The 6 hour road trip to Gulu was like nothing I have experienced before. We are visiting Uganda at the end of the rainy season and most of the road to Gulu is red dirt and full of pot holes. After a rain, the road becomes a sort of river and creates ruts and potholes that make the road seem more like a creek bed than a good place to travel at 50 mph. Somehow we managed it but I finally figured out that cinching down my lap belt might reduce the number of times my head hit the car ceiling. It helped and was worth the numb hips for sure. We did a lot of laughing and the whole thing became a bit of a delirious washing machine experience. We stopped at the "only decent bathroom between Kampala and Gulu" and enjoyed the first squatty potty we've seen in a few years. It came complete with soggy toilet paper classically placed upon a curiously wet floor. Good memories.
The Rudy's were hoping to stop for dinner and a mini safari at the Chobe Lodge in Murcheson National Park on the way up to Gulu. The Lodge is on the Nile River and is in the middle of a game park. There are only three bridges across the Nile in Uganda - one we crossed in Jinja when we went rafting, the second is a foot bridge that we never saw and the third we crossed on this trip. Two out of three isn't bad! The river was raging and we could see spray coming off the rapids for as far as we could see. Just after the bridge we saw baboons across the road and knew our turn into the park would not be far. The baboons looked fierce and mean so we did not slow down except to drive around one that wouldn't move for our car. We made the turn into the park and started down the driveway for the Chobe Lodge. We saw wart hogs and Ugandan kobs and bushbucks. Beautiful, but really stupid guinea fowl - they kept running in front of our car. And then we saw giraffe! They were majestic and strange to just happen upon. We arrived to the lodge just as the sun was going down and oh, what a sight! The lobby of the lodge is like something from a travel magazine with floor to ceiling glass and a patio that looks out on the Nile. We stood on the patio and watched the hippos swimming right below us and tried to get some pictures with what little light was left. It really was magnificent.
Here is the website - you might find better photos here: http://www.chobelodgeuganda.com
We had dinner at the open air dining room hanging out over the Nile and listened to the hippos braying right underneath us. On our way out of the park we drove right up to a hippo sauntering toward the woods just as lazy as you please...lawsy miz scarlett. It looked back at us as if to say, seriously? What is there to see here, people? More animals popped out as we drove back to the main road - now it was dark so our headlights would catch a pair of eyes and we would have to drive up to see which animal we would find - it was a little scary since we in the middle of nowhere and were the only ones on the road! As we left the park, Amy said, aw bummer, no elephants. It was her first and last time to Chobe Lodge so she was so glad we had made it in the nick of time to see the sunset, but had hoped to spy some elephants. We were not on the creek bed, er road, five minutes when we spotted two enormous elephants right on the side of the road! Jesse quickly turned the car around and went back and we were frantically trying to take pictures and still keep moving - they were just feet away from us on the shoulder which was a little close for two wild beasts twice the size of our Land Cruiser! When we passed by them a second time, E had the window down and was taking a few flash photos, they decided they'd had enough. In a split second they flared their ears at us and jerked toward us - we all screamed to high heaven and Jesse floored the gas and we sped away screaming and laughing and all talking at once. What an adventure!
The Rudy's were hoping to stop for dinner and a mini safari at the Chobe Lodge in Murcheson National Park on the way up to Gulu. The Lodge is on the Nile River and is in the middle of a game park. There are only three bridges across the Nile in Uganda - one we crossed in Jinja when we went rafting, the second is a foot bridge that we never saw and the third we crossed on this trip. Two out of three isn't bad! The river was raging and we could see spray coming off the rapids for as far as we could see. Just after the bridge we saw baboons across the road and knew our turn into the park would not be far. The baboons looked fierce and mean so we did not slow down except to drive around one that wouldn't move for our car. We made the turn into the park and started down the driveway for the Chobe Lodge. We saw wart hogs and Ugandan kobs and bushbucks. Beautiful, but really stupid guinea fowl - they kept running in front of our car. And then we saw giraffe! They were majestic and strange to just happen upon. We arrived to the lodge just as the sun was going down and oh, what a sight! The lobby of the lodge is like something from a travel magazine with floor to ceiling glass and a patio that looks out on the Nile. We stood on the patio and watched the hippos swimming right below us and tried to get some pictures with what little light was left. It really was magnificent.
Here is the website - you might find better photos here: http://www.chobelodgeuganda.com
We had dinner at the open air dining room hanging out over the Nile and listened to the hippos braying right underneath us. On our way out of the park we drove right up to a hippo sauntering toward the woods just as lazy as you please...lawsy miz scarlett. It looked back at us as if to say, seriously? What is there to see here, people? More animals popped out as we drove back to the main road - now it was dark so our headlights would catch a pair of eyes and we would have to drive up to see which animal we would find - it was a little scary since we in the middle of nowhere and were the only ones on the road! As we left the park, Amy said, aw bummer, no elephants. It was her first and last time to Chobe Lodge so she was so glad we had made it in the nick of time to see the sunset, but had hoped to spy some elephants. We were not on the creek bed, er road, five minutes when we spotted two enormous elephants right on the side of the road! Jesse quickly turned the car around and went back and we were frantically trying to take pictures and still keep moving - they were just feet away from us on the shoulder which was a little close for two wild beasts twice the size of our Land Cruiser! When we passed by them a second time, E had the window down and was taking a few flash photos, they decided they'd had enough. In a split second they flared their ears at us and jerked toward us - we all screamed to high heaven and Jesse floored the gas and we sped away screaming and laughing and all talking at once. What an adventure!
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