Owen Slater Photography

With an audience of one, a young girl puts on a dance show in a small village adjacent to Queen Elizabeth National Park.

I’m not a big fan of Mitsubishi vehicles but I took this SUV  through everything and it never once got stuck. This photo was taken from Pelican Point in Queen Elizabeth National Park. It is very infrequently visited and so the ‘road’ had grown in with grasses and acacia thorn trees,  but the view was well worth the trip. In the distance is the Rwenzori mountain range which is a UNESCO World Heritage site and still on my list of places to visit in Uganda.

All afternoon the skies were threatening to put a damper on my game drive but thankfully they held off until I was under a patio at Mweya Safari Lodge overlooking the gorge and peninsula.  The lodge was much too expensive for my budget but they served an excellent 4 course meal for a reasonable price to anyone that wondered in. The place I was staying was just down the road and the food was not nearly as good, nor was the view anything to marvel at so the lodge was perfect. I didn’t have room to bring my tripod on this trip so when the storm hit I used the dinner table to set the camera on and set the shutter speed to 20 seconds. The first few tries I was unsuccessful, but eventually I got lucky. At least seven different bolts of lightning can be seen in this photo.

One of my favorites…four men and a boy sped past me on a motorbike along a narrow dirt road in the western tip of Queen Elizabeth National Park near Pelican Point. It is doubtful that they were late for an appointment as there never really are exact times for anything in Africa!  The two long sticks carried by the guys are used to herd cattle and so maybe they were heading out to herd their livestock. As I snapped off a few photos the man on the back and the little boy turned to have another look at me, causing the driver to firmly grasp the handlebars and try to keep the bike on track. Thankfully the delicate balance was maintained and they continued on up the road.   It never ceases to amuse me to see the various means of transporting people and possessions in Africa, and likewise Ugandans never cease to be amused by seeing a “mazungu” (Swahili for European).