Short break that turned in to an ADVENTURE

Well we had quite the adventure recently.

In fact since Dan and Brooke have been here - we've had NUMBERS of adventures, including visiting Rob's local village, and meeting lots of Rob's family I'd never met,
an African wedding, two flat Tyre's in the one day, other car issues and
even Rob being locked away in a prison cell for the day on the side of a highway while we waited for the police to talk to us.
(ask me about this -funny story 😊)

And lots more - we decided after all the busyness we had had that we would have a night away before I headed back to Australia and to celebrate little miss Paxy turning two.
So we decided to go to the closest Game park ( national Park) to see some animals and camp just outside the game park for the night  ( obviously you can't camp inside the game park due to the animals )

After a few hours journey as we turned off the highway we started seeing wild animals everywhere - It was very exciting!

Not long off the highway we started to see lots of animals - the kids loved looking out the windows to
 see what they could spy 

Uganda's long horned cows 

Zebras EVERYWHERE 

We stayed at a local accommodation place where we could camp while being close to game park. 

We got to enjoy a swimming pool which was so wonderful, nice yummy food, great service and stunning views of the Ugandan wilderness, and so many animals just wandering around the place including Zebras' through the night. 

The original plan was just to stay for one night - as we had appointments on the Friday - but we were having such a good time we decided to stay 2 and leave very early Friday morning. Well that was the plan...... but it turned in to a 3 night stay..... read on to discover why 😏

Campground where we camped - enjoyed sitting around the fire at night

The beautiful view of the African landscape from the accommodations restaurant bungalow

Hippo skull 

Enjoying the water after a hot day 

 We enjoyed a day driving through the game park and spotting the various animals and searching for the giraffes ( there are no elephants and not many Lions in this park - but lots of other animals  ) 

We also enjoyed a fun, relaxing boat ride on the beautiful lake spotting hippos and crocodiles in the water

Crested cranes

Mother and baby zebra 

Gorgeous Mataya next to croc

Ziah standing next to huge crocodile head & other various animals 

The beautiful Ugandan emblem - Crested Crane

Monkeys trying to get in to our car for food 

Hippo and croc spotting time & bird watching - whole boat to ourselves 

Hippos everywhere :) 

The beautiful lake 

 Well the adventure really begun after we had had a wonderful day exploring the area and enjoying the lake- we started to drive back through the national park towards the camp ground  - sadly even with all the looking we hadn't seen the giraffes but decided to head back and enjoy the pool and early dinner and get the kids to bed early. 

Then we spotted a lookout - Dan said lets try there we may be able to see where the giraffes are and enjoy the view - still plenty time of daylight left. 

well about half way up to the look out - the car started making VERY strange sounds - thought maybe it was flat Tyre at first ( even though we'd just put new ones on that morning ) - pulled over and we all had to get out so Dan could jack up the car and try and work out what was going on. 

It wasn't a flat tyre! 

So Brooke entertained the kids with the rocks and bits of food we had in the car, while Rob helped Dan, and I wandered around on look out. 

It was coming to dusk - the perfect time for leopards to start coming out and other animals so as it got darker I became more nervous - I've never been so nervous being broken down in Australia before. 

The view was stunning though. 

and thankfully the kids were rather content playing in the dirt and rocks. 

& so the adventure begins - kids playing in game park while boys try to fix car 

The beautiful view to look at while the boys tried to fix car 

After some time and as it started to get dark Rob says we need to make a decision to ring for rescue party, but Dan was keen to try and fix it - we considered ringing just so a ranger could come with their weapons and keep an eye out for us. 

Dan decided their was one thing he could try but wasn't sure how it would go but we all decided we'd give it a go - and if it didn't work then we'd ring for help. 

10 minutes later after about and hour and half of being there - we were able to get the car moving ( even with some funny noises) but hoped it was enough to get us back to our accommodation. 

We came down of the mountain and back in to the valley of the game park and we seemed to be doing alright...... and then nope - the car couldn't keep going. 

Dan and Rob jumped out quickly to inspect and it was decided the car couldn't go any further on its own - we'd need a rescue party and a tow. Or the parts and tools to fix it. 

The boys jumped back in the car as it was now getting dark. Only to discover we had no RECEPTION on our phones...... thankfully after some searching in the car for a spot Rob got just enough to call through to the manager of where we were staying to explain the situation - he said he would come and they'd tow us out. 

So we sat inside our car on the lookout to see if we could see any exciting animals - we had kids that were just starting to get restless but we obviously couldn't get out of the car now. 

Waiting inside the safety of the car for our rescue crew - was still a long time after this as it was
dark by time they came.
When our rescue party arrived after about an hour - it was discovered they hadn't come prepared to tow us just to rescue us and leave the car there.
They did have a very good jack though ( which our car was lacking - our jack wasn't great)
So they put all us kids and girls in the rescue car and Dan and Rob decided to try one more thing now they had a good jack and then decided they would slowly try and follow us back to campground - sadly we'd have to turn around and go the long way though because the rescue party said the road we'd been heading on was way to muddy.
After a short time and now being pitch dark we set off with the boys following in our car behind.... before too long we noticed they weren't following us anymore.
With no one in our car having reception and not able to get out because of the animals we sat trying to work out what they were doing. The car didn't appear to be moving.
After some time we saw little lights coming towards us - now they were a fair way back from us - so we were very nervous watching them walk towards us - praying for their safety.
They arrived to us safely and joined us in the car and informed us that the car would be staying their over night - the damage was so bad - the whole tyre had completely fallen off!!!
So we set off in our rescue car leaving our car in the middle of the game park..... only about 100m down the road - what should run straight in front of our car - A BIG LEOPARD!!!
It would not have been far from the boys at all while theyd' been working on the car or while they'd been walking to our car!!!
We sat and watched the leopard for a little while and then kept on to campground - over the next hour we had to stop numbers of times for HUGE hippos to cross the road - one we almost hit!
We also saw another leopard and the very dangerous Buffalo's.
By the time we got home to the accommodation the amazing staff had our dinner waiting and fire going.
Now we had to work out how we were going to get the parts needed to fix the car - Especially as we had Read for life Christmas party on Saturday ( this was Thursday night and we had about a 5-6hr journey home ) and I flew out on Sunday and still needed to finish packing!!
What had turned in to one night away was quickly becoming something else!! :)
It was decided that the boys would go to the next town and see if they could get the parts they needed - and then if they couldn't we would have to get them sent from Kampala - which wasn't going to be ideal because that would take a long time - so we arranged a friend to come and pick me up if that was the case so i could get back for the Christmas party and to pack to leave.
I was praying so hard that they'd get the parts as I didn't want the remainder of my time in Uganda to be separated from Hezekiah and rob or Dan and Brooke and the girls.
When the boys woke up they both realised they'd BOTH left their wallets in the car so the manager at the accommodation arranged for the boys to get a boda boda back to the car to get their wallets and work out exactly what parts would be needed for the car.
Then they'd go ahead on to the town.
Me and Brooke enjoyed the day at camp ground with the kids playing in the mud and swimming.
BUT THE BOYS GOT TO SEE THE GIRAFFES!! Which was a good reward for their hard work.
Long story short - they got to the next town about 45minutes away and praise God they found the parts needed and got back to fix the car.
Once again it was on dusk and Dan worked hard to try and get it fixed enough to get it out of the game park before it got dark again while the other men stood guard.
Dan's greatest concern was there was other damage done now to the car so wasn't sure whether what he would do would still fix it.
As Brooke and i and the kids sat down to have dinner - we got very excited to see our car coming over the hill!
Dan had done it!!
All before it got dark again..... what an adventure - the ranger said they'd never had anyone broken down over night in game park before and they were amazed that we'd been able to find any reception to get help.
Without that small reception we would have had to just sit and wait till the next day and hope someone just happened to drive along that road the next day!!!
Well what an adventure - by time car was fixed it was too late to travel home, so an early night and leaving at 5am to return back to Kampala - just in time to get to Christmas party!!
NOTHING in Uganda goes to plan..... but isn't that like life..... we make plans.... but God determines our steps.... and now we have a great story to tell....
We also worked out it was cheaper for us to break down, with all the new parts included then for us to do a night time game drive to see the leopards :) BONUS

The next day the boys went back riding on a boda boda through the park to inspect the damage &
work out what was needed  - this was where tyre fell off and our car spent the night - thankfully there aren't elephants in this area otherwise ranger said they would have pushed and toyed around with the car. 

Yep - wheel fell off

and what treat did the boys get for their hard work..... seeing the giraffes - numbers of times!! 

Something I'm sure Dan never thought he'd be doing - mechanic repairs in the middle of a game park
with wild animals all around - we would have been really up the creek if it hadn't been for Dan.