Queen Elizabeth National Park

Queen Elizabeth National Park

 

After our trek with the chimps we made our way to Queen Elizabeth National Park. I was very excited and did not know what to expect. This would be our first national park that I would visit. Although we would only see mainly buffalo and hippos I still anticipated a great time.

On the way we past many small villages. I have found so far that people either love to wave to us or wish we were not there. Most of the time children run after the car yelling Muzungu which means white person and not meant to be an insult.

Crossing into the National Park we stopped for a quick lunch at the gate. A few baboons ate food out of the trash pit nearby. Something about those monkeys gives me the chills. I feel like they are always ready to attack!

 

The drive through the park immediately was beautiful. Small little trees poked out from the different layers of grass varying from green to brown and orange. We passed a lake where hippos could be seen below and only a few meters away children waved from the water. They are crazy!

Our first activity was to take a game drive on a boat! As we took off we met some other groups mostly made of Ugandans. They immediately took to Giles commenting on how they loved his height and asked if they could hug him! On the boat we had our life vests on and we're ready to go.

We sailed across the lake to the land adjacent to the launch point and were immediately greeted with numerous birds, hippos, and Buffaloes. 

 

Buffaloes are considered one of Africa's Big Five to spot. I was excited to tick that one off my list. They sat in the swampy grass and chewed away.

Buffaloes stay in groups but once a buffalo gets too old they will push him out to live on his own.

The boat got closer and closer to the hippos. A group of hippos is called a pod. Although this massive creatures are vegetarians they are known for being very aggressive. It is not unheard of for a hippo to attack and easily kill a human.

 

Our boat had no few as they took us closer and closer to the hippos. My heartbeat started to race. Why are we so close? This isn't one hippo but many who could take us down any second. We got so close I could have easily reached out and touched him.

Who wants to be close to this wide mouth ready to swallow you up?

Next we saw the Nile crocodile wading in the water. The river we were cruising on eventually feeds into the Nile River.

 

A village was situated down the river on the banks. This village focused on fishing and marketing things from the water. Everyday the people would launch out and sell their goods. We happened upon them just as they were the most busy packing up to go home.

 

After our game cruise we made our way back to the truck and to our camping stop. Tonight we would be camping Hippo camp which got its name for a reason. Although there is a fence hippos massive weight can easily break through and walk through the camp at night. The evidence was there as we pitched our tents and saw all of the gaps in the fence. While the cooking group prepared food the rest of us watched the sunset over the local lake and a family of elephants munch on nearby trees.

In the middle of the night I jolted awake. What was that? There is was again. Oh it is just Adam snoring in a tent nearby. Just as I eased myself back to sleep yelps and animals cries shake the air. Nearby a Hyena was happy with his midnight snack it seems. A few hours later and I awoke again to hear the sounds of a hippo marching through camp. Needless to say I was not leaving my tent anytime soon. As the night moved on I fell back asleep and when I awoke to the sunlight the animals had moved back to their day time homes. Over breakfast we all discussed and confirmed the sounds of the wild we had heard.

During out morning game drive the African Sun made its nothing short than spectacular appearance as it poked above the horizon. 

 

I captured a few shots of animals but my two favorites were the massive heard of Buffaloes in the field. They stood and stared at us chewing down as we past by.

We found a group of Waterbuck with their giant antlers in the bush. With the sun just rising the golden light lit up their fur even more.

Two males decided to challenge each other by ramming their antlers together. Although this fight was just for fun as they grow older these wrestling matches will show others who is the more dominant one!