Cha-cha-cha with Chimps

 

February 17 – Day 4

We stumble down to the lobby at 4:45 am to pick up our park breakfast packages, which the hotel staff have kindly prepared, and climb in to Davis’ van.  Driving to the Kibale Park entrance in the dark, we see it is fairly misty.  The reception area is a short drive from the gate, and we are pleased to find the latrine facilities are clean and well-stocked.

At the briefing we learn there are 13 different chimpanzee groups within the park, and these will break up to travel in small communities of variable size.  Habituation of the primates involves exposure to humans on a daily basis for 5 years or more.  In the 25 years the program has been in place, 3 groups have become fully habituated and 1 more is partly so.  The remainder will continue to be wild, to allow the experts to study the effects of habituation on the groups compared to control groups.

We are one of two groups signed up for the habituation tour which involves searching for the partly habituated group and spending 4 hours following them.  The trekking tour, by contrast, involves a one hour trip to a fully habituated colony, where the individuals are much less shy and tolerate close contact with humans for long periods of time, allowing for better photo opportunities.

Getting dropped at trail head

 

We are introduced to Meelka, our main tour guide, along with the younger guides, Daniel and Moses.  The guides all carry rifles.  All 10 of us are crowded back in to the van with Davis, and he drops us by the side of the highway at the trail head.  The first half km or so of the march finds the trail to be wide enough for 2 abreast and quite flat and worn.  We enjoy the cool morning air and sounds of the forest birds and other creatures.  Following that we repeatedly take smaller, narrower and less traveled paths stopping every once in awhile to listen for the distinctive chimp screams.  Meelka stops after an hour or so and advises we are near the park boundary, and it is possible the chimpanzee group has ventured into the nearby village, which they sometimes do in search of crops, dog food, or other delicacies.

Backtracking, we are finally rewarded with some occasional screams, punctuated by thumping on tree trunks, which signal the presence of the beasts we hunt.  Meelka points out a couple of individuals high in trees.  They will rest on a branch and reach out to pluck leaves, caterpillars, or other insects.  Chimps grow to about 4 ½ feet height, with broader chests and more musculature than humans.  They need to eat 5 kg of food daily, which requires almost constant feeding on these small snacks.  They are omnivores, and will sometimes hunt monkeys or infants from a rival group.  They are very athletic as they move through the branches and scurry up and down the trunks.  On rainy days, they prefer to remain up in the forest canopy, so we are thankful today is dry and the heat will encourage them down to lower levels and the forest floor.

Tramping through the underbrush is exhausting

A good deal of the time is spent up in the forest canopy

 

The sounds that fill the environment when 3 or 4 chimps are calling to each other in angry-sounding screams is simply awesome.  Visibility was often obscured by leaves and branches, but occasionally we have the honour of approaching within 6 or 7 m of an individual lounging and doing some self-grooming on the crook of a trunk only a foot or 2 off the ground.  They can move very quietly along the forest floor, but occasionally one will start running and crashing through the brush, sometimes passing within only 3 or 4 metres of the startled tourist.

 

Wandering through the forest off the paths through thick underbrush to follow these creatures becomes exhausting, and we finally decide to head back to the trailhead, anticipating the grueling hike back. By then it is approaching noon and we are wilting in the full heat of the day.  Overall, the experience has been amazing but we eagerly anticipate a shower, a swim, and perhaps a nap.

 

An afternoon rainstorm complete with hail thwarts any plans to visit the pool.  All of us are too tired to muster enthusiasm for a trip to a downtown restaurant, so we take advantage of the hotel dining room, then again head early to bed.

Crossing the Equator

 

February 16 – Day 3

Another travel day.  We rise early and meet Davis with bags packed at 7:30.  It quickly becomes apparent that all our baggage will not fit inside the van and there is considerable discussion about how best to arrange things, given the risk of rain.   We finally get things sorted out with 4 bags on the roof and a reasonable amount of room inside for passengers. 

We are travelling to Fort Portal, which will be the westernmost area of Uganda that any of us have visited.  So, north to Kampala, but avoiding the congested inner city, then heading northwestward as the urban environment gradually gives way to farmland and wetlands.  We pass fields of matoke, coffee, and rice, along with eucalyptus plantations.  Coffee is one of Uganda’s main agricultural export crops.

Some random views from the road of Ugandan life

 

Progress is slowed by several bathroom breaks, re-stocking drinking water and pops, ATM adventures, speed bumps, etc..  There are 5 or 6 police roadblocks we encounter.  Most vehicles are waved on, but our van is pulled over every time.  A grumpy officer will walk about the van, peering inside and require Davis to produce his driver’s license.  Apparently they are cracking down on drivers without the proper license classification to drive tourist vans.  He says their poor disposition is probably because they are reluctant to demand payment since a video of an officer requesting a bribe went viral.

We stop at a photo op spot marking the equator.  Carly and Scott purchase a hand made mask from the local vendor.

Seated:  Jamie & Alicia. Rear: Bonnie, Alan, Sue, Scott, Carly

 

Brunch consists of Rolexes from a stand in one of the towns.  The name comes from shortening “rolled eggs”, and the meal involves fried eggs served on a fried chapatti rolled up with onions and diced tomato.  They are inexpensive, filling, and delicious.  We later buy a couple of roasted corn cobs from a roadside vender, but none of the tourists find it appealing.  Davis says he will happily enjoy them later, and stashes them on the dashboard.

 

It is 5 pm by the time we roll into Kibale National Park, which will be our destination tomorrow for chimpanzee trekking.  There is a group of baboons scattered along the roadside at a large speed bump.  As we slow, a large male leaps onto the hood and peers into the windshield.  Apparently he likes the looks of the corn.  We laugh as the imposing creature jumps ship as we accelerate away, recalling that we had ridiculed Davis for being reluctant to put luggage on the roof, worrying that monkeys would steal the bags.

 

Davis tells us that our hotel in Fort Portal is only another 20 minutes away, but we time the drive to take 50 minutes.  After grabbing more water at a small supermarket, we drive through the small city to our luxurious Nyaika Hotel.  The staff are very attentive and friendly, offering a fresh fruit drink and hiking our bags up the 1 or 2 flights of stairs.  Feeling exhausted, we all retire to our rooms and order room service meals.  The food quality is variable, but overall fairly good, and early bedtimes are required for an early getaway tomorrow.

Dining with scientists

Feb. 15:  Day +2

After the travel day, some of us have not slept very well given the unfamiliar bed, heat, and the noises of animals, birds, and raucous music.  We are grateful to look forward to a quiet day at Banana Village.

Breakfast consists of fried egg and chapattis, but the Ugandan coffee is a welcome treat.  Jamie and Alan decide to go on a walking adventure in the nearby village.  The locals are largely fascinated by Alan’s GoPro, and Jamie has tons of questions about the local businesses and traffic.  They navigate the dusty rutted paths to reach the busy, congested paved road, then make their way to the small supermarket, “Coinworth”.  There they pick up some Coca Cola for Susan, Bailey’s, and a Ugandan energy drink for Jamie to sample.

They stop to speak with a carpenter busy at work and a fellow making bricks.  He applies water to make a red mud from the Ugandan soil, tamps it into a form, then lays the bricks out in neat rows to dry in the sun.

The lads pick up 3 nice fresh mangos at the request of Bonnie, then make their way home.  The entire group enjoys mango sliced by the BV kitchen staff.

 

The monkeys are as bold and fun to watch as ever

Susan and Bonnie discuss the day ahead while Jackie watches

Later on, Jamie accompanies Carly and Scott back to the village in search of inexpensive Ugandan cigarettes.  Carly knows many of the locals from the 3 months she spent here, and they introduce Jamie to some of their new friends.

Serious discussion at the internet cafe

 

Arrangements had been made for Davis, the driver, to come with 4 of his 5 children for an afternoon of swimming then dinner.  Unfortunately, Davis had to work, so the nanny, Kennedy, showed up with the 4 precious kids in tow:  Alexandra, Einstein, Tesla, and Kepler.  It was wonderful for us to see how they have grown.  Quickly recovering from their initial shyness, the children greatly enjoyed the water, refusing to come out until they were shivering with lips slightly blue.  Kepler entertained us all by repeatedly running on the deck at maximum speed to jump to Kennedy in the water.

Jamie & Alicia enjoy a quiet moment

Davis' kids enjoy the equipment

 

Maggie, the mother of Ian who is now 8 years old, has had significant health issues and lives close to Entebbe, so we had invited her over to visit while we were at BV.  She arrived late, but just in time for dinner, and we were thrilled to meet her 1 year old baby, Herman.  Just as Ian was when he was small, Herman was initially quite upset by the attention from all the Caucasian adults, but he did acclimatize somewhat over the course of the evening.

Maggie & Herman

 

The buffet dinner consisted of chicken, rice, matoke (plantain), cooked cabbage, brown beans, g-nuts and sauce.  The kids all had great appetites after swimming, with Alexandra finishing off two heaping plates. 

Maggie & family

Ian is exceptionally good with his little brother

Kids enjoying the buffet

 

Davis arrived just as dinner was finishing, and eagerly dug in himself after introducing us to his youngest daughter, Arabella.  He had brought along the safari van which we admired and mused about how all our luggage would fit. 

Carly had burned out a fuse in their power converter, and these are not readily available in Uganda.  The ever resourceful Davis called a buddy a couple of kilometres away who is an electrician.  Alan, Jamie, Carly and Scott piled in to the van for a road trip.  Issac raced across the busy main street to meet us roadside and assessed the converter unit and fuses, taking things back to his little shop.  The folks continued into Entebbe to visit Victoria Mall for an ATM stop, then picked up more water, pops, beers, and some milk for Herman.  On the way back, they stopped and ventured into Issac’s very rudimentary shop, where he proudly displayed 4 replacement fuses that he had built from scratch, all for the price of 20,000 shillings (less than CAD $10) as an emergency on a Saturday night!

The Canadians settled up their accounts with Malaika at BV then gathered on the internet café for a lively discussion of plans for hosting the Kulikayo kids at Jinja, the activities and discussions (including the dreaded sex ed talk) that needed to be covered.

Planning for the 7 AM departure, everyone settled in for an early bedtime, serenaded by a talented choir at a nearby congregation.  Unfortunately, the songs were punctuated by coarse loud chanting.

Escaping the Snow

 Feb. 14 -  Day +1

Happy Valentine's Day to all the lovers out there.  We celebrated ours by touching down at Entebbe airport on time just after 10 AM.

Mother nature sent us a snowstorm the morning of our departure, so we left at 4:15 am to drive through moderately heavy snowfall, slushy roads, aggressive drivers, and saw many vehicles in the ditches or stuck on ramps on the 401.  Fortunately, our driver, Sean, got us to Pearson safely, although the journey took more than an hour longer than usual.

Dropping our bags at the airline counter went smoothly, then we discovered the security lineup extending all along the front of Terminal 1 from aisle 11 to aisle 1, then to the back of aisle 1, along to aisle 6, then finally to the back hallway where the sign advised 50 minutes from that point.  Over 2 hours lined up for security!!  Apparently many of the TSA staff did not make it in due to weather, and they compressed the stations for international and domestic departures into 1 single station.

50 minutes from here (after queueing for 1 hour

The flight from Toronto to Addis Ababa was smooth - Carly & Scott and Bonnie had the luxury of an empty middle seat in their rows.  Most of us had trouble sleeping and arrived feeling bloated and stuffed after 19 hours in the air  and 4 airline meals.  Our itinerary had us skimming the south coast of Newfoundland, crossing Spain then flying most of the length of the Mediterranean, skirting the North coast of Egypt before following the Red Sea south.  We were amazed at the size of Addis Ababa and the number of modern highways and highrise buildings.

 

Addis Ababa skyline

Hills near Addis Ababa

Addis Ababa airport is impressively large and modern.  It appears Ethiopian Airlines has a near monopoly on commercial carrier operations.  We were almost thankful for the long walk to our next gate.  Boarding procedures were even more chaotic than at Pearson.  We massed in front of the small gate counter that had 2 employees.  The television monitor above the desk showed information for a completely different flight, and the girl checking us in didn't even make a pretense of verifying our passport ID photos.

Smooth flight to Entebbe, Uganda (and yet another meal!).  The entry process now involves applying for and purchasing an entry VISA online, prior to travel,  including uploading passport scans, proof of yellow fever immunization, flight info and answering plenty of questions about your planned trip, rather than purchasing the Visa at immigration.  I had hoped this would expedite the flow through the immigration counters.  Not so - this is Uganda, after all.

Once beyond the luggage carousels, we can see the airport itself has been greatly expanded and modernized, but most of the new infrastructure seems focused on providing large impressive halls and retail outlet spaces rather than focusing on passenger processing areas.

Once outside, Davis runs up to greet and give us huge hugs.  The man appears not to have aged a day in the past 5 years!  He now has 5 children to raise and is relieved that the tourism industry has again picked up after the pandemic.  He and his nephew, Anthony, load us into 2 vehicles.

Why do these Mzungu's need soo much luggage?

Finally here.  Front:  Bonnie, Sue, Carly.  Rear:  Jamie, Alicia, Alan, Scott

 

Banana village, only a 15 minute drive from the airport, is showing its' age.  Diana looks as elegant as ever, but the grounds and buildings are looking a bit more run down.   

Davis runs Carly, Scott, and Alan back in to Victoria Mall in Entebbe, so Alan can try his luck at the ATMs while the other 2 purchase SIM cards and plans.  Alan's RBC debit card shows only symbols for Interac and the PLUS network of ATMs, which doesn't match any of the ATM network symbols on the Diamond Trust or ABSA bank machines, so his card is spit back at him unceremoniously.

We pick up  water (and some lollipops for Jackie and the kids), then head back to find the others catching some zzz's in their huts.  Everyone rises when Jackie arrives a few minutes later.  So wonderful to see her again, and, like Davis, she looks as young and beautiful as ever.

Jamie explores an abandoned structure at Banana V

Alicia amused by some of the visitors trying Yoga

 

Anticipating early bedtimes, we place our pizza and spaghetti orders with the kitchen staff, then a few of us head to the pool.  The water is warm but yet welcome and refreshing after these few hours in the equatorial heat.  The meals are not as tasty as we remember and appetites are meagre after all the airline food.  So, it's early to bed in the glow of starting a whole new adventure.

 

Prologue - 2025

 February 12, 2025 - Day -1:

Well, we are super pumped to be returning to Uganda after 5 years.  Last time Sue and Alan were there was just at the first announcement of C-19 possible pandemic!  The kids will have grown, voices will have changed, and some of us may be a little older :-O

There will be seven of us travelling this time:  Susan, Alicia, Alicia's boyfriend, Jamie,  Scott and Carly, and Bonnie O'Neill, one of our Kulikayo board members, as well as Alan.  Bonnie has travelled extensively but has never been to Uganda.  Jamie has never been outside of Canada, so we are excited to see his reaction to the cultural shock.

In the past we have had layovers in London, Brussels or Istanbul, but this time we are flying with Ethiopian airlines, so direct to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, then a connecting to Entebbe.

 Of course, mother nature has sent a winter storm across Ontario tonight, so we plan to leave at 4:15 AM for our 10:20 flight out of Pearson.

We'll do our best to update the blog regularly, so check back frequently and leave comments!