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For this blog:

This blog is about our trip to Uganda.

Highlights of our trip included treks to see Chimpanzees, Mountain Gorillas and Golden Monkeys and the Queen Elizabeth National Park.  We took some boat cruises and drove through rainforests and gorgeous mountain regions.  

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August 11/12/13 - Getting to Uganda

From the Uganda site a few weeks before we leave:

Movement by public transport and private vehicles is prohibited. There are limited exceptions to this, including medical transport, cargo, emergency vehicles, essential worker vehicles, and registered tourist vehicles (emphasis mine).

Should we feel special in a good way or bad way?

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Wednesday evening (Aug 11) we took flight to Los Angeles where we are spending the night. 

Leaving Las Vegas

We were up early on Thursday morning and to the airport.  Because the COVID pandemic there are lot of extra checks and paperwork that must be inspected before we can get on a plane for an international trip. They checked that we had our COVID test and our visa’s.  Fortunately, it didn’t take too long.  Because of the length of the trip, we decided to fly Business class which meant separate (and less crowded) ticket counters.

After getting through security we wandered a bit and then found our gate.  We opted to not get breakfast as we figured they would feed us on the plane, which they did.  And the food was very good.  Breakfast was Belgium Berry Waffles and peach yogurt parfait.  Really yummy.

Saw some red rocks on the way to Chicago but no idea where this is.

Our itinerary is Chicago, Brussels, brief stop in Kigali (Rwanda) and finally Entebbe Uganda.  The overall trip took about 24 hours.  Here we are in Chicago, waiting for our flight.

In Brussels they went through all the documents including a unique locator ID for Rwanda (even though we didn’t even get off the plane there).

Business/First gave us significant real estate for the flights. 

Polaris (Business Class) in United

Belgium Airlines

Mary was able to sleep a bit on the flight from Chicago to Brussels and a fair amount on the flight from Brussels to Kigali.  Paul didn’t think he slept much at all. 

At the Entebbe airport we picked up our checked luggage, had to show some documents, went through passport check (where they checked our COVID Tests, visas and such), Customs (nothing to declare so that was easy) and, and just outside the customs control, a COVID check.  Our passports now have lots of little stickers on the back that they apply to show that the various checks have been performed.

We were met by Opio, our transfer driver, who took us to our hotel nearby, the Protea Hotel by Marriott.  

Our hotel in Etebbe

By the time we finished checking in and doing some organizing it was 12:30am local time when we finally got to bed.  We were both pretty tired.

August 14 – Day of Leisure at the Entebbe Hotel

We set the alarms this morning and were up shortly after 8:00.  We made it down for breakfast a little after 9:00.  At 10:00 we were met by Lydia, from Classic Africa Safaris (our Uganda tour organizer) and we had a nice visit with her.  She went over all of the details of the itinerary so we would know what to expect.  Very organized.

We spent much of the rest of the day in the hotel room, resting and organizing and such.  Our hotel is right on Lake Victoria and we have a great view of the waterfront and the lake. 

In the late afternoon we took a stroll around the grounds just to get some fresh air and sunlight. 

There was a cattle egret wandering around with us.

We saw some Egyptian Geese…very colorful.

We also saw several Marabou storks.  They are the unofficial national bird of Uganda and they certainly thought they had the run of the grounds…particularly around the eating areas. 

We accidently left the balcony light on and it attracted millions of bugs.  And the slider doesn’t close well so there was a bit of a gap at the bottom.  So we went on a mini-bug safari this evening.  We caught 3 big bugs using the two cups and a glass we had in the room.  Couldn’t take them outside because of the mass of bugs out there.  So, they will go out tomorrow morning.  

Bug under Glass

The it was early to bed tonight.  Neither of us are over jetlag.

August 15 - Touring Entebbe and a cruise on Lake Victoria

We both had a rough night…still have jetlag.  Paul was awake off and on, Mary woke up at 4:30 and couldn’t go back to sleep.

We met our guide for the rest of our Uganda tour, Francis.  We discussed the upcoming itinerary with him and then we headed out for a tour of Entebbe.  First stop was an ATM to get some cash.  One American dollar is 3,535.58 Ugandan Shillings.  So, if you have a $10 meal you need 35,355 shillings.  We are currently carrying around over a million shillings. 

Then it was on to the Botanical Gardens.  The gardens were established by the British when Uganda was a Protectorate.  Francis confirmed that Uganda is a member of the British Commonwealth of nations. When we got to the park we picked up a guide, Ratifi (yes, like in The Lion King) who gave us a walking tour.  He was very knowledgeable about the plants and the birds.

The Park:

Calabash Nutmeg Tree and its flower:

African Umbrella Tree:

Cannon Ball Tree:

Alligator Tree (the roots look very much like alligators):

We saw some interesting birds:

Hornbill:

Yellow Billed Egret:

Unknown but possibly an immature Grey Heron:

We also saw a couple of black and white colobus

and many vervet monkeys.

We saw a really big spider on its web (the guide tossed a leaf on the web to draw out the spider)

and some guard termites protecting the mound.

Most interesting was the fire ants…not venomous but they give nasty bites.  It was fascinating to watch then.  They move in a vast column of ants.  We couldn’t get a picture of the really big stream of ants…they started attacking us.  However, we saw a group that was forming a column.  And what was really fascinating was that the column was lined on both sides with guard ants who were stationary and guarded the column.  Isn’t nature amazing.

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Video of fire ants

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From there we stopped at a small craft market.  The clothing and baskets were so colorful and there were wonderful wood carvings and paintings.  Alas, we have little room in the luggage for much in the way of souvenirs but Mary did find a couple of scrunchies to buy.

We then drove through parts of Entebbe where he pointed out some of the old British colonial buildings that are still in use today for various government agencies and departments.

We ended the afternoon with a cruise around part of Lake Victoria.  

We saw an Africa Fish Eagle that looks very much like the American Bald Eagle only smaller.

There were lots of fishermen out fishing but the pilot said most of them were fishing illegally...so they were staying very close to the shore so they weren't easy to spot.

There were also some tilapia fishing farms. 

We saw tons of pied kingfishers all over the lake and in the brush along the shoreline.

As we cam into shore there were lots of cormorants and yellow billed egrets settling into the brush, getting ready for bed for the night.

They had nice snacks on the boat so we called it dinner. 

And we had a bit of a sunset.

Once back at the hotel it was packing and repacking and repacking.  The challenge is to keep the sum total of all of our luggage (checked and carryon) to 33 pounds each person for the small plane that we will eventually be taking back to Entebbe.  We are leaving some luggage at the hotel with all the extra stuff.  Didn’t get to bed as early as we would have liked.  But we have a long drive of seven or eight hours tomorrow so perhaps we can nap on the ride.