Traveling west out of Kampala, in the capable hands of Matoke Tours, we took a short trip to two of Uganda’s National Parks: Lake Mburo and the famous Queen Elizabeth National Park.
Since Uganda is an Equatorial country, it came as little surprise that we would cross the Equator. I assumed we would be going down a road and see some nondescript marker indicating we were now in the Southern Hemisphere. Oh no. The position was clearly marked and there were a number of entrepreneurs there to make the most of the experience: take pictures, sell trinkets, and demonstrate the Coriolis effect. The Coriolis effect is the legendary force that reportedly makes water flow one way down a sink (or toilet) in the Northern Hemisphere and the other direction in the Southern. To be honest, I am sure that I looked at the circular motion when we were in the Southern Hemisphere and I couldn’t tell the difference. I understand that the effect is real but subtle – it does not take much to undo this effect. Yet some amateur scientists set up shop to show us otherwise. It was probably a parlor trick, be we were suitably amused. (Editors note: I later discovered the clever minds at Smarter Every Day have an excellent pair of videos on this topic).
First evening was at Mihingo Lodge at Lake Mburo. As we pulled in, we got our first sight of zebras. Excitedly, we asked our driver to slow down so that we could take pictures of them. You could almost hear our driver’s eyes rolling – knowing full well that in a few days (probably a few hours) the novelty of zebras would have long worn out. He was right. After a while the population of zebras was met with a shrug.
On the evening’s game drive, a leopard raced across in front of our vehicle. Instead of continuing on into the bush, it stopped and stared at us from its cover – once growling and feinting towards the vehicle. After several minutes, it disappeared into the growth. The opinion of our guide was that it had a young one that was still on the other side of the road, but we never saw it.
(Another fun fact: the Mihingo Lodge hosts an annual marathon / half-marathon / 10K / 5K through the park. Look it up if you don’t believe me)
We spent the next two evenings at the Katara Lodge outside Queen Elizabeth National Park, at the edge of the Rift Valley. I had understood a “rift valley” to be almost like a climate or some somewhat indistinct border between two places. At Queen Elizabeth National Park, at least, the rift is very pronounced – a distinct cliff (or “rift” as it were) with a clear definition between one place and the other. Not surprisingly, the rift provided a border defining the habitat of some animals – elephants, for example – that never ventured over the wall.
Queen Elizabeth is famous for lions that climb trees and on our visit they did not disappoint (the park, that is – not Her Majesty) . Our ranger received word from his colleague of the location of a wounded female up a tree. She had gotten into a disagreement with other members of her pride and had run off. The pictures show the significant injury on her left hind leg. We asked the ranger what her likely fate was considering what appeared to be serious gashes. He shrugged. She would probably slink back and rejoin her group in a few days – this was not a permanent ouster.
We were also fortunate enough to see another leopard, this one in a tree. This particular cat was not very impressed with us and ignored us.
The Kazinga Channel is a shallow, natural channel connecting the main lakes (Lake Edward and Lake George) in Queen Elizabeth National Park. It is a popular tourist destination because of its accessibility and the large number of animals that congregate there, such as elephants and crocodiles and hippos (and the occasional monitor lizard). Our boat arrived just after the usual time when the elephants come down to drink – we saw a few of them retiring back up the hill. Despite missing this opportunity, there were a few elephants that crossed the road on our way to and from the Channel. While they crossed the road the driver put the vehicle in park. What are you going to do? he posited, gesturing towards the large pachyderm who had paused in the middle of the road. They will move when they are ready.
On the way back, a young male elephant stood in the road, trumpeting his trunk and flapping his ears defiantly towards our vehicle. After a bit of posturing and asserting his dominance, his mother called and he trotted obediently to her side. Playtime was over.
