Top 10 Highlights from the Davis Family Safari

Last month my family came to Uganda for an action-packed, whirlwind 8 day safari.  It was an incredible experience and a great conclusion to my time in East Africa. It's hard to capture everything in a single post (and to reduce the photos to a reasonable number); nevertheless, the following is an attempt to summarize what I felt were the top 10 experiences from the trip:

1. Gorilla trekking – Seeing the gorillas in Bwindi was amazing!! Of the 800 or so mountain gorillas remaining in the world, about 400 of them reside in Uganda. To get there, we had to essentially hike to the top of a mountain through the rainforest. We were encouraged to hire porters, who carried our supplies and helped pull us up the mountain (and in some cases, even giving a helpful push from behind). When we located the gorillas, they were up in the trees, then we hung around to see them climb down, eat some breakfast, and lounge and play afterwards. We got so close to them and even saw some chest beating. Very exciting! 

Silverback gorilla climbing down a tree

Gorilla close up

Gorilla chillaxing

2. Chimpanzee trekking – We went on 2 different treks to find and observe chimpanzees. Our first was in Kibale. It was more structured, and led by a Uganda Wildlife Authority ranger, who advised us that the gun he carried was for any possible encounters with aggressive forest elephants. We had to venture off the trails and cut our way through the forest at several points, but were rewarded by seeing Chimpanzees in the trees, eating, moving on the ground, and lounging. We had to be careful to avoid the “golden showers,” as the chimps had a tendency to pee while up in the trees, and we were really close by. Our second trek was in the Kalinzu Forest Reserve. This one felt more like the local's version with a plain-clothes guide, sans firearm. We first walked along a roadway, then passed through a tea plantation into the forest. The trails were less maintained, but it didn’t matter since we spent most of the time cutting our way through the forest and blazing new paths. For a time it seemed we were going in circles, but we eventually found a family of chimps and got great views of them from the hillside.

Security on the Kibale chimp trek

Chimp climbing a tree

Getting startlingly close to dozing chimps who were relaxing after breakfast

Pensive chimp

3. Game drives – We did morning game drives in both Murchison Falls & Queen Elizabeth national parks. They were amazing, and we had the opportunity to see elephants, lions and giraffes, oh my!  Plus there were numerous baboons, antelopes, birds, and what I found most exciting was getting to see all of the animal babies. In some cases, we were so close to the animals, I felt the need to close my window to ensure one didn’t jump in and join us. We really saw the whole circle of life (think, Lion King) including amorous animals and even vultures chowing down on an antelope carcass (which was actually kind of gross).

Kob, Oribis and Hartebeast (Murchison Falls Park)

King of the Jungle (Murchison Falls Park)

Cape Buffalo with baby (Murchison Falls Park)

Giraffe (Murchison Falls Park)

Waterbuck  (Queen Elizabeth Park)

Elephant eating close up (Queen Elizabeth Park)

Female lions (Queen Elizabeth Park)

Elephant with twin babies, which we were told is very rare (Queen Elizabeth Park)

4. Boat cruises on the Nile and Kazinga Channel – We took afternoon boat tours on both the Nile River (in Murchison Falls Park) and the Kazinga Channel in (Queen Elizabeth Park). We saw tons of elephants and hippos, more amazing colorful birds, and other various animals coming down to the water to drink and bathe. We even saw a Nile crocodile.

Elephants by the Nile

Elephants with baby, plus a warthog

Hippos hanging out in the Nile

Crane or heron? (not sure)

Pied Kingfisher

Red-Throated Bee Eater

Fish Eagle 

Nile crocodile

More Hippos (Kazinga channel)

Hippo mad-dogging us (Kazinga channel)

Bathing beauties (or buffaloes)  (Kazinga channel)

Elephant on the river bank (Kazinga channel)

Me and my bro with elephant in the background (Kazinga channel)

5. Local spirits – One day as we were driving along, our guide pulled over to show us men making booze on the roadside. We were told it was waragi, made from local sugarcane. Our guide talked to the distillers and they allowed us to try the strong spirits and to take some photos. We saw how the liquid was heated and then steam passed through pipes that were submerged in water for cooling. The resulting liquid was collected in jerry cans.  To try the hooch, they poured a sample from the jerry cans into an empty water bottle that we brought from our car.  It was so strong that we sampled only a small capful.  Afterwards, my dad returned the favor by getting out a bottle of scotch that he had brought with them from the States. He poured some in a water bottle and everyone tried it. Although it seemed the Ugandans preferred the waragi...

Roadside waraji distillation 

Tasting the goods

Scotch tasting in plastic water bottles and cups

My mom and I also went on a community walking tour in Bwindi that involved stopping by a banana distillery (though it was more like some shacks behind someone’s house on the hillside) where we sampled banana juice, banana wine, and banana gin.

Banana juice, wine & gin

Bottoms up!

6. Seeing Murchison Falls (again) – So beautiful!  We saw views from both the top and bottom of the falls. And although I had been there in January 2012 on another trip to Uganda, it was still an impressive sight to behold and fun to get to share it with my family.

Murchison Falls, view from top

Murchison Falls, view from Nile

7. Exotic accommodations with stunning vistas.  I thoroughly enjoyed hot showers throughout the safari after several months of cold showers in Soroti.  But that was only the beginning when it came to the accommodations. Three of the 5 places we stayed during our safari were situated within the parks, so there were plenty of opportunities for up close and personal encounters with the local residents, including vervet monkeys and warthogs.

View from Nile resort

Vervet monkey on the front of our van

Warthog at Myewa Lodge in Queen Elizabeth Park

Lizard at Kyaninga Lodge in Fort Portal

8. Hospitality and kindness of the Ugandan people – Of course one would expect those in the tourism industry to be accommodating, but all of our guides and many of the hotel and game park proprietors couldn't be nicer and went above and beyond to make sure we were satisfied and had a wonderful time. In addition, we had several encounters with local Ugandans that had nothing to do with the tourism industry (such as our brewers) who were so kind, friendly and welcoming.

Kids performing at a local school in Bwindi

Pygmies dancing at pygmy village

9. Roadside attractions - Just driving around Uganda is an incredible experience.  From seeing different ways of life, to wildlife, there were plenty of things to keep our interest during days spent on the road. And I definitely enjoyed being the passenger rather than the driver!

One of many tea plantations 

Zebras

Crested Crane (national bird, as shown on Uganda's flag) 

10. Getting to share Uganda with my family – Priceless. While some of our party had been to Africa before and done game drives, all were surprised by the richness of their experience in Uganda and the variety they got to see while here. And in addition to playing tourist, it was so fun to get to show my family some of what I had experienced while living in Uganda as we passed through towns, went to a local market, and stopped by one of the offices in Hoima.  

Dinner at Kyaninga Lodge

Family photo at the equator

All in all, it was a fantastic way to round out my 6 month stay in Uganda.  I am so grateful for having had this experience and hope to carry lessons learned while there with me for a lifetime.