THE CHRISTMAS SAFARI

Well, this has been a while in coming I know, but it has taken some doing, reducing over 700 photographs to a few chosen ones to illustrate our grand tour of several of the most stunning game parks in Uganda.  We started in a small, but superb, park at Lake Mburo, then made our way via the gorillas at Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, the tree-climbing lions in Ishasha, many elephants and a more grounded pride of lions in Queen Elizabeth National Park, chimp tracking in Kibale Forest, crocodiles and hippos and an amazing leopard sighting at Murchison Falls, and finally ending with a slightly nerve racking close encounter with a family of white rhino at the Ziwa reserve, returning home to Kampala late on Christmas Eve.   We have both agreed to let the pictures tell their own story; they are not in any particular order, but I have tried to group them so they make some sort of sense.  Remember, you can enlarge the pictures by clicking on them to get the best from them ...

Sunrise over Kasenyi plains; plus two examples of our 'spartan' safari accommodation.

Clockwise from top left: Topi; Jackson's hartebeest; Waterbuck with calf; another Waterbuck;
Uganda kob; Impala.

The highlight of the trip - the gorillas.  We were briefed that we were to stay at least 7m away from any animal
at all times - fortunately our family didn't seem to have received the same briefing!

We observed a family of six, all of whom seemed more interested in their lunch than in us.
We were very privileged to spend an hour in their company, taking some great pictures.

The unusual tree-climbing lions of Ishasha didn't disappoint.
No one seems to know why they do it, but they looked amazing!

We nearly ran into one elephant on one of the safari tracks, literally, as the top two pictures show.
The others we saw from the relative safety of a boat on the Kazinga Channel.

We think it was an immature bataleur eagle that we saw; but we are pretty
certain of: a woodland kingfisher; a saddle billed stork; a spotted thicknee; two grey crowned cranes.

The Chimpanzee Guest House didn't have any primates resident but was very comfortable and had
great views over tea plantations.Chimp tracking in the nearby Kibale rain forest was a proper adventure.
We only saw one chimpanzee who gave us the slip after an exciting chase on foot through primary jungle.
On the way back we discovered why the rain forest is so called.

The Rothschild giraffe were a little camera shy but the zebra made up for it.

We stopped over in the town of Masindi on our way to Murchison Falls.
As it happened the President called in on the same day - the local cattle were unimpressed.

Murchison Falls, where the Nile drops down the escarpment of the Western Rift Valley.

We saw lots of hippo from our 2 boat trips and were lucky to see one on land in Lake Mburo.

Viewing from the river was a great way to spot elephant, hippo, buffalo and at least one very large Nile crocodile.

Buffalo (one of the big five) abounded.  The one in the river didn't seem to mind sharing his wallow with a croc.

More birds: a yellow billed ox-pecker; the huge, ubiquitous marabou stork; a brown snake eagle.
However, despite much searching with the help of our guide, Jimmy, no sign of the shy shoebill.

The most adventurous day of all - tracking a leopard cross-country in the Landcruiser.  Sadly because of the all
the bumping around the only picture Ronnie managed to get is in the top left (you can see a leopard there if
you really look hard!).  Unfortunately the adventure ended abruptly when Ian grounded Lucy with all 4 wheels
almost in the air (bottom left).  The photo on the right shows Ronnie and our guide waiting to be rescued - I think she
may be wondering if things might have turned out better if the photographer and driver had swapped roles that day!

Some random photos: Relaxing after our river trip along the Kazinga Channel; Ronnie discussing the merits
of various deployment options with a local Ugandan soldier (the DRC border in Queen Elizabeth National Park
versus Somalia for example!); an extremely long example of a giant amphibian, the monitor lizard.

Sadly there are no rhinos left in the wild in Uganda any more as they were all poached to extinction a while ago.
However, they are being successfully re-introduced in a 70 sq Km reserve in Ziwa which we called into for
some rhino tracking on the way home.  We were amazed how close we were able to get to a family of 3
- closer than we were comfortable with at times if the truth be told!

A random selection of photos that couldn't be missed out.  The satnav records the exact moment we cross the
equator; school children getting off the cross-Nile ferry clearly getting into the Christmas spirit; Bajja may
not be spelled in the usual way, but Mark couldn't miss the photo opportunity; a superb caterpillar at our last
safari lodge - no idea which moth it belongs to, any ideas welcome.

And finally ... of course the statutory badger photos.  Only the 3 came with us - Exodus, Levi and Mark.

The day after we got back to Kampala we enjoyed a characteristically enthusiastic Christmas service at All Saints Cathedral in the morning and a barbecue with school colleagues and their families in the afternoon.  We were relaxing after an intensive 10 days behind the camera lens so didn't manage to get any good pictures of either event!  Below is the best we could manage (it is of the barbecue not the service).

Our thoughts now turn to work after a holiday of a lifetime.  We are looking forward to the challenges of the year ahead and wish you all a happy and fruitful new year too.

THE LAST COUPLE OF WEEKS OF TERM

Well, the title should pretty much tell you all you need to know about this particular blog - it is school-based, and it covers the run up to the end of the term.  An end of term that was same as ends of terms all around the world - that is to say, crammed with assemblies, concerts and Christmas parties.  The picture on the left shows me in my last day of term get up - certainly cooler and more relaxing than my usual collar and tie.

The Friday of the week before the end of term was taken up with 'Parent-Teacher Conferences' - what would be known elsewhere as parents' evening but this time, refreshingly, held during the day.  It was a good way to see parents, especially as Year 5 had held their 'fly-on-the-wall' assembly the day before in which we gave a rarely seen glimpse of what really goes on in our classroom.  It involved a recital of The Highwayman, video clips from lessons, students impersonating Mr Ian taking badger maths, live sandwich making and a music and dance version of the water-cycle.  As the parents loved the assembly they seemed more inclined to be positive and complimentary in the meetings the next day.  A risky strategy I admit, but one I got away with!  As I was heavily involved in technical support I didn't get much of a chance to take photos, but here are a few taken in the run up to the performance.

Some of the girls relax before the big production

The boys are more intense

Rohit and Sammy warm up - and Pauline just poses

Smartly dressed parents, herds of reindeer, smouldering children
and slightly squeaky recorders - could be a primary school carol concern
anywhere in the world!

Other events of note have been the GEMS Christmas Carol Concert and the whole school disco.  I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that, since we are a UK-focused international school, everything to do with Christmas should mirror what happens in UK - but I am!  In fact, it is not just at school, but also at church and in the community in general.  As we swelter away in 30 degrees of sticky heat, everywhere you look are gaudily decorated fir trees, heavily robed Father Christmases and snow flakes galore.  The only thing that seems to differ is that almost without exception every child at school, when presented with a specially obtained Christmas cracker on their plate, picked it up by one end and stared quizzically at it.  None of them had seen a cracker before and they hadn't a clue what to do with it - one Christmas tradition that clearly hasn't made it out to Uganda!

Year 5 are ready to go for the GEMS school disco.  The children enjoy the dancing
whilst the staff get stuck into the pizza - before heading off down to our
local bar for a few cold beers and karaoke afterwards!

I have two unrelated and random non-school based stories to relate before I close.  The first is to tell you of snail day.  Last week, after a very heavy thunderstorm the night before, I came out to find the most enormous snail residing on the wing of the Landcruiser.  After a quick chat, during which I suggested that if he (??) wanted to stay safe now would be a good time to get off, I set off for the short, but very bumpy trip to school.  When I got there he was still firmly attached.  I then stepped out into the car park to be greeted by his older, and even bigger, brother.  I rushed inside to tell the support staff the exciting news that I had just found a monster snail and several came out to look - only to snort in disgust and to tell me that my snail was a tiddler compared to a proper Ugandan snail!  

The big Yin!

I have not seen another snail before or since that day, but just so you can judge for yourself I have enclosed a picture of the big chap next to my mobile phone! 

The second story is a little more bizarre and cannot be related here in its entirety, however, it is worth telling as it helps to give some colour to my picture of life in Kampala. As regular readers will know I live in a fairly large, fairly luxurious apartment within a larger condominium in Luzira, a small outer suburb of Kampala.  The area is 'up and coming' but, as with most of Kampala, smart housing is mixed in with some areas of extreme poverty.  This means that security is an issue and we have armed guards on the compound at night.  Now, when I say guards, that depends if you consider poorly paid, badly trained personnel whose main duty seems to be to sleep all night to be guards!  We had a break-in to the flat above mine within a week of my arrival, and then earlier this week we had another, more worrying incident.  I was woken at 4am to the sound of shouting and got up to discover that several flats, including the one above mine again, had been burgled but that the intruders had been disturbed by one tenant who had got a 9mm pistol and loosed off a shot at him.  A mob soon formed and started searching the area.  When they discovered a young lad about 18, (whom I had taken to church with me the Sunday before) was flat-sitting the apartment opposite mine they decided he must be to blame.  He was dragged out onto the grass and at one point had the loaded pistol put to his head. I genuinely thought they were going to shoot him!  It took a lot of shouting and gesticulation to persuade them to hand him over to the police without a beating or worse.  Fortunately he was released the following day, but it just goes to show how mob rule is still very prevalent here.  I guess I should finish this off by saying that I visited him twice in the local lock up whilst he was being interrogated and he was treated very well by the police, who seemed to be conducting their enquiries very professionally throughout.

So, as this goes to press, Ronnie is here in Kampala and we are preparing to hit the road for our 10 day, 1500 Km safari extravaganza, returning on Christmas Eve.  Lucy has been fully serviced and is raring to go - so please pray that she makes it all the way without any mishaps.  When we get back we should have plenty of exciting photos and stories of tree climbing lions, amazing gorillas, cute chimps etc etc.  That should be a blog worth reading.  In the meantime I hope that you all have a wonderful Christmas and get a chance to unwind.