A trip to Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary - Uganda

Yesterday was a bank holiday here, can't tell you what is was for but we enjoyed it as a family. Wayne took Monday off so we had a long weekend as a family just chilling. Sarah is done with school she is on her summer break and Samuel is excited about having his sister at home all the time. And I'm thrilled to have my babies home with me all day long. Sarah finished school with a cough and we should have gone to the sanctuary on Monday but she didn't have a good night so we decided to try again yesterday. she had a better night and off we went in the morning. we left home at 8am exactly and it was a three and half hours drive. When we got there the process was easy, we paid our fees and got briefed on safety  and off we went with our guide rhino/Ronald.
We found the rhinos in less than five minutes and were able to spend an hour watching then graze in their natural habitat as we took lots of pictures and observed and absorbed everything.

We were hoping to see pangolins and aardvarks but they are nocturnal animals so we are hoping trip there sometime and spend the night. So we can participate in other activities like bird watching and do the pangolin night trek and also look for leopards.All in all we loved the experience.

Sarah really enjoyed watching the rhinos and also took pictures with her phone as her camera didn't have any more films because I forgot to put it in her Polaroid.

 It was Samuel's first experience and he was excited to see the rhinos.This is the only place where you can rhino track on foot and what an experience.
Ziwa rhino sanctuary is the only place where one can find southern white rhinos in Uganda in the wild. the place is really lovely and well looked after. there are 23 rhinos in total in Uganda and we pray that they continue to reproduce and multiply.

We found a mother with her baby bella and another female rhino called luna. Bella's mother is expecting a baby and as her due date approaches she will chase her big baby away to go and integrate with other rhinos of her age  or a family that will accept her as a part of them.
 Fun facts about southern white rhinos
When born the baby weighs 50kg and over.
They are grazers, they don't eat leaves and tree branches only grass.
They eat upto 150kgs of grass a day and drink 80 liters of water.
They are more active during the night.
They dont interbreed.
They have a gestation period of 16 months.

Life in uganda

We have now been in Uganda for almost three years and believe you me we are just getting settled in. It's finally feeling like home and we have now settled in in our new place. Life in general has been great.  We found the best stables ever and ride there every week,  and have bonded with the ponies and horses. Sarah  loves her school, Wayne is enjoying his job and Samuel and I are pretty much in routine. the animals are doing great. well Magic is loving life and has finally come to terms that the cock is not a play mate and doesn't like to be chased. Chippy on the other hand is not budging from beating up Blackie who belongs to the landlady but has forcefully joined our family. I think chippy has sharing issues so she beats the crap out of Blackie at any opportunity she gets. so I chase chippy trying to get it to her head that there is space for two cats forcefully. Today the day security guard run after me, pleading with me to be careful as I was going to fall as I sprinted with a pair of slippers in my hand to give chippy the hiding of her life.lucky for her, she managed to get away. I have not forgotten though. The  new night security guard thinks I'm nuts as I ran past him last evening chasing chippy shouting you are dead today Chippy! We have a cock called feathers. My aunt sent Sarah  a cock for Easter and we now have him as a pet. He spends most of his day fighting his reflection at the entrance downstairs and crowing the hell out of us. 
This is our life in Uganda.

Our family is growing !

We are excited to be expanding our family.we are having another baby. so cant wait  for this baby  to get here and enjoy life with us. We already love you so much baby cook.