On 17th of August 47th Ballybrack went on safari. Never thought I'd ever see those words, typed or otherwise, but there we were! Earlier that day we had left our guest house in Kampala for a five hour bus journey. As horrible as that sounds, it was actually quite a pleasant journey. The scenery in Uganda is nearly always changing...except for seeing the same damn advert for MTN mobile printed on the outside of someones house, which really are EVERYWHERE you go!
As we got closer to the safari park, the landscape got more and more interesting; ant-hills taller than trees, endless long roads, and as we turned onto the main road up to the park, animals you would only see on the Discovery channel. Warthogs, Impala, and Zebras darting in and out of the shrub and across the roads. As we drove along the dirt track, incredible birds flew alongside us and perched in the trees, dazzling colours amazing everyone in the bus.
The road ended after we drove through an armed guard checkpoint and stopped beside a lake. And what a lake! It stretched on for miles, stopping when the mountains on the otherside forced it to. It was so still, that it reflected the sky above it. Absolutely beautiful.
We got off the bus and walked over to a dock, past warthogs grazing in the grass so close you could see their massive ugly faces rooting in the dirt. Our group were handed life vests and we got onto two small boats and went out on the lake. The guide with us drove the boat along the shore showing us Kingfishers who are able to hover in the air while hunting before diving into the water and coming back up with a fish in its beak, and fish eagles who sit on their perch and wait and watch for their prey. Both very impressive animals. He then showed us groups of hippos and crocodiles. I never thought I would be that close to either of those animals but it was quite impressive!
As we got closer to the safari park, the landscape got more and more interesting; ant-hills taller than trees, endless long roads, and as we turned onto the main road up to the park, animals you would only see on the Discovery channel. Warthogs, Impala, and Zebras darting in and out of the shrub and across the roads. As we drove along the dirt track, incredible birds flew alongside us and perched in the trees, dazzling colours amazing everyone in the bus.
The road ended after we drove through an armed guard checkpoint and stopped beside a lake. And what a lake! It stretched on for miles, stopping when the mountains on the otherside forced it to. It was so still, that it reflected the sky above it. Absolutely beautiful.
We got off the bus and walked over to a dock, past warthogs grazing in the grass so close you could see their massive ugly faces rooting in the dirt. Our group were handed life vests and we got onto two small boats and went out on the lake. The guide with us drove the boat along the shore showing us Kingfishers who are able to hover in the air while hunting before diving into the water and coming back up with a fish in its beak, and fish eagles who sit on their perch and wait and watch for their prey. Both very impressive animals. He then showed us groups of hippos and crocodiles. I never thought I would be that close to either of those animals but it was quite impressive!
Vincent
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