Our Trip to Uganda: Part 5 (Paraa)

One last time crossing the Nile River

Wednesday we had to make our way back to Kampala so we could fly out early Friday morning.  We stopped for the night at Paraa Safari Lodge.  It is also in Murchison Falls National Park, just on the other side of the park.  The terrain here was completely different.  More grassland, and you could see for miles.  Gorgeous.  After we turned off of the highway, we followed a tiny dirt road through little hut villages for a while before coming to the park entrance.

  While we were heading down this road (a couple of hours from Gulu), dad got a call from Charles.  He was working in the area and saw us driving by.  We stopped to wait for him.  He was upset because he hadn't had a chance to meet us girls on Sunday.  It was so fun to meet him.

Charles is another one who thinks we are his sisters.  Mom and dad are his new parents. 

 Once we got through the gate to the park, it was over an hour drive to the lodge.  We decided it was the trip of the Giraffe, because we came upon this site:

There were almost 2 dozen giraffes right next to the road.  Many of them were bedded down. They say it is rare to see a giraffe lying down.  We stopped the car and just watched them for the longest time.  It is like they were posing for us.

We also saw tons of antelope throughout the drive.

Ugandan Kob

Jackson Heartbeast

Oribe

The biggest surprise was seeing this lion in the road on our way in.  They say you rarely see one on your own - usually you have to have a guide take you to where they hang out.  She was fun to watch, and eventually got up and wandered away into the tall grass.

After we checked in at the lodge and had lunch, we went out driving again and this time we took a guide, Vivienne with us.

A couple of Dung Beetles, and a ball of dung . . . . 

Stork

A lone hippo out grazing - rare to see one out in the daylight.

A bunch of hippos in the Albert Nile.  They were huge!

This Cape Buffalo was taking a mud bath

We saw quite a few monkeys, but most were too quick to get a picture of. This one stopped and posed for us.

We only saw a few elephants in the distance.

There were lots of warthogs running around.  Pumba!

Animals are such posers.

Another termite mound/castle

Giraffe crossing

It rained all night, and we woke up to a beautiful rainbow.

One last breakfast on the Nile.

Some baboons along the side of the highway

After who knows how many hours of delayed flights, flying, layovers and sleepless nights, our last plane finally landed.  We were excited to see our families again, but were sad to leave our parents and Uganda behind.  This was a trip we will never forget.  Thanks mom and dad, for everything!!  Love you guys and what you are doing.

{We took lots of self portraits on the various plane rides - here we are taking off from Entebbe . . . . long plane rides make you silly}