Rwesirabo

A dream came true! Since planning our trip to Uganda, it was always clear that we wanted to go to a national park.
There are several big national parks in Uganda. Most of them are far from Masaka, at the border to Democratic Republic of Congo. But luckily there is a small Park just two hours from Transitory Home: National Park Lake Mburo. It was a little hard to go there because first we wanted to do it on the second weekend, but Theresa was still too sick. So then we changed plans and agreed to go on our last weekend. But then Passy was not able to get us a driver with a car that could bring us there even in rainy season (it must be a 4x4).
After some discussion and begging to the driver and the director of Caritas Maddo, our trip was finally safe and we were ready to go. 🎉

During the trip we already saw the environment changing more to savanna.
Then already before the entrance of the park there were monkeys, zebras and antilopes everywhere. I could not believe it!
The national parks are quite expensive in comparison to normal life in Uganda. Which I think is alright, as Uganda protects a high percentage of its land and wildlife and needs to finance this with foreign money. We payed 40$ each for entry and another 10$ for the car. For John, our dear driver, as he is a local resident, we only had to pay 5$. Of the money the park raises, 20% are going to the local communities, in order to compensate for the land they can’t use anymore and to make them profiters of nature conservation (that is soo smart!)
In the afternoon we booked a boat ride in order to come close to the Hippos and Crocodiles. There were sooo many Hippos. And they are huuuuge! Theresa and me argued before, if we rather wanted to fight a hippo or a crocodile… After seeing them I would take the crocodile for sure. Although both options seem quite nasty.
There were also a lot of beautiful birds: enormous Fisheagle, greater blue-eared starlings, woodland kingfisher, village weavers and maaany more. (You should google them!)
At the car park we were able to see a lot of warthogs. They look to funny! While eating they kneel down and can even move forward in that position. Whenever they are scared they run with their tail straight upwards. It’s hilarious. Luckily they had a guest house in the national park, so we didn’t have to pay one of the very expensive lodges.
In the morning we went on a game drive (safari) with a tour guide. We had already seen nearly everything we expected to see, but were still eager to find giraffes. And after a while we found them! All the time I was just shaking my head because it felt so unreal to be in a natural environment and see those animals. All calm and friendly eating and resting. They were not as shy as I expected them to be, (but still too far away for good fotos, I’m sorry). After the game drive, I decided to also go for a walking tour. I liked being in the car, but I wanted to experience the environment with all my senses. And I was also hoping to get some more information about birds and plants (which I got). Back in the car I was satisfied with our trip and sad to be leaving. Just in the moment, when we wanted to leave I felt a strong pain in my leg. I pushed it out of the (open) window, in order to be able to get rid of my pants… And found a big wasp there that had made it into my pants and stung me. I was shocked, afraid and it hurt so much. After the guide telling me that it’s just a wasp, and that I will not die, I calmed down.
Still this gift of the wasp, accompanies me till today. My leg got hot and red and itchy. So that I decided to go to the hospital on Monday, just to be sure that I don’t have an infection or some little beast inside of me.

Lake Mburo is definitely a recommendation!

Hope you are alright, be aware of wasps!
Greetings,
JohannaLes mer