Join our zoo community

Hix Does Uganda (Part I) - All But A Shoebill

Discussion in 'Uganda' started by Hix, 27 Jul 2013.

  1. nanoboy

    nanoboy Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    1 Mar 2011
    Posts:
    4,693
    Location:
    Melbourne, VIC, Australia
    Oh the temperature varies wildly then. Large diurnal range. Well pack some jumpers!
     
  2. Hix

    Hix Wildlife Enthusiast and Lover of Islands 15+ year member Premium Member

    Joined:
    20 Oct 2008
    Posts:
    4,547
    Location:
    Sydney
    Where do you get "large diurnal range" from? 26 to 31 isn't that big.

    :p

    Hix
     
  3. OrangePerson

    OrangePerson Well-Known Member 15+ year member

    Joined:
    4 Jul 2008
    Posts:
    2,143
    Location:
    Yorkshire, England
    Doesn't take much to turn me scarlet so I will have the few centimetres not swathed in insect repellant clothing slathered in Factor 30!
     
  4. nanoboy

    nanoboy Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    1 Mar 2011
    Posts:
    4,693
    Location:
    Melbourne, VIC, Australia
    Diurnal range refers to night-time compared to day time temperatures (i.e. daily maximum vs minimum temperatures). So in the case of the temperatures you quoted, 31C max and 12C min is a 19C diurnal range, which is fairly large.
     
  5. OrangePerson

    OrangePerson Well-Known Member 15+ year member

    Joined:
    4 Jul 2008
    Posts:
    2,143
    Location:
    Yorkshire, England
    I'm glad about this, the colder the night the better!
     
  6. Hix

    Hix Wildlife Enthusiast and Lover of Islands 15+ year member Premium Member

    Joined:
    20 Oct 2008
    Posts:
    4,547
    Location:
    Sydney
    That sounds stupid - how can night-time lows be called diurnal? Surely they are nocturnal?

    But I checked and it appears you are quite correct (at least according to Wikipedia).

    It appears it's not just the weather that the Weather Bureau gets wrong.....

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~​

    Just got my last Cholera and Rabies Vaccinations. Just have to pay some bills, and convert AUD into USD for spending money and I should be set. I start packing in a few hours.

    :p

    Hix
     
  7. nanoboy

    nanoboy Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    1 Mar 2011
    Posts:
    4,693
    Location:
    Melbourne, VIC, Australia
    I am also correct based on what I learned in Grade 8 geography class. ;) :p

    What day do you leave again?
     
  8. Hix

    Hix Wildlife Enthusiast and Lover of Islands 15+ year member Premium Member

    Joined:
    20 Oct 2008
    Posts:
    4,547
    Location:
    Sydney
    Tomorrow. At night.

    :p

    Hix
     
  9. OrangePerson

    OrangePerson Well-Known Member 15+ year member

    Joined:
    4 Jul 2008
    Posts:
    2,143
    Location:
    Yorkshire, England
    I forgot to say I really want to see a shoebill!
     
  10. Hix

    Hix Wildlife Enthusiast and Lover of Islands 15+ year member Premium Member

    Joined:
    20 Oct 2008
    Posts:
    4,547
    Location:
    Sydney
    Me too!

    Thankfully there should be a few opportunities to see one.

    :p

    Hix
     
  11. DavidBrown

    DavidBrown Well-Known Member 15+ year member

    Joined:
    12 Aug 2008
    Posts:
    4,867
    Location:
    California, USA
    Uganda was an English colony. Many people speak English. The same is true of Kenya and Tanzania.
     
  12. nanoboy

    nanoboy Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    1 Mar 2011
    Posts:
    4,693
    Location:
    Melbourne, VIC, Australia
  13. nanoboy

    nanoboy Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    1 Mar 2011
    Posts:
    4,693
    Location:
    Melbourne, VIC, Australia
    Safe journey folks.
     
  14. ThylacineAlive

    ThylacineAlive Well-Known Member 10+ year member

    Joined:
    20 Oct 2012
    Posts:
    10,699
    Location:
    Connecticut, U.S.A.
    Indeed.

    Looks like you'll be on a plane to Uganda to see wild Shoebills and Mountain Gorillas while I'll be on a 6am school bus going to the first day of school to see chimps.:p

    ~Thylo:cool:
     
  15. DavidBrown

    DavidBrown Well-Known Member 15+ year member

    Joined:
    12 Aug 2008
    Posts:
    4,867
    Location:
    California, USA
    You could be the 21st century Jane Goodall. Keep extensive notes on the behavior your observe.
     
  16. Hix

    Hix Wildlife Enthusiast and Lover of Islands 15+ year member Premium Member

    Joined:
    20 Oct 2008
    Posts:
    4,547
    Location:
    Sydney
    Day 1

    After 23 hours of travelling I finally landed in Entebbe. It took an hour to clear Customs and Immigration and after collecting my luggage and changing some USD for UGX (Ugandan Shillings), I caught a taxi straight to the zoo.

    The Ugandan Wildlife Education Centre (UWEC), formerly known as the Entebbe Zoo, has guest accommodation onsite. They have a flat, a dormitory, and six bandas - and it was one of the bandas I was staying in. A banda is a traditional hut, with one circular wall and a high thatched roof. The six available can sleep up to three people each, but two new larger family sized bandas are nearing completion.

    I settled into my banda quickly, changed my clothes (I'd been in them for 27 hours), grabbed my cameras and headed into the zoo.

    The UWEC has five large enclosures, similar in size to what you would expect in many of the open-range zoos around the world, four or five acres in size. One of them has a high fence all around with a viewing platform over the top (Kidepo Exhibit), two have dry moated viewing formed by an embankment (Lake Mburo exhibit and Kob Meadow), one has a low fence and embankment with viewing platforms (Buffalo Enclosure) and the last has a small viewing area from an embankment and solid fencing all the way found (Rhino yard).

    http://www.zoochat.com/1683/kidepo-exhibit-335465/
    http://www.zoochat.com/1683/kidepo-exhibit-335464/
    http://www.zoochat.com/1683/white-rhino-335479/

    Amongst these large enclosures are smaller enclosures and aviaries (although still quite large) housing lions, hyenas, monkeys, grey parrots, shoebills, leopards, fish eagles, and chimps. A smaller enclosure for a pair of Spotted-neck Otters, an exhibit with a large Nile Crocodile, and a small reptile house rounds of the collection. And there might have been baboons too.

    http://www.zoochat.com/1683/lion-enclosure-335466/
    http://www.zoochat.com/1683/chimp-exhibit-335459/
    http://www.zoochat.com/1683/viper-enclosure-335461/

    One side of the zoo is on the shores of Lake Victoria, two of the other sides are forested and in some areas quite dense, although not pristine forest - I believe there are some introduced pests growing there (I saw a few stands of Lantana). Some enormous and magnificent trees provide roosting and breeding sites for a myriad of local bird species. And down on the lake shore were a few common shorebirds, plus a small island 25 metres offshore that had a couple of trees on it that were festooned with weaver bird nests, egrets, cormorants, an Openbill Stork and a few dozen Pied Kingfishers. Circling above were Black Kites, Yellow-billed Kites and Pied Crows.

    After a few hours photographing the enclosures, their occupants, and lots of the wild birds, I had a quick dinner in the restaurant (with an impressive view over Lake Victoria) and headed back to my banda. I downloaded the photos from my cameras onto my laptop and started sorting and labeling them.

    http://www.zoochat.com/1683/view-lake-victoria-restaurant-335476/

    Labelling the zoo photos was easily taken care of because I knew what the photos were. But the wild birds were a completely different story. I could easily identify 22 species because I either knew what they were, or knew what type of bird it was so I could find it in my field guide fairly quickly. But there was at least a dozen more that I had no clue about. As the field guide has photos of around 1500 species of birds found in East Africa, and 2/3 of them are found in Uganda, it is very time-consuming trying to identify a nondescript LBJ when there may be a dozen species that all look similar to each other (and none look quite like the one in my photo).

    Just before going to bed I grabbed a headlamp and went outside to see if I could spotlight anything. I was immediately engulfed by a cloud of small flying insects and although I wasn't too bothered about mosquitos because I was wearing appropriate clothing, these little insects were so thick and close to my face that I was inhaling a noseful if I breathed deeply. And they were getting in my eyes. Because of this I only had a quick look in the trees around the bandas and surprised myself by finding a barn owl. With great difficulty I managed to get a half-decent photo, and then called it quits for the night.

    http://www.zoochat.com/1683/barn-owl-335480/

    Back in the banda I crawled under the mosquito net satisfied with what I considered to be a quite successful day (or half day, to be more precise).

    New bird species seen: http://www.zoochat.com/1683/common-bulbul-335482/, http://www.zoochat.com/1683/black-headed-gonolek-335484/, Egyptian Goose, http://www.zoochat.com/1683/hadada-ibis-335485/, Pied Crow, http://www.zoochat.com/1683/black-white-casqued-hornbill-335481/, http://www.zoochat.com/1683/yellowbilled-kite-335488/, http://www.zoochat.com/1683/double-toothed-barbet-335483/, White-browed Robin-Chat, http://www.zoochat.com/1683/pied-kingfisher-335487/, http://www.zoochat.com/1683/yellowfronted-tinkerbird-335490/, Longtailed Cormorant, Openbill Stork, Tambourine Dove (a female), http://www.zoochat.com/1683/speckled-mousebird-335489/, Black-headed Heron (immature).

    New reptile species: http://www.zoochat.com/1683/tropical-house-gecko-335491/( (Hemidactylus mabouia)

    :p

    Hix
     
    Last edited: 30 Aug 2013
  17. nanoboy

    nanoboy Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    1 Mar 2011
    Posts:
    4,693
    Location:
    Melbourne, VIC, Australia
    Oh great to hear that you arrived safe and sound and have started exploring.

    Yeah, that's how I still feel with identifying birds in Australia. :D I need photos and hours reading the guide book.
     
  18. nanoboy

    nanoboy Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    1 Mar 2011
    Posts:
    4,693
    Location:
    Melbourne, VIC, Australia
    The zoo enclosures look quite good. I was expecting cages and bars.
     
  19. ThylacineAlive

    ThylacineAlive Well-Known Member 10+ year member

    Joined:
    20 Oct 2012
    Posts:
    10,699
    Location:
    Connecticut, U.S.A.
    I had seen pictures in the past and thus knew that this place had better enclosures than some American zoos! The only cages and bars there seem to be where they belong, on the monkey enclosure. It's just too bad the Giant Forest Hogs weren't there for Hix, hopefully he sees them in the wild.

    ~Thylo:cool:
     
  20. Hix

    Hix Wildlife Enthusiast and Lover of Islands 15+ year member Premium Member

    Joined:
    20 Oct 2008
    Posts:
    4,547
    Location:
    Sydney
    Since my last post a week ago I have had no internet access at any of the places I've been to. I should have access for the next couple of nights so I can upload some more photos.

    :p

    Hix