The View from the Pop Top

Two land cruisers pulled up outside our house at 7am Sunday morning. I took one look at the ‘old school’ model with it’s boxy lines and pop out top and selected it as our ride. Sure the newer one was prettier and probably had AC but the old boy had character, and hello, you couldn’t pop your head out the top of the new one! The ten of us piled into the vehicles and headed to Lake Mburo National Park for a day trip.

We drove through the park, standing up with our heads out the top of course, snapping photos left and right. Yep, we were on safari all right! The zebras were the highlight for me and it is strange to think that for the people here it is probably like seeing deer in Banff.

As we walked through the park, following closely behind our armed guide, it was cool to see the animals just ‘being‘. The warthogs, on their stubby legs, wobbled about while the zebras and water bucks grazed around them. The monkeys and baboons played around, swinging in the branches close-by not wanting to miss out on any of the action while the water buffaloes kept to themselves as if a little too good for the rest.

Following the game drive, we did a walking safari and intercepted several types of game, at a safe distance, as they made their predictable trek to the watering hole. We came upon a water buffalo who had, quite likely, just that morning met its unfortunate end at the hands of a rival water buffalo. We took this as an opportunity to get up close and personal to this creature to see its finer features. Troy took this as an opportunity to seize our guide's gun, kneel by the animal, smile proudly and pose for a photo suitable for a hunting magazine. His dad would be so proud.

While it was indeed a great day with the wildlife sighting tally for the day including...

Warthogs
Impala
Water Buffalo
Zebras
Water Bucks
Crocodiles
Monkeys
Baboons
Topi
Hippos
and Elands….

Still, no elephants.