“Should we speed through the herd or do we slowly pass by?” I sat there paralyzed with fear. Up until then, I had been sitting on the window sill, keeping my eyes strained for animals. The small dashboard digital clock read 9:43 and the semi-colon blinked steadily as the seconds ticked by. But, as we neared the campsite, we slowed down as we approached larger potholes and we quickly realized that there was an entire herd of elephants closing in from either side of the road. Ears flapping, feet stomping and eyes glaring. Their silhouettes illuminated by the headlights as well as by the dim moonlight. I looked over at my dad, who seemed surprisingly calm, he lowered his foot on the gas pedal…

...

My dad strapped the last tin box onto the roof of the Land Rover, and we got in, on our way to Kidepo Valley. All around Uganda, there were beautiful National Parks and we decided to go up North. My dad had spread out the mattresses and sleeping bags across all the luggage, so my sister, Tara and I had a place to lie and sleep for the long drive ahead. With all the bad roads it would take long to finally get there. We were three-quarters there when we made a stop over at a small guesthouse, where we spent the night. It was a rundown, old building and was infested with mosquitoes. But at least the beds were comfortable and we all managed to sleep through the night despite all the creepy-crawlies.

The next morning, Tara and I got onto the roof rack, my mum packed the last of our picnic and my dad got into the driver’s seat. We arrived in Kidepo, just after lunch time and drove to the ranger’s camp. It was mandatory to pick up a ranger to watch over the campsite at night, so we did. My mum moved to the back row, so the ranger could sit in the front seat to talk to my dad. Tara and I were still on the roof, having a blast. The ranger led us to one of the many campsites situated around the National Park. We unpacked everything and began setting up our four-man tent. The family we were travelling with, arrived as we were setting up the tent. They got their tent ready and we started the campfire.

After dinner, we decided to go on a night game drive. My mum and my sister went with the other family and I stayed with my dad. My dad and I followed behind. We saw plenty of animals to leave me absolutely stunned. At night many carnivores go hunting, like jackals, hyenas and a few others. But lucky for us, we saw antelopes and other animals as well. We finished the round and were nearing the campsite…

The car in front of us, managed to pass by just in time, but my dad and I… we weren’t so lucky. The elephants seemed enraged and started closing in. Ears flapping, feet stomping and eyes glaring. Their silhouettes illuminated by the headlights as well as by the dim moonlight. I looked over at my dad, who seemed surprisingly calm, he lowered his foot on the gas pedal… We reached the middle of the herd, when the leader began closing in, his tusks angled to attack.

“Go back, go back!” I stuttered.

My dad drove back a little and then forward again. It went on like this for quite some time, just slowly inching forward and then steadily rushing back. Finally after some time we passed the bull, and we sped out of the valley and rushed to catch up with the others.

When we had finally arrived back to the campsite, I jumped out and begun telling Tara and the other kids about what had happened. The adults remained sitting around the campfire for a while, talking about “adult things”, but they sent us to bed to be well rested for an exciting day to come.

The next day we went on a game drive in the morning and later after lunch as well. The entire time, our goal was to spot a cheetah. Kidepo Valley was known to be one of the National Parks in Uganda that was most known for having cheetahs. So naturally we kept our eyes focused on the long grass and at the slightest movement, someone would grab the binoculars, only to be disappointed when seeing a Ugandan Kob or a Warthog.

We stayed a few more nights, until it was time to pack up and go back home. On the way through the National Park, Tara and I switched from sitting on the roof rack to lazily slouching around in the back seat, snacking and lying lazily around, bewildered by all that we had seen. We saw herds of different animals that day as we cruised through the National Park on the way home.