Our second day at Ishasha was notable for a number of events; sub adult lions, a leopard, an impromptu def poetry jam and wood owl calls at night. We started with a before breakfast, before sunrise drive through the park. Joseph had heard lions in the night. So with only coffee and a biscuit we were off to look for lions. We started with a gorgeous sunrise over the Savannah with literally hundreds of Ugandan Kob around us. Shortly after sunrise Joseph spotted two lions hunting. Surprisingly, they were hunting on the burnt side of the park. To us they looked like females, but Joseph explained that these were young males who had not yet developed a mane. Joseph referred to them as “sub-adults,” a term that was new to us but one that we felt applied to many other contexts. The two males were not successful in their hunt as far as we could tell. We followed them for a while and watched as they ran and played with one another. Like other “sub-adults” we know they didn’t seem to be able to walk from one place to another without putting their paws on one each other.
Later in the drive Chris pulled out a small guitar that she had purchased at a shop in Bwindi and started to play it. Janis then accompanied on the little drum she had bought much to Joseph’s entertainment. This inspired all to engage in an impromptu def poetry jam. Chris, being a child of the 60’s was clearly the best at reciting “deeply meaningful” poetry as she played and Janis provided emphasis on her drum. Joseph was quite entertained with this esoteric bit if American culture. He’s pretty sure he has a crazy groups of Muzungus in his truck.
Joseph, our guide, has very little use for the Congo, or its people. If we have not seen elephants, he will say, “Oh, those elephants have gone to the Congo.” This means the elephants are not worth seeing. Or he might say, “those people in the Congo, they will eat anything.” So now when we don’t see something we want to see, we too say, they have gone to the Congo. It’s a useful phrase. Other animals we sighted in the morning drive included a large group of baboons, a crested eagle, cape buffalo, and a yellow throated crow.
An early game drive meant a late breakfast and a very leisurely day by the river in Ishasha. They are diverting the river here at this Wilderness Camp because it is eroding the ground on which the camp sits. Something like this would never be allowed in the U.S., but “this is Africa.” So each morning a vehicle goes out of the park to pick up “the boys” as Joseph calls them, and they proceed to dig a new channel for the river, literally by hand. This shoveling is back breaking work and as we noted the Ugandan’s did almost all the work, while the white overseer watched and read a book. It’s still very colonial in many parts of Africa.
Today was hot in Ishasha, but we left camp at 4:30 p.m. for a sunset game drive. The sun sets here at about 6:30 p.m. and it sets quickly with very little twilight. Once again Joseph was masterful in his game spotting as he stopped the truck, then backed up so that we could take pictures of a leopard that was out hunting in the early evening. The leopard saw us and hid in the grass with the sun going down behind it. It was difficult to get good pictures, but Chris did get some excellent video of the leopard checking us out. Other sightings this evening included a white browed cukoo, lots of white backed vultures, and a harrier hawk.
Joseph surprised us by pulling up to a Banda (a small round brick structure) in the middle of the park. After checking to make sure there were no lions in the Banda, he told us we could get out and stretch our legs. He then brought out a cooler with exactly the kind of beer we like and we drank our beer while the sun set on the Ugandan Savannah in the middle of a wilderness park filled with predators, prey and our small group.
We invited Joseph to dinner with us tonight, as it will be our last dinner with Joseph as our guide. His knowledge, skill, patience and attentiveness to our needs is quite remarkable. A superb guide like Joseph makes all the difference in terms of the quality of the experience of a Safari. He has been our anchor in our travels in this very different culture and land. We will miss him greatly when he leaves us at Fort Portal tomorrow. Dinner was superb and typically Joseph could identify every night sound made by animals or birds. The African Wood Owl both male and female were calling all during dinner, although to us the hooting sounded like a person doing a bad imitation of an owl.
An early start tomorrow as we need to be at Mweya for the Kazinga Channel boat ride by 11:00 a.m. Hopefully, we’ll see elephants tomorrow.
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