One recent Saturday morning, myself and a group of three Belgians and
three other Ugandans begin our road trip to western Uganda from City
Square in Kampala. Since most travellers on the team had neither
crossed, nor taken photos at the equator, we chose to drive through
Masaka Road, through Lwengo, Lyantonde, Mbarara and Bushenyi districts
and finally Kasese. Kasese is home to Queen Elizabeth National Park,
which was our destination. We were also to have the highlight of the day
on a boat cruise in the park on the Kazinga channel that joins Lake
Edward and Lake George.
When we reached the equator at Kayabwe, the
photo shoot was cut short by the increasing rain as the weather got
colder. When we realised that we were running out of time for the boat
cruise in Kasese, the planned stopovers had to be eliminated from the
itinerary.
The drive through Bushenyi was all bumpy due to
patched road sections and road works which slowed down the driver’s
careful speed. It took us about 90 minutes to drive through the area
under construction. The clock was ticking towards 2pm and this meant
that were likely to miss the boat cruise that starts at 3pm.
When we
eventually manoeuvred through Bushenyi tea plantations, corners and
crater lakes, we were in sight of Queen Elizabeth National Park.
Everyone in the car was anxious to set their foot on the boat to sail
through the national park. We arrived at the boat docking point 10
minutes before the boat set off.
Cruising the Kazinga channel
The
last time I had familiarised myself with the Kazinga channel was when
my primary school Social Studies teacher asked me to draw the Ugandan
map and indicate its physical features, including the Kazinga channel.
What made the difference this day was that I had set foot on the
channel.
Schools of hippos and gangs of buffaloes
Aboard the
boat with colleagues, admiring the beautiful view and scenery of the
waters, the park vegetation and animals was all that there was to feed
our eyes on. It was at this point that my colleagues and I were
approximately seven metres from what the tour guide told us were schools
of hippos and a gang of buffaloes. A hippo school is one where many
hippos gather by the lake or water side when the sun gets hot, with
their backs protruding through the water.
We were also told that
buffaloes rest in gangs while on the shores as a mechanism of protection
from predatory crocodiles that were just in a close range from where
they rested.
The boat cruise also provided us an opportunity to see a
yawning hippopotamus. Unlike buffalos, hippos at times move in the
water independently without fear or worry of being predated on. We were
told that hippos have slippery bodies and that most of them spend their
time in water to cool their thick bodies from hot temperatures
especially during the dry season.
The eagle and crocs
Organised
by Steadfast Safaris and Tours, a boat cruise on the Kazinga channel
which lasts two hours up to 5pm is one place to be for birders. It has a
rich variety of birds such as the eagle. The tour guide told us that it
keeps within a one-square kilometre radius from its territory. He added
that when its partner dies, it does not remarry.
As we sailed, we
also chanced on young ones of crocodiles called hatchlings. Unlike the
mother crocodiles, hatchlings move in groups. They are as small as
lizards that move on walls but become bigger as they grow. One female
crocodile produces up to 50 hatchlings at once.
