August 17 – Chimp Trek in Kibale Forest National Park, Lunch at Tinke’s

We were up very early for our 6:50 departure to the Chimpanzee center in Kibale National Park.  

We saw a large baboon family as we entered the park.

After checking in and an orientation we headed out with four folks from Arkansas to the trail head for our chimpanzee trek. 

The paths are narrow and many are barely paths.  One has to watch for roots that can trip you and simultaneously watching for branches that can slap you in the face.  Fortunately, most of the paths were relatively level. 

We saw our first chimps only about 15 minutes into the walk.  There were only two or three very high in the trees.  Very hard to see.  After hearing more chimp calls, we were off again.  The various guides were in walkie-talkie contact and so were able to keep each other informed as to sightings. 

A short time later we came very close to a few and then shortly after we were in the middle of chimp chaos.  We saw the chimps on a hunt for a monkey.  And they quickly caught a black and white colobus monkey (Francis said those monkeys are really pretty dumb).  At that point there were fights over the meat and the noise and the activities were incredible.  All the rangers said it was rare to see a hunt and kill.  The intern guide with our group said she had seen only two in the three months she had been trekking. We were very fortunate.

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More Chimpanzees
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Video 1 of chimps
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Video 2 of Chimps
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After watching the chimps for about an hour we trekked out and caught our ride back to the headquarters where they presented us with a certificate for our successful chimp trek.

Then we headed back to the nearby village of Bigodi for some local touristy stuff.  The area was extremely poor and lacked many things such as a hospital or secondary school.  Some years back it was visited by a group who worked with them to develop a tourist industry.

First stop was at the small, local museum where we met a retired chimp trek guide who walked us some of the items and told us about various local customs.  Some of the customs he told us old were trapping techniques, meal etiquette and many other things.  It was very interesting.

From there we had a lunch of traditional Ugandan dishes at the home of a village leader named Tinke.  The food was great.  It included rice and beans, yams, sweet potatoes (theirs are white and purple, not yellow/orange like ours), a corn mash that was nothing like the yellow cornmeal we have in the US, potatoes, and a very popular mashed banana that is served with a peanut sauce.  Dessert was fresh pineapple.  The pineapple they have in Uganda is incredible…always perfectly ripe and sweet.

We then picked up the museum guide for a small village walk.  

We drove up to the coffee farm of a small coffee farmer.  Most of the demonstration was by the granddaughter of the owner.  She explained how the beans are prepared (picked, dried, pulverized to removed the shells, roasted and then hand ground).  It is very grueling work. 

Next stop was a group of women who weave baskets, mats, and other items for sale.  We picked up a couple of hot plate mats.  And, of course, there was a group of children there ready to perform.  The tip money is flowing freely. 

We then went to see a demonstration on the making of banana beer.  He was busy with a demo for another group (the folks from Arkansas that we chimp trekked with) so we moved on the local healer who gave us a talk about the various treatments and remedies he has.  Very interesting and very witch doctory.

By then we were both beat so we passed on the beer making and went back to the hotel.  We did some organizing in the room and then headed out to dinner, just as it started to sprinkle.  Just after we got to the lodge it started raining buckets.  And it was done raining by the time we were ready to head back to the room.  Rain forests are like that.

We did some laundry by hand and then crashed.  A long, hard, interesting day.