From Queen Elizabeth National Park to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, Uganda: January 16, 2023

Nests of Village Weavers (yellow bird with black head)

Leaving Queen Elizabeth National Park we drove through the southern sector of the park known as Ishasha. Ishasha is where lions climb trees to sleep when it is hot. In the park we were just in we did find lions and leopards in trees, but they were on the low, horizontal branches of mature Euphorbias. In Ishasha, these big cats climb higher into mature Acacia trees or Fig trees. 

Along the way, we took photos of birds' nests suspended from palm fronds. The yellow birds are Village Weavers. The black birds with yellow eyes are Vieillot's Black Weavers. I appreciated the artistry of these birds and their nests.

Vieillot's Black Weavers

Driving through Ishasha we saw lots of Ugandan Kob and a few Topi, but we did not discover any big cats sleeping in trees. 

Topi

We saw black and white Colobus near the border with Congo and a Vervet Monkey.

We saw baboons and we saw a huge bull elephant just as we were leaving the park gate.

We continued on to Kigezi village stopping at the Community Center being built for the 11 communities inside the parks. We were welcomed by women from Women for Conservation. Some of these women once cooked the game poached by their husbands. Now they are learning new ways to support their families. They are making baskets, learning to sew, and have a plan to make this community center a place tourists will want to stop at to purchase crafts or have a refreshment before they continue on to Bwindi.

Our guide, Eric, is from Kigezi Village. WildlifeUganda.org is the organization helping to raise money for this project.

First they sang us a Welcome song and then they turned up the heat and danced.

Leaving Kigezi, we drove to Bwindi and the Bwindi Lodge where we checked in. Our Butler, Kellen, showed us to our room which was really a three-room house. She said they had upgraded our room. This was quite over the top. 

Our house at Bwindi Lodge

Our Living Room

Our bedroom

And, the changing room/toilet/shower. Because the windows had to be closed at night, I requested a fan which was provided. Every night Kellen put a plush covered, hot water bottle on Dan's side of the bed. He was happy about that.

Tomorrow we meet Mountain Gorillas.