My charities & safari expedition to Uganda (picture heavy)

[Miss Z]

Now came the clever bit of the show. African people about the streets are curiously good at balancing things on their head, and the Nbere dancers took this talent to the extreme. Bearing in mind the dancers were still dancing wildly about as these pictures were taken; what started as one pot...



... became a few more...



...and then some more...



...until....!!!



Now I take you back to our rather simplistic accommodation in Kabale I mentioned before. The building is owned by a retired canon who had acted as our guide in some areas of the trip, and he had constructed it thus far with the intention of turning it into a hostel for female university students, since there is no university halls set up for them. Of course, though, this takes investment of time and money and work, not necessarily something most people plan in their retirement. In gratitude for his hospitality, we painted the inside of the hostel for him in a day's work, and added a few surprises for him too.

This is pre-work - you can see how empty it is!!





The first surprise was a mural, consisting of our names on the wall, a bunch of flowers painted by Katherine, and a pair of crowned cranes (the national bird of Uganda) painted by my friend Adam with a little help from myself. My crane is on the right.




My gift was painting the words 'Amazing Grace' above the threshold. The canon seemed so taken with it that he is considering naming the hostel 'The Amazing Grace Hostel'. The first photo of me painting was taken by a friend.






More coming...

[Miss Z]

A few photos of general silliness and fun (we are students, after all!) before I move on to what I'm sure you are most keen to see... the animal pictures. Photographs taken by a variety of people on the trip.

Myself wearing the Ugandan dress I successfully bartered for on the markets!













Animals next post...

[Miss Z]

Wildlife

Our safari was naturally the part of the trip I was looking forward to most, and it did not disappoint. The approximately 2000 square miles of beautiful savannah, lakeland and forest is rich in wildlife, although the poaching of earlier years has taken its toll. Rhino and giraffe have been completely exterminated from Uganda, although there are plans to begin a reintroduction programme.

Even in the capital Kampala, a great many birds can be seen, indeed I remember reading somewhere that Uganda cradles about 5% of the world's perching bird species.

So I'll begin with birds:



















Marabou Stork are everywhere; in Kampala they are effectively pigeons! With their ominous gait and odd appearance, they earned the nickname 'demon bird' with our group!



More coming....

[Miss Z]

African Fish Eagles were easily my favourite birds to see and many could be spotted in the trees along the Kazinga Channel.





Now onto the other animals in the National Park:

Elephant:









Cape Buffalo:







More on the way....

[Miss Z]

Waterbuck:







Ugandan Kob:





Warthog:





And these were Giant Forest Hogs, sighted much less often than the warthog. We were lucky to glimpse them from the Kazinga Channel.



Nile Crocodile and Monitor Lizards were the most spectacular reptiles seen on the Kazinga Channel.





Still a few more!!...

[Miss Z]

Hippo:







We saw three species of primate in the National Park; Vervet Monkey:



Olive Baboon:



and Black and White Colobus, a species very shy and considered hard to see:



Undoubtedly, the attraction for all was the chance of seeing a lion in the wild. With only 250 lions left in all the expanse of Queen Elizabeth's National Park, we were advised not to be disappointed if we couldn't find any.

But we were lucky.





That is all I will post here (thoroughly exhausted now! ). If you wish to see more of my photos, plus a few videos of the kids at the primary school, they are all on my facebook page.

I do hope you've enjoyed this thread and that I've given you a little flavour of such a magnificent country. I truly am privileged to have had the experience.

[anna_66]

How absolutely amazing! It must have been the trip of a liftime. Thank you for sharing it.