safari

Here are some fun pictures from our safari at Murchison Falls National Park. Our time on safari was so fun and we made a lot of memories. The AC stopped working in our car. When we had to close all the windows because we were getting bit by tsetse flies, we basically rode in a sauna. The second night there were two massive elephants pulling branches as tall as me off a tree very close to our rooms at Pakuba Safari Lodge. 

We saw a lot of animals as well. Lots of giraffes, impala, cape buffalo, warthogs, birds, hippos, monkeys and jackels. The greatest excitment was over the leopard and 14 lions (some we saw more than once)! The scenery was beautiful and so was our hotel -  Pakuba Safari Lodge. I am so thankful we could go to Murchison! We had a great adventure as a family and made lots of memories! Thank you to one of our supporting churches for blessing us with a Christmas gift that allowed us to go on this trip! 

(This might be my longest blog yet. There's a lot of pictures, so sit tight.)

The scenery is so beautiful! Breath taking! 

We were very wind blown and dusty after each day of safari. 

This the skull of a water buck, my favorite of the antelope at Murchison. The hotel we stayed at had all sorts of skulls and bones. 

We saw lots and lots of giraffes! And babies!!!

Every giraffe has a unique spot pattern.

Hartebeest

Lydia and l shared Room 53. When we arrived at the hotel, there were baboons on our porch. (They did move away and did not attack us)

Hippos! We watched this little hippo make his treck back to the water after grazing on land. 

Fun fact: hippos can't swim or float. They walk on the bottom of the river/lake. 

We didn't see as many elephants as we have in the past. They main reason for that was because the elephants were in the forest where the tsetse flies are. Tsetse flies are an african flies that leaves a painful bite when they land on you 

Makai wasn't very interested in many of the animals, but he liked the elephants. 

We saw five lions the first night in the park! We drove by this watering hole multiple times in the next 2 days.

This is my favorite picture from the whole safari!

Later, the lions came right up to the road and one decided she would lay down in the middle of the road, right next to the car in front of us! 

Cape Buffalo. These are Luka's favorite. Each one seems to have a different expression based on the curve of their horns, the position of their ears and the amount of mud on their face. 

Water Buck are one of my favorite because of their horns, their big ears, and their fluffy coat. 

This Ugandan Cobb was severly limping as it made it's way to the water. This is the same watering hole that we saw lions at the night before. You could tell this cobb was nervous because he knew he was vulnerable. At first we weren't sure what was caused his limp, but that night l zoomed in on his front leg (where the white dot is) and discovered the bone was broken and was portruding out of his skin!

Jackel

This male lion (Simba in Swahili) was intently following a female lion. I didn't get many pictures of the female because she was walking away from us and was not too thrilled with the cars that had stopped to watch. 

Baby Giraffe

Giraffes are always fun to photograph, especially when they cross the road! 

Leopards are probably the most rare animal to see on safari, followed by the hyena. I have only seen a leopard in the wild once before and it was sleeping in a tree. But this time we were lucky enough to see a leopard and follow it as it walked. A leopard's coat is so beautiful! 

When we first saw the leopard, it was sitting next to a bush, a good distance from the road. It yawned several times, then got up and ventured a little ways down the road until it laid down again. 

Once we had been with the leopard for probably an hour, someone told us about 8 lions, one of them being a cub. When someone asks us "What do you look for when you're on safari?", the answer is a group of parked cars. A lot of the cars have safari guides in and they communicate to other guides when they see lions, leopards, etc. Eventually cars congregate, which shows us that there is an animal. 

The cub and his mother. These lions were on the opposite side of the watering hole where we saw lions the night before. We could identify the lions we saw the night before from the ones that we new. The mother was easy to identify because she was the biggest and had a large collar around her neck (pictured below). 

During dry season, there are very few clouds in the sky. 

On our way out of the park the last day, l spotted another group of parked cars. We went over to just see what they were looking at and found...

More lions! 

A group of 5 juvenile lions - 3 females and 2 males just starting to grow manes. 

The lions slowly started stalking a group of antelope that was near 3 cape buffalo. Finally, one of the buffalo was tired of the lions coming closer and charged them. Somehow, he ended up surrounded by the lions. We thought the lions we going to attack the buffalo, but before they had a chance, the buffalo picked the smallest lion and charged towards her. This scattered the lions farther apart and the buffalo started grazing. Slowly the lions regrouped and walked away. 

We had such an amazing time on safari! Being surrounded by God's creation was so refreshing. We experienced  the goodness of God in small ways, such as seeing lions and a leopard (which is never a garauntee). We also observed God's creative side is the giraffes' and leopard's coats, the massive size of the elephants, the different birds, the different landscapes. We also concluded that God must have a humorous side because He chose to leave a baboon's butt with no furr... one of the times you aren't sure what God was doing but just trust Him. As much as we experience God while doing ministry, sometimes God can be experienced the most in the middle of a game park, with no cell service or internet, no cold water, no people, no cities. God is amazing! I love being a part of His story!