August 1 – Day 2 @ Murchison Falls
We awoke early to chapatti and eggs for breakfast, a good start to the day even though Ilise did not get a good night sleep. The kids, Robert and Sampson were all awake by 6 AM and ready to eat and by the time we finished and rolled out for our morning game drive it was around 7:10 AM. Not bad since we targeted 7. It took about 25 minutes to enter the park and then we started looking for animals.
Since it had rained the night before there were so many bugs out that when I popped my head out from the van to take some pictures my face was inundated with gnats and other little flying things. Every few minutes I needed to pull my head back in the van to avoid the swarms. Even with the annoyance, the animals were everywhere. We saw more antelope, giraffe, wart hogs, birds of all shapes and sizes, but no lions today. I am glad that Sampson went out of his way to make sure we saw them yesterday.
We saw one elephant as we entered the park and another as we left. We were able to get pictures of some of the most beautiful little birds. One was red and black, another was light blue and red, while a third was yellow on its whole body. Each of these birds were spectacular in their own way. We spent a full 3 hours around the park and then needed to start heading for the exit. It took us another hour just to get out of the park and start to head back. The one thing we didn’t get great pictures of were the baboons, so I asked Sampson to look out for them on the highway. We were in luck as we not only saw a family on the road, when we stopped they walked toward us looking for food and I got some amazing pictures. We are extremely blessed to have seen all of the natural beauty we have witnessed in the past 24 hours. This is a trip I would recommend to anyone who has the chance to visit this part of the world.
As we head back to Gulu it is time for me to focus some time and energy on U-TOUCH and the work we came to do. Deb has been working hard and we need to complete our work before we go back to Kampala on Sunday. I look forward to working with the U-TOUCH team to make this project all it can be. We have an amazing opportunity in front of us, we just need to develop a solid plan, build a team and then execute. Sometimes that is easier said than done, but we will make it happen.
Next stop is Kandini for some freshly cooked chicken and some chapatti. The kids just can’t live without that stuff! Once we eat some lunch it will be time to head back to Gulu. We should arrive around 2:30 or so which is still early in the US. Should be good for me to reach out to some contacts in the US. I am starting to realize that if I committed to making this project happen trips to Uganda might be required. Based on the time differences it would be possible to manage my 4-Profit business late in the day and handle U-TOUCH work early in the day. Only time will tell.
‘Til next time ….
P.S. Just posted a bunch of amazing photos from this trip at https://picasaweb.google.com/116216394458786841702/MurchisonFalls. Enjoy 🙂
Larry Kesslin 