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Uganda

February 2023
A 15-day adventure by Aneesa Read more
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  • TravelerUganda
    Day 47

    Sony Camera Photos

    March 23, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    I took a Sony ZV-10 camera with us and am slowly making my way through all the photos. Here are some of my favorites so far :) It's special to think back to the stories we learned at each park, exactly where we were, our reactions, who we were with... even the animals names. I can't believe it has already been a month since we returned!Read more

  • TravelerUganda
    Day 15

    Our Final Day!

    February 19, 2023 in Uganda ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    We woke up knowing just how hard it would be to say goodbye- to our old friends, our new friends, and this country we had fallen so deeply in love with. Thankfully, we had a lot on the agenda to distract us from the sadness!

    We had become very close to 2 of our drivers/guides, Sam and Narcis (pronounced Na-sis, with a soft r). Both are in the processes of having their cultural and church weddings which we got to learn allll about over the 2 weeks! We were excited to meet both of their lovely spouses and our dream came true! First thing in the morning, Sam brought Vio over to the house for us to meet! She had driven over 4 hours from where she works, we were so touched and she was an absolute sweetheart.

    We then made our way to the Baha’i House of Worship for our final visit. We were so fortunate we got to visit 3 times, twice attending their Sunday program filled with prayers, readings and music. While we were there, the temple was in its final weeks of construction so the devotions the week before were held in a nearby building. We pulled up to park and there were no cars in the lot. We were confused for a moment but then the security guard came to tell us the temple was open!! You can imagine the wave of gratitude that washed over us knowing that in our final hours in Uganda, the temple was opened!! We made our way up and sat down for devotions.

    We had invited Sam, Narcis and their wives to join us but knew how busy they were and that it might now be possible. Narcis had told us he really hoped to as he knew his wife would love it! We sat down right at 10:30 when devotions began and assumed they weren’t able to make it. Following the program, we stayed a bit longer to say our own prayers and soak in the final moments. As I wiped my tears and stepped out, I saw Narcis and Sylvia walking towards me, beaming from ear to ear! They had come and loved the program! Sylvia wanted to get her hands on any book she could find as she was so moved by the inclusivity of the Faith. Lisa walked out after just saying prayers inside for Narcis not knowing he had made it, and was moved to tears. It was another special, special moment in our final hours. We made our way to the bookstore, helped Sylvia get some books and invited them to join us for lunch back at Sally’s.

    In addition to Narcis and Sylvia, we had another special guest for lunch! “Aunty Vi” as everyone calls her, a Baha’i who moved to Uganda over 50 years ago as a young mom and school teacher with the hope of spreading the unifying message of the Baha’i faith. She told deeply moving stories of the hardships the country was facing at the time and the sweetness of those that took her under their wing. We all were enthralled by her stories as we enjoyed a final home cooked Ugandan meal!

    Our flight was late in the evening so we had a little more time to spare! Sally knew of one more store of local art we would love and she was right!! We may have needed to borrow one of her suitcases to bring all our goodies and gifts home 😂 We finished off with some delicious ice cream with Sally and the boys, savoring our final moments together and planning all the fun things we want to do together on their next visit to the US.

    We made our way home, showered and put fresh clothes on (because we would be traveling for over 24 hours), packed up and gave our goodbye hugs. Our dear Sam drove us to the airport, with one final stop for smoothies on the way. We said our heartfelt “see you laters”, knowing this was absolutely not goodbye forever.

    The flights were longggg but truly not bad! We went from Uganda to Amsterdam (8 hours), Amsterdam to Atlanta (9 hours) and then Atlanta to RDU (1 hour). All of our luggage (including the extra lol) even made it home with us!

    We are home now trying to readjust our sleep schedules, unpack, catch up on laundry, download all our photos, and catch up on work. An hour doesn’t pass where we don’t think of sweet moments from this trip of a lifetime! Thank you for following along on our journey and if you are interested in visiting Uganda, we would love to support you!!

    ❤️,
    Aneesa & Lisa    Read more

  • TravelerUganda
    Day 14

    My Birthday!

    February 18, 2023 in Uganda ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

    You can imagine that given my career choice (wedding/event planner), celebratory occasions are something I love! Every year for my birthday, I love using it as an opportunity to spend time with loved ones, connecting and sharing an experience often with service at the heart of it. We told Sam earlier in the week that our last full day would be my birthday and we wanted to spend the day connecting with the community and being of service in whatever way he thought would be beneficial and respectful. And boy did he plan an amazing day for us :)

    We kicked it off visiting the local craft market, and we are 2 lovers of art!! It was a joy to connect with the local artists, hear their stories, learn how each piece was made and purchase a few small gifts for our families. Johnny in the first picture is a local artist and friend of Sam who we spent many hours with. He not only helped us find what we loved amongst his collection but also helped lead us to the booths of his fellow artists for items he didn’t have!

    Next, we visited Sam’s community! He lives nearby to a group of single moms he has become friends with over the years whom he identified would be so grateful for a visit and service project together. We purchased some basics like rice, sugar, cooking oil and school notebooks and worked together to package and distribute them amongst the families. We were moved by the care, focus and intention of the women. They did the math to ensure every mom got the exact same proportions and showed us how to scoop in a way that not one grain of rice would be wasted. We laughed, played, sang and danced. Sam surprised me with a birthday cake that the children loved cutting together with me. The most touching part was seeing their patience and gratitude as we went down the line to share little bite sized pieces as we didn’t have plates and forks for everyone. They all asked to take photos together and we exchanged numbers with some of the moms so we could continue to keep in touch for years to come.

    Sam helped us package an extra piece to take home to share with Sally and the boys for our family pizza party! It was a birthday I will never forget ❤️    Read more

  • TravelerUganda
    1
    Day 13

    Last Day in Lake Mburo

    February 17, 2023 in Uganda

    Our final Safari day! We made our way back to the park gate after a pre-breakfast breakfast of cereal, fruit and coffee. We reunited with our dear Ranger Damien who led us through another wonderful game drive and walk. At the beginning of the drive, we spotted another animal that was unique to Lake Mburo park, the Eland antelope! We got our of them car to walk closer to get a better view :) We made our way towards the actual lake and spotted many more giraffe, zebras, antelope and birds along the way.

    When we got back to the lodge, we had our delicious hot breakfast with a side of Chess 😉 We packed up our room and hiked to the “Top of the Rock” before our long car ride home. It was a stunning view of the park with a big swing on top of the mountain. We sat together and shared some prayers, songs and gratitude for our time together and the experiences shared. We loaded up the car and (eventually 😂) arrived home in Kampala. On our way out of the park, we had the ultimate goodbye gift of spotting a pair of Crested Cranes, Uganda’s national
    bird!

    You would be surprised how unaware of time we were the whole trip, even being the mega planners we are. Ugandans live by a slower pace of life, often rounding up to the hour and allowing the utmost grace for delays and changed plans. Every time we got in the car we really had no understanding of how long the trip would be- between pot holes, animal crossings and traffic jams. It felt so freeing not to even care but to simply look out the window and enjoy the beauty of Uganda. This drive home, we took extra care to soak it in knowing our trip was coming to a close.    Read more

  • TravelerUganda
    1
    Day 12

    Lake Mburo!

    February 16, 2023 in Uganda

    We enjoyed our final breakfast at Parkview Lodge and began our journey to our final National Park, Lake Mburo! It was another gorgeous drive through the mountains, lakes, tea fields, banana trees and Papyrus swamps. We turned on our street and began the bumpy ride up the mountain. Each National Park has a different landscape and slightly different animals. The one animal we hadn’t yet seen that we specifically came to see was a Zebra! Before we could even make our way to the lodge, we spotted Zebra in the road! Within minutes, we were surrounded. Sam rushed to get Monib (the middle child) out of the other car to join us in the jeep. He exclaimed “No animal too big, no Safari too small!”- a Paw Patrol adaptation we all loved :) The rest of the drive, we continued to be surrounded by Zebra, Long Horned Cows and Baboons.

    We arrived at the *stunning* Rockwobo Rock Lodge that was situation on the top of a mountain overlooking the park. We were warmly greeted with flavorful Hibiscus juice and checked it to our Family Cottage! We took a quick dip in the pool to cool down and then made our way to our first Lake Mburo Safari! Before we even reached the gate we saw many more Zebra, even a precious baby! We met our Ranger Damion and within minutes saw a new to us animal, a Topi (type of antelope named for loving to be up high/on top). Minutes later, we came across a group/tower of Giraffe.

    Since Lake Mburo has no lions, it’s actually safe to get out of your car and walk closer to the animals- another big reason we wanted to come here! Sally *loves* giraffe and was in heaven walking side by side with them! We were joined by Zebra as well, it was simply magical. We got back in the car and saw Buffalo, Warthogs, Topi, Impala (another new to us antelope), Water Buck, and many more birds! We headed back to the lodge, had dinner around the dining room table in the family cottage, and put the kiddos to sleep. Lisa graciously volunteered to stay in the house with the sleeping kiddos while Sally and I headed on a night Safari! Although we didn’t spot another leopard, we enjoyed the thrill of searching in the night (with a massive flash light/torch provided by the ranger) for animals! We did end up finding a majestic owl, a bush baby, 2 Genet cats and giraffe laying down to sleep! More than anything, we just enjoyed each other’s company in the quiet, cool night with a sky full of stars above.    Read more

  • TravelerUganda
    Day 11

    Boat Cruise Safari!

    February 15, 2023 in Uganda

    Our afternoon activity was the Boat Cruise Safari, and boy were we blown away by all we saw!! We arrived at the boat and to our surprise, Harriet was our guide joined by Medress who was a bird pro 🎉 For 1.5 straight hours we saw a constant stream of animals including 20+ new varieties of birds. Medress and Harriet were so committed to helping us find as many animals as possible and identifying every single one by name for us to check off every single one in our book! The list included 50+ elephant, 100+ hippos, 10+ Nile Crocodiles, even a Monitor Lizard! We all loved every minute of it and the boys said “this was a VERY good Safari!” They appreciated the beauty, awe and wonder of it all together with us. It was so sweet seeing one another’s patience to explain the exact location of any animal spotted so we could enjoy it together!

    We got back to the lodge and ran to put our swimsuits on to take a dip in the pool before sunset! Our friends/drivers/guides Sam and Narcis both shared they didn’t know how to swim so we rallied together to do a quick swim lesson. In less than an hour, they could swim from one side to the other, we were blown away! Sally, Lisa and I had fun racing and Sally (a former lifeguard) smoked us both :) We ended the night with dinner in our room and headed to bed for another early morning.    Read more

  • TravelerUganda
    Day 11

    Safari in Queen Elizabeth National Park!

    February 15, 2023 in Uganda

    We woke up at 5am to have breakfast and all pile in the Safari jeep! We made our way to the entrance gate where we met our guide Harriet! We had just begun the scenic drive when Harriet got the call that lions were spotted and we raced over! Right off the road were 2 male lions (brothers), the first males we saw the whole trip! We continued down the road and encountered majestic elephants right next to our car! There were even 2 babies, we were in heaven! Along the drive we also saw Buffalo, Bush Buck, Kob, Water Buck, Hippos, Baboons, and Vervet Monkeys. We came to the end of our safari and right as we tried to exit the park, the guard started frantically waving his hands and saying “Go! Go! Go! Leopard!”. We all sat down, braced ourselves and quickly made our way to where we could see the group of Jeep’s gathered along the path. There he was- our first leopard of Queen Elizabeth and the first that close of the trip! It was breathtaking in its beauty, the spots just look unreal. He was strolling through the tall grass and the highlight was seeing him flick his long tail! He was way bigger than we all had imagined. The highlight of the day was no doubt the excitement of the children and seeing it through their eyes :) We loved all standing up and utilizing the pop top and when parked, the boys loved even climbing on top of the jeep!

    We said goodbye to Harriet and made our way back to the lodge for lunch and a quick rest before the next adventure!

    P.S. All the best animal photos were taken on my real camera so once I get home and sort through them I will upload them!    Read more

  • TravelerUganda
    1
    Day 10

    Headed to Queen Elizabeth National Park!

    February 14, 2023 in Uganda

    We woke up early to hit the road! We decided to take 2 cars in order to have a Safari jeep with a pop top and large sliding windows. We made our way and stopped at the Equator for a quick photo and rest stop :) We drove a few more hours and stopped for a delicious Ugandan buffet at a Cultural Center/Country Club. We switched cars which allowed the 2 older boys to ride on the Jeep and play car games with Lisa, Sam and the driver of the jeep, Narcis while I got to ride with Sally, the littlest one and their driver Karim and have time to catch up!

    We arrived to our breathtaking lodge right at sunset. We unloaded the cars, had a yummy dinner, and headed to bed for our first Safari together in Queen Elizabeth National Park! Don’t miss the elephant towel fold in the photos!! By the time we checked in to our room, the Sun had set so the 3 videos show the view from our porch at night and in the morning! 😍    Read more

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