Behind the Scenes: Part II

A little over a week after the girls arrived, Greg’s brother, Matt, also made the long trip over to hang out with us in our new home.  Our first big adventure with everyone together was a nice day spent down in Entebbe to do the behind the scenes tour at the Uganda Wildlife Education Centre and then a stroll around the Entebbe Botanical Gardens.

The morning started out getting to pet the two rhinos they have followed by feeding the chimps.  It is always interesting to see the hierarchy the chimps have when it comes to the food.  The top chimp takes their favorite foods first, then shares with the chimp that the keeper said would be the next top chimp (so as to play nice with the soon to be boss).  The keeper also had us throw some of the food into the water in front of the chimps even though they can’t swim.  Seems a little mean, but he wanted to show us how smart the chimps really are.  Upon realizing that they couldn’t reach out and grab the food in the water, the chimps ran to get sticks to use as tools to pull the food to them.

Sarah & Matt with the rhinos.

One of the chimps using a stick to get the ear of corn.

After the chimps, we were off to hold an African Rock Python.  We each got a turn holding the huge snake and each of us had different results.  Matt and Sarah looked like they were about to be strangled, our guide got uncomfortably close to Alex, and Greg channeled his inner snake handler by trying to hold the head outstretched from the body.  We (and the people watching us) got quite a few laughs from our time with the snake and we all made it out unharmed.  For all our entertaining photos, check out our SmugMug album.

All the siblings holding an African Rock Python.

Next up was the giraffe’s feeding time.  Unfortunately between now and the time I was here with Dad, one of the giraffes died from a heart issue so there was only one, although they are expecting to get more to keep it company.  Just like last time, the eland tried his hardest to get some of the food too, so we made sure to sneak him some.  It’s always a blast to feed these animals, you just need to avoid their huge outstretched tongues as they reach for the food!

Alex feeding the giraffe.

We moved on from the herbivores and on to the carnivore cages where we saw lions and a leopard.  Unfortunately/fortunately the large lion enclosure lawn was being mowed, so the lions were all in a smaller cage that they seemed anxious to get out of.  We got to pet the one female, though she was a bit agitated because she did not like being right next to the leopard.  The male lion didn’t seem too bothered to be stuck in a small cage with the two females, as we got to see him mate with one of the female's right in front of us.  That was definitely a first.  There was another group of people on the opposite side of the cage from us, and I guess Mr. Lion didn’t like his large audience because next thing you knew he sprayed (peed) the other group of people.  After getting pooped on by chimps, I think we were all ok to not get peed on by a lion.

Last, but definitely not least, was what Alex was most looking forward too, Charlie the elephant!  Charlie is a 4-year-old orphaned elephant that was raised at the centre, so he is very attached to the keepers.  We each got our chance to pet Charlie, and also play a little tug-of-war with him and his food.  Always a fun experience and we all left with huge smiles.  After our behind the scenes tour, we got some time to do the centre on our own before we headed off to the Entebbe Botanical Gardens.  Here, the boys got to pretend they were Tarzan, we got some beautiful views of Lake Victoria, and our siblings got to see some cool plants and birds.

Sisters in front of Lake Victoria.

Brothers at Lake Victoria.