Kiruhura District

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