Thursday September 2, 2010 – Eland on the eland loop, lunch at Mihingo

Thursday September 2, 2010 – Eland on the eland loop, lunch at Mihingo


We had the solitary male baboon for company at breakfast again – he seems to be a regular at the campground. We did some experimenting at breakfast today – oatmeal with peanut butter and oatmeal with nutella. The Nutella one was a success – chocolate porridge. Not quite the chocolate doughnuts that Sarah keeps on about, but definitely a keeper of a recipe. This morning’s drive was up along the Eland loop, on the north edge of the park. We saw a good range of game going up away from the main camp area, especially in the areas that look like they have had some rain and the black burnt ground has sprouted new grass and is an amazing almost fluorescent green. The north area has a long swampy section and on a hot dry day like today it’s obviously an attractive area for game – we saw good sized herds of what seem to be the common hoofstock – grazing in the taller green grass in the wet area, or moving towards or away from it. And we saw a number of eland, as appropriate for the name of the drive. Although I don’t know that one necessarily has much to do with the other. But also lots of cattle – we are close to the park boundary and for the cattle and their herdsmen it isn’t what you would call a barrier to grazing. It’s hard to know whether permission is given for grazing and for water rights, especially in the dry season, or whether there is a prohibition on cattle grazing that is simply ignored and not enforced. I do know this park is a difficult one as it is relatively small and issues relating to wildlife domestic human interactions are difficult and very political. So we saw lots of Ankole cattle with their enormous long horns. The natural colour seems to be reddish brown, but there is obviously more than a smattering of Hostein in there and there are black and white Ankole and spotted Ankole and quite a mix of colours and patterns. Some herds seem to be wandering about on their own, whereas others have herders with them. Like a mixed exhibit at a zoo – one can see a field of zebra and topi and kob and cattle all wandering about near each other.
We game drove ourselves up to Mihingo Lodge, actually outside the park but on a piece of privately run wildlife land along its eastern border. The description of it’s glorious sitting wasn’t far wrong – up high on a rocky hillside overlooking a water pan and a salt lick – reminiscent more of the lodges I’ve seen in other parts of Africa. Open dining area and bar, pool overlooking the valley, little rocky paths leading up and down and around to the private and expensive bandas. We and a British couple seemed to be the only guests for lunch –apparently tourism is really down after the Kampala bombs and a lot of the lodges are having a hard time of it. But we had a very nice three course lunch watching a group of eland bulls at the water, as well as some other game coming and going. After lunch I got into a long discussion with Chris, the manager, about the politics of the park and the issues relating to park use, especially the cattle. Really interesting. They haven’t had elephants here in a long time (decades at least I think) so the acacia is growing up and the grasslands are filling in so they actually have a program to remove trees and wood to keep parts of the park open. Not much likelihood or reintroducing elephants I guess in a small area with neighbours all around.
Back to the park for late afternoon at the river – the guides are very disappointed that we don’t want to go on the boat ride to see hippos and crocs, but the team has been there – done that and is not to be convinced otherwise. But we’re pretty content to watch the warthogs and the monkeys in camp, listen to the fish eagles, and watch the occasional hippo popping out of the water in front of the deck and campsite. There are a few other people here, but this is a really underused park as far as we can see, and there is certainly much more game than we at least saw in Queen Elizabeth, although a lack of elephant and lion apparently reduces the draw substantially.
Back to the tents to cook dinner at the campsite, spotting two groups of dwarf mongoose which actually stayed near the road for quite a while giving us a really good look at them. Small, furry, and very quick. We ate as the sun went down, finishing by the light of our kerosene lanterns listening to the rustle of the impala moving about the bandas and watching the bats swoop overhead. Quick showers in piping hot water (the attendant lit the fire in the boiler for us before dinner) by lamplight, and then off to bed tucked into our tents.