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By Tom Carter Human
herds bypass Uganda
On safari in less-travelled nation
The
safari van is bumping along a dusty dirt track through
the high savannah
when driver and game guide Geoffrey Mutuma brings it
to a sudden halt. "Something is wrong," he
says, intently scanning the surrounding countryside
of high grass and acacia trees. It is a glorious African
morning, and in every direction we see wildlife: wart
hogs, buffalo, waterbuck, an elephant lumbering in the
distance, and in front of the van, at least 100 kobs
- small antlered antelopes that resemble impalas - standing
shoulder to shoulder, all looking off in the same direction.
"The kobs are alerting on something. There,"
he says, pointing. "Spots. A leopard." Sure
enough, 50 yards away, slinking around the backside
of a large anthill, is a female leopard - her face a
fearful symmetry - looking at us looking at her.
We hold our breath, astonished and grateful to be observing
the African wild, predator and prey, as they have lived
for tens of thousands of years.
After
a brief few moments, the leopard, cover blown, scowls
at the van and slips off into the bush. Having been
to zoos and seen African animals, I didn't expect seeing
them in the wild to be such a heart-stopping, wondrous
experience. Earlier in the day, a large bull elephant
stomped at our van - and blew its trunk, - telling us
we had gotten too close. Hippos wander around on land
and at lake's edge, snorting. Large monitor lizards
sun on rocks, and young lions laze in the shade, swatting
flies as the sun slides higher over the African plain.
"It
was so incredible. That elephant was so close, and we
were obviously in his environment," says Judy Clark
of Port McNeil, British Columbia. "It was surreal,
like going back to where it all started. It was Paradise."
Spotting
lions, elephants, warthogs, hyenas, fish eagles and
hippopotamuses is common in this park in western Uganda,
but leopards are rare, and our group from Washington
and Canada is thrilled - and thankful to Geoffrey –
to have seen a leopard on the hunt.
We
return to the cushy Mweya Safari Lodge, perched above
Lake Edward, and Martin Okot, our other guide, is visibly
pleased. Checking the large chalkboard that lists which
safari group has seen what and where, next to the leopard
box the board says, "Maybe tomorrow."
"Geoffrey
has good eyes. We were lucky, the only ones to see a
leopard today," Okot says with some pride at having
bested the British and Australian guides.
Okot,
27, is chief guide, butterfly and bird expert for Great
Lakes Safaris, one of the few African-owned-and-operated
safari companies in Uganda. He has spent most of his
life studying Ugandan wildlife, and he has a particular
fascination with Uganda's birds.
As
one of the nation's foremost birding experts, he is
rarely without his bird book, binoculars and tape recorder,
which he uses to record and identify the calls of birds
during rare sightings.
"Uganda
is an equatorial country really unique in its bird and
animal wealth," Okot says over a lunch of cold
Nile beer, freshly fried tilapia and fries. "Uganda
has deep forests, volcanoes, snow-capped mountain ranges
along the Equator, open savannas, and there is a bit
of desert in the North. I love showing Uganda to visitors."
While
a wart hog and hippopotamus grunt nearby just out of
sight in the bush, Okot turns to his love of Ugandan
birds, saying more than 1,000 species of birds can be
found in Uganda.
"We
have more bird species per square kilometre than any
other country in Africa," he says. That morning,
he showed us a southern red bishop; a great blue turaco;
several African fish eagles; a pin-tailed whydah; a
crested guinea fowl; a crested eagle; a pied kingfisher;
a malachite kingfisher; several species of bee eater;
a dozen trees full of orange weavers and their softball-size,
basketlike nests; and, of course, the ubiquitous cattle
egret, picking insects off the back of the wild African
buffalo.
Uganda
has a half-dozen game parks. We came to Queen Elizabeth,
the country's most popular and most accessible park,
because it offers the possibility of seeing the widest
variety of African wildlife - 95 mammal species - in
the shortest period of time. Ten primate species and
20 predators are found in Queen Elizabeth.
Among
the other parks, Murchison Falls features giraffes,
and many consider the Royal Mile, a stretch of road
in the Budongo Forest Reserve, to be the best bird-watching
spot in Uganda. Many tourists travel from around the
world to see Uganda's gorillas in Bwindi Impenetrable.
Reaching
the gorilla habitat can require a five- or six-hour
trek, but we met an older Jewish couple from New York
and three college women from the University of Georgia
who were undaunted by the walk and had come to Uganda
specifically to view primates in the wild. Bwindi also
has an astonishing array of birds, including 23 of the
24 Albertine Rift endemics.
We all had come to Uganda, rather than Kenya or South
Africa, for safari because it is less expensive and
less travelled than the well-beaten safari tracks in
other parts of Africa.
"Kruger,
in South Africa, is like a petting zoo, tons of tourists
and cars, like Yellowstone," says Cynthia McMahon,
a World Bank official and veteran of several safaris.
"Here you get the sense it is really wild. The
elephant [we saw] was upset." Uganda also is considerably
safer, with little of the street crime that is rampant
in other parts of Africa.
"The
people of Uganda are very hospitable, and when looking
at city safety, our clients are very free in Kampala
as compared to Nairobi or Johannesburg," says Okot,
whose view is echoed by numerous Western expatriates
living in Uganda. Mrs. Clark, who is travelling with
her best friend, Sherry Groenendyk, agrees.
"We
were hit on all the time," Mrs. Clark says, "but
I was never afraid. The men were always very polite
when we told them, 'No.'" Most safari tourists
to Queen Elizabeth stay at the Mweya Lodge, built on
a high point overlooking the area where the Kazinga
Channel enters Lake Edward. It has a pool and several
restaurants with food in the $5 to $7 range. Safaris
that include Mweya Lodge start at about $250 a day,
including meals.
We
choose cheaper digs and stay 50 yards down the road
at the Institute of Ecology Hostel, sleeping under mosquito
nets. Our three-day safari costs $350 per person, including
transportation to and from Kampala, two nights' lodging
and some Ugandan-style meals. It can be done even cheaper
if you are willing to camp.
On
the second day, we hike into the Kyambura Gorge in hopes
of seeing chimpanzees and a half-dozen other primate
species. A red-tailed monkey and a family of black-and-white
colobus monkeys show up, the chimpanzees have crossed
the raging river and cannot be reached.
Even
considering all the beauty of the primates, large mammals
and carnivores, Uganda is a bird-watcher's paradise.
"Uganda
is arguably the most attractive country in Africa to
bird-watchers, not only because of the unusually high
number of species recorded within its borders, but because
it offers easy access to bird-rich habitats that are
difficult to reach elsewhere," according to Bradt's
Travel Guide to Uganda.
"[A]ny
forest in Uganda will be rewarding for birds: even a
relatively tame botanical garden in Entebbe [near the
airport] will throw up several interesting species."
Uganda Safaris
Okot
says Uganda is a serious birding destination. "I
have seen over 400 species here. President Carter on
a short walk in Entebbe on the Heritage Trail added
30 birds to his life list in just a couple of hours
of birding," he says.
Okot
has a difficult time picking his "most exciting
birding experience" but says that seeing three
shoebills together in Murchison Falls comes close. As
shoebills are rare and usually solitary birds, seeing
three together during mating season was a treat. On
another day in Queen Elizabeth, he saw two Verreaux's
eagle-owls, and later in the Maramagambo section, he
saw a melanistic (dark) morph and an African paradise
flycatcher.
"One
trip of two or three weeks of intensive birding can
give you a chance to identify hundreds of species. The
extraordinary wildlife is also available, hence the
country caters to everyone, depending on their time
schedule," Okot says.
"A
total of 547 confirmed and 15 unconfirmed bird species
(including 54 raptors) have been recorded in Queen Elizabeth,
one of the highest totals in the world, and a truly
remarkable figure for a reserve that is relatively small
by African standards," the Bradt Travel Guide says.
Mrs.
Clark, who works at Nimmo Bay, a five-star fly-fishing
resort in Canada's Pacific wilds, says she would recommend
Uganda to her well-heeled fishing clients as well as
to budget travellers.
"Uganda is not real touristy," she says. "It
hasn't caught up with the rest of the world, but the
people here are so incredible. Sherry and her husband
are talking about moving here. I felt safe everywhere.
I'd recommend Uganda to anyone."
The
Washington Times
tcarter@WashingtonTimes.com
The team travelled with Great Lakes Safaris
Published on: Saturday, 23rd November, 2002
Gorilla Safari
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