Updates from Uganda: month 3 - March rains

As predicted, the March rains brought much needed respite from the heat, as well as fields full of croaking frogs that either lull us to sleep or startle us out of it, stinky terrapins tracking up and down our muddy two-track, a welcome variety of fruits and veggies at the market – something besides tomatoes, onions, and potatoes, plus greenery everywhere. March also came with the added bonus of visitors, vacation, and a new chimper. Some wonderful people came to visit and I was lucky enough to finally acquire a new chimping assistant. Laura, Nicole, my mom, and Jake – the newest field staff member at Mugiri – all joined us this month. They came loaded with lots of laughs, gluten free goodies, numerous guide books, an insane but necessary amount of dark chocolate, and a giant suitcase for a local orphanage stocked with vitamins, underwear, toothbrushes, and gifts. With so many lovely people around Mugiri, the wet chimpless month of March flew right by. 

Turns out I was wrong about the rains in one regard; the arrival of the rainy season didn’t seem to help much with my chimp observations. Actually, I didn’t see a stinking chimp all month long. Jake on the other hand, along with Astone, an incredibly knowledgeable ranger and guide, managed to locate and observe two chimps for almost two hours. Astone is one of the rangers who began the process of habituating chimps for tourist viewing in Kibale National Park nearly twenty five years ago. As we walk around the forest he regales us with local folklore and chimp tales and astounds us with his ability to identify each and every living thing. We all look forward to his stints at Mugiri Camp. The pair of them ran into a seasoned older male and a curious younger male hanging out near the trail eating bright pink sticky Lepisanthes senegalensis fruits. Lugging his giant lens all around the forest paid off for Jake and he obtained incredible shots that led to identifying the adult male. They officially met Fuller, a chimp who was coincidentally named by a researcher I worked with in Kakamega. While Astone and Fuller sat back and casually watched one another and took in the events, Jake and the unnamed young male, both full of energy, excitedly tried to get the best shot of each other. The two similar pairs of males stared at one another, each with his own cross species counterpart looking back. There was a separation of generations in each duo, one male a wealth of knowledge, experience, and the calm demeanor of one who is habituated to the other’s presence, the other overly eager, animated, and reveling in experiencing this meeting for the first time. When the pair of chimps had their fill of fruit they descended to the ground and disappeared into the undergrowth and the pair of humans made their way back to camp along the trail. We haven’t run into Fuller and his friend since.  

Fuller eating Lepisanthes fruit.

I have been longing to identify a chimp since I arrived. My chimp ID booklet is always close at hand as I unsuccessfully search day after day, I studiously page through pictures of their faces on my computer so I am ready when all they allow is single 30 second shot at their face, but I have yet to successfully identify one. And then, Jake just shows up and pulls it off. There are no bitter feelings though, I swear.  Actually, when I received the news of his accomplishment I was seated next to my mom at the best Indian restaurant in Kampala with a cold Nile lager in hand awaiting the arrival of my palak paneer, so no one should feel too bad that I missed out. 

It would have been a different story if it had taken place on the day I got hit with food poisoning on the six hour bus ride back from Kampala or the afternoon that Moses and I were stranded in the middle of nowhere with a car full of groceries and a broken fuel pump. With only a few hours of daylight remaining we broke down on the side of the gravel road that cuts through the reserve halfway between town and camp. We were saved and grudgingly towed back by the lodge staff in their beat up Land Cruiser. Not surprisingly, they didn’t have enough time to drop us off at Mugiri camp so we were forced to hike the three kilometers back to camp as night fell and darkness closed in around us. We loaded up what groceries we could because there was little food remaining back home. I carried three bunches of bananas, which were mostly squashed by the time we arrived and some sugar, because no one can work when there’s no sugar for tea! Moses carried the greens and a bag of raw meat, because, well it would have been a horrible idea to leave it in the car. It turns out though that maybe it wasn’t such a great idea to carry bloody cow parts through the savanna at night. The following afternoon we trekked back to the lodge where our useless car awaited its appointment with the mechanic. Along the way we discovered there were hyena tracks following our own from the night before. We will never actually know how close behind us that maniacal spotted creep was, but had we known I’m sure everyone would have enjoyed their beef stew a little bit more. 

Beautiful Lake Bunyoni

Midmonth in the company of my mom and the reliability of a new rental car we left the reserve and the chimps behind for a week to see more of Uganda. The hot dry weather in Toro Semliki drew us to the cool clean waters of Lake Bunyoni. Located near the border with Rwanda, Lake Bunyoni is paradise of nearly 30 small hilly islands spattered on top of crisp cool waters. Never-ending terraced hillsides wrap around and enclose the lake, the terraces so perfectly spaced that from a distance there appear to be stairs climbing straight out of the surrounding blue water up and over the knobby landscape. Swimming in any body of water in Africa is typically a horrible idea due to the extreme likelihood of encountering crocodiles, hippos, or contracting bilharzia, but Bunyoni is purportedly free of all those annoying hazards. Believing everything the guidebook told us, we didn’t hesitate to dive right in. Based on our own observations there were no crocs or hippos lurking near the shore of Itambira Island, but as far as the bilharzia, we’ll have to get back to you as it takes about two months for the symptoms to present themselves. After a few relaxing days full of amazing crayfish-avocado concoctions, long refreshing swim sessions, and semi-cold beer (everything was solar powered and we were happy to accept cloudy cool days and the lack of power for the fridge that accompanied them) we said goodbye to Bunyoni and headed for the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest for gorilla trekking, where, ironically I heard more chimpanzee vocalizations than I have all month in the reserve. 

Trekking in Bwindi proved to be much easier than our experience in Rwanda just over a year ago. My mom packed her backpack full of snacks and prepared herself for a strenuous hike in gorilla country after we recounted our own experience in the Virungas. In the end my weakness for the company of non-human primates led me to join her. Really, how many opportunities am I going to get to stand amongst mountain gorillas with my mom? There were no other tourists trekking either of the groups in Ruhija that morning and that sweetened the deal even more. Jake was employed to drop us and our posse of Uganda Wildlife Authority staff off down the road from the headquarter building. Not more than two minutes after he had driven away a massive black gorilla popped out of the thicket along the gravel road, followed by another, and another. There were big black living road blocks everywhere. There was no epic uphill hike through stinging nettles to find them, we just waited and they appeared like magic. A pickup truck full of lucky nuns came from the other direction just in time to see all the gorilla traffic and they excitedly snapped a few free pictures. A temperamental blackback began bullying a couple of smaller gorillas as they were crossing and invigorating screams and displays ensued. Then they vanished just as quickly as they appeared and we set off up the steep mountain following their trail. We were cheated out of a long hike, barely broke a sweat, and never touched our carefully packed snacks but none of that mattered while we were in their midst.

Gorilla in the road!

 After meeting mountain gorillas in Bwindi, we made the long ten hour drive back to Mugiri Camp, the temperature drastically increasing along the way as we dropped in elevation. Shortly thereafter, we sent my mom and a suitcase full of locally made baskets off to the airport and Jake and I jumped back into the work of chimping, but not until I recovered from food poisoning and we fixed (sort of) the fuel pump again. 

The month of April has proven much better for chimp observations but I will save that for next time…

Cheers from the forest,
Corey & Jake