Lions and Tigers and Bears- Oh My!

View from the top of Murchison Falls

This post is coming to you from Paraa Safari Lodge. Paraa is a word in the local language and it means “place of hippos”.
We have had two awesome game drives and a great cruise down the Nile River to Murchison Falls- what a beautiful site! Yesterday we went to the top of the falls- a site we had never seen before. It was absolutely breathtaking!
On the game drives and boat cruise we saw many animals. No we did not see lions and tigers and bears (yes Carlen, I know that would not ever be possible because they do not live on the same continent- it was a joke). But we did see lions- two of them, both male (we named them both Simba) and we were able to get very close to them- about 10 to 15 feet away. The second one we saw was just eating a fresh antelope- some of you may think this is gross and you will want to skip the next sentence. Since we were so close, we could hear the bones crunching as the lion was ripping pieces off and devouring the animal. It was so cool!

Other animals that we saw were several varieties of antelope, some variety of monkey, lots of baboons (Rafiki is their name), many giraffes, many hippos, several elephants (we were very close to them), several hornbills (named all of them Zazu), a hyena (we named him Ed) and many warthogs (all named Pumba). If you do not understand the naming of all these animals, you need to watch Disney’s The Lion King.
Helpful point to anyone that may be going on a safari. When you are standing up in the safari vehicle, watch out for Dung Beetles. Taking one of those huge things in the forehead while traveling at 40 km per hour is not a nice experience.
While on the boat cruise we saw several Nile crocodiles. One was sleeping on the shore of a marshy little island. The boat we were on was able to get right up close to it- the front of the boat where we were standing was less than ten feet from it. The thing was huge and looked as though it had just eaten a very big meal- thankfully it was sleeping or the people on the lower deck may have been dessert! Just for the record- we were safely seated on the upper deck.
Tomorrow we head back to Kampala and Mike and Tanya leave for home on Monday. The month they spent with us has gone by very quickly. Please pray for safety as we travel tomorrow and for Mike and Tanya as they travel home on Monday. They leave at 11:30 PM (that is 2:30 PM for most of you) so please remember to pray for them as they travel home.