Rob's chance to be a biologist/environmentalist . This last weekend I spent in Ishahsha and Mweya, on a proper field trip reviewing the projects and viewing Queen Elizabeth National Park. This is one of the most threatened parks in Uganda, in the south round Ishasha, because the elephants and other large mammals come out of the park and raid the subsistence crops of the local farmers.The picture shows an unusual group of fifteen young bachelor males which we later heard had tried to raid crops in Kihihi parish, fortunately a few loud noises and a lot of running around and no real damage was done and no one and no animals were hurt.
Ishasha is well known for its tree climbing lions (they dont usually climb trees but these guys do) we came across four of them near a kill, one young male got down and chased away the vultures then possibly because we were there in the vehicle, stayed around for a bit to guard it.
Mweya is where the head quarters of the Uganda Wlidlife Authority were until moving to Kampala,they have most of their senior field offices there as well as the rescue boat we funded.
Mweya is at the northern end of Lake Edward on the Kazinga channel. Although it is a national park the whole of it is under threat because local people(including some rather important people) are using the park to graze their cattle about 50,000 of them(cattle that is) and are poisoning the animals in the park, there were 50+hyena in one group and there are now 4, the lion have almost been wiped out, as have the leopard. When we were there the rangers came across a 70kg male leopard which had been snared. The only way to protect them seems to be darting them and then taking them to the zoo in Entebbe. The only people who can do anything about this are fairly high up and dont want to.Cattle mean wealth and keeping on the right side of the pastoralists means votes.
Mweya has however at least at the moment got some herbivores and a very few Topi, animals that are such a lovely colour. They are very nervous however. The only thing we can do is bash on ,if you are interested see it now while its still there!
We hear that the news of the floods in Uganda have reached the BBC news!! There have been reports of floods in the districts in the North in the papers here for a couple of weeks and as the photos posted last week show we have had some pretty torrential downpours! One day the newspaper was reporting on the very dry conditions in Karamoja and the problems with the crops and in the same paper two pages later, a report on the rainstorms washing away a bridge and destroying crops in ..yes you guessed it...Karamoja! There has certainly been some extreme weather. The main roundabout in Kampala floods regularly but as these photos show we are lucky to live in one of the 'up-market' and 'up the hill' suburbs. Here is the view of Lake Victoria from the bar at the hotel just up the road where we very occasionally enjoy a cold 'Nile Special' beer!?!! The others show the road leading to the house (you can just see our black gate at the end) and one of me and Alice walking down from the house when she and Ed were here (thanks to Ed for the photos). The wooden structures at the bottom are the little shops where we buy fruit and vegetables and practice our Luganda. Even after being here this long the ladies still burst into fits of laughter at our attempts.
We are now having a 'wet season' which didn't really come when it should in March but is now happening at the time of the second wet season (Sept. - Nov.). There is flooding in the north of the country and bits of Kampala flood because of terrible drainage and the awful roads. We are at the top of a hill which is good! These photos were taken from the front of the house.
