Uganda 2014: Day 9

We were given the choice of if we wanted to go to the safari or sleep in. Surprisingly at least three people did stay and sleep in. We were searching for leopards. Keeping our eyes on the trees and the ground just in case we could see more lions. I rode on the top, back of the van again. It is cool to do that, but you need a fluffy pillow because the bars hurt. Once again we saw tons of cob and warthogs with their babies. We drove around for a long time and had to stop by the hippo pond to use the “bush Toilet.”

We walked closer to the hippos, but not to far because they are so aggressive. Our ranger walked with us to keep us safe. After a good break there we loaded back up. Another van had come and stopped there too. We drove together for the rest of the trip. The female ranger in the other van pointed out about four female lions that were on the hunt. One crossed the road right in front of our van while hunting a cob. We watched her for a couple minutes before the cob ran away. The other group said there was a female lion laying down behind us, so we backed up to see if she was still there. She was!!! We looked at her from where we were and then our drivers took us right up to her ! She had a fresh kill and was still panting from the hunt. At that moment we were a few yards from her and she was a few yards away from the cob she took down. The we moved the cars around and a little closer. This move made her nervous. She went to stand over the cob to make sure we were not going to take it from her. When she decided we were not going to take it, she started eating it from the back end. It was interesting to watch because she ate intestines and all the insides that she could before eating the outside. You could hear her trying to break the ribs while she was eating. It was like watching animal planet, but in real life. We watched her for at least 15 minutes before we called the other team. It was actually time to go back and have lunch, but we called to see what they had found anyway. They found 3-4 male lions and watched them just lay around. I am happy that everyone was able to see lions. Also, I feel like Ahmed redeemed himself in people’s eyes since he did not scare them off.

We got back and had just enough time to pack and eat (quickly) before we had to check out. Ahmed let us ride on the top of the van until we reached the last checkpoint before the main road. I asked Joanne if they had her missing flip flop. She said, “Yes, why did you think it was here?” I told her I thought that because it is the last place she wore it for sure. I think it might have fallen off her foot while getting in or maybe she took it off when she got in and it fell out before we shut the door. On the drive back, I slept for maybe 10 minutes before we made it to where we ordered lunch on our way to safari. I guess some of the food tasted really gross and some was actually good. I did not think mine was bad. The drive home from there was much better because I talked to Caroline and Scott for most of the ride and Scott let us play games on his phone too. The traffic in the city was so bad we were just sitting in one spot forever and it was 9pm. We made it to the house and were so excited! One other van was there before us and sitting around in candlelight. About 3 minutes after my van arrived, the power came back on. Mama Esther said it had rained and the power had been off since the morning we left. The timing was amazing!

When the other two vans arrived we were all eating. They told us the reason we were so late is because a taxi hit (not bad) one of the vans. I guess the taxi driver blamed our driver and all the passengers came out as witnesses. Everyone said that once the passengers left, the taxi driver changed his tune. Thankfully, our two vans were still together so one could back up the other’s story. We were all thankful for the sleep that night.