Charismatic Mega Fauna

"OK Amber. Just up ahead is the place where the hippos seem to hang
out. Keep an eye on the little tributary on the left as we cross the
bridge," I explained as we passed through Pukwach and nearing the
Albert section of the Nile.

Sure enough, as we leaned across the aisle of the bus, pretty much
into the laps of our neighbours, we saw them. In the muddy waters of
the Nile were about 20 hippos barely submerged. One was almost
entirely out of the water and splashing about with its mouth wide open.

"Oh my god!" shouted Amber and she jostled with me for a better view.
Secretly I was thrilled to be riding the bus with another person who
also saw no shame in bouncing up and down at the sight of such
magnificent creatures.

As per usual, the Ugandans on the bus found our obvious excitement and
fascination with hippos to be a welcome, humorous diversion to the
long, monotonous bus ride south. People on the bus even started
pointing out every little animal we passed waiting to see what we
would do.

But then I saw them....A herd of wild elephants wandering in the
shrubs next to the road. I was almost too shocked to shout "LOOK!"
Before I could, though, someone else spotted them and shouted, "Hey
muzungu," meaning 'white person' but said without ill-meaning,
"elephants!" Amber saw them now and we gawked in silence. Wild
elephants roaming so close to the road, and not even in a park?
Unbelievable. One of the larger males lumbered along fairly close to
the bus, not even seeming to notice us - I'll give him that we were
travelling incredibly fast, though.

Before I could calm down, and perhaps only seconds later anyhow, I
noticed a very strange animal just a bit further up the road but still
in the shrubs. Giraffes. I couldn't believe my eyes. Was I dreaming?
If you've ever seen a giraffe, you'll understand just how odd they
are. They stand out in both colour and shape. They look incredibly out
of place, but then again, where would they fit in, really? There were
three of them in a huddle, standing motionless as if sleeping. Most of
their bodies were obscured, but their long gangly necks were clearly
visible.

But all in a few seconds, our random and unexpected safari was over
and we sped along the road and closer to our destination. I stayed
glued to the windows, but only saw the now "common" baboon and vervet
monkeys. Even still, I think our mouths hung open in disbelief for
many hours after our hippo-elephant-giraffe encounter. That might
explain the dust and grit that was in my teeth when we disembarked 5
hours later....