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Just checking in before bed. Jools arrives in Entebbe at 0745 tomorrow, so I'll depart Kampala just before 0630.
-Shane

Just sitting down to a cold one in London Heathrow T5. Boarding for Uganda in about an hour.


Jools

Jools touched down safely at 0725 and we made it back to Kampala. So far we had a big breakfast, which was immediately followed by a couple of Tusker lagers.
Reservations are set at the Nile base camp for tomorrow and we will spend the rest of the day packing up collecting kit.
-Shane

Arrived at Kampala HQ, connectivity is a limited as Shane has been extolling for ages! Anyway, will post what we can when we can!

Jools

Jools, the pockets on that shirt are HUGE! What were you thinking?

BTW- when do you start taking fish orders...

6 synodontis robertsi please
and a herd of giraffe for the back garden.

Cheers, Richard.

Looks like the catfish in that area could be wearing a bikini

Back at Jinja Base, a long day with many 4x4 stories but got to 1km of lake Nawanpasa in search of a pretty Haplochmid. No joy, but got beautifully lost.

Net result, one Killie,one hap and a few cool Ctenopoma. Local fishermen had Clarias and lungfish.

No ids and will work on photos tomorrow. Connectivity seriously tricky, but did record gps collection data.

Jools

We, and my poor Landy, are pretty beat up, but had a great time. I had some good laughs at Jools' expense... a giant leech on his ankle plus the face full of biting ants he caught this morning. Poor Jools brushed against a bush full of ants while we were hauling in the big seine and about 30 ants immediately bit into his neck. He dove under water immediately, but they had locked their pincers and had to be forcefully removed, ouch!
Today was the day of barb spp (at least three) and, finally, our first cats of the trip. Two small, 8 cm, Clarias.
Pics to follow.
-Shane

Ouch, poor Jools!

Sounds like you're having a good time tho'.

--
Mats

Unnamed creek, GPS co-ords to follow.

Here is the location.

http://maps.google.co.ug/maps?hl=en&ie= ... 1&t=h&z=19

Two or more species of barbs and two , likely .

The largest of the barbs:


Jools

At the source of the Nile (http://www.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s ... 5&t=h&z=17).



Jools

where is your flag to claim that island ? , very nice report so far. enjoy and look after yourselves cheers jk

bigbird wrote:where is your flag to claim that island ? , very nice report so far. enjoy and look after yourselves

Well, I am just another in a long line of Scots to visit that place!

Jools

OK, a couple more pics. The one of Shane is when he is collecting the baby . In this side of the river there was a lot of saw grass. This is nasty stuff and we both copped a lot of leg grazes including some that saw blood. Solution is long trousers.

The other picture is a second species of barb from this area.

Jools

Greetings from Fort Portal! We had a great day yesterday collecting south of Kampala. This morning we drove 3.5 hours east to Fort Portal. The only collecting so far was a beautiful mountain stream running from Rwenzori (Mountains of the Moon). Habitat was a cool (65F ish) fast flowing stream with clear water. This looked like a Chaetostoma stream might in South America and several watching children told us there were no fish in the stream. After several pulls we were going to move on when we turned up a gorgeous killie living along the stream's margins. Once we had the right habitat down we collected over a dozen in 10 minutes. Beautiful n]scenary today driving along the Great Rift.
The plan for tomorrow is to head south from Fort Portal to the Kazinga Channel between the Rift Lakes George and Edward.
Sorry we have been so bad about posting updates and photos, but as you might imagine, when you are 20 km from the Congo/Uganda border it is almost impossible to get any kind of internet connectivity.
-Shane

Thankfully, we have wifi internet here at our hotel in Fort Portal. Although it's been down for couple of days, it's up now!

Some pics from back near Lake Vic: All ID suggestions welcome (I know what the Clarias is)!

Video of the Killie. .

Jools

Some others from the ditch.

Jools

Mountains of the Moon killie.
-Shane

Nothing like chiloglanis or any amphiliids? I was getting my hopes up if there was something looking like a chaetostoma stream....

The last killie is a Hypsopanchax, probably H. modestus.

Hi!!

it is very nice indeed!!
Look you have a fun time, even if the insects are not on Jools' side!!:-(



The fish is indeed a Pseudocrenilabrus multicolor victoriae...a nice male



typical Haplochromine behaviour!!
Cheers
Yann

Thanks for the IDs. We collected hillstreams today, but all we found as far as catfishes go is a hillstream Clarias!

Meantime, a couple of not-for-the-nano-tank fishes. The lungfish breathed out when it was on the ground and it sounded like a horse.

Jools

Wow!!!

this is what I call huge!!
need some serious tank for that!! the shipping price would be quite important as well!!

Cheers
Yann

Got Jools off to the airport this morning and he will be home this evening (GMT). Great trip and great fun. Now I just need about 18 hours of uninterrupted sleep.. and a new liver.
-Shane

Are you going to give us a spoiler on what is going home with him?

Well, getting the fish through import/border in T5 was easier than expected! I turned up, my luggage did, the fish were checked and off we went. I wish it was easier for the Ugandan Sherry and Waragi (a gin like spirit) I brought back, I had to check it in at the UK border and that made have to rush to get the connection. So, OK to fly into London with it in my hand luggage but clearly a risk to fly from London to Edinburgh the same! Grrrr.

Actually, the whole experience in the airport in Entebbe was very relaxed. It felt like a small regional airport, 4 gates I think. No big queues, everything went like clockwork. The flight back was half full at best and I had checked in online to an exit seat with tonnes of legroom and no one sitting next to me. I used the 8 hours to watch a movie, edit all the images from the trip and finish off a new level of Angry Birds Rio. That, some decent food and a couple of glasses of wine made it a very pleasant afternoon!

Anyway, I am pleased to report zero losses after two days in the fishroom I have:

8 "African checkerboard barbs". 1"
2 "African silvershark barbs". 1"
4 "African three spot barbs". 0.5-1"
7 Clarias alluaudi 1.5-2"
1 Clarias ? 2"
2 Pr Hypsopanchax modestus 1.5"
2 Pr Pseudocrenilabus philander victoriae. 1"
5 UN Lampeyes that are plain but eat flakefood from Lake Nawampasa drainage. 1"
6 Baby cichlids from the Lake Nawampasa drainage, might be spectacular Haps, more likely I have some w/c Tilapia! 0.25"-0.5"
4 or 5 Lacustricola bukobanus .75"
11 Lacustricola sp `Rusty` .75"

and a baby leech (3-10mm depending on mood) which I have set-up a nano (it's a small show tank) aquarium for!

Lacustricola eat frozen lobster eggs, which is good to know, everything else is on flake.

Are there any in particular you want to see pics of?

Jools

All of the above! Mate whatever pics you put up I am sure folks will appreciate, especially those of us who rarely if ever have the chance to see these species.

1 Clarias ? 2"

Hopefully a and not

Where was this one captured?

Yeah, lets see them all, even the little leech in his nano home. How do you feed this one?

Birger