Lake Mburo National Park is a jewel of a protected area. When we need to travel from Bwindi National Park to Kampala (The capital of Uganda) Lake Mburo is one of the places we can stay.  It provides a welcome break in what is otherwise a long dusty journey on poor roads. I recommend it (the park not the roads).

A few days ago we attended a meeting with the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA), the International Gorilla Conservation Program (IGCP) and others in Mbarara Town. We were reviewing the monitoring of Bwindi and Mgahinga National Park and how the observations were stored managed and used. We had lots of discussion about computers, managers’-needs and data-base design. After that it was time to relax a little. We decided to spend a night at the Lake before heading on to Kampala for more meetings.

The lake itself is special for bird watching. Small boats can navigate safely among the hippos (not advised elsewhere, these are dangerous animals).

We treated ourselves to a boat trip in the evening sunlight. Our boat man was a young park ranger who was recovering from a leopard attack he’d endured last year (he had been involved in a trip to deal with an animal causing trouble with communities outside the national park). He was seriously scarred but luckily not disabled (though he was unable to close one eye properly).

Here are a few pictures. The Malachite kingfisher and the African fish eagle can be seen in many places but are special nonetheless. The African finfoot I had not seen before. It is an unusual animal not closely related to any other on the continent but it darts around rapidly in the weedy water’s edge making it hard to photograph (though we counted six).

Malachite kingfisher.

African fish eagle in the evening light.

Pair of African finfoot (Podica senegalensis ), Lake Mburo. All my pictures were fuzzy as they were shy and scuttled away when seen. Apparently there are none in captivity anywhere in the world.

We spent the evening having a simple meal on the lake edge listening to the hippos, and chatting with the Park’s Chief Warden who Miriam knew well from many years ago. It’s good to relax sometimes and Lake Mburu is a good place for it.

Happy hippos –  at Lake Mburo they are less hostile than the average beast.

Young Nile crocodile. Come back and see me when I am older.

Best wishes

Douglas