I am sharing cookies with Mansur as he drives us to Lira. I eat them two at a time and notice that the one he takes lasts a full five minutes. He bites off one small piece at a time and chews slowly. We invited him to walk with us on our little Rhino trek. We got within twenty five meters from a cow and her calf, the youngest rhino in Uganda. For a stretch of years, there were none left in the country. The first one born on the preserve was from an American mom and a Kenyan Dad so they named him Obama. Our guide, Willy, said that visitors to the preserve were mostly from Europe and other foreign lands. Mansur does not say much while our group oohs and aahs, but he snaps pictures with his phone and I imagine him sharing with his family later what few Ugandans have seen.

Did you see it? Do you have any clues? Each time we passed another range rover the question was the same. Everyone wanted to see the lion. Isn’t that quite human? We wanted to Continue Reading

The sun glowed red in the evening haze, its fiery color magnified and reflected in the sweeping bends of the Nile. The ferry was making one more languid trip across, angling into the current to negotiate the landing on the other side. Glancing down toward the river, I spied a trio of elephants about a hundred yards below, tugging at tree leaves, and flapping their large African ears. The weary day of travel was redeemed.

We had left Kampala at about eight with Patrick driving and his friend Jared along for the ride. From heavy Sunday morning traffic through busy suburbs and into the countryside headed north. By the time we reached the turn to Masindi, the jungle had given away to savannah and Jared came to life. We were entering the homeland of the Bunyori and it was clear how happy he was to be home, even though he had just visited for Christmas,

We inspected the map over goat stew and kalo in Masindi, but did realize just how long and rough the road was into Murchison Falls. We could only go 30 to 40 kilometers per hour and the washboard road savagely rattled Patrick’s Toyota. Along the way, we saw groups of baboons sitting on the road, they scurried into the bush as we came close. Some large birds with long beaks ran down the road in front of us looking nervously over their shoulder (Abbisinnia Ground Hookbills). At one point, some biting flies got into the car and Patrick pulled over so we launch a serious counterattack, swinging wildly with hands and handkerchiefs. Luckily the 4 pm ferry was still shuttling back and forth when we got there at a quarter past– loading up people, land cruisers and even a goat carried by motorcycle. We said goodbye to our new-found traveling companions and set across the mighty Nile.

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