I did my last bit of shopping for my family in the surrounding shops, had some African French toast, then we took this lovely group picture at our very best, and boarded the bus for the last stretch to the lodge.
We drove into Lake Mburo National Park past warthogs and zebras and babboons, just strolling down the road. The MacGregors stayed here during their vacation last year and had talked it up big time, but we quickly saw that all their talk was more than justified. It was beautiful and refreshing and wonderful.
The bus pulled up in the parking lot behind those who had disembarked a few meters early to sprint to the bathroom. We followed the Dutch (eek!) manager up the stairs to the restaurant for a late lunch at 2:30. But man, was this lunch worth waiting for. We looked out over the beautiful grounds while we sipped pineapple juice like you wouldn't belive. Also please look at this dessert. I didn't know anything without chocolate could actually taste good at all, much less this good.
As I mentioned earlier, I'm reading Shauna Niequist's "Bread and Wine" right now, and it has made me think about mealtimes in a different light. We were all hungry and ready to devour whatever was put in front of us by the time we sat down for lunch. But more than that, this was a time of friendship with people who had spent every waking minute together for two weeks, time to reflect on what the Lord had done, time to continue sharing stories and moments, time to soak in God's gorgeous creation together. You could argue that the best part of that table was the pineapple juice or the drinkable water for the first time in two weeks or the avocado soup or the world's most perfect mangoes, but I would have to say that I'm learning more and more that the most memorable part of any table is the people around it and the conversations that unfold. *Aaaand end scene. Done with the sentimentality (that was for you, Claire Allen and Julie Wieters).
After lunch we had 10 whole minutes to be led to our "tents" (I think this lodge would make a list of top 10 locations for glamping) and drop off our luggage before meeting back at the bus to head to Lake Mburo for our water safari. I don't know if we were delirious or relaxed, but the whole team was just in great spirits and enjoyed each others' company throughout the evening, especially this once-in-a-lifetime adventure with the hippos.
We got back in the bus after the boat safari and drove back to the entrance of the park. Here we picked up our guide for the night game drive, then drove back up to the hotel to drop off those who chose not to participate in more bus time on the night time safari. Not a lot to report on this safari. When asked the likelihood of seeing anything, the guide was a bit shady on the actuals, and seemed as surprised as we were when we actually saw a leopard by the light of his little spotlight shining through the bus window.
We dropped the guide back off and returned to the restaurant at the lodge for dinner. This was again delicious, by far the best food we've eaten in Africa. We all had early morning activities scheduled for Friday, so after some chat time in the lounge above the restaurant, we returned to our cute tents for bed (below is a picture from our porch the next morning).
Today was a lot of car time, but well worth it. We've been going and going and going, so it was nice to have this reprieve built into the end of the trip before we return to more busyness with summer school beginning on Monday. Very thankful for rest and restoration!
No comments:
Post a Comment