Today's due to be another long day in the vehicle as we travel to Kibale Forest and due to the UK Government's travel ban on Queen Elizabeth NP, we have to go the long way round. Still we can leave the driving to Gerald and just sit back and enjoy the passing scenery or, in my case, frantically snap through the dirty windows.
After breakfast we said our goodbyes to the lovely staff at Mahogany Springs - we've thoroughly enjoyed both the people we met there (although one or two seem a little drunk/high at times) and the lodge itself. Unfortunately Olly had a couple of complaints particularly regarding his very smart desert boots which, in an effort to dry them for him, someone had placed them too close to an open fire and had actually melted the leather trimmings. It also transpired they were pouring him doubles when he ordered G&T and of course charged accordingly without letting him know which was a little naughty. We'd had our own doubts about the drinks prices as nothing seemed to get written down, although there was a complimentary glass a dinner and more than once the manager announced he was giving us free drinks, but when Ian settled our bar bill it was actually less than he'd calculated.
Not far into our journey we spotted this Grey Crowned Crane (National Bird of Uganda) perched on top a tree and so of course all got out for shots. Olly was convinced it would fly off shortly but after waiting about 15 mins it still hadn't budged so we admitted defeat and continued our journey.
Whilst we were waiting though this chap walked past carrying a ladder - I must admit I'd never seen one being carried quite like this before.
And this guy was probably off to some nearby market to sell his materials.
We drive past a few small tea plantations but the workers weren't really close enough to the road to bother stopping for.
Most of the pictures today are snaps from inside the vehicle and so their quality is decidely poor despite my best efforts to improve them. Olly of course isn't remotely interested in anything other than birds and occasionally mammals and neither really is Frederick but I think other Ian might be getting a little tempted to take some pictures of local life.
I wonder if my porter Nelson pushes his bananas to market like this - probably not considering how portly he was!
What a contrast to the massive petrol stations we have in England, just one pump here.
A couple more fabric sellers we passed in the middle of nowhere and heading for market.
Another adobe brickworks, although this one looks like most of the bricks have been used now.
As you've seen from the photos, bicycles are probably the main form of transport and so repair shops feature in most villages.
The fresh produce looks so delicious the way it's laid out here.
Those with motorbikes are even luckier than the bicycle owners.
Although the way some of them overload the vehicles I'm surprised they can actually drive them.
More bananas off to market, they are mostly grown for national consumption although Uganda is the 58th largest exporter in the world.
We finally reached the banana market some 15-20 mins down the road.
I'm not sure what these guys were doing, it looks like they're making concrete pipes.
We stopped for lunch at what was obviously the only place remotely suitable but whilst I'm sure the food was edible and the hygiene perfect I just didn't fancy the place. So I got myself a beer and went and sat outside by the roundabout watching the world go by and taking photos when I could.
I'd only been there a short while when this little girl ran over to me and absolutely threw herself at me. She was very cute and just stared at me with this quizzical expressions on her face.
The next minute her little sister joined us, complete naked, and not more than 1 year old I'd guess.
I carried on taking photos and doing my best to ignore them in the hope they'd go, the younger one soon did but her sister just stood next to me leaning on me and gazing up at me. Obviously we couldn't communicate with each other although I tried my best by pointing to myself and saying my name and then pointing at her hoping she'd do the same but no luck. My little friend was keen on playing with my camera but I was concerned she might be a little rough with it and our language barrier stopped me from feeling comfortable with her touching it.
Meantime those passing seemed to enjoy being photographed.
Yes, that is a table on the back and don't you love his pink crash helmet.
This guy was working over the road and wandered past on his way to the cafeteria. I asked him if he knew who my little friend belonged to but apart from confirming she lived nearby I was none the wiser - I don't think it was tobacco he was smoking!
Eventually a smartly dressed chap got out of his car just next to me so I asked him if he would try and interpret for me, which he agreed. We explained to the girl that she needed to go home and I would walk with her to make sure she got there safely, but she just ran off. To be honest I was glad to be shot of her so I could take a few more photos of passing vehicles.
Pineapples make a nice change from bananas
Dragging long poles from a vehicle is a common hazard
I'm hoping this chap is cycling home from a banana market with a fad wad of Shillings in his pocket having sold his bananas.
Finally we arrived at our new lodge for the next 2 nights. We weren't supposed to be staying here but the original one announced it had double-booked just 3 weeks ago and so I guess this one is Hobson's choice. There are 12 individual roundel cottages set around the grounds which back on to Kibale National Park.
We dumped our bags and had a quick wander around the grounds before it got dark. This epiphyte is a Platycerium elephantotis or Elephant Ear Fern, which apparently chimpanzees like to eat.
This poor specimen is either Habranthus sp. or Zephyranthes sp. both known as Rain Lily
And this male Pin-tailed Whydah in breeding plumage, I stalked it for a long, long time hoping to get it in flight but without success.
And finally a Great Blue Turaco
We did see a Black-and-white
Casqued Hornbill flying overhead carrying an enormous lizard. It landed and proceeded to kill it before
repositioning it and taking off again and heading into the forest, but none one of us got a photo unfortunately.
We are the only guests staying here which makes for a rather flat atmosphere but dinner was nice enough and the plan was then to do a walk around the grounds with our flashguns looking for bugs etc. Unfortunately despite Olly's best efforts my flashguns failed to sync with my camera so Ian and I left the rest of them to it and enjoyed a bit of time on our own.