Night Game drives- perfect way to enjoy nights under the African sky
When the sun falls and the darkness covers the wilderness, it’s always time for resting at the parks and most visitors after dinner at the lodges and safari camps usually rest in their tented rooms or safari lodge rooms. But it is always a different story for the wild animals and the nights are always active with a lot taking place.
This is a period when the hungry predators take advantage of the time to get a meal for their survival in the tough jungle. And as some visitors rest, the others in the savanna parks of Uganda that is Murchison Falls, Kidepo Valley, Queen Elizabeth and Lake Mburo national parks get out in the night with jeeps that have spot lights upfront in search of what is happening at night on what is termed as night game drives.
These drives can be ordinary (short drives) and at times they can run for long and may include bush dinners after the sundowners.
You wonder why and how a night game drive.
Yes, plenty of wild game can be seen during the day but the night game drives under the at times star and moon lit African sky offer an enhanced experience and totally different perspective of the parks where they are conducted.
Some of the animals like the civets, bush babies, leopards, hyenas and birds like owls and night jars and nocturnal and for one to see them he/she must do a night game drive. And also the night is always free from most of the external noise pollution and this makes it worth for the listening to the sounds of the wild at night.
Jeeps with stretched wheel cabins, convertible canvas tops and open are usually used as tourist roll on the night drives. The vehicles are equipped with spotlights and half cut doors specifically to give the best chances of visibility at night. The guides carry search lights used to light the bushes in search of wildlife.
Night game drives are only limited to visitors above the age of 15 and caution must be taken on the use of gadgets like cameras with flash lights and one should have nature friendly colored clothes for the drives so as to blend in.
Some of the lucky sightings may unfold during the night. So just because the sun has set, it doesn’t mean that nature has gone to slumber. You still can enjoy the darker side of the savanna parks in Uganda and it is best if you are staying at a lodge inside the park.
