Flora, Fauna, and lots of off-roading.

Well, the papers for the car were at last delivered, at 10PM! I had one goal in mind for the day, which lamentably I had to give up, seeing the rare prehistoric Shoebill Stork in the Entebbe swamp; I was not going to chance missing out on getting the papers delivered, hence we had to stay close to the hotel. Seeing the shoebill was to be my second biggest highlight for the trip, but we certainly cannot complain. Instead, we visited the nearby Entebbe Botanic Gardens, within walking distance of the hotel in case we were called to take delivery of the papers.

The Botanic Gardens were fabulous; sitting on the shore of Lake Victoria, they cover hundreds of acres and have some of the largest trees we’ve ever seen.

At the Botanic Gardens

Beautiful blooms

Humongous trees!!

Shore of Lake Victoria

Shore birds

Martin fisher at rest

Maraboo Stork strolling the beach

Have you ever watched an old Tarzan movie from the 50s? Well, we were surprised to learn that those movies were all filmed right here in this corner of the Entebbe Botanic Gardens.

We set out the following day for our new destination, the Las Vegas Hotel and Gardens, near the highly acclaimed Lake Mburo National Park. The hotel is a sprawling nicely landscaped property, with multiple buildings, an Olympic sized swimming pool, and many restaurants. The drive there took several hours, so we were ready for a nice rest before the following morning game drive.

Red and yellow potatoes for sale on the road to Lake Mburo. We passed potato fields galore along this stretch of road.

Every so many miles, the items for sale change; potatoes, fish, charcoal, tomatoes, lumber... You name it.

At the Las Vegas Hotel and Gardens

Getting to the national park was no easy task. As we have been accustomed, Google Maps had its own ideas of where we should be heading, which was everywhere but the park’s entrance. We asked folks along the way, which didn’t really clarify things for us, but after traveling down forsaken, pot-holed dirt roads, we eventually reached the entry gate.

Lake Mburo is stupendous. As soon as we passed the gate, we were welcomed by hundreds of zebras and, wonders of wonders, we saw a calf being born!! We were blessed.

At first we thought it was a dead baby giraffe, but it's a newly born zebra calf! In a few minutes he was shaking himself and standing up!

Relatives watching the "birthing room"

This National Park is full of wildlife, including Rothschild Giraffes, Topis, Waterbucks, Eland and much more, including the Leopard, which is usually too elusive to be seen, especially in the daytime, and this was no exception.

A congregation of Eland

So many giraffes!!

Guinea hen

Topi or Waterbuck?

We took an afternoon boat ride along the shores, which were populated by several hundred hippos. Unfortunately the hippos stay under water during the day; we would have loved to see them up and about, ruminating, but they were just as amazing, and loud.

We also saw a number of crocodiles, the biggest species of crocodiles, as well as several bird species, which abound.

Sorry, there is no sound in photos. These guys make a lot of noise!

Martin fisher is not really standing out on the left.

Baby crocodile on a log

There are over 20 giant hippos in this pod

So many eagles!

Papa croc, must be close to 15 feet long!

Cape Buffalo

It was evening when we returned to the Las Vegas hotel, exhausted but content. Tomorrow we’ll travel to Lake Bunyonyi, one of the most picturesque places in the country of Uganda. We hope you’ll stay tuned.