Queen Elizabeth National Park, Ishasha, Uganda (Da

  Ishasha, Uganda
Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Queen Elizabeth National Park, Ishasha, Uganda (Day 1)

Wednesday June 11th, 2008. Queen Elizabeth National Park, Ishasha, Uganda

We have been on 3 game drives in the past on a trip to Madikwe, South Africa so we had some idea of what was in store for us but I woke up at about 5am in anticipation and struggled to get back to sleep. The biggest draw card here is the lions that climb trees (sic) but frankly I would be happy seeing anything I don't see at home (and we live in Singapore so that would be just about anything other than macaques and monitor lizards).

what a location

The tents may be classed as "luxury" but they didn't get full plumbing - a good thing really as the camp affects the local environment in a very minimal way - but it does mean cold showers or walking up to the main tent to ask for some hot water for your camp shower. We opted for no shower in the AM probably because I was too keen to get out in the car looking for animals.  

The setting for the restaurant is a landing under trees overlooking the river. We were told this river had good views of hippos and elephants feeding at the river. What more could we ask for? A full hot breakfast was served and we started to meet some of the other guests of the camp.

Breakfast over with (as quick as we could), we jumped in the car and Martin popped the roof to give us an open topped 4WD that we could stand in whilst having a fully shaded cabin to sit in when we were tired. A fantastic set up. Off we drove and within about 5 mins we found our first antelope - kob, then another 5mins and we found our next antelope - topi, another 5mins and we found the last of the common ones here - water buck.  It was all very exciting to see them for the first time but it doesn't take long to realise they are everywhere. You almost feel bad for getting bored with them because they are so common here but by the end of the trip I was looking for the lame or stranded young ones in the hope that a lion or leopard had spotted them too.

lion food

Game Drive Tip: when you organise your game drive ask some details about the car that will be used. 4WD is obvious, but a pop top roof is brilliant and if that roof acts as a shade cover as well then you have the perfect combination IMHO.

sweet ride

Photography Tip: Just check with your driver/guide that he knows how the light needs to be in order to get good shots. The majority of good shots will come with the light at your back but of course there are plenty of good ones to be had the other way around. Plus there's the dusk/dawn light to aim for as well. What ever it is you are looking for, let your driver know and he will always make sure he gets you in the best spot to take the shot you want.

The first drive lasted about 4hrs and it took a little while to get past the antelope. We did get to see one of our favourites - the warthog - but apart from that there was a dry patch in the middle when we literally saw nothing of note. Then we followed a lead that took us to a new campsite where they had not started letting campers in but had built a little banda (cabana type building) and it turns out this is now a favourite of the lions for resting. The camp site is perched on a hillside overlooking a large savannah so its a perfect place for the lions to work out when to start prowling their next meal, and its shady with a cool concrete floor. This is exactly the sort of behaviour that lead the local lions to climb trees - they know what's good for them even if they haven't done it before. 

lion hut

Inside the banda were three adolescent males (brothers most likely) and their little sister (less than 18mths old). These four were just lazing around in the shade with the odd minor shove to get a good position. One thing I noticed was that they seemed very unhappy with any attention they got from the local tsetse fly. Its a mongrel of a fly that needs a solid whack just to get rid of it - and forget about killing it! Not to mention the nasty bite it gives. The lions hate these flies as well and as such they didn't look like they were sleeping much at all. They were constantly twitching to get rid of the flies. Apparently lions spend over 90% of their time lying around and sleeping but it really didn't look like they were getting any sleep.

lion hut

On the way back we noticed a lot of the acacia trees were knocked down and the branches stripped bare. Apparently the elephants knock them down to get to the sweet leaves at the top and to give the young ones a chance to eat the good stuff. If you haven't seen these acacias they have thorns about 3-4" long and apparently the elephants pass these things whole. This gives them a very itchy backside which leads to one of their most peculiar behaviours. They rub their bums on the tops of termite mounds to relieve the itching. So if you see a dirt mound they looks like it has been scuffed around on the top, you know an elephant has been their scratching his bum.

We were back for lunch and a shower by about 1pm and felt a million bucks after the steaming hot shower. I ended up fiddling with the photos and video on the laptop for a while and Rina headed off for a nap....and that was to be the end of her for the day. both of us were suffering a little from too much to do and too little time to do it (plus we both had a bit of a cold we'd collected somewhere on our travels). I walked back to the tent to get Rina for our 2nd drive but she wasn't having any of it. She was ready for a rest - and frankly so was I but I wasn't going to miss anything whilst here so I headed out with Martin while Rina caught up on some Vogue and Marie Claire.

On our way out Martin asked what I wanted to see and the list was almost endless but I settled on the hippos and elephants. I couldn't go looking for the lions up the trees without Rina so I decided to leave them for tomorrow. So off we headed to the Ugandan Wildlife Authority (UWA) range camp where Martin first tired to find the hippos on a bank near an old camp site but we could only get glimpses of a couple of them up and down river.. So we headed over to the rangers themselves and Martin linked me up with Robin who took us on a guided (read armed) walk to the river bank. I heard the hippos as we got closer and as I spotted some through an opening in a trees I got a little excited and snapped off a couple of shots. Robin told me not to bother but to come around the corner - and boy was he right! There in front of me were at least 40 hippos of all ages and sizes. The closest was about 10 feet away and the furthest was probably 100 feet away. They were all lying together in a "school" in what looked like 5ft deep water. Then one would get restless and stand up and walk to a new spot - then showing the water was only about 2 feet deep. 

These boys (and girls and babies) are BIG! They weight in at 2-3tonnes (metric or imperial it doesn't matter, they are heavier than two small cars!). The were quite active and gave me all sorts of grunts and snorts. A few opened their huge mouths and it was all as I expected it to be. They are huge animals that would scare the crap out of you if you bumped into them in the wrong place, but they still had these dainty little eyes that just kept looking at us.
The hippos were so mesmerising I almost didn't pay attention to the troupe of about 30 olive baboons on the bank behind the hippos. They were making fools of themselves all over the place and all keeping a very keen eye on us. as soon as we started walking towards them they were off...all but the big male who sat around and pretended he didn't care about us until it was obvious we were headed his way then he slowly got up and walked up. Once back at the car we met David and Rochelle from Manhattan who were on a month long break (I wish!!!) most of which was in Africa and while we had a sweet trip planned, there's sounded even sweeter - not to mention the stop in Amsterdam on their way home. One thing I recall was Rochelle said they had just seen Harriet and Gertrude again (the two lionesses) and they were up a tree. I was leaving that for tomorrow with Rina so I didn't ask where they were...

Tipping Tip: a guided walk usually costs about US$10 tip. It doesn't really matter how long you go for, its seems to be a universal US$10 for the job. The gorilla trekking may take all day - US$10. A 30min walk around a river bank - US$10. Just plan to give a guide US$10 per person per trip and a porter about the same per bag. Its not a lot of money for most travellers and its a good salary for these guys and it keeps them away from the bad side (poaching/bush meat) and gets more people interested in working for the good side (conservation/eco-tourism)

We left the hippos and baboons to stumble on a huge herd of buffalo which were hard to find in Madikwe in South Africa but they were everywhere here. There are actually three kinds and they all intermingle. The savannah buffalo (big and black), the forest buffalo (not so big and brown) and a cross breed between these two sub-species (in between the two in size and chocolate in colour). They're not overly interesting unless you have been somewhere before and told they were hard to find...like us...but in Ishasha they are easy to find so after your first visit you are likely to be drawn to find something else. Until you get close to them and a bull (usually a solitary one that has been rejected by the herd) gives you a nasty look and even charges. Apparently these guys give cars a lot of trouble because they can be really aggressive so if you are driving yourself, be careful of buffalo that are on their own - don't get too close.

Next we spotted a massive herd of elephant walking up a hill away from us. It turns out they head out of the park at night and raid the crops of the nearby corn farmers at night (when they are less likely to be caught). Then they come back via the same route in the morning. Martin knew exactly where he was headed and we had found the herd within minutes. We spotted a few big bulls and checked them out for a while then headed towards the main group when we were cut off by a big female. She was angry about something because her ears flared out and her trumpet sounded. Next thing she is taking a few brisk steps towards us. Martin very calmly announces "She's charging". Talk about stating the bleeding obvious but it was reassuring to know my heart rate was a little high for good reason. We slowly backed away and she moved forward a little more then stopped and let us go. We decided it was not a good time to follow her so we moved a little closer to the rest of the group - but not too close.

We left the elephant as the sun started to go down and thought we would check in on the four lions we found earlier in the day. They were still in the same spot but they were moving around a little. One was slowly moving down the hill towards the savannah below and the others were slowly joining him. It seemed they were lining themselves up for a kill that night but we were not going to hang around and watch it - that could take hours and we would probably get in the way anyway. So it was time to head for home as the snu was well past its bed time. One last interaction on the way back was a very close call with a black spitting cobra that was spread across the track trying to keep warm until we so rudely interrupted him.

The game driving was over for the day but there was another day.