I overthought Uganda before I had even packed. It was my first trip to Africa. My first safari. I worried about boots, fitness, heat, insects and whether I was the kind of person who could casually disappear into a rainforest after breakfast. In my head, a safari looked one way: flat, dry, huge skies, pale grass, dust behind a 4x4. Uganda had other ideas.
Most mornings started in the dark with a soft “good morning” outside the tent, followed by tea and homemade muffins. Then we would climb into the safari trucks before sunrise, half-asleep, waiting for the world around us to wake up. WildPlaces Africa (wildplacesafrica.com), founded by Jonathan and Pamela Wright, has a way of making you feel looked after without smoothing the edges off the wild. There were bush breakfasts, sundowners, sofas your whole body sank into and, in the cooler highlands, a hot water bottle tucked into the duvet cover at your feet. Their son Fergus travelled with us throughout, and his love for Uganda, especially its birds, was impossible not to catch.
