Car blues, wild waters and white rhinos

Well, our car was finally delivered at around 6:30PM. We lost a day that had previously been planned, but we did enjoy the lodge’s facility, which we had all to ourselves.

Grey crowned cranes

The pool at the lodge. Diane is at left-center.

The car that was given us as a replacement is, however, not insured for Rwanda and is missing the proper paperwork to return to Kigali, so we will have to meet once again with the manager to exchange it for our old car, which should have been repaired by then and should be ready to go. Well, for the time being, at least, we feel more relaxed knowing we have wheels, albeit temporarily. We had, however, to redo our plans.

We extended an additional day at this lodge, so we can visit Murchison Falls, and negotiated with our next hotel in the city of Entebbe to apply our non-refundable pre-paid reservation to new dates. It took a couple of phone calls, but we got it done!

Murchison Falls National Park is more than just the location of the most powerful waterfall in the world, it is also a premier destination for wildlife viewing, but it is a huge park and doing both, visiting the falls and enjoying an early morning or early evening game drive is too time consuming, considering that there is a two-and-a-half hour drive to the park’s entrance, one way.

We opted for a visit to the falls only, hoping to catch glimpses of wildlife as we drove to the location. We spotted three giraffes, far in the distance, many exotic birds, different types of African Gazelles, baboons and monkeys.

Abyssinian Ground Hornbill

Colobus Monkey

Baboon

Baboons love to hang around the road's edge. You don't have to be in a protected park to see many of them.

Bushbucks

The waterfalls are amazing! Having seen Iguazu, the Niagara, and several others, it wasn’t their size that’s impressive, but the sheer power of the water of the Nile River at this junction that is beyond imagination. It’s like a river tsunami, which pushes the water down the falls with immense, unduplicated force. Perhaps a video I recently posted on fb will give a clearer idea than these still photos.

The sheer force of these Nile River rapids is unimaginable.

The Victoria Nile on its way to Lake Albert

This northwestern part of the country is close to the South Sudan border. It is a place where many refugees from Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, and South Sudan have settled in over the last 30-40 years. The villages are also different. The modest brick houses have been replaced by more traditional round huts with straw roofs, which are typical of East Africa.

Typical village of Northwestern Uganda

I would not ride this railroad.

Bushbucks and Maraboo Stork

Driving in East Africa is a dangerous undertaking.

The following day we set off early. Entebbe is about five hours away and we wanted to make a long stop at Zewa Park, where Uganda’s largest White Rhino population can be found. We had an amazing lunch there and were joined by a ranger named Joseph who escorted us in our vehicle, then led us on foot to the vicinity of the animals once we spotted them. It was amazing to be so close to these enormous animals that weigh up to three tons. As long as the sun is out, they rest in their favorite shady places, but as soon as the weather turns cloudy, they are up and at it, having to eat enormous amounts of grass daily. We saw a big baby drinking mama’s milk, and a nearly materialized fight between two individuals who were apparently not too keen on each other. We also saw zebras there, bushbucks, warthogs, and millions of apes.

Getting a welcome drink

Velvet monkey

All the rhinos (and zebras) pictures were taken while on foot, not from a vehicle. As long as it's sunny and the animals are resting, they are safe.

Hard to tell, but the "kid" on the left is suckling from mom.

A bit cloudy; the rhinos are back astir.

We reached Entebbe by early evening. ‘Checked in at the sprawling Best Western Garden Hotel on the shore of Lake Victoria, Africa’s largest, bordering several countries, and the world’s second largest body of fresh water.

Mannequins in a village outside Entebbe display clothing with the "African butt" in mind.

The pool at our Entebbe hotel

Entebbe is Uganda’s second largest city, after neighboring Kampala, the capital. It would be great to be able to visit the city, but the weather is not cooperating. We traveled to Rwanda and Uganda knowing that this is (supposedly) the dry season, but we have been tormented by powerful rainstorms each and every day. Hopefully we’ll get out and about in the afternoon. In the meantime, we have been informed that our previous vehicle is beyond repair and needs a new engine. The race is now on to get the current vehicle properly insured and properly registered for travel to Rwanda. Once again, fingers crossed, the story to be continued…