Human Beings Vs. the Tse Tse Flies

Safari! We left bright and early for our safari adventure, Wednesday morning. We stayed at the Red Chilli "Rest Camp." We slept in bandas with animal names. Alex and Laura, the hyenas, made sure to terrorize all of the other nocturnal animals that we hunt. Just kidding. Instead, a hippo was seen lurking behind the bandas during the dark of night. Then this morning, we witnessed a baboon trying to nab our belongings, but we chased him back into the forest with our laser eyes.

Our adventure consisted of 2 game drives, which means driving around in a safari van on trails through the forest and savanah looking for animals of all kinds. One of our drives was in the evening, and the other was in the early morning. Our drivers, Dominic and William, are the best because they let us ride on top (The vans have a special top that pops up so you can stand on the seats and look out. It gives a nice view). Several safari drivers will let you ride on the back, but Dominic let Kelsey and Laura ride in the front on top. Only once did we fear for our lives... that was when we went illegally off-roading to locate the lions. We saw Mufasa and two of his sons... Simba was still galavanting with Pumba and Timon. We also saw many of Pumba's relatives. Here are some more animals we met along our journey (all spellings are subject to change): heartabeast (Kelsey and Laura renamed them hortelopes because they look like a cross breed of a horse and an antelope), water buffalo, cape buffalo possibly the same as the waterbok, orribi - teeny little bambis, African Kob - national animal, giraffes, elaphants, hippos, baboons, warthogs, the African crane - national bird, fish eagle, owl, and lots of other birds. We hope we're not forgetting anything.

Dominic told us lots of interesting facts. He showed us this bush, the whistling acacia, which has lots of black seeds or fruits or something small. Black ants eat them, leaving holes, and when the wind blows it makes a whistling sound. Also he told us that the leaves are very sweet, so giraffes love to eat them. They can only eat at each bush for a few seconds because the ants will crawl out when the bush is disturbed and bite the lips of the giraffes. Laura joked about how the giraffes must get neck cramps because the bushes are actually pretty short. William enlightened the group with info about the termite/ant hills (they work together). White ants come in after all the other termites and ants have done all the work and then the queen white ant does something crazy and all the ants fly out the top at night and people eat them??? We're not too sure...

After our morning drive and lunch, we took a 2 hour boat tour on the Nile. We had a guide, who didn't really tell us much of anything. But it was a good time, and we saw lots and lots and lots of hippos, crocodiles, baboons, elephants, warthogs, and more birds. The boat took us into Murchison Falls. We were dropped off at a tiny gap between trees. We jumped from the boat onto some rocks and then hiked up to the top of the falls. We ended up in 2 groups: the fast ones and the slow ones. George, our guide, hiked with group 2. Alex and Laura didn't really get to know George as we were in group 1, but word on the trail was that George is awesome. He was very helpful to the hikers, gave lots of information, and possibly led a church service. It was VERY hot and humid, so many of us were suffering from heat exhaustion and both groups needed to take a few breaks. There were several open places where you could see the falls. Beautiful! Once at the top, there was an oasis of cooling mist. (Some of the sweatier hikers, appreciated the camoflauge the mist provided.) We took lots of pictures and were all in awe of the gorgeous view of the crashing waters and rock formations.

Here comes the battle of the humans vs. tse tse flies! Very exciting... or terrifying, and perhaps even disgusting. Dominic and William picked us up in the vans at the top of the falls. They had the windows closed and the air conditioning on. We have NEVER had air conditioning anywhere in Africa. I thought, we must look really pathetic... or what a nice treat! Nope. It was only because of the tse tse flies. They were swarming the vehicles. It was like a plague. These are a special type of biting flies that are very painful and leave red marks. Dominic told us that the tse tse flies are attracted to the colors white, black, and blue. I said, "Oh great. Look at my white skin and these blue shorts." Dominic just laughed. He showed us a trap that the men hung while "mowing" the grass with pongos/machetes. There is a net with strips of blue and black cloth hanging. The flies will get caught in the netting. How resourceful! Well... we were fine because of the windows being up. However, when we left the park this morning, we were surprise attacked by a swarm of tse tse flies. They caught us with our guard and windows down. Dominic and Laura were already prepared with weapons (rolled up paper and cardboard). Deb quickly ripped her Wheat Thins box in half, arming both herself and Chelsea. The rest used their hands as the most dangerous weapons. We began to attack like ninjas. Alex, in the back of her van was swatting like crazy with a flip flop in each hand. Sharon and Sue had their weapons of choice, while Denise "conserved," shooing the flies back into the wild. The attack lasted for several minutes. There was much chaos and screaming. The only casualty was Dominic... he took 3 bites for the team while driving us safely during the attack. Human beings conquer all! Dominic turned around and said, "The theme in this van is Human Beings vs. Tse Tse flies." And then did some ninja hand motions. It was hilarious.

Everyone was pretty tired from our battle, so most of us slept in the vans on the way back to Kampala. This forced our drivers to drink Red Bulls since we were so boring. Before crashing, Dominic gave me a lesson on many tree names. He also made sure I saw a pineapple plant. Who knew pineapples grew out of the ground?! Probably lots of people, but I didn't until today.

More rest and shopping at the Stevenson's. Plus really good meatballs and rice. YUM. We reunited with the STW interns and shared a late night of talking, singing, and blogging. We can't believe we only have one more day!

Your Tse Tse Slayers,
Laura and Alex
YBC-2012-UPPT