More from Murchison Falls

I wasn't quite sure where to begin with pictures, so I decided to start with the answers to the two questions that I'm sure are burning in your mind...what was in the tree and how did you handle the hippos?  Okay, actually I'm sure you've moved on with your life after my last few posts and actually really don't care that much, but since you are here to visit, I may as well tell you, right?

Question 1:  What was in the tree?

A leopard...or as our guide said quite phonetically...a "Lee-oh-pard"

We saw two...and we were amazed that the guide was able to find them.  That's right, twice we were flying along, bouncing down the dirt roads, sitting on the roof, holding on for dear life and singing in a not-so-quiet tone "Our God is so BIG! so STRONG and so MIGHTY there's nothing my God cannot DO!"  when we came to a screeching halt.  The guide jumped out and said, "SHHHH!!! A Lee-oh-pard!" And we would look at the tree waaaaaay far away and say, "Where?" and "That's an animal not a branch??" And I zoomed my camera way in and sure enough!  It was!

These pictures are a bit fuzzy because of how zoomed in they are...but when we saw them on the computer (in real life we actually couldn't see them that well), we were quite amazed.

I especially loved this guy's tail sticking out the other side.

Question two:  So how did we handle the hippos?

The hippos left us to sleep in peace during our week at Murchison Falls.  And while it was mildly terrifying to  make the almost half kilometer trek in the dark while listening to the beasts munching grass not far enough away for my comfort, all for an early morning cup of coffee, the smooth Ugandan coffee and a chance to read God's word while watching the sun rise over the Nile was worth it.

When we drove up to the hippo pool on our game drive (all the dark humps in the water are hippos), Christi and I continued to enjoy the scenery from the roof.  The next day when we went back, I did manage to get down and take a few pictures.

And apparently one hippo was quite happy to see us!  He even smiled for the picture! :)

The kids weren't scared though...they stood together like a Stonewall...or maybe they were playing Red-Rover?  "Red Rover, Red Rover send the Hippo right over..."  Thankfully, the hippos weren't too keen on playing with us.