Lions!

Not long after sunrise we came across a pride of eight lions feasting on a kill.  We drove close and then retired to a distance to watch.

 As the sun grew hotter the lions shifted position.

 Eventually they retreated into a thicket to sleep.

Mweya Lodge

Mweya Lodge sits in a superb location overlooking the Kazinga channel, through which Lake George drains into Lake Edward.

We watched buffalo and hippo on the far bank while sitting on the terrace eating lunch.  Our room, a luxurious tented cabin, also overlooked the channel.

Having had our tent invaded by monkeys at Mihingo Lodge four nights earlier, it was the turn of an army of ants to come marching in through the gap beneath the door.  We decamped to the neighboring tent and ensured that paraffin was poured around the perimeter and all gaps stuffed with towels to prevent any more unwelcome nightly visitors.

After the ant episode, we went for dinner.  It was 9pm by now and we needed some wine to unwind, so we ordered two glasses of chablis, and watched the bats flying low outside the windows. After a while the waiter returned with a random bottle of red wine, which we sent back.  More time elapsed and the waiter reappeared with two glasses full of an amber liquid which one sip confirmed was either really 'off' wine or more likely apple juice.  Eventually we got some acceptable white wine and then waited for our meal.  After an hour and a half the staff informed us they were closing the restaurant and would we move to the bar - and promptly turned off all the lights!

A pre-lunch swim and a very delicious lunch accompanied by friendly weaver birds the next day went some way to restoring faith in Mweya Lodge but needless to say we did not leave a tip!

Kazinga Channel

As soon as we arrived at Mweya Lodge we rushed down to the jetty to catch the 4:15pm Kazinga Channel boat ride.  The channel connects Lake George with Lake Edward.

The shores were teeming with wildlife; I could hardly write down the names of the birds that we saw fast enough. These included skimmers, least terns with red bills, goliath heron, grey heron, yellow billed stork, saddlebill stork, great egret, little egret, yellow billed egret, sacred ibis, hadeda ibis, spoonbill, pink backed pelicans, cormorants, African fish eagles, Egyptian geese, water thickknees, black crake, sandpiper, stilt, plover, hamerkop, pied kingfisher, malachite kingfisher, red bishop, palmnut vulture.

This is a spoonbill - notice its spoon shaped bill. It was the first and only one I saw in Uganda.

 Goliath Heron

 Pied kingfishers nest in holes in the riverbank and hover high over the water when fishing.

 Black crake - walking very fast!

 Egyptian goose

 Yellow billed stork keeping a beady eye on a crocodile

 Sacred ibis

 Red / yellow bishop

 African fish eagles pair for life.

 Saddle billed stork among cormorants.

 Palm nut vulture

 Pink backed pelicans

These two water thickknees were defending their nest from a predatory monitor lizard.

Hippos and buffalo wallowed in the riparian mud

 

There are several fishing villages on the lakes.

The highlight of the cruise was the sighting of six lions; one in the thickets and the others sunning themselves on the cliffs.

As we drew near to the lions lightning started to flash in the distance and then the rain came with huge thunderclaps so we sped back across the channel and to Mweya lodge.

Leopard!

We had been a little disappointed in the morning at not seeing a single lion, let alone a tree climbing one.  However when a large male leopard crossed the road in front of us we forgot about the lions - this was a much rarer sight.  We followed him for a while, his white tail held high and waving in the long grasses.

Elephants!

As we neared Mweya Lodge in Queen Elizabeth National Park, we happened on this herd of elephants.  We counted seven in all.

In search of tree climbing lions

On Wednesday morning we drove through Ishasha in the southern part of Queen Elizabeth National park, looking for the famed tree climbing lions.  Despite our driver Francis' best efforts and circling every ficus tree and scanning every thicket, we were out of luck.

However we did see some mongooses, buffalo, topi, baboons, red tailed monkeys and an elephant.

The birdlife was very abundant and we saw the following species:
White browed coucal

Long crested eagle

Red necked spurfowl

Yellow necked longclaw

Not pictured are
Palm nut vulture, Sooty chat, Black headed gonolek with its call of whee-oo, Grey backed bush shrike, Swallows, Ruppells starling.

Birdlife at Bwindi

I was very excited to see a great crested blue turaco on our second day of gorilla trekking, a bird I've had on my list since arriving in Uganda.  I also saw a flock flying across the chimp exhibit at Entebbe Zoo a few days later.

Later that day Bonnie and I went for a bird watching walk across the river that flows through the valley, and spotted this striking double toothed barbet.

Each time we walked out of the lodge we were greeted by this pin-tailed whydah.

Outside our cottage the bushes were thick with weaver birds, bulbuls and bronze sunbirds, which started squabbling at one point; you can hear their songs on the video below.