The Entebbe Zoo

The Entebbe Zoo

The idea of a zoo full of African animals in the middle of Africa seems a little peculiar.  I have been to a sort of zoo that had only animals native to Kentucky—bison, bears, elk, deer, etc. But that was the Frankfort Game Farm—the only animal collection I have ever seen that includes directions on how to hunt and kill the animals in the wild.  The aquarium was full of things like trout and pike and other native fish, and each species would have a record for the largest caught, who caught it, where and when, and with what tackle.  I don’t remember if the exhibits include recipes, but that would not surprise me.

Paddlefish, record 74 lbs, Billy McCrackin, age 9, 1965. 

Licking River, Magoffin County.  Snagging hook.

Discard bones. Salt for three hours, cold smoke using butternut overnight.

Serve chilled

Still, these are African animals, which are inherently dramatic and intrinsically interesting.  For example, I once rode in a leaky canoe through a swamp to see a rare shoebill standing perfectly still 1000 meters away.  The zoo had five shoebills, all in one aviary.  That’s a bit excessive, since they are so few in nature.

The zoo has two white rhinos—of the fewer than 20 in the country. All the rest are a Ziwa Rhino Preserve.  It would be in bad taste if there was a sign reading:

White Rhino. 3200 lbs,. Kendall Jones, 14. 2004.

 Murchison Falls.  .460 Wetherby Magnum.

Remove horn with hacksaw. Discard carcass. Grate horn into rice

wine to prevent hangover.

By far my favorite part of the Entebbe zoo was the large “Lake Mburo” exhibit, which contained zebras, Impalas, Waterbuck and some other antelope.  There were two fences and a moat separating the viewing area from the animals.  But if you walked a few yards to the right, there was nothing at all—a small hill with plants—separating you from the animals.  You could have simply walked in.

I recommend the Entebbe zoo for a number of reasons. It has a large number of animals one might see in the wild, but, as with any zoo, there is no comparison. A large school group was there, with purple sweaters and small notebooks. They probably won’t make it to a park, which are wisely located away from large human populations. So this is a great way for them to see their country’s amazing wildlife, and perhaps learn to love it a bit.

And it also a lovely spot for trees, wild birds and monkeys, who have just sort of moved in.  I would never have known that black-face monkeys, have festive blue testicles. They are just the color of a Tiffany’s box. After seeing mangos hanging in pairs suggestively from a tree, we took to saying that the black-faced monkey has Tiffany blue mangoes.  None of the students will ever think of Tiffany’s or mangoes the same way.