UGANDA 2025: MURCHISON FALLS NATIONAL PARK, SAFARI DRIVE

July 20-21, 2025

We got to the entrance of Murchison Falls National Park at 6:45 p.m., just 15 minutes before the gates closed for the night. However, they did a ridiculous amount of paperwork that included making copies of our passports (which we later learned was standard for all national parks in Uganda). It took 25 minutes, and we didn't actually go through the gates until 7:10.

Not too far in we saw our first baboons walking down the road, kind of like an escort or welcoming committee.

A little later on, we saw an eagle owl at the side of the road that flew off when we drove by and then a mongoose that scampered across the road, both too fast for us to get a picture.

The highlight of the 45-minute-long drive through the park to our lodge was a huge wet hippo standing in the middle of the road facing oncoming traffic. The car in front of us wouldn't pass by it on the side, even though there appeared to be room. Apparently, hippos are known to charge cars. As cute as they are, they are mean dudes.

After a while, a boda-boda (motorcycle) came by and cautiously passed the hippo on the side. Shortly after that, a ranger drove up and directed us to turn off our car lights. He turned his flashlight beam to the far side of the road, and the hippo turned towards it like a moth to a flame. Though he still stood in the road, we could at least drive past his backside where he might not notice us.

GERMANY: HITLER'S MUNICH

 May 25, 2025

Our very last joint activity on our family trip to Germany was a guided tour of Hitler's Munich. But before I get to that, I just have to throw in this photo of a silver lion that we passed in the Old Town square. Munich has several statues of lions, once a symbol of Bavarian strength. Besides the Old Town Square, they can be found flanking the entrance to the Munich Palace, on the top of the triumphal arch, and at the Lowenbrau Brewery. My high school mascot was a lion, and I'm a big fan of the books The Wizard of Oz and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, both of which prominently feature a lion, so I am always drawn to statues of lions. This one looks powerful. I like it!

Munich is considered the birthplace of the Nazi Party (aka National Socialism or NSDAP), and a visit to Munich is not complete without seeing a few of the sites involved with the Nazi Party, especially in the 1920s and 1930s.

Our first stop on the tour was the Hofbrauhaus, a historic beer hall that started as a supplier for the Bavarian court. 

Our guide took us up a long stairway . . .

. . . to this dining hall. It was here in February 1920 (so early!) that 30-year-old Hitler, the propaganda chief of the National Socialist Party, announced the party's official program to a gathering of about 2,000 people. Seventeen months later, on July 29, 1921, he was elected to be the head of the Nazi Party here.

NAMIBIA: ETOSHA NATIONAL PARK, DAY 2, OKAUKEUJO CAMP TO HALILI CAMP

After a good night's sleep in our Etosha National Park cabin, we got in a line of cars at the gate that were waiting to leave the lodge area and start driving around the national park. Visitors are not allowed outside the lodge fences at night unless they are in a national park vehicle. Our plan was to leave as early as possible, drive around for an hour or two, and then come back for breakfast and to check out before resuming our safari drive.

The gate opened at 7:15 AM, just in time for us to watch a beautiful African sunrise:

Dawn is a great time to see wildlife. Our first sighting was a pair of greater kestrels:

AFRICA: MAASAI MARA LIONS (KENYA)

This post is about lions. Lots of lions. It's another one of those posts that needs some musical accompaniment. The obvious choice is "The Lion Sleeps Tonight," recorded by The Tokens in 1961 and re-recorded in the mid-90s for the Disney movie The Lion King. I have one question: Why do the lyrics say, "In the JUNGLE, the mighty JUNGLE, the lion sleeps tonight?"  Maybe because "savannah" has too many syllables and "veld" doesn't have enough? Anyway, betcha didn't know that this song was originally recorded by a South African Zulu singer/composer named Solomon Linda. (If you are interested in the original version, a recording can be found here.) I did not make the video below and I don't think all the pictures in it are of Africa, but it's still fun to watch.

And one more thing. Guess what the Swahili word for "lion" is. Simba!

All ready?  Okay. Here we go.

In addition to the wildebeest migration that occurs annually, the Maasai Mara is known for its large cat population--lions, cheetahs, and leopards. We were fortunate to see quite a few lions. The first eleven pictures are from our first day in the Mara.

The shiny, tawny coats of the lioness and her cubs are perfect camouflage when they are playing in the tall, amber-colored grass: