Queen Elizabeth National Park – The “Mzungus” on tour

After a little more than 3 hours drive including small “Stretching and Smoking Breaks” – yes, Hamza pays a lot of attention to us and our health – we reached the Pumba Safari Cottages in the early evening hours of 15.12.. Here we were to spend the next 2 nights with a beautiful view on our own terrace of the national park and its inhabitants. We also had regular visits from Velvet-Monkeys, mosquitoes, bats and birds. Satisfied and relaxed we ended the evening with goat meat and Nile Special.

A quick breakfast the next morning at 06:30 and we were already back in our small tour bus on our way to our first “game drive”. During these 3 hours we saw “Pumbas”, elephants, buffalos, antelopes, a huge hippo on land and the national bird crowned crane. So we could already note 2 of the “Big Five” on our list. We also saw a lion, but due to the strong midday heat he was hiding in the high grass/bushes, so that we – to be honest – could actually only see his ears. Very sad, but there are still a few chances to see big cats.

We could quite incidentally observe another tour – this seemed to be a luxury couple. 2 Touris in 2 top modern jeeps with an entourage of at least 5 other people. This luxury tour even had the “off-track permit”, i.e. permission to leave the “trails” and drive directly through the bush – Hamza laughed, told us that this permit costs an additional $200 per person and waved it off.

Towards the end of our game drive (during which Andreas enjoyed most of the time standing in the car and looking out of the open roof hatch, with the camera at the ready) we made a short stop in a small village, which was located directly at a salt lake. Briefly, we were brought back to the normal tourist everyday life, because in addition to a small booth, where Mel drank a coffee, there were about 10 other stalls with the usual Touri-KlimBim. The lake itself, however, was a little highlight, as hundreds of flamingos live here and share their living room with buffalo.

After a short lunch, we got back into our now beloved vehicle (an older Toyota Hiace) to drive to Kazinga Channel. There we experienced a 2-hour boat tour with Captain Dennis and a guide, who showed us the park from the water side. We experienced elephants bathing quite a few schools of hippos and could even watch the Fish-Eagle hunting. In some distance there was also a crocodile to see, which Andreas had taken for a trunk – but in motion we saw the enormous size of the animal.

Back at the Pumba Safari Cottages our waiter Alfons offered us a community walk. Here we should have the opportunity to get up close and personal with the locals and visit a farmer and part of his family at home. Farmer and a part of his family at home to visit to be able. On the way to the farm a lot of children gathered around us, who were completely excited to see tourists like us again after such a long time. With loud shouts of “Mzungu” and lots of laughter and touching, we finally reached the farm. Mzungu probably means something like “pale skin” – so much for “political correctness” in an African village. The farmer showed us his land where he grows cocoa, coffee and vanilla. It was interesting to learn how laborious especially the cultivation of vanilla is and how valuable. So valuable that plants are stolen overnight and it is not worthwhile to hire security, because they would rather kill the farmer, because the vanilla is worth so much more than the wages he could pay. After this knowledge we made our way back – the farmer gave us another bag of freshly harvested, ripe mangoes.