Uganda : Dec. 30 - Jan. 7
Kibale National Park : Saturday Dec. 31, 2005
According to the kids, our adventure with wildlife didn’t start with the national parks but rather the evening before when Brennan went to pull back the curtain. He nearly put his hand on a small fruit bat that had somehow found its way into the room. We were quickly able to usher our little friend out the window and get the mosquito netting in place and settled down to a great sleep. Morning brought another fabulous meal from our friends at the Boma. Gabriel was as punctual as ever and we were soon off on the way to Kibale National Park. We skirted the edges of the capital city of Kampala, negotiating our way through the congestion of the market place. The kids were amazed at the activity and the sites.
Bikes were everywhere and were carrying everything, from stacks of bananas, heavy bags of charcoal, 8 ft long sticks of sugar cane and metal doors to twin beds! It was almost as amazing as the stuff the ladies were carrying on their heads. Everywhere we looked people were busy working and selling stuff. You could buy anything from live chickens to pineapples and from used scooters from Asia to sofas. This was a much more energetic place than others we have been. Gabriel also pointed out the large Marabou storks that hovered everywhere around the city. These large birds (3-4 ft in height) hop around amongst all the people and look for any scraps of food they can find. They especially liked the fish and butcher stalls where we would see 30-40 of these giant critters at any one time.
We soon put Kampala behind us and began working our way further and further into the rural area of Uganda. The majority of the population here grows what they need to survive. Everybody farms and barters what they need. The roads were good and we made relatively good time as traffic was very light. We eventually reached the town of Mubende in central Uganda. From here things got even more rural, and the farms became fewer and farther between. We stopped on the side of the road for a terrific picnic, and as we watched the butterflies and beautiful birds we realized that in the 45 minutes we were there only one car had driven by. Thirty to forty bicycles passed us but only 1 car!
It was not long after lunch when we made our first sighting. Black and white colubus monkeys were the first up. We did the obligatory oohing and aahing not realizing how much bigger and better things were going to get. The sighting certainly woke the kids up from their game boys as well and all eyes began to watch the road and the tree tops looking for the next find.
The birds in Uganda are amazing. Of the 1500 species of birds in Africa, over 1200 species reside here and they all seem to be flying around us at times. So many colors and sounds we couldn’t keep up with it all. Gabriel was a walking encyclopedia and never tired of our “what’s that one?” questions. He always had the answer and the background of the species. Brennan being the skeptic he wondered if it was all a big con until he checked out the bird book we had along with us. He was impressed when he found out Gabriel was always right. We loved the big Fish Eagles, the hundreds of different kinds of Bee Eaters and especially the Great Blue Turacos.
As we continued to drive, we kept gaining elevation and eventually the jungle gave way to very large tea plantations. As we neared the park we turned off and drove through several of them, watching the pickers drag their bags into the weigh stations to get their money. No shirking here and no cheating either. You get paid not by the hour but by the weight, so if you slack off you get nothing.
We soon put the tea fields behind us and suddenly Gabriel pointed out that we were in Kibale National Park. This large park is world famous for its collection of primates, especially its wild chimps. The park hosts over 1400 chimps in some 11 different troops. The chimps do well here as there are no direct predators around, so their only threat is from people and any competition the baboons might cause.
As soon as we pulled into the park, Gabriel pulled over and popped the top on the vehicle. We were driving a very large Toyota Land Cruiser that had 3 bench seats. Large viewing ports opened up on the roof allowing us to stand on the seats and look at the jungle with our heads hanging out the top. This way of viewing wildlife was a big thrill for all of us and the kids just had huge smiles plastered on their faces as they looked up at the trees for the chimps. The kids loved the freedom of no seatbelts and felt like little rebels.
Debbie won the spotting for the next group with the Grey Cheeked Mangabey, but as we pulled over we realized we had a flat. Not a problem though. Brian and Gabriel ended up changing the flat while Deb and the kids entertained themselves watching the monkeys. What a way to pass the time!
We soon came to our home for the next two nights, which was the Mantana Tent Camp at Kibale. We were not sure what to expect. It sure wasn’t like any tent camping Brian had ever done. It came complete with a family of Colobus Monkeys living above us. The tents were fabulous. They were clearly bug free zones, and they were equipped with rough showers and pit latrines or earth toilets (no smell whatsoever), and very comfortable twin beds. Dinner was a gourmet treat and we left absolutely stuffed. After a couple of weeks in Egypt, real cold beer was a big treat as well. Boy were we roughing it!
We spent our New Year’s Eve sitting in lounge chairs around the campfire watching incredibly bright stars, fireflies and very large bats. After a very long and very exciting day we were finding it hard to stay awake until midnight. Sierra solved the problem by pointing out that we were now 11 hours ahead of Calgary. We could go to bed and celebrate New Year’s the next morning when our friends in Calgary did. So it was off to bed, but not after shooing away impossibly large spiders that were around the tent and doing the double check to make sure that the tents were indeed 100% bug proof as advertised. We warned the kids that the monkeys would likely make sounds for the night and not to be too surprised if they heard them scream. I think we were all asleep before our heads hit the pillows.
Sunday January 1, 2006: Kibale National Park
Happy New Year! Turns out the monkeys did scream last night. At 3:30 and again at 5:00 in the morning. Despite the odd jungle noises however we managed a terrific night’s sleep and true to Sierra’s word, we were up before the clock would have struck 12 back in Calgary. The New Year brought another gourmet breakfast and by 7:30 we were whisked off by Gabriel for our first stop of the day.
We were scheduled to do the Chimpanzee Trek first thing in the morning as they started to feed. We picked up the game wardens along the way and after some negotiation we managed to get the ok for the kids to come along on the tour as well. The cutoff age is 12 so we just snuck in with Sierra having “turned 12” the night before.
Our guide for the trek to find the chimps was a young lady named Harriet and we were the first group out in that morning. After a bit of a drive we headed off on foot into the rain forest. No trails here, this was bushwhacking with a capital “B”. The chimps move around during the day, so the trick is to head back to the general area they were the day before then hunt around and try to find them. Most of this is done by listening to their calls, and being aware of what fruits are ripe and where they might be located in the forest.
On leaving the vehicle, we immediately headed a couple hundred yards into the bush on the east side of the road and got our debriefing. This covered some background on the chimp tribe we were visiting (there were over 110 in this group) as well as some of the do’s and don’ts when we got close. A 3 year old chimp is typically much stronger than a full grown man so you really don’t want to get them angry. We also got the warning that it sometimes took upwards of 4-5 hours of trekking to locate them.
We got lucky however as we were just heading off east when we all heard the unmistakable screams of an angry chimp. Turns out they had already crossed the road and were the other direction. After 25 minutes of bush whacking through some thick but relatively flat terrain the guide stopped us, listened and moved us another 3-400 meters down the hill. When we finally stopped we were all wondering why. We thought there was nothing around until Harriett pointed out a large fuzzy black thing in the tree nearby. Our first wild chimp! At that point the forest broke out into screams all around us. We were in the middle of the group of 100 chimps that were actively feeding all around us. It wasn’t too long until they all made themselves visible again, and went back to munching on the very ripe fruits that were up in the trees. The spotting was amazing and we regularly got within 10-20 ft of the chimps. Sierra was put off at first by the noise and their size but was completely won over when she spotted the little ones clowning around. We got a great view of the second most dominant male which was watching over the group at the time. Perched on a branch just above our heads, he was clearly watching out for any trouble makers.
After about 20 minutes of standing in awe watching how human-like these animals really were, (and getting cricks in our necks), we became aware of another presence in the forest. Turns out the chimps were feeding along side a tribe of olive baboons in the trees. This was the first time any of the rangers had ever witnessed this behavior. Typically these two primates stay well apart or end up fighting. The sheer volume of the available food made these normally incompatible primates tolerate each other. While the local villagers have a close and friendly relationship with the chimps (the villages get a 20% cut of all park revenue that is derived mainly from the chimps), the same cannot be said for the baboons. These critters will eat and damage anything and the villagers are constantly at war with them to protect their houses and crops. The baboons will frequently raid the fields and if they can’t find anything ripe enough to eat they will destroy it. The villagers end up having to put guards around the clock on their crops of corn and bananas to keep the baboons away!
After 90 minutes of watching, Harriett determined it was time to give the primates some of their space back. It had been a very quick 2.5 hours. As we headed back to meet the vehicle we ran across the other groups who had yet to spot any chimps. For the kids, the opportunity to trek into thick rainforest and find the wild chimps was one of the big highlights of their trip and one they will never forget.
Next up was a 3 hour swamp tour. Our guide was an expert in the local birds and we were soon eagerly spotting away with him. It didn’t hurt that the birds were incredibly beautiful or that there was also a huge supply of different primates as well. We saw 5 different monkey species (red tailed, vervet, grey cheeked mangobey, colobus, and olive baboons). We spotted the baboons towards the end of the trip as they were fleeing a field of corn that was being burned and ran into the trail right in front of us. A troop of around 15, they were led by a big ugly guy.
The heat was getting up a bit in the afternoon so we headed back to camp for lunch, Kimbla-Mantana style (big and delicious) then we proceeded to kick back with some books for the rest of the afternoon. We had to get ready for our night safari that evening. Around 8:00 we met up with our guide at park headquarters and headed out armed with flash lights. We were looking for the elusive “bush babies” and galagos. These are very small nocturnal primates. The gist is that you hit them with the flash lights and you spot them by the reflection of their eyes. After about 10 minutes Brian and the guide spotted one up in the trees. The eyes were enormous and glowed bright orange the size of dinner plates! We soon spotted a second one but then hit a dry spot in terms of primates. That was ok though as the kids were having a blast looking at night crawlers and bats. We also spotted a nocturnal civet cat (kind of a weasel like thing).
After an hour and a half it was time to return to camp and hit the sack. It was a truly magical way to bring in the New Year and incredible day in Kibale. ( NEXT PAGE )