On Tuesday we went to the zoo, or rather, the Uganda Wildlife Education Center. It is very well done, and all the animals have been locally rescued, mostly from poachers, and are housed in well-designed and large enclosures. Going around the zoo is a nice walk through wide paths through woods, with Lake Victoria off on the side, and then one can eat fresh fish and chips looking over the water to foreign countries.
We hired a car to drive to Entebbe and we TRIED to get going early in the morning -- good practice with getting all six of us out the door! It was a lot easier trip in a private car than in the two minibusses that Emerson, Davey and I had used several months ago, although I think the chaos level in the car was actually louder! All three kids took off running around, but as soon as we saw the first animal in the distance -- which were some different antelope species -- Buttercup immediately changed her mind and wanted to go up in the wrap right away, and stay there the whole time! I had brought the one recently rescued wrap that I hadn't had a chance yet to use for the day: Didymos Cinnamon Pfau. Because a pfau is a peacock, so obviously I had to wear the peacocks to see the peacocks, right? I wrapped Buttercup really high, so her shoulders were up above mine, so she could look around really easily and reach out and touch things, so she had the best view of anyone!
We arrived mid-morning, and it had been a cool and rainy night coming into a hot sunny day, which was the perfect time for the animals to be out and active, especially the big cats. We watched the leopard climbing a tree and pacing around, the lions jumping onto a platform and rubbing their faces together, and the cerval cat playing with sticks and insects like a domestic kitten. We stayed and watched them all for a long time. We also saw different birds, grazing animals, primates and all kinds of Ugandan wildlife. I figure that maybe now we can recognize them when we have a chance to spot them in the bush.... or if we don't see them in the wild we will have at least seen them in Africa.... or we have a chance to see them up close and really observe their beautiful colors and unique features.... or we are simply giving the children more chances to "go see animals"!!
We tried to talk a little bit about the zoo's mission and how some people are mean to animals but we want to respect them and not hurt them. The older children found a sign with a picture of a rhino with his horn cut off and they were very upset; Hibiscus almost cried and Emerson came up with a whole plan for when he grows up he'll run a zoo where he saves de-horned rhinos and takes care of them. However, I think at this age the children are mostly seeing our respect for the animals, and their own instinctual admiration, and that is the most important key for them growing up to think wisely about conserving our wonderful world. Although whenever Hibiscus starts getting frightened about a big animal, she immediately thinks that she should go get a gun a shoot it!
Our animal plans continued on Thursday when we left for Masindi, toward the north-west of Uganda. Although not nearly as far as our last safari trip, it was a long way with kids or backpacks on everyone's lap! But we've made a lot of familial progress in two months, and we survived the whole journey without ipads OR vomit!
We planned to walk around Masindi the first afternoon, but it turned out that the whole town was about three blocks! We walked along the streets with their little shops in the concrete block buildings, a few cars or people or boda-bodas passing by slowly, looking to see what we could see and also maybe to grab a snack. Then we went through the gate into the market, and this is where the life was! There were rows and rows of vegetables and fruit, baskets and oil, and then through another concrete wall into rows of clothing, soap, fabric, plastic ware, and other sundries. And then we found the chapatis, roasted maize and popcorn -- then the kids were happy!
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