more Safari and the last week!

Saturday afternoon.
We set off in a very shallow bottomed boat with about 30 people. Fortunately we were able to sit in the shade as the boat moved slowly so we were deprived of a breeze. We were travelling up towards Murchison Falls on the Victoria Nile! We noticed that the multitude of hippos were a long way from the shores but they still had their feet on the river bed. We were continuously surprised by the bird life and we saw 4 different types of Kingfisher. These were the Pied Kingfisher, the Giant Kingfisher (a very rare sighting) the Malachite and the Chestnut bellied Kingfisher. Fish Eagles put in an appearance and many Black headed Weaver birds weaving their basket like nests. Eat your hearts out all you Twitchers!!! We eventually came across an elephant that had come down to the river to drink. Sadly he had also lost the bottom portion of this trunk in a snare. Although our guide kept pointing out crocodiles they were all secreted beneath vegetation with only their snouts visible and actually looked like logs. We were careful not to get too close to the hippos and on one occasion the “Skipper” needed to take evasive action as a group started to move towards us.
Further on still someone shouted “Lion” but when we looked noted that this animal had spots and we realized it was a leopard stalking 2 warthogs. Unfortunately, our enthusiasm had alerted the leopard to our presence much to the annoyance of our guide who told us to be quiet. Consequently the warthogs turned back on the distracted leopard and chased him away. There were a few magical moments when the leopard looked straight at us and we all held our breath. Our guide told us that it was very rare to get such a sighting. We felt very fortunate as did the warthogs!
The boat went about within about a quarter of a mile of the Falls and then stopped in the middle of the river and we were invited to climb off the boat onto some rocks!! The young things jumped off and had their photos taken but Julie and I were far more sensible and quite frankly terrified and so stayed put on the boat. We watched a glorious display from the weaver birds before turning round to head back .
We arrived back at the camp at 6.00pm and shared our evening meal with our fellow travellers and flying bugs. We counted ourselves very lucky that we had not been bitten by tsetse flies. We slept very well but we were both woken by loud hippo roars after all we were only 15 minutes from the river. Needless to say neither of us visited the toilet block that night either!
Sunday April 3rd
After breakfast of tea and toast and plum jam we packed and set off for the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary which was part way back towards Kampala. The last native rhinos were poached to extinction by 1983. In 2001 the first rhinos were brought from Kenya and South Africa to Uganda in an attempt to re-establish a colony. These are white rhinos and they presently have 9 animals, having bred three male calves in the last year. We were told that armed rangers guard these precious creatures 24/7 as otherwise they would be poached. They breed very slowly so recovery of numbers will take years. After a short ride and then a 15 minute walk into the bush, Julie and I were privileged to see 4 rhinos, 1 male on his own and a family of mum, dad and baby. We had to stay behind the armed ranger at all times and had to obey his instructions to run behind a large tree should the need arise. We did exactly that! But were surprised to get to within about 30 metres of them and even had our photos taken, Amazing! We had to keep pinching ourselves.
By this time we were very hot and weary and glad to get back in the bus to set off to Kampala. We said our goodbyes to some of our new friends who were staying on at the camp a while longer. We arrived back in Kampala about 2.30 and entered the usual traffic jams that we have become accustomed to. Sula our patient bus driver was very happy to drop us off at the Brown Flats for which we were very grateful and our young friends bid us a fond farewell. Home at last, a welcome cup of tea and a wash in a bucket ------perfect!
Monday 4th April
We woke up for work the next morning to find that Julie felt poorly with a tummy bug. As Lorraine was leading the teaching, Julie stayed at home to rest and Lorraine set off with Solomon to Mulago. Helen SLT course coordinator had been in touch to say that a local newspaper reporter had contacted her wanting to interview Lorraine as it was International Autism week and Helen was hoping to get publicity for the SLT course at the same time. Unfortunately the reporter did not show up at the arranged time so it was a lost opportunity. Lorraine introduced the students to autism specific approaches and found Julie a little better once she got home at tea time.
Tuesday 5th April
Julie felt it wise to rest for another day and Lorraine went off to Mulago. The students were really missing Julie and came to sit with Lorraine at lunch time to keep her company. Lorraine introduced the students to signing which was enthusiastically embraced but felt that she lost control of the session somewhat as they wanted to make up their own sentences. They were all good signers and enjoyed making up their own signing names!
As Lorraine was leaving Mulago , she noticed a well-dressed man and woman standing in the foyer chatting and the man was holding a live chicken upside down by its legs. Perhaps it was for his tea. We have seen all sorts in the hospital but this was a new one!
In the evening the power went off for 2 hours and we watched Darcy and Miss Bennet AGAIN !To cheer ourselves up further we partook of a small portion of our rationed chocolate and a cup of tea of course.
Wednesday 6th April
This was our last day teaching and the students were delighted that Julie felt well enough to come to work. We did lots of revision and looked at plenty of case studies. We gave the students the afternoon off to do some revision while we treated ourselves to a spot of retail therapy and a nice coffee---Heaven!
Thursday 7th April
Our students sat their LD/ASD exam today and then we finished for the day. This was our last day of all with the students so we invited them to share some lunch with us which we provided. We all took lots of photos and the students thanked us for our efforts and for sharing our knowledge with them. They gave us some presents and a card with some lovely messages. They wanted to sing a “Happy song “for us and we expected some African singing. Instead we were treated to “If you’re happy and you know it…clap your hands” which of course we could join in with. They didn’t know the line “If you’re happy and you know it shout Hurray” but were very pleased to add this to their repertoire! Fredrick gave a lovely farewell speech and we received lots of hugs and requests to come back! We wished them all well and every success for the future. We intend to follow their progress through keeping in touch with Helen.
We retired home to start tidying the flat and to pack. Lots of tea and sitting down was also required. We are feeling tired now and we are both ready to come home.