I HAD A LION SAFARI
WHILE HAVING A LIFT
It was a big effort to get to Mweya in the Queen Elisabeth
N. P. from the lake Bunyonyi by public means of transport. Besides in the final part from
the main road (Mabarara- Kasese) to Mweya I had to get a taxi being not allowed to walk in
the park.
I got a little disappointed when I saw that from my crappy hut in
Mweya it is was not possible even to walk 200m around without, at least, hiring an armed
(and expensive) guard. Frankly I expected something more similar to the green landscape of
the lake Bunyonyi but I found a dry hot area suitable only for jeep safari: in short not
for me.
Since the very first moment I arrived, I wanted to leave but my budget didn’t
allow me to have a taxi called till there, so I waited for a lift. I spent there one day
and half also to have the classical launch trip to see the hippos, then a group of Germans
arrived. I humbly asked them for the 10-km lift till the main road from where I could
hitch hike. After a quick voting they agreed and the following morning I was on their
jeep.
On the way we met another guide warning us about the sighting of two
lions further in the park; they decided to look for them and of course I agreed. It
isn’t easy to spot two animals in a huge area, as it is the Queen Elisabeth National
Park, even being not very far from them. After 30min driving we met two guards riding a
moped: they were very funny because, while the front one was just driving, the one in the
back was wearing the crash helmet (in the middle of the savana (?)) and holding a riffle.
I still laugh thinking about this two black guys chasing the lions by moped. They were
supposed to take us to the exact point. In fact after wandering a little bit and patiently
observing through the binocular we got them.
They were a couple of lions and the driver managed to get about 50m
from them. They didn’t seem bothered by us and behaved as we weren’t there. I
must admit that, even without doing anything of special, they were quite impressive.
Later while I was getting to Kasese on a pick up that stopped where
the Germans dropped me off, I thought I would have never imagined to have had a safari for
free while having a lift.
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