UGANDA 2020 - A TALE OF 7 SPECIALS

[Galana]

1 hour ago, xelas said:

I might switch from posting bulbuls to posting baboons .

Well you probably saw just as many and AFB would still fit as an accurate description!

[xelas]

QUEEN ELIZABETH NATIONAL PARK

 

 

 

We have started our drive towards our next destination at around 9:00, and the morning sky was LOVEly and blue.

 

CINNAMON-CHESTED BEE-EATER

 

Part of the drive was through the banana plantations, on dirt road, yet most of it was on the tarmac road, passing through many villages and through town of Kasese. Not a very long drive.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was my plan to exchange USD into UGX at the local bank in Kasese. That plan didn’t worked very well; the cashier has declined to accept the “green dollars”, only the “white dollars” were exchangeable. Confused? Well, not as much as I was confused! I’ve been told by Emmy that local regulations only allows banknotes printed in 2009 or newer (they appear whiter). We have had almost ½ of our budget in older (mostly 2006), greener banknotes! A quick display of a light nervous breakdown by me was quickly defused by the news that there is a credit card reading machine at the entry gate. Phew! Disaster avoided. We still have had option to get cash from ATM, but Zvezda would surely declared the State of Emergency, meaning I would need to keep my beers down to bare minimum.

 

 

We have entered the park through Kabatoro Gate at 12:00, and yes, the credit card machine has worked. The entry fee is 40 USD per person on 24 hrs basis. 

We have had our package lunch there, and coffee break, then we have continued our drive towards Mweya peninsula, where we have had 3 nights booked.

As is clearly seen on below photo, Fred was in full control of his lunch bag!

 

 

 

 

Queen Elizabeth National Park is Uganda’s most popular savannah reserve and has the widest variety of wildlife of any Ugandan park. The variety of habitats includes grassland savannah, forests, wetlands and lakes. Its size is 1978 km2 with Lake Edward and Lake George connected by Kazinga Channel. Rwenzori mountains can be seen on a clear day (none of ours was such ). Its territory is divided between several sectors, each of them with its own highlights:

 

Kasenyi sector - savannah

Ishasha sector – tree-climbing lions

Kyambura Gorge sector – chimpanzee trekking

Mweya peninsula – boat ride

Maramagambo forest – bats

 

And there is also an excellent birding, with over 612 bird species recorded.

 

 

 

Edited March 18, 2020 by xelas

[xelas]

MWEYA SAFARI LODGE

 

 

Situated on a peninsula above the Kazinga channel, Mweya Safari Lodge - https://mweyalodge.com - was the biggest of lodges, and probably also the best one. For sure it was the most expensive one. When Fred asked me if I am willing to throw some more money into the wind (= to splurge) I have, surprise surprise, gave him a green light.

 

That meant our room was the best one … a tent overlooking channel below, with fantastic birding from the balcony of the tent. The only downside was the fact that we have spent way too much time away from it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As said, birding from the large balcony that connects the two tents was fantastic! I understand why Fred has chosen this particular tent to be his favorite one.

 

RUPPELL’S LONG-TAILED STARLING

 

RED-CHESTED SUNBIRD

 

TAWNY-FLANKED PRINIA

 

SWAMP FLYCATCHER

 

Edited March 18, 2020 by xelas

[xelas]

The food at the lodge was very good, and the gardens were well maintained. We have had meals in the main building, where we were able to choose the outside or the inside table. The pool looked very inviting, I should put my swimming trunks to good use. Only that our schedule was very busy.

 

 

 

 

 

Lovely gardens are attracting many birds, and we have taken many photos during our walks to and from the meals.

 

AFRICAN FIREFINCH

 

 

 

BLACK-HEADED GONOLEK

 

GREEN-HEADED SUNBIRD

 

RED-CHESTED SUNBIRD

 

 

The lawns were specially well maintained, taken extra care by local crews.

After seeing the night shift squad, I have realized why the lodge did not want us to walk to the tent on our own.

 

 

DAY CREW

 

NIGHT CREW

 

[Galana]

13 hours ago, xelas said:

When Fred asked me if I am willing to throw some more money into the wind (= to splurge) I have, surprise surprise, gave him a green light.

Now you know why!!

Excellent Lodge review. The Owners should pay you for it.

Good report. Keep it up.

Love the photo of the Swampy feeding the chick.

Edited March 19, 2020 by Galana
Additional text.

[Galana]

Thinking of our time at Mweya Lodge reminds me of another event that should not pass unrecorded.

There is a band of Banded Mongoose to be found in the grounds that can give rise to some unusual encounters.

Indeed, our very own Jo, @kittykat23uk , played a starring role in one.

It happened thus:-

 

On our last morning as we prepared to depart the Mongoose family were gathered on the lawn to see us off. You can see that some of them, the radio collared leader included, had espied something of interest to investigate.

 

"Oooh look. What's that woman doing lying on our grass? Let's check her out."

 

"She looks harmless enough. Could be fun!"

 

"Nice camera missus!  I bet that set you back a few shillings!"

 

"Whaddya mean 'Watch the birdie?'  I don't see no birdie!"

 

" 'ere Missus. Yer lens needs cleaning! Shall I give it a rub?"

 

Sadly I never caught Jo's reply but the Mongoose all ran away!!

 

 

 

Edited March 19, 2020 by Galana
amended text.

[BRACQUENE]

@Galana@kittykat23uk

 

Incredible pictures ! I didn’t know those creatures were so tame! 
 

[Galana]

1 hour ago, BRACQUENE said:

I didn’t know those creatures were so tame! 

A family of Mongoose have been around Mweya Lodge since I first went there almost 20 years ago.

As with the 'gardeners' they are not tame but simply quite habituated to people. Notices warn not to touch.

[xelas]

Too funny, @Galana! Those were some seriously cute mongooses. But in my mind I am trying to picture what would be the same situation if there will not be a minimum approach zone for gorillas 

[kittykat23uk]

Someone I know had a gorilla step on his toe. I bet that hurt...

[PeterHG]

What a beautiful lodge! I can see why you regretted not spending more time at the tent. Great photo series of those mongoose.

[xelas]

This is Zvezda's contribution to mongoosemania . This little fella has "flying low" over the outside dinning area.

 

 

 

 

[kittykat23uk]

Here's a few more birds & stuff that we saw on the way:

 

P2130132  cinnamon-chested bee-eater (Merops oreobates) by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P2130200 Brown-crowned Tchagra (Tchagra australis) by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P2130215 Tawny-flanked Prinia (Prinia subflava) by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

I'm not 100% confident of the ID on this one:

P2130220 Southern Red Bishop (Euplectes orix) by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P2130224 Ugandan Lady by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P2130237 Grey-backed Fiscal (Lanius excubitoroides) by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P2130269 Grey-headed Kingfisher (Halcyon leucocephala) by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P2130283  pied wheatear (Oenanthe pleschanka) by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

A new mammal for me was the smart Ugandan Kob- plenty of these in the park

 

P2130317  Ugandan kob (Kobus kob thomasi) by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

 

 

P2130354 Beware of mongoose! by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

This was the view from my room at Mweya, we got a lot closer later on of course. 

 

P2130350 Kazinga channel view from my room. by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P2130366 Rüppell's Starling (Lamprotornis purpuroptera) by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P2130371 red-chested sunbird (Cinnyris erythrocercus) by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Lots of tame warthogs around the grounds of the lodge.

 

P2130417  common warthog (Phacochoerus africanus) by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P2130426  common warthog (Phacochoerus africanus) by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P2130443 Swamp Flycatcher (Muscicapa aquatica) by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Well I certainly found time to swim in the pool so I don't know what @xelas is on about! And a nice pool it was too, you can chill out overlooking all the elephants on the opposite side of the bank. My room wasn't a tent, being late to the party but it was still perfectly situated overlooking the channel.  

 

 

Edited March 29, 2020 by kittykat23uk

[xelas]

4 minutes ago, kittykat23uk said:

what @xelas is on about!

 

Uh, I should rephrased myself: only that my schedule was very busy .

[kittykat23uk]

In the late afternoon Emmy took us on a drive, but the tracks we drove didn't seem to have seen a vehicle in a while and he frequently had to hack away the vegetation, making it quite slow going. We decided we wouldn't try that again! But we did see a few birds:

 

P2130467  palm-nut vulture (Gypohierax angolensis) by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P2130516 Northern Black Flycatcher by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P2130559 Blue-naped Mousebird (Urocolius macrourus) by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P2130584 African buffalo or Cape buffalo (Syncerus caffer) by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P2130616 brimstone canary or bully canary, (Crithagra sulphuratus) by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P2130648 little bee-eater (Merops pusillus) by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P2130721  Yellow-throated Longclaw (Macronyx croceus) by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P2130728 Melba Finch (Green-winged Pytilia) - Pytilia melba by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P2130752 Red-necked Spurfowl  Pternistis afer cranchii by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P2130765 Grey Kestrel  Falco ardosiaceus by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P2130792 White-throated Bee-eater (Merops albicollis) by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P2130817 White-throated Bee-eater (Merops albicollis) by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

I got the feeling that Fred's favourite past-time in QENP is spending time with the elephants, and who doesn't enjoy elephants? 

 

P2130925 African bush elephant (Loxodonta africana) by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P2130959 African cuckoo (Cuculus gularis) by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P2130989 African bush elephant (Loxodonta africana) by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

But the elephants presented a problem as they were right next to the track and it would have been unwise to cross them. So we had to bide out time and risk being reprimanded for being late at the gate. 

 

P2131078 African bush elephant (Loxodonta africana) by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Some video footage will follow in due course. 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 29, 2020 by kittykat23uk

[Galana]

4 hours ago, kittykat23uk said:

Someone I know had a gorilla step on his toe. I bet that hurt...

You might be surprised. Most animals are much more sensitive than us. Even elephant have hyper sensitive soles to the feet and won't put their full weight on it if they sense it giving.

NB. I have not put this to the test with  a full adult of either species. Chance would be  a fine thing.

And yes. You guess correctly. 

1 hour ago, kittykat23uk said:

I got the feeling that Fred's favourite past-time in QENP is spending time with the elephants,

Birds are great but I can spend hours if not days with ellies.

[TonyQ]

A great advert for that lodge.

The sequence of @kittykat23uk with the mongoose is brilliant.

What is the minimum focus of the Olympus, Jo?

Excellent photos from all contributors.

[kittykat23uk]

4 minutes ago, TonyQ said:

A great advert for that lodge.

The sequence of @kittykat23uk with the mongoose is brilliant.

What is the minimum focus of the Olympus, Jo?

Excellent photos from all contributors.

 

Not that close I can assure you! There will be a video.. 

[kittykat23uk]

But first, the video of our elephant encounter, YouTube took longer than usual to process it into HD, guess people are uploading more content than usual now... :

 

 

 

[Galana]

"If an experience is amazing enough to be "once in a lifetime," I want to do it every year. "

 

Playing with ellies has that effect on me too. Nice sequence.

[Galana]

I am getting a bit confused as to the order of service here. I know I jumped the gun with my Mongoose sequence but did not wish to disturb Alex's 'story line for the trip.

Are now on day one or two?

[Soukous]

57 minutes ago, Galana said:

I am getting a bit confused as to the order of service here. I know I jumped the gun with my Mongoose sequence but did not wish to disturb Alex's 'story line for the trip.

Are now on day one or two?

 

If you're confused spare a thought for those of us who weren't there. 

[kittykat23uk]

16 minutes ago, Galana said:

I am getting a bit confused as to the order of service here. I know I jumped the gun with my Mongoose sequence but did not wish to disturb Alex's 'story line for the trip.

Are now on day one or two?

 

Well yes if you do keep posting stuff out of order then it's no wonder you are getting confused. @xelas will probably have something to add to the afternoon drive and then we will be starting on the 14th soon. 

[xelas]

Uh, yes, I will post the afternoon drive this evening. Then it will be also next day(s) over the weekend. Be patient, please . I think readers will not get many other reports to read in the coming few weeks 

Edited March 20, 2020 by xelas

[kittykat23uk]

Yeah very true @xelas.