We were up for a 6:30 am breakfast, then headed down the road into Queen Elizabeth National Park. We didn't want to have to pay the park entrance fee, so stuck to the main roads which are free! A few kilometers down the "highway" to the Congo, we turned onto a small dirt road, hoping to find an elephant for F ... and we did! I saw something large in the bushes and didn't know what it was, so got G to slow down saying "There's something big and dark up there!" ... didn't want to get any one's hopes up. Two huge bull elephants that walked across the road right in front of us and then walked right past the car - only a few meters away! It was amazing and also a bit frightening ... especially as he turned to look at us and flapped his ears. With T saying "G____? G____?" and sounding pretty nervous about the situation, G stepped on the gas, which scared the elephant who then darted away from us towards the bushes.
Soon after this, a guy on a motorbike and wearing a suit drove up behind us and asked up where we were going. We told him how we were just looking for animals and he invited us to come visit his village which was where the road led. We drove through the village, down a hill with lots of waterbuffalo, and down to the water where all the boats had just come in from fishing. One of the men gave us a tour and at the end, pointed to the hippos that live in the channel just past the fishing village! Waterbuffalo and hippos are two of the most dangerous animals in Africa, and here they are, living right along side people! Before leaving, we bought some bananas (the small, super sweet kind) and mendazi (fried dough balls) ... enough to feed 5 of us for about $1!
We drove back to the highway, stopping every few minutes to look at wildlife, and near the south end of the park saw a sign for what looked like a fancy lodge, complete with restaurant! We were all hot, tired, and in need of a cool drink, so started following the signs. The signs didn't lead to anything, though ... the dirt road became a dirt track which became a dirt path. We didn't see anything that could possibly be considered a lodge, so turned around and drove back to our own lodge.
It was a very successful game viewing day - besides the elephants (we saw another group of 5 later in the day), hippos, and waterbuffalo, we also saw LOTS of kob, defassa waterbuck, a red-tail monkey, baboons, warthogs (though only a few and they were far away), and hartebeest. After a swim, shower, and supper, we looked through all the pictures we had taken that day, then went off to sleep.
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