So after our excellent and very lucky viewing of a Leopard, we set off for Ishasha in hope of viewing a Lion.
As the roads in Uganda are not the most vehicle friendly roads we have come across, Hamid takes it easy and this is great for us as we get to spot animals along the way. On this journey we viewed Elephants, Baboons, Colobus Monkeys and even a snake.
We came up behind another tourist vehicle on this extremely quiet 'road' There is black smoke coming out of it and eventually it pulls over, we pull over too and Hamid gets out to see if they are in need of any help.
Hamid gets back in and says that the other vehicle will have to limp to the next town for repairs, he thinks damage has been done by going too quickly on these bumpy roads. We set off again, only to pull over almost immediately with the other vehicle. Hamid and the other driver have a discussion and then Hamid asks us whether the single tourist from the other vehicle could join us for Ishasha as they may not make it in time with their limping vehicle. Of course it's ok and a friendly Australian called Grant joins us.
We arrive in no time to view the Lions with a quick pit stop at a very unwelcoming toilet!
We set off around the park and are joined by 3 more tourist vehicles (the most we had seen so far on our safari).
Hamid spotted a male Lion in a tree, which again we couldn't see straight away! We did eventually more quickly than the Leopard. Hamid told us that it's very unusual to spot a male Lion in a tree with female Lions being more common in them. Again we felt we were very lucky. Hamid also explained that they thought the Lions slept in the trees to escape the flies.
The male Lion was well aware he was being watched and was not moving, so one by one the vehicles including ours went off in different directions in search of more Lions.
Our search proved disappointing and the weather was also starting to change which actually made Hamid pretty excited.
The wind had picked up, so Hamid raced back to the tree where we had seen the sleeping male Lion. Hamid explained that the Lion would not like the wind and would leave the tree.
Back at the tree, we were the only vehicle there and just as Hamid had said the Lion started to wake up! He changed position in the tree a few times before climbing down into the bushes below. He peeked out of the bushes and then trotted off. Magnificent!
Another vehicle arrived just in time to see him escape into the distance.
Again, how lucky were we? Hamid has excellent knowledge and Grant our new passenger was equally thrilled and impressed with Hamid.
Grant's driver met us at the entrance of the park and re-joined him. We were now off to Bwindi, for the Gorillas, we were very excited!
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