Kazinga Channel

Bushbuck

Piglets!

Giant Forest Hog

Our Elephant friend who wanted to go the way we were going!

The Yawning Hippo snap

Part of our safari was a boat trip on the Kazinga channel, where we would see lots of animals and birds. Before boarding the boat we came across some Mongoose who were playing inside a small old boat. They were excellent posers for our photos and didn't seem at all bothered by the numerous tourists snapping away.

Queuing for the boat we unfortunately ran into our rude acquaintances from the lodge. They didn't notice us, but that was probably because they were too busy pushing people out of the way to get on the boat first.

Our guide didn't accompany us on the boat, but the boat had it's own wildlife expert to talk us through the sightings.

Steph was excited to have snapped a baby hippo, unfortunately the excitement quickly turned to horror when she was told the poor baby hippo was actually dead!

There were herds of Elephants, Buffalo and Waterbuck all around the channel. We spotted a few crocodiles, which were really well camouflaged. There were just hundreds of birds all chattering at the same time. Photo's can't capture the many sounds of the channel, so we took some videos as well.

Everyone was out to get a 'yawning Hippo' photo and we all kept missing the very few chances. Steph was finally lucky enough to get one, it's not the best picture, a little out of focus, but we got one!

We headed back just in time before the rain.

There was a sprint from everyone to get back in their vehicles before they got soaked. As we left, we were very lucky to find ourselves in a prime spot when a lone male Elephant was in the middle of the road. Hamid our guide stopped the van so we could get some close up shots without zoom. The Elephant decided we were in the way and tried a mini charge at us! Hamid being experienced as he is knew exactly how to keep us safe from any danger, we managed to record a video of the charge.

On our way back to the lodge we were again very lucky as we came across a Giant Forest Hog right by the roadside staring at us and when it turned away, there was another one and some little piglets! Again, the photos are a little out of focus, but there was very little time to snap them. Hamid told us that they don't come out until it's dark, but he thought they may have been confused by the weather which had made the sky gloomy.

Another shy creature we managed to see on our return was a Bushbuck who wasn't so much in a rush to get away.

QEP

Our first full day at the Queen Elizabeth National Park, with a very early start! We saw a beautiful sunrise over the park. The days viewing was mainly of prey rather than predators. We saw so many beautiful birds and as we are not 'birdwatchers' we welcomed our guides expertise. We saw so many Waterbucks and Kob, Warthogs, Elephants, Buffalo and the odd Lizard. We almost ran over a very long trail of ants and came across a very big ant hill. We saw the Waterbucks, Kob and Warthogs up close and the rest from a distance. Our guide had very good eyesight and spotted the animals we couldn't even see.

The day was split with lunch back at Simba Safari Camp where we were staying. It was such an amazing day seeing all these animals in the wild and so incredible see so many of them.

What was really enjoyable was that it felt like we had the whole park to ourselves with only very occasionally coming across other tourists.

Simba Safari Camp was very comfortable and the staff were excellent. Our stay would have been perfect if a group of other guests had a little more courtesy towards others. The staff handled them very well though, despite this group of guests being very demanding and rude to them. The lodge only had a certain number of plugs for guests to recharge their camera batteries and this group of particular guests decided that they had more right than anybody else and unplugged everyone else's batteries to plug in their own, apparently to them taking your turn and sharing doesn't exist. Unfortunately, this wasn't the last time that we would experience their rudeness.

On the other hand they were a small annoyance compared to the fantastic first day we had at QEP.

We stayed at Simba Safari Camp

On our Way

It took quite a while to get out of Kampala, we had hit rush hour on a Monday morning, so the city was more than hectic! As we gradually left and entered the countryside, there was a huge difference between the two. One thing we noticed which was so good, was that Uganda is so green.

The weather wasn't great, it was raining but it was still warm.

We were on our way to the Queen Elizabeth National park, which was quite some hours away. We stopped off at the equator and had our photo and then went for some breakfast.

Steph bought a traditional African drum (she's always wanted one after seeing them at her Grandparents house when she was growing up). We were a little worried that it might be too big for the luggage, but as we found out at Entebbe airport on our way home, we had absolutely nothing to worry about. Our drum was tiny compared to the drums a group of Americans had!

We reached QEP by late afternoon/ early evening because we made quite a few stops to look at the beautiful scenery. Also, we started to make our first sightings of Uganda's wildlife. The animals were quite far away, but the real safari started the next day...

Uganda!

Kampala

One of the quiet roads, just outside the Hotel Triangle

Our long awaited trip to Uganda finally came and before we knew it we were on our way to Heathrow airport. We flew out of Terminal 5, a new experience for the both of us. We have to say that it was a good experience and there was plenty to do before our flight. On our way to our gate, Steph saw people waiting at other gates and was already deciding on our next trip!

Andy found it difficult to sleep on the plane, but Steph had no trouble at all! We had extra leg room seats which was better for Andy being 6ft 1". Landing at Entebbe was very different to Heathrow, first of all there was so much green and a much, much smaller airport. We had no trouble at Entebbe, a little wait at immigration but that was about it. Andy is always nervous as to whether our luggage has made it with us, but again no need to worry.

Maria, our tour company guide was waiting for us and drove us to our hotel in Kampala. This was our first time in Africa and there was so much going on all around. It was a Sunday and Maria said it was quiet, it did not seem quiet at all! Kampala was just crazy, the traffic lights just seemed redundant and all the moto bikes were weaving in out of all the mini bus taxis. Steph thought she'd seen 'mad' traffic in Asia, but this was something else! Surprisingly not scary, just so crazy you couldn't help but watch.

We were staying at the Hotel Triangle for one night before we left on our safari the next day. We went to our room and caught up on some sleep. The rain hammered down while we were sleeping and we awoke to a very soggy carpet by our door. We went for a wonder around the streets outside the hotel, but didn't go too far as we had already planned a city tour on our return from our safari.

Andy was pleased to find that the hotel played the football, so we settled for the evening watching a game before bed.

We woke early to be ready for our safari. The hotel was comfortable and the staff were friendly and helpful.

Hamid our guide for the safari was waiting for us to begin our first African safari.

Our first impressions of Africa were very good and we were excited to continue our trip.

We stayed at the Hotel Triangle in Kampala. We booked a double room, en suite with air-con (we found that we didn't really need the air-con) $120 per night including breakfast.

Andy's 30th

Andy turned 30 on 3rd November. Being a Wednesday, we had a family meal. We cooked Andy's favourite, Steak, Chips, Onion rings, fried eggs and pepper sauce. Then for afters we had Smarties chocolate birthday cake. It took a while to get it all cooked because we were cooking for 9 people, but it all turned out well and everyone seemed to enjoy it.

Andy finished off the evening by giving a speech under the influence of helium, which was hilarious!

On the Saturday we held a cocktail party at home for Andy's birthday. We had a buffet, chocolate fountain, vodka jellies and of course lots of alcohol and mixtures to make the cocktails. The favourite cocktails on the night seemed to be Blue Lagoons and Seabreezes. Although Steph made her favourite cocktail, a Singapore Sling. The Tequila Sunrises didn't go down very well as no one could hack the Tequila! maybe the glass was too small making them too strong.

Chewy stayed by the buffet table all night cleaning up anything that was dropped, needless to say that he is now on a diet! Spike was very over excited due to the amount of people throwing his ball for him!

The party went down really well, lots drank and lots eaten! A couple of people had a few too many of the Baileys and Amaretto shots and were suffering the next day with a hangover!

At about midnight everyone departed into town to carry on the party.

Andy's main present from Steph was a Song Gigajuke Hi-Fi system.

Update

It's been a while since we last posted. We've been to Uganda and had the best time, such an amazing place. We have also celebrated Andy's 30th birthday. We will post about Andy's birthday first and then about our trip to Uganda. Here is a photo of one of the amazing Mountain Gorillas of Uganda we visited.

Tomorrow: Andy's Birthday.

Walking the Pack!

On one of our many dog walks, we had on this occasion invited Steph's dad, sister and brother, who have dogs as well. Between us all we were walking 5 dogs! Luckily all the dogs know each other and get on fine. We walked up Haughmond Hill in Shropshire. There are several routes to the top and we decided to take the longest route. We met many other walkers on the way and more dogs. Everyone just seemed to get on well, so it was a really lovely walk. When you get to the top, you are rewarded with a beautiful view. At the top we stopped for a picnic. We had some treats for the dogs and Steph's sister handed them out. It was quite funny as she is petite and was completely surrounded by 5 dogs in varying sizes from medium to large!

Spike entertained everyone by gathering sticks and small logs, where he tried to carry as many as he could.

Overall we walked for a good couple of hours which was just enough for the dogs.

Happy Anniversary!

A selection of photos from our wonderful day.

Today is our 2nd wedding anniversary and it has been a really good two years! We got married at All Saints Church and had our reception at the Albrighton Hall hotel. The wedding was quite a large one, but we both have fairly large families. The day before our wedding we had torrential rain and Shrewsbury flooded. It usually takes Steph 10-15 minutes to get to her dads house from ours in the car, but the night before took her about an hour as all the roads in were flooded. She had to risk it and ended up driving through a severely flooded road, but she made it.

The next day though, the rain had gone, luckily! But the roads were still flooded and made Steph and her dad 30 minutes late for the church, which made Andy a little nervous! They got a message through and Andy was able to relax a little.

The church service was wonderful, filled with our family and friends. During the signing of the register, the choir sang Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol, which was fantastic.

We were a little rushed when we arrived for the reception because we were behind with the timing a little, so were uber organised getting the photos done. The photographer asked Steph to climb on a tree trunk, she was up there like a shot, we didn't want to keep our guests waiting and wanted to get on with the party!

There were no real hitches except that the cake collapsed! The cake maker had iced the cake warm, and therefore it sunk. We weren't that bothered because if that's the only thing to go wrong, then we felt very lucky.

We had a fantastic DJ who got the party really going. Spike and Chewy were present at the reception, which the kids absolutely loved.

If we could do the day again, we wouldn't change a thing, it was a brilliant day made special by the people there.

Update

Thought we'd give a little update seen as though there isn't any planned trips between now and Uganda in October.

Steph has unfortunately been made redundant. The charity she works for has had it's funding withdrawn by the UK government. The withdrawal was originally going to take place over 10 months but that has been reduced to 4 months leaving the charity with too little time to find alternative funding. It's a great shame as it was a good project helping a lot of people. Steph can find a new job, but the people that were benefiting from the project won't have the help they were getting, again.

Andy is managing another football team for the new season as manager and coach, they are called Oswestry Boys FC, so we'll be keeping an eye on their progress. Managing this team will also give Andy the opportunity to do the FA level 2 coaching badge.

Spike has just had his birthday, he is 7 now. Chewy is well and still doesn't seem to be too affected by the arthritis in his front leg joints. They had great fun at the weekend as a couple of our friends came to stay and they have a young daughter who had great fun playing with Spike and Chewy.
These friends of ours are off to paradise because they are moving to Bermuda! Lucky things!

Steph is back to netball and the knee seems to be holding up well. Two more essays to go and that's another year finished at University for Steph. 2011 will be her final year.

We have had holiday invites for next year, so a bit spoiled for choice, but no plans as yet. We've been invited to Bermuda to stay with our friends and another friend has just moved back to Thailand and has invited us over as well. We'll have to see what 2011 brings!

We're looking forward to Uganda in October and Andy's birthday in November.
Speak soon!