After 3 days in the north sector of Queen Elizabeth National Park, staying at the most beautiful game lodge, taking a boat cruise down the Kazinga Channel and experiencing epic Safaris, we packed up the Land Rover and headed south, to a part of the park known as Ishasha.
The drive there was beautiful. With the windows down and music blasting, we sped past miles and miles of endless savannah and large expanses of green forest. The roads were peppered with baboons and monkeys, who at one point, stormed the top of our vehicle looking for food. On a long, dirt road, we were forced to stop and wait as an elephant grazed just off the roadside — it was moments like these that made me realize that anything could happen. You only had to keep your eyes open.
We stayed at a tiny lodge in the middle of nowhere. It was quite the contrast to the luxury we’d gotten used to our last three nights. This lodge was as humble and simple as they come — we stayed in glorified shacks with no electricity or en-suite bathroom. The outdoor shower had to be filled with well-water prior to using it. Yet, this rustic camping experience was full of its own kind of charm. There was good food, good wine, great company, and a sky packed full of stars. All you need, really.
After arriving and dropping off our bags, we headed out almost immediately for a late afternoon Safari. People travel from all over the world to this very specific, remote part of Queen Elizabeth Park for one reason — TREE CLIMBING LIONS. Here, huge Fig Trees are large and strong enough to handle the weight of multiple lions at a time, who climb the trees during the hottest part of the day, seeking refuge from the blaze of the African sun. Up in these trees, lions can be found in a deep slumber. And sure enough, after only an hour of driving through the beauty of the park, there they were — huge, powerful lions in a food-coma, looking about as harmful as a house cat.
After this experience, we realized our time in Queen Elizabeth wasn’t going to get much better; we’d honestly seen it all. We spent the evening around the campfire, woke up the next morning for one last game-drive, and then said goodbye to this tiny little of the world that we’d all grown to love so much — where lions sleep in trees, elephants travel in huge herds, hyena’s wander across the plains and life becomes beautifully simple.
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