Here we are on day 103 of the ongoing Hawaii quarantine tally log. Finally it was announced after much anticipation that the state will allow visitors to enter and bypass the 14 day quarantine IF they have taken a COVID test within 72 hours of flying out and have acquired a negative test result.
This is very similar to the procedure that Alaska already implemented except that Hawaii is not offering any voluntary testing at the airport upon arrival as an alternative to pre-testing, nor do they require a follow-up test 7-14 days after arrival. To be expected, this has been met with mixed levels of enthusiasm from (or a complete lack of). Hopefully it’s a step in the right direction to help local residents and businesses get back up and running and be able to support their families as well as re-activate employer sponsored health care benefits which is so important in any circumstance, but especially now.
Our Governor says that Hawaii is still in communications with Australia, New Zealand and Japan who are looking at making a “travel bubble” where residents are able to travel freely between destinations without a mandatory quarantine because they all have a very low level of the virus, if any. This would be really great considering the EU is now threatening to ban US Citizens from entering due to recent covid spikes in several states. All fingers and paws crossed that things settle down quickly.
Speaking of traveling, I really want to finish up the final recap of my trip to Rwanda and Uganda with Kajie Safaris. Last I left off we had just finished our final gorilla hike in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest and were quite glad to be on the road and headed into more dry arid climates to begin the safari portion of our time there.
Upon leaving Bwindi we drove several hours to Queen Elizabeth National Park. We entered through the Ishasha Section first in search of tree climbing lions. I’ve seen photos and the lions are really quite beautiful and can often be found lounging in the trees during the warmer parts of the day in this very specific part of the National Park. Unlike the rainforests, it gets very hot in Queen Elizabeth. It did cool down at night to something more bearable, but there was still definitely no need for my jacket and sweatshirt like we had been used to Try as we might, unfortunately the lions were not to be found that day so onward we went until we arrived at The Bush Lodge which was to be home for the next 2 nights.
This lodge is in the midst of the park so you cannot walk around after dark without an armed guard because hippos come up from the river and amble all over camp. If you missed the memo, hippos are mean and very fast on land so it’s not an animal you should ever try to tangle with. They also are now being poached for their teeth (ivory) which is just unimaginable, but with the decline in population of elephants, and lack of armed guard protection for the hippos they have now become a new target for poachers.
We were so lucky to get an amazing location for our tent which was situated on the very edge of a deep gulch with a watering hole just beneath us. The hippos made quite a ruckus at night and we had a little family of warthogs that had their residency in the dense brush next to us. They were a talkative bunch every night! We also had a hyena talking up a storm the first night on our walkway and found it’s pugmarks the next morning in the dust. Our meals are served outside in a small open area circling a fire pit under the stars each night and the air is filled with sounds of wildlife.
The tent itself is small but doable and there is an outdoor compost toilet and shower just behind you, elevated on a cement slab to keep the critters at bay a bit I’m guessing. The location of this camp itself is perfect for accessing the rest of the park to do game drives and we were lucky enough to find several elephants to photograph. We didn’t see any herds, mostly loan bachelors and once we did see two males traveling together and browsing on acacia trees. There are tons of ungulates around and we also heard a male lion calling for quite some time just across the gulch on the second night’s stay.
For the remainder of our second day in Queen Elizabeth we went on a private boat ride along the Kazinga channel. There are absolutely loads of hippos here that we loved being able to view at a close distance from water level. There are also lots of spotted kingfishers and the smallest kingfisher in the world the Uganda Dwarf kingfisher. A brilliantly colored little chap. (see below)
We were nearing the end of the stretch of river normally toured when one of our guides spotted an elephant at the very top of an embankment nearly concealed by trees. He quickly cut the engine while we sat quietly and waited. After several minutes, and much smelling and scouting by the elephant on the hill, the rest of his family appeared from virtually out of nowhere and snaked down a narrow muddy trail in a single file line to the water’s edge to drink. Although I took as many images as humanly possible, I don’t think they’ll ever truly do justice to how beautiful and peaceful the scene was to witness in person.
Ever since leaving Rwanda my health had been in a “bit of a decline” until finally on the last night at the Bush Lodge after our boat excursion I was probably the sickest I’ve ever been in my adult life. Hence why I know lions were roaring all night long – because I was wide awake to hear it. In hindsight I now realize the importance of having an emergency plan on future trips so we always have a way to contact either our guide or hotel staff just in case. As it was, there’s no power or phone or staff working anywhere at night there and since you can’t leave the tent it’s irrelevant anyway. At first light I was up and borderline coherent enough to atleast pack my bags and make an attempt at washing my hair while my friend was desperately looking everywhere to find our guide.
So as an added bonus I got an impromptu visit to a local hospital facility on the way to Kibale Forest to photograph the wild chimps. The doctor there drew blood and set me up with a bunch of meds to get me on the mend in short order which I was very grateful for and against all odds we managed to still make it to Kibale just a hair before the check-in time for the start of our chimp trek. Still to this day I can’t believe I was physically able to do hike through that forest with the chimps, but I did.
I was very nervous about seeing the chimpanzees versus the gorillas because the chimps just seem like they have a tendency to be far more naughty and they also eat other monkeys so there is that. Gorillas eat leaves. That’s much more my style.
I was so pleased to find that these habituated chimpanzees were very calm and tolerant. They were resting on the ground when we arrived and would just lazily sit and gaze around before getting up and wandering another 100-200 yards away to sit back down and contemplate the meaning of life some more. It was very sweet. Not only were the chimps so expressive, but the leaves and light in the forest was absolutely stunning for photographs. These images ended up being some of my favorites from the whole trip which I definitely didn’t see coming.
The rustic jungle resort that we stayed at for this final night was absolutely stunning! Again we were in tents, but these tents were huge with very modern gorgeous bathrooms en-suite with super hot water. After the previous nights little escapades that might have been one of the best showers I’ve ever had!
The property was very beautifully manicured and backed up into the forest so the canopy trees shaded everything and the “front desk and restaurant” was a huge open air tree house. Really lovely! Several reviews on Trip Advisor say that the Kibale Forest Camp has local primates that cross through the property each day and hopefully this will be something I’ll see next time I’m there.
All in all it was a really amazing trip and I loved the itinerary I was able to customize with Ronald at Kajie Safaris. It was a perfect combination of primates and safari and let us see a little of both Rwanda and Uganda. There were some good lessons learned along the way but I’m very much looking forward to returning to Uganda hopefully soon to have a little reunion with both the gorillas and the chimpanzees and the wonderful people there. It’s such a lovely country with stunning countryside and a warm, welcoming culture that I just can’t believe that I’ve never heard more about it from a tourism industry standpoint, I would definitely recommend a trip there to any of my friends who are up for an adventure.
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