Monday, June 28, 2010

My Weekend in Queen Elizabeth

Rest in Peace Blueblockers, you will truly be missed. My favorite sunglasses are currently sitting at the bottom of a crater lake underneath Courtney and Eric’s balcony at Jacana Safari Lodge. Jacana Safari Lodge, situated inside Queen Elizabeth National Park, is the most beautiful place I have ever stayed. Hands down. Not to mention they have an absolutely phenomenal chef who showed off her talent in the 3 and 4 course meals she treated us to at every lunch and dinner. Our meals were served on an out door patio next to the lake, and the sunsets we observed from there during out dinners were beautiful. Another cool thing about the lodge is that it was in the Southern Hemisphere! The equator runs right through Uganda. We stopped there for some lunch on our way to the lodge, and upon leaving the equator; we got our first taste of safari when we drove past a herd of zebras!

At the lodge, I was treated to an entire cottage to myself. Both our cottages, the Arts’ and mine, were nestled in the jungle, at the edge of the lake. As the lodge had some spare cottages available, I was treated to an entire cottage for myself. I had a lovely little fenced in porch which opened up to a large circular room that held a king sized bed, a closet and a beautiful wooden desk, all for me! To the left of my bed was the bathroom, which had the neatest shower I have ever showered in. The showerhead made me feel like I was washing under a waterfall every time, and the pebbles that served as its floor added to the outdoor feel. While the sleeping arrangements and meals we were treated too made me feel like I was living in a 5 star resort, the monkeys that played tag on my roof, and the baboon that so boldly blocked my path on my way to dinner reminded me that I was definitely still in a jungle.

On Saturday we left the lodge and went on a game drive through the park. Beating the sun, we woke up at 5:45, had a wonderful breakfast of omelets and fruit, and then headed off for our game drive. I wore white shorts, which was a very poor decision on my part. By the end of the day they appeared to be a shade of pale red rather than the crisp white they had started out as. Africa is a very dusty place. We drove around for hours in the morning, and saw a wide variety of animals. We came across a lion, which unfortunately was sleeping, and not as exciting as I expected him to be. We saw a ton of warthogs, and I have decided that Disney’s depiction is much more pleasing to the eye. The impalas were very entertaining, and seamed to love having their pictures taken. So did the deer-like-creatures, which we later learned were called Water Bucks. At the very end of our drive, we managed to see some elephants off in the distance, but the telephone pole they were hanging out took away from the safari feel.

After driving around for a few hours, we took a boat tour along the channel. We first came across a heard of water buffalo. Apparently water buffalo are quite dangerous, so we kept a distance. Next, we came up to a herd of hippos. They looked incredibly harmless, until one of them decided to charge at our boat! That was enough for Courtney to decide she no longer liked hippos, and cringed every time we came across a new herd. We also saw a crocodile swimming near our boat, and were relieved to find out they only eat fish. After seeing more water buffalo, and more hippos, we finally stumbled upon some elephants! And boy are they HUGE. Huge and beautiful, no wonder they are called gentle giants. We saw a total of nine, each seaming bigger than the last. We watched them play with each other in the water, greet each other, and wash each other off with their trunks. The elephants were definitely the coolest.

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