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*As in "Welcome to" and where "Gator Country"
means "Los Angeles"
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Gator Country: first night in uganda (found journal entry dated 10/17/2002)
i'm in my tent with a facial mask on. went swimming and talked to kati after our day drive to see the cattle grazing at the edge of the game preserve. the rangers -- in their tents and with radio and spears -- take the cattle and fence them for 500 shillings each as a fine. the overgrazing nudes the land and the acacia thicket takes over.
johnny (who owns semliki lodge) says that the elephants need to trample that thicket. i suggested a controlled burn.
last night was my first night here. we went out after dinner on a night safari through the bush and savannah, with johnny spotlighting game, looking for lions. it was steve and sarah, tour operators from britain, kati, me, clint and johnny. clint drove the land rover. an open top. we returned at 12:30 a.m., the staff coming out of the darkness like oil slicks. i took out my contacts by lantern light, slept like the dead surrounded by mosquito netting. i didn't feel scared.
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