Some samples of what I've seen follow.  First, a very cute Patas Monkey--we've seen literally hundreds:

Next, a baboon from one of the many families we've seen:

The very funny-looking wart hog:

The hartebeest.  We saw many of these animals with unusual horns facing the wrong way:

We've seen dozens of families of elephants:


This park has a very large collection (hundreds) of the endangered Rothschild Giraffe:


We saw a few lions:


The spectacular saddle-billed stork:


Many dozen pods of hippos:


The truly scary and enormous Nile Crocodile (this guy needs a dental hygienist):


And herds of Cape Buffalo, this one with a collection of parasite-eating piapiacs on its back:


So now to shower and to bed for more adventure tomorrow.  Love to all!

Comments

  1. Rwa442August 30, 2024 at 6:47 PM

    Wow!

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  2. Ralph P. LockeSeptember 7, 2024 at 3:10 AM

    Amazing photos, and you say this is just a tiny sampling of what you've been seeing. I was struck also by your repeated mention of various animals gathering in families. I keep forgetting how normal that is in the animal world. I was just reading about whales, that they travel in matrilineal groups, and that the females gather around a pregnant one that is about to give birth and communicate with each other through songs (or calls or patterns of clicks) that are unique to that situation. I wonder if elephants, at least (with their similarly large brains), have social behaviors that we can learn more about in time...

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