Rhinos and Rough Terrain

A crack of dawn alarm meant that we were able to watch the sunrise at the Bishops house. It's so unbelievable how quickly the sun rises and sets so close to the equator, unless I saw it I wouldn't believe it. Leaving Kitgum we headed toward the Ziwa Rhino Conservation Park for our first glimpse of the White Rhino.

We were greeted by Jeramiah, our tracker and guide to find the Rhino. Almost immediately we cam across a cow and her calf hiding in the undergrowth. We were told that when the babies are as young as they are (3-weeks old) the mothers are very protective and will either hide or charge. We were grateful that she decided to hide. We managed to locate another cow and calf and watch them for a few minutes. Jeramiah then suggested we went to find the males as they are less shy.

After a walk through the long grass a welcome sight of 4 Rhinos appeared. This was two adolescent males, a mother and her three month old calf. We were able to get very close to them and take lots of amazing photos. One of them was very curious and decided to keep grazing in our direction. We had to keep moving swiftly away from them but it didn't dampen the spirits or awe.

We left Ziwa to travel the three hours to Kampala, where we were staying for the night. As usual, on the journey, we encountered a number of strange and wonderful sights. People sat on the roof of a cattle truck, bodaboda bike over laden with bananas or people and then the dreadful sight of an accident. It appeared that a bodaboda driver had lost control and crashed. We saw the sight of two prone people on the side of the road. There was nothing we could do but send up a prayer and keep driving towards our destination.

When we got to Kampala we then had the fun adventure of finding out accommodation. Down some very dubious dirt tracks and, at one point, the thought that we would never make it down the very steep hill in the torrential rain. Qraish, our ever able driver, got us safely up and down the muddy, pot holed track. Arriving through a very run down area, behind some metal gates and razor wire was a beautiful looking home. It still has its African quirks, such as bracing showers, lack of mosquito nets and no electric kettle but it is comfortable and clean.

We thank God for the beauty of the Rhino's, the perseverance of the conservation area to increase the population of them and the safety of our travel. #journeymercies

Claire Eade