It was lovely to be back at 2 Friends and having been used to early starts for the last 2 weeks we decided to get up early once more and head out before breakfast in the hope of seeing the fishing catches being landed.
We did spot a few fisherman but they didn't look like they'd be returning to the shore any time soon.
So we wandered along watching the birdlife.
Little Egret.
Open-billed Stork
Open of the many, almost tame, Marabou Storks around here.
Here's the same chap again and is still heading out.
The area where the ladies were selling the fish before was also deserted; just an old stool covered in fish scales.
Very colourful in the early morning light.
Interestingly these ladies are carrying loads of fish and heading to the beach - maybe the catches are landed elsewhere and arrive by lorry.
The ever reliable Pied Kingfishers
I'm not entirely sure but I think these are Bronze Mannikins.
And this little cutie, posing so nicely, I think is a Blue Waxbill (I originally though Red-cheeked Cordon Blue but of course if doesn't have the red spot on its cheek - doh!)
But this lady only has herself to blame - I was trying to photograph the bucket of fish and she just walked into shot.
Durian Tree
We walked the other way too, but there wasn't much to photograph.
Back to our hotel for breakfast
I know the one on the right is a Canna but not sure about the other one.
There are several similar statues around the hotel.
Breakfast was delicious, Lilian had remembered that I liked fried yolks and Patrick wandered in for a chat. Their driver is taking us to the airport around 1330 but we need to be out of the room by 1100 so we headed back to finish the packing and have a last sit on the balcony. We then left the suitcases at reception, settled the bill and went across the road to the lakeside bar where we spent a lovely couple of hours watching the pied kingfishers.
This bird was a long way off and I didn't realise at the time it had a fish in its mouth.
The kingfisher then spent quite a long time (15+ minutes) beating the poor fish against the tree, apparently this is to dislodge or break protective spines and bones before they eat it.
Patrick came down for another chat, he really is a lovely guy - so friendly, yet thoroughly professional.
At the appointed time the driver took us the short journey to the airport and that's when my plans went awry. The airport is very small and not busy at all so we were through check-in, security and passport control in no time. After the lounge problems on the way out we knew for sure that we could access the Premium Plaza lounge in Nairobi and receptionist Stephanie had gone as far as telling us not to worry it we were there more than 3 hours before our 2240 BA flight and so we were content enough to just sit around in Entebbe Airport for a couple of hours before our short Kenya Airways connecting flight. Except that the flight was delayed and delayed so we ended up buying lounge access at Entebbe at US$45pp, the food wasn't much but there was a least wine and the staff were delightful. To cut a very long and boring story short we arrived into Nairobi just in time to board the plane.
For lots of reasons this blog has taken over 3 months to write and I know I have forgotten many little details with the passing of time. Overall the holiday was brilliant; Uganda is a lovely country and all the people we encountered were delightful. But safari wise apart from the main reasons for the trip - Shoebill, Gorillas and Chimps - the rest of the animals were just too scarce and although we saw many new and beautiful birds, the search for specific species at times was a little tedious.