Africa: Day 4

Friday May 14

(This tree doesn't have any special significance, other than it's an awesome African Tree!)

We woke up early to get on the road for Lake Mburo National Park/Mihingo Lodge. Lou drove us in their Nissan truck, we took the Northern Bypass (one of their "highways") and we saw all the hustle and bustle of the town. People walk, ride bike, drive "boda bodas" all along the roads. No matter how busy the street is. There aren't many laws, hardly any lines on the road, and its pretty much a free for all. A lot of swerving, braking, getting cutoff, cutting off, accelerating and the like.

Everyone is dressed so nice though. They may only have a few things to wear and live in a tiny shack without electricity, but they sure do take care of themselves and always look presentable with nice clothes and hair done. It's amazing. There are tons of people selling things on the side of the road too. Gourds. Baskets. Fruit. Veggies. Fish. Trinkets. Shoes. Clothes. Everything.

We passed a ton of people that would just wave to us and smile. They have a name for "white faces" ... "Mzugu." So the little ones would get a huge smile and say "Hi, Mzungus." We bought a bushel of bananas of 2000 shilling ($1) so that we could take a picture of an adorable 8 yr old boy who was selling them. Then anytime we passed by kids working on the side of road, we would give them bananas (and take a picture). We wanted a picture of this man selling huge talapia fish out in the open, but he said he wanted 4000 for it. we gave him 1000 (50 cents).

We came to the town where the Equator crosses through. A man gave a demonstration how the water flows clockwise on the North, then counter-clockwise on the south and just straight down when right on the Equator. Apparently you weigh 3% less on the Equator too. He gave us some fun facts!

In that little village, we went through some shops and then went on our way. A few hours later we arrived at Lake Mburo National Park. We took the windy clay road to a huge zebra painted gate to get inside the park. The road got windier and windier. Then we started seeing animals. Everywhere. Pumba warthogs would cross the road right in front of the car on the road. We also saw some cape buffalo, cows that wouldn't move out of the middle of the road. It was amazing to have so many right in front of us with just the car separating us. I loved it.

We got to the Mihingo Lodge and were greeted by Katie (the manager's wife) and a worker who took our bags to our rooms so that we could go to the dining room for lunch. There, we were met by more people who served us passion fruit juice and gave us a warm towel to wash our hands and faces. It was such a classy thing, and it set the tone for an incredible stay at this place. Everything was so nicely put together and organized.

We took another another drive to see animals. We saw topi, baboons, zebras, warthogs, cape buffalo, antelope. Every time we saw something, we would point it out and then try to be as quiet as possible so that we wouldn't scare the animals away. The zebras were the most keen because they would hear something and immediately run off. It was a great game drive. We saw way more animals then than when we were driving into the park.

We still had time after that drive to go to the pool that looked out toward a watering hole for the animals. It was awesome. But then, like clockwork after a worker said it was going to rain in 20 minutes, sure enough, it started to sprinkle.

So, we got out of the pool, and instead went on a walk to the "Hide" viewpoint. It was a rather long walk to this little shack they made to seem camouflaged so that visitors could watch animals at a watering hole at a closer prospective.

It was really neat to get a closer look, but just minutes after we got there and sat down inside the little building and on the couch, it started pouring an African rainstorm. POURING! Absolutely incredible. So we were stuck inside this little place, and all the animals at the watering hole took off.

Once it stopped, we made our way back to our rooms through the bush, but before we got there, we came to a huge boulder that looked out across the land to the Lake Kacheera. The view was magnificent.

We got ready for dinner, and waited on the back deck while watching bush babies. One of the workers feeds them bananas at night so that visitors can see them. The bush babies are the cutest little monkey guys with big eyes. We couldn't take any pictures, because we didn't have a night mode, so I just snagged this one off google images.

Dinner was nice and elegant (we had soup they they apparently serve this a lot) and other yummy food I can't remember.

We headed back to our rooms and went to bed. This resort was absolutely phenomenal. I couldn't believe it. Honestly, a paradise right in the middle of the African jungle. The rooms were like adobe huts with tents inside. The beds were great too, each with its own mosquito net. All the rooms are spread out quite a bit, giving more privacy. Ours was names "Lake Kacheera" after the huge lake that was our view out the back deck. I must say, I was a tiny bit nervous, because all the windows were wide open (no curtains/coverings), even the shower and the toilet could be seen from outside.

We had our best nights sleep that night. We were so exhausted but the jetlag didn't get the best of us that night.