September 20, 2018
Mweya Game Lodge, Queen Elizabeth Park, Uganda
Jean Creasey, Halima, our Uganda Safari Co trip planner, and me. We have just given Halima a Kellermann Foundation hat.
We met up with Scott Kellermann and Jean Creasey yesterday morning in the Protea Hotel Restaurant. We barely finished greeting them when Halima, the tour manager for Uganda Safari Company (USC) arrived. It was especially nice to finally meet the woman I have been working with on planning this trip since April of 2017. We all sat down to get acquainted. We could have talked for hours, but quickly got down to the business of confirming details of the group trip and making a few changes. At 9am, we packed the 4 by 4 Scott had commandeered from the Bwindi office, and sent him driving to Mweya with the 2 suitcases of recorders and other heavy items to lighten our load. By 10:30 we were as organized as we could be and Halima drove us to the airport for our flight to Mweya.
Although the flight was on a commercial carrier, there were only 5 passengers including the three of us. Once we were checked in, the pilot said ,”let’s go,” so we departed half an hour early and arrived at Mweya at 12:30. The lodge is a short walk from the grass airstrip, but the hotel car was waiting for us anyway. We hopped to see Scott show up about 5pm. So the three of us, had a leisurely lunch and planned to spend the rest of the day by the pool. However, a large storm swept over the lodge and we hunkered down in the lobby to read and visit instead. The storm subsided by evening, but there was no Scott.
Finally, we had dinner without him. When Jean reached him, we learned that the road conditions were so bad that cars were stalled and blocking his passage. He was only 15 minutes away, so Jean told the front desk and they sent a car out to help clear the roadway. By the time he arrived at the front door, dinner was over. Both he and his car were filthy. We packed up some left overs and sent him to his room to bed. What is normally a 6-hour drive had taken him 10 hours because of the heavy rain and mud.
Scott and Jean showed up as we were finishing breakfast. We finally got to visit and relax. Then we reviewed the action plan for the week and discussed who would be handling each activity. Quickly things fell into place. Then Scott went off to write a couple of speeches in the Rekiga languge, which he has struggled to learn and only partially mastered. Jean trailed off with him to read and write. Mark and I headed for the pool and spent the day reading and snoozing and dipping into the water. There was no rain today and we were thankful. At one point we went for a walk to the airstrip and down it. Along the way we spotted a gang of baboons, a couple dozen wort hogs, a group of female water buck with and two males eyeing each other, and a group of buffalo at the far end f the strip. We were not concerned about any of them except the buffalo, so we turned around before we could disturb them. Back at the lodge, we nearly ran into a maribou stork and I got some close ups of this large, extremely homely bird.
Just outside our room door was a group of banded mongooses grooming a few wort hogs, who loved every minute of the cleaning. So nice to have wild creatures pose for photo opportunities.
We joined Scott and Jean for drinks and dinner. While we lounged by the pool, they went on a game drive and saw 5 elephants. After dinner, a group of 22 Texans on a Kellermann Foundation missionary trip arrived. We knew they were coming, but were not sure when. They are being led by Diane Stanton, the ED of the Foundation. After greetings all around, they went to eat and we went to bed. ON the way, we encountered millions of what are called “lake flies”. Walking through them near any light source was miserable. They were all over our faces, in our hair and through our clothes. Now I know why we have mosquito nets around our bed. Last night, there were no bugs as the rain kept them at bay. Thankfully, they do not bite.
Adventures with Julia 