King Whale-Head

Yesterday I sat in the presence of the elusive African shoebill. Getting to him was no small feat. The tour book made it seem easy enough, and though I'm not really into birds, this one sounded pretty interesting. It's a massive grey pelican that is so striking that the first Europeans in Africa to spot him called him King Whale Head. So, it sounded worth seeing, and since I didn't have anything else to do, I headed out.

I first stopped at the Kisubi Tombs, which are pretty amazing-- they're the resting place of four kabakas (kings) of the kingdom of Buganda, which is the ethnicity of a large portion of Ugandans. The tombs are housed in what UNESCO has certified to be the largest thatched structure in the world. It is a massive dome with tons of finely tied pieces of hay. Really impressive. The tombs are cared for by the decendents of the wives of the kabakas, whose job it is to make the beautiful mats that are on the floor of the inside of the thatched hut. There is also an eternal fire, and some guy whose job it is to keep that going. It was kind of neat to learn about the different tribes within the Buganda kingdom... apparently there are 56, and each one has a patron animal and a dedicated task. If you are in the tribe of the colobus monkey, for example, you're responsible for the thatching of royal buildings. And whatever your patron is cannot be eaten, so there are people here who don't eat cow or goat because they are from that tribe. If I could, I'd definitely sign up for the goat tribe. The meat here is getting difficult to swallow. But, on to the shoebill.

So after a triumphant visit to an actual real no joke mall, where I was able to secure a new battery for my Ugandan cell phone, I took a motortaxi to the taxi park, where I weaved through throngs of people to find a bus leaving for Entebbe, which is where the airport is. The guidebook had said that the swamp where the shoebill is lies not far from Entebbe road, so I figured this was the best way. I got on the bus, which is really like a 12 seater van made to be a 14 seater. My seat was the exact worst, the back right corner, basically meaning that I would be the last one able to exit if there was an emergency. I'm not clausterphobic, but I still had to actively force myself not to think about it. Anyway, we went along, and eventually I asked the woman next to me when I should get off-- realizing that I actually had no idea. She looked at me and said-- "Get off right now. Otherwise you will not find a boda to the swamp." Apparently I hadn't thought this all the way through-- I would actually need someone to take me to the swamp, and the motorcycle taxis aren't available in some of these remote villages. Fair enough.

Anyway, so I climbed over everyone in the bus, got off, and asked the boda driver on the side of the road if he knew where the Mabamba swamp was. "Ah, you see the shoebill? Yes madam, I know the place." Cool. So we took off. As we were driving, the idiocy of my idea became clear. We drove for an hour into an incredibly remote area. I had a moment of panic... no one knows where I was planning to go... what incentive does this guy have to actually take me to the swamp? Etc. We rode through dozens of tiny villages where people's eyes popped out of their heads to see a mzungu. I thought-- is it really possible that we are going to the place that the guidebook mentioned? How the heck did the travel writer find this swamp in the first place?? Eventually, after an hour, we pulled over abruptly in front of a sign mostly obscured by dust, but on which someone had hand-painted the word "shoebill." This woman comes running out of the hut next to the sign. "You see the shoebill? I am Maria, the local guide. You wait, we go." With that, she ran back into her house, and within one minute had transformed from her local clothing into a bright red T-shirt that said "Save the Chimpanzees, they're our closes relatives," a cap that had red, white, and green striped running from front to back that said "Viva Mexico" on it, and a huge pair of binoculars. She jumped on the back of the motorcycle, leaving me sandwiched between her and my driver, and we headed off.

Eventually we got to a spot where a bunch of local fisherman sat idly by their boats. When we arrived, they sprang into action. She picked one guy, and she, the driver of the motorcycle, and I all got in the boat. The fisherman shoved off-- and we were off to see the shoebill. In the back of my mind, this whole time, I'm thinking-- "This is quite a production. I don't even really care about the shoebill!" Anyway, the swamp was beautiful for its own sake. There were tons of birds of different colors, shapes and sizes. It was enough to make me want to take up birdwatching as a hobby. Except I think I'm too young. And too not-loser-ish. But perhaps not. We glideded through patches of lily pads with bright pink and purple flours, and eventually steered our way into one patch that caused Maria to jump up. "He is here!" And there he was. A monstrous grey pelican, with a bill that looks like he is wearing a clog on his face (hence his name), stood before us. When he spread his wings to fly to another patch, it actually did take my breath away. This thing is a really, really big bird. So we sat and watched him for a time, and then moved along, gliding through the water looking at the other birds. I was struck by how peaceful and beautiful this part of Africa is. Eventually we turned around, and did the journey in reverse. We stopped again at Maria's house so I could sign the visitor's book. My name was the first one.

The driver miraculously was ultimately able to find the main road where this whole adventure began, and I thanked him profusely and paid him nicely for basically spending the entire afternoon with me. I hopped on a minibus to Kampala... somehow, again, in the same awful seat.

Today I think I'll take it easy, since tomorrow's long-awaited trip to the Falls promises to be another adventure. They say there's a nice resort nearby where you can pay $5 to sit by the pool all day. Sounds like a plan.