It’s the last day in Uganda. “How to spend it,” was my first question – now beginning to be fully aware and a little panicked that I’ve missed something! Well – of course I have – but most of it is too late to capture now – so I’ll have t be satisfied with small bits. First things first – coffee! Good coffee – espresso with full-cream milk. Do some leisurely reading since the slow rain outside has given me permission. Lake Victoria—one of the world’s largest lakes—produces its own weather system and the sky is leaking from ominous slate grey clouds. Hornbills are honking like Howler Monkeys.
The day is off to a sloooow start – and it suits me. Check out time is 10:00 and they’ve given me 30 minutes of grace time all of which has been lost as I have my head buried in Nevada Barr mystery coughed up by the PCV library when I offered it Bloodline in exchange.
Thinking through how I will manage a shower and a change of clothes with no room to lounge in between now and 8:30 PM when I have to leave for the airport—I pack a confusing array of possibilities and discover that the rain has mellowed to a light sprinkle. I zip up bags , leave them in a corner and head out to the zoo and 30 minute walk away.
Arriving at the zoo on the shore of Lake Victoria, I notice an even more ominous cloud line hugging the horizon and hope I will at least a) beat the huge and eager group of primary school kids trying to behave so they can get into the zoo and b) visit the chimps before it starts raining again. The kids are pretty cute—little ones, all decked out in their red school shirts and arranged in a shuffling group with littlest ones in front and taller ones toward the back. So I pick up the pace and make it just in time.
Wandering through the place, I’m reminded again of our first visit and how disappointed I was in what it had to offer and now appreciating the rather casual approach of “housing” animals in natural and unpretentious habitat areas with motes of water and minimal fencing. On the way to the chimps, I pass the Shoebill Crane again. He’s solo and comes to say hello with a clacking his huge beak. Going by the zebras and Boks and some funny looking deer, I hear a crowd of kids and chimps screeching. Hard to tell which is which and who is exciting whom. I found a group of adults (chimps that is) scattered on the other side of the water, just having been fed and protectively guarding their own hordes of fruit. One large male teetering at the water’s edge (they HATE water) caught my attention as he tries to puzzle out how to retrieve a fat red apple bobbing up and down about 10 feet out of reach.
Now FOUR hours later and several more chapters of Nevada Barr, I have been graced with an unoccupied room in which to shower. Bless these lovely girls who have taken mercy on me. I am filled with African Tea—a comforting mixture of whole milk boiled with fresh ginger and a bay leaf, then poured over tea bags. Heavenly.
By the time you read this I’ll be tucked into seat 21K on my way to Brussels and dreaming of Mexican food but eating airplane food – better these days than it used to be. Hoping for something tasty and some movies I’ve never seen. well – that last part shouldn’t be hard…