Chameleons, Cats, Etc.

This chameleon lives near the conference center. Everyone here is deathly afraid of them. They say if their tongue touches you, you have to cut that bit of skin off!  

This brownish chameleon was my pet for 2 days!  

I had to search around the porch to find this insect. The noise he was making was so loud it literally hurt my ears! 

The monkeys are back! This time I saw 3 babies and the mother.  

The following pictures are of our cat (singular), Oswald, who turned out to be two cats. If you missed the story, the cat would come and go every few days, sometimes be gone for longer. It turns out there are two very similar looking cats. 

 The two cats finally meet! 

Where is the cat?

African Animals

Cobra alive...

... and dead! 

The following 3 pictures are color changers.

 

We've had lots of monkey sightings the last few months!

Safari

Heather's parents got to visit us for a month! While they were here we went on a Safari. 

The Harveys say "Hi!" from Uganda!

Ziwa (Rinos part II)

Back to Ziwa. AHI has donors who pay for a yearly field trip and in the past it’s always been to Kampala, usually a tour of a fancy hotel or restaurant, lunch, and then back to the Ranch.

This year, Maggie wanted the students to see a different environment they could work in (game parks), and decided to take us all to Ziwa Rhino Preserve. All the staff and students were able to go, and Ziwa gave us such a great deal, AHI was able to afford 3 meals and an overnight, as well as the tracking!

The Ziwa staff were so great, they let the students help them prepare dinner in the restaurant (Ali was furiously scribbling down all the recipes), talked to them about working in the hospitality industry, and were really excited about working on an internship program for some of our students! We also toured their new lodge being built in another section of the property.

Thank you to the FAHI donors who make the field trips possible every year, and thank you to Ziwa for the great experience – everyone loved it and learned so much!

On the bus

Sylvia

  Baby B got to come along         -           And got passed around!

Can I drive?

Ziwa does rehab with all sorts of animals, including bushbacks and monkeys.

Love the boots!

Ugandan Crane - The National Bird

Rhinos!

In September, Patrick and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary at Ziwa Rhino Preserve, about an hour and a half drive north from the Ranch.

We shared an often hilarious public bus ride up there (for several miles we had 21 adults + 2 babies packed into the 14-seater. At another point passengers were complaining about a rather large woman was getting on and taking up to much space. She yelled back that “this is the way the Lord made me!”)

 Ziwa is run by a South African family, and has been around for 6 years. The last wild rhino in Uganda was seen in 1983. Ziwa currently has 11 White Rhinos, and they are breeding them in hopes of eventually reintroducing them to the National Parks. Rhino horns are hunted for their use in Chinese medicine, so the animals are monitored 24/7 by armed rangers. You can find out more about the preserve at www.rhinofund.org

Part of our yummy breakfast

We drove out several miles, then trekked through tall grass to one of the groups – a pregnant female, two young males, and an older male. Our guide (whose brother attended CLA, small world!) took us really close to them as they munched on grass – after living on the Ranch, they reminded us of huge cows!

 

This is Baby Obama.  His father is Kenyan, and his mother is from Florida.

That night, another of the groups decided to celebrate International Rhino Day by joining us near the restaurant area!