I am blessed with some awesome and giving colleagues and friends here in Soroti. Last week, three ladies and a baby showed up at my house to kidnap me for a few days. It was supposed to have been a complete surprise, but due to scheduling and ministry, we had to postpone and plan this amazing getaway. The ladies came at lunch time and blindfolded me and took me away to Murchison Falls National Park for a two-night getaway.
On the first night, we relaxed at Fort Murchison Lodge, overlooking the Nile River and Lake Albert.
I shared a safari tent with Ronnie and baby Corrie.
I loved the sunset the first night!
We got up at 5 the next morning to drive into the park, but I ended up with a seriously running stomach, and we had to delay the trip by 5 hours. When we got to the park gate, I was the only one with a passport and a work permit, proving that I was a foreign resident, so the ladies sent me out to use my strength of "woo". Delightfully the man at the park gate was also from Soroti and he believed my story that we were all working in Soroti, but that the other ladies had their passports at immigration. It's a $60 difference in price per person. :) God is good!
Then the safari drive began...
Beautiful!
Nature at it's finest
Too close for comfort... his buddy on the other side of our vehicle raised his ears and trumpeted to warn that we were in their territory... we quickly drove away.
Bones got tired during the game drive
When we got back in the afternoon, I was so hungry, I wante
d to eat from the Sausage Tree!
But, instead, I waited for the delicious meal the lodge provided!
(Now, the rest of the pictures are actually Rachel's! She has a far better camera... I honestly need to get a good camera, I'm so disappointed with most of my shots.)
Here I am being "Kidnapped" from home.
Don't worry, I only had to wear the blindfold for a few minutes.
Hippos, which we almost hit early in the morning on the second day. On the first day we drove around the park ourselves, but on the second day (since we were given a 24 hour park pass) we decided to hire a UWA (Uganda Wildlife Authority) guide and purposely look for cats.
My favourite - WARTHOGS!
Cape Buffalo
Did you know that giraffes can live up to 28 years, and the male giraffes get darker the older they get? Starting around aged 20.
Majestic
We had an incredible time with the UWA man... who spotted this leopard in a bush... we watched this pregnant mama walk through the grass for some time until she found a nice branch to rest on.
When we found a pride of 7 lions I actually choked up. God has created the most magnificent animals and I had the joy of seeing a family, with 5 cubs relaxing freely in the wild.
The thousands of Uganda Cobb in the back we not relaxed though.. they were very aware that there was a predator in the area. So incredible!
This was our last animal sighting as we left the park. Wow!
Murchison is 5000 square kilometers of wildlife.
I am beyond grateful for the gift I received from Ronnie, Jennifer, and Rachel.
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