Day 3 Uganda

I was not really looking forward to another 11 hours on the road but the company of my driver/guide David made it worthwhile. We took a slightly different route back to the city. In Queen Elizabeth park we were both watching for wildlife. I was the first to spot the rarest animal in the park. I spotted the Tree Climbing Lion! This was one BIG cat hanging in a tree watching the area for its next meal. We stopped near it and took some pictures. It is said that they became tree climbing lions during the time when almost all of the residents and animals of the Queen Elizabeth Park were wiped out from a sickness, now known to be sleeping sickness caused by ticks. The lions would climb the trees to stay away from the ground where the ticks were. It was also a cooler breeze up high in the tree and this also prevented ticks and other bugs from harassing them. It was also easier to see their prey as the grasses around the area could grow to over 6 feet high. This would have made hunting for prey impossible.

So check out the photos of this awesome animal. We were not that close but were still able to get some shots of the lion on the branch. While taking the photos I looked down and then back up and the lion was gone… We could not see where it had gone so we decided to quickly get back in the car and make our way before we became breakfast! We passed by a herd of TOPI – a type of gazelle/buck.

A couple other cultural items…. The 7 of us that had done the Gorilla Trek (huffing and puffing) were all wearing good hiking shoes/boots. Most of them were well over $100. The guide and our security were all wearing $15 plain rubber boots!! LOL. This is also seen in all the villages. Most people are wearing flip flops (often the wrong size) or they have plain rubber boots. Another thing was when we traveled through the smaller villages and very rural communities there were often people standing on or walking down the road carrying and listening to simple transistor radios. This was their only method of communication, only electronic device and the only way to discover news.

I could not believe my eyes!! I had seen a couple vehicles go by as well as a city bus and I thought I was seeing things… There were people/street venders up ahead that were selling fresh fish from Lake Victoria. These are large pinkish fish. Here is the shocking part. Once they buy the fish either from a car, taxi or a city bus they still have to get it home. There is no paper to wrap it with so what do they do? You ready for this….. They tie the fish to the front grill of the car or the wiper blades of the bus!!! Then they drive a couple hours in the heat, dirt and diesel until they get home. It was the most bizarre thing I had seen. I wondered if maybe it also got a little cooked their on the hot grill LOL.

I took a pic of a guy riding a motor bike wearing a winter parka! It was 27 degrees at that time.
On the way home we stopped at the EQUATOR. This was cool as there was an experiment that you could participate in. They had three bowls of water with holes in the bottom. On was about 20ft north of the Equator. One was 20ft south of the Equator and one right in the middle of the equator. The test (which I have on video) is to see which way water spins when it’s drained on either side of the Equator. This was a great learning experience and it is confirmed that water spins clockwise north of the Equator, counter clockwise south of the Equator and it does NOT spin when you are centered on the Equator. Also during the winter and summer solstice while standing on the Equator you will NOT see your shadow. I hope I can post the videos.

There are 31 million people living in Uganda and 3.5 million in the city of Kampala.
I arrived back at my hotel and had a wonderful dinner. This time I was one of 4 guests at the hotel.

I have now had 3 beers during this trip, Nile Special, Bell and Crest all were made in Uganda and they were all good.

Nite