Uganda weekend

The previous owners of our little Suzuki had ventured over the border into Uganda and the car had paid up Ugandan insurance until October 16 so we thought a weekend visit would be just the thing.  Our plans involved driving several hours to Lake Mburo National Park and staying at the Mihingo Lodge.

African Wattled Lapwing

Emerald-spotted Wood Dove

We set off from Bukoba at 0600 on Saturday morning and headed for the border at Mutukula about 2 hours north west.  Crossing into Uganda was very confusing.  We had to export our car, exit Tanzania, import our car and enter Uganda.  Sounds simple enough but there were unmanned, locked boom gates in strange places that people were driving around (so we did too).  There were random people who turned out to be officials who directed us into the various offices.  There were no signs to indicate any process.  At each manned boom gate we assured the boom gate men that were had completed the procedures to move onto the next stage.  Our word was good enough - they didn't need to see our paperwork.  All very odd.

Kongoni (Hartebeest)

Long-crested Eagle

Klipspringer

Unfortunately Saturday was Ugandan Independence Day and all the money changing places were shut at Mutukula.  We had been told we could buy the necessary US and Ugandan currency here.  Our meagre US/Ug notes were insufficient for entry visas, park fees and car fuel so we needed to swap money with our lodge people and found out that the Suzuki is quite economical and the fuel  gauge is accurate.  The lovely young woman (Caroline) at the Lake Mburo National Park gate was extremely helpful (if her bosses read this).

The other main problem in Uganda was the roads and the drivers.  The road from Bukoba to the border is excellent.  Certainly better than the Glenelg Highway in Victoria and I can only remember a couple of small potholes.  The highway deteriorated markedly once in Uganda and a long stretch west of Masaka was atrocious.  This is on the main Kampala to Kigali international highway.  The drivers are definitely worse than our Tanzanians.  I had thought only the Chinese could possibly be worse.  We were run off the road at one point when an international coach overtook us going up a hill and then ran out of space as a car came towards us.

Black-bellied Bustard

African Finfoot

These little hurdles behind us we had a lovely time.  The park consists of the lake and associated papyrus swamp with wettish acacia woodland, grassland and small swamps.  Lots of small rocky hills with scrubbier vegetation as well.  On one of these hills just outside the park is Mihingo Lodge.  The office and restaurant are at the top of the hill and there are about a dozen tented rooms scattered down the slopes.  Each is situated so you can't see the next one and each has a deck with an outlook over the plains, Lake Kacheera or a waterhole and salt lick area.  We had the latter and watched a range of animals coming in each morning and afternoon.

The Lodge was excellent with great food, great rooms and friendly and efficient staff.  It wasn't cheap but what price do you put on hot showers,  full english breakfasts, three course lunches and dinners, real coffee, real bread, real butter, sit-on toilets, Bushbabies visiting at night etc?

Yellow-throated Longclaw

Grey-backed Fiscal

The National Park was quite small.  That said we drove around only half of the available tracks, mostly on the east and northern sides of the lake.  You are not permitted to leave your vehicle away from the main picnic, office areas unless you have an armed warden with you.  There are apparently two Lions in the park and a few Leopards.  We got out of the car a few times but never walked far.  There are a couple of big herds of Buffalo and these are probably as dangerous as Lions. No Elephants, Rhinoceros or Giraffe in the park but plenty of Zebra, Waterbuck, Impala, Kongoni (Hartebeest), Warthog, Mongoose etc.  Hippos in the lake as well.

Birds were also plentiful although we were unable to get onto many of the smaller species because of being confined mostly to the car.  I managed about 95 species in the two days in the park, around Mihingo Lodge and on the track out to the north.  About a dozen of these were new to me and quite a few were additions to our current stay in Africa.  Rob Farnes (my birding mate from Portland) had been here a few weeks earlier and recommended the lake cruise for birds.  Unfortunately the guide he spoke highly of was on leave but our chap, Ben, seemed to know his birds.  He found a female African Finfoot for me fairly quickly.  It was a good cruise with lots of Hippopotamus, a few small Nile Crocodiles and quite a few birds that we wouldn't have seen otherwise.

Common Buzzard

Apart from Finfoot the park bird highlights were Crested Francolin, Yellow-billed Duck, Goliath Heron, Common Buzzard, Grey Crowned Crane, Green Sandpiper, Red-headed Lovebird, Meyer's Parrot, African Cuckoo, Pygmy Kingfisher, Spot-flanked Barbet, Nubian Woodpecker, Black-headed Gonolek, Mosque Swallow, Purple-headed Starling, Black-faced Waxbill and Plain-backed Pipit.  One bird I photographed has been identified by a couple of African birders as a European Honey Buzzard (fairly common migrant to East Africa) but another expert reckons it might be a Crested Honey Buzzard from Asia.  If he is correct this would be a second record for sub-saharan Africa (one was seen and photographed in Gabon in 2004).  I wish I'd taken more photos of it now!

Honey Buzzard - but which one?

An issue I had with the park is that there are several herds of long-horned cattle grazing illegally.  Some years back the park size was reduced to return more land to traditional cattle herders.  Not satisfied they still put their cattle in the park every day.  We saw them regularly along the tracks.  What happens apparently is that cattle are confiscated by the wardens, corralled outside the park until fines are paid and then given back to the herders who promptly put them back into the park.  Clearly the fines are not sufficient to be a deterrent.  On Sunday night we heard gunshots and were told the next morning that herdsmen had tried to liberate their cattle and were chased away by gun-wielding wardens.  We were also told that most of the herds in the park are owned by politicians - not local villagers.  These politicians would be expected to lobby against reintroduction of more predators (lions for example) and to lobby for cattle friendly fire regimes in the park.  Cattle numbers in our section of the park would have matched the native grazing animals.

All in all we had a great weekend and gave the Suzuki a real workout on rocky and muddy tracks (and the terrible Ugandan highway).

Waterbuck

Thursday 14 October, Bukoba