Uganda for the holidays - Part one and the start of the Gorilla tour!!

Very bruised foot...

I decided to stay in Africa over the Christmas holidays - I had visited my family and "pre-celebrated" a bit with them before I left the continent, and I thought the 2 weeks off of work would be an awesome opportunity to get out of Kisumu and see something cool!! I polled my friends and Uganda was recommended again and again. After a couple e-mails and some haphazard "planning" I was booked on a 7-day gorilla and chimp trekking tour through some of the parks in Uganda.

About 5 days before the trip I was walking out of my office and totally missed the last step, rolling my foot. I went home and iced it, but the more time passed the more I realized I had done real damage....the next day I caved and went to the ER and got an x-ray of my foot. It was an interesting experience, but in the end it seemed that I just had a really bad sprain. I hoped I would be able to walk for my gorilla trek, and a few days later on the day of departure to Uganda, I could hobble from my taxi to the bus with my backpack, but not much further.

Day 1: Kampala to Kibale National Park

After a 10 hour bus ride (that was only supposed to be 7 hours) across the border into Uganda I arrived in Kampala, the nation's capital. It was late, dark, and I had a huge pack, so I hopped into a taxi and found my way to my hostel. The place I had picked was just outside the main center of town and was a typical backpackers place. I was too tired from the long trip to be hungry anymore, and after a beer at the bar crashed in anticipation of the first day of my tour.

Tea plantations

The next morning I got picked up at the crack of dawn by the tour company in a big 10 seater safari SUV. Curious to meet my fellow tour mates, I was pleasantly surprised by how easy going and fun they were right off the bat. There was a young couple from Mexico who had been living and working in England for the past 10 years, a slightly older couple from Austria who had travel to Africa every year for the past 18 years, and another loner like me (a younger guy who was working in Dubai).

My "tent" accommodations :)

We spent the WHOLE first day driving: out of Kampala, through tea plantations, with a quick and forgettable lunch at a roadside tourist trap, and all the way to the west side of the country into Kibale National Park. We were booked at the coolest eco lodge, and I had an amazing safari tent all to myself. It was a raised wooden platform with a huge canvas tent all under a large thatched roof. It was almost like being indoors, except the walls and windows were just flaps and mesh, but there was a real queen sized bed, and an intriguing "eco" bathroom complete with the ever-popular sawdust toilet, tiled floors, and even hot water delivered to your shower upon request. The 6 of us had a great first dinner at the lodge, but were all excited to be out of the car and get some rest.

Kibale - Home of Chimps

Day 2: Chimps in Kibale National Park

Our first real adventure day! We woke up super early, tried to choke down breakfast before any of us were even awake, and headed to the gate of the Kibale National Park to try to find chimps! The 6 of us and our assigned guide sat through a brief orientation then headed out into the forest. I had put on a ace bandage, laced up my shoes incredibly tightly, and was hoping I would make it through the hike. Luckily the terrain was generally pretty flat and the trails were wide and well maintained, so I did pretty well most of the time.

Before the hike!

We hiked for a only a few minutes before we heard them: a huge group of chimpanzees was ahead of us and in the trees. I was excited and started to get my camera ready....when all of a sudden I almost bumped into a chimp on the ground! He was just casually strolling across the trail and the guide didn't even see him!! The chimp was completely calm, and crossed in front of us and sat down about 3 meters ahead and just watched us. We were all amazed, and we could hear the commotion of all the others in front of us, but he didn't seem fazed.

Eventually he got up and walked towards the rest of the noise, and we all followed him. Before we knew it we were surrounded by chimps. When we were briefed we were told not to get within 5 meters (15 feet) of the chimps, but our guides were incredible lax on that rule. When the chimps were lounging on the ground, they let us get extremely close, and it was shocking how chill the animals were with all of us awkwardly stomping around in the thick underbrush trying to get their pictures.

We must have seen about 30 chimps on the ground or in the trees. I got within 10 feet of the alpha male, who was an old greying chimp who seemed stoic and respected. He laid on his back on the ground, legs crossed, periodically chewing a leaf or stick and just watching the others. We saw a group of 4 or 5 younger males chasing a female in heat through the treetops (and even witnessed some mating).

Alpha male chimp

We saw a group of adolescents climbing jackfruit trees and throwing down the HUGE fruits. Once the ginormous (and dangerously heavy!) fruit hit the ground near us, the chimps would scurry over, collect the broken pieces, and climb quickly back into the trees with their spoils and chomp loudly over our heads. We saw a mother chimp and her tiny baby on the ground grooming each other. And we saw a group of older males doing ritualistic grooming, where they hold one of each other's hand over their heads and groom each other underneath simultaneously. It was so great!!!

Mommy and BABY chimp

We were only supposed to be allowed to have an hour with the chimps, but it was our guide's last hike (he was being promoted to another park after 15 years of service) and his birthday, so they bent the rules a little more and we stayed for almost 1.5 hours chasing the chimps through the forest. It was  really such a great experience! They are so human-like that when you look at them and they are staring back at you, its very difficult not to just start talking to them expecting them to respond.

Red colobus monkey

After they finally dragged us away from the chimps and out of the forest we headed back to the lodge for lunch and a rest. In the late afternoon we took another flat hike, this time around and through the local swamp ecosystem. There were so many different species of monkey! In one hike we saw red colobus, black & white colobus, baboons, red tailed monkeys, gray cheeked mangabeys and L'Hoest's monkeys. It was only a 2 hour walk around the periphery of the swamp, but the monkeys were EVERYWHERE!!

At the end, a family of baboons was out and about and feeding on the ground along the trail we were on. I stopped for a looooong time and watched a mother and her baby. Again, they let me get incredibly close to them and I had such a great time just observing them while they chewed on grass and ambled around.

Mother and baby baboon

What I didn't realize is that my group had kept walking, and before I realized it I was WAY behind them and hobbled/jogged for a few minutes before I caught up to them. Thankfully it was just a well marked loop trail, but my foot did not enjoy my extra efforts and I was pretty sore and swollen at the end of the day. Overall it was an incredible first day of wildlife viewing! We saw so many different species, got ridiculously close to a lot of wild animals, and I was physically able (though in a fair bit of pain) to hike for the whole day.

After with our guide :)

We had another great dinner at our lodge and were all excited to get off our feet, the amazing beds, warm showers, and the rest of our tour!

You can see more pictures here: https://kristynspictures.shutterfly.com/10245