Ahh the weekend!

Saturday and Sunday were relaxation days. We took this opportunity to go to Queen Elizabeth National Park and observe the many wildlife and birds that make Uganda their home. I can't describe how incredible the experience was. We arrived in the middle of the afternoon and could feel the heat increasing as we drove through the park. We were greeted with cold cloths and fresh fruit juice. The Meweya Safari Lodge was impressive, and reminded me of the safari lodges I had seen in old movies.

We had dinner on the patio and the food was gourmet. We soaked up the sight of this beautiful country and gazed over the Savannah. We could see elephants in the distance as we ate our meal.

The first night I heard a disturbance outside my patio door. The rooms were single story and each had a patio area of a couple of feet. I had left my curtains open and could see shadows along the hedge. Although my heart was beating a little faster I knew I'd be sorry if I didn't look out to see what it was. I got up to see a herd of elephants not two feet from my patio... it was thrilling. I must have made some noise as one of the large female elephants looked directly toward my room. I was afraid to move in case she felt threatened. As I stood there I watched the young run in and out of the legs of the mature elephants, there must have been at least 7 in all. They were grazing on the small bushes out side my room. I watched for maybe 10 minutes until they were spooked by something and immediately ran through the hedges in single file, leaving a gap of about 2 feet in the middle of the hedge..

It was incredibly surreal... Brad, my partner coach slept through the whole episode and I was afraid he wouldn't believe me in the morning. However the morning revealed the hoof prints and just how close they had come to our rooms. I could never have imagined I would be so lucky as to see elephants this close and this intimately. Again I am reminded how blessed I am to be given this opportunity in life.