BIRDS AND BUTTERFLIES

(Gorilla Tales Part 5)

Travel Tales Index - Gorilla Tales Index - Uganda Pix - Rwanda Pix - Zanzibar Pix

Fort Portal is centrally located for a number of Ugandan tourist attractions. In Kibale National Park we planned on going Chimp Tracking again. Where we went before (Kaniyo Pabidi), they got about 5 tourists a week. When we arrived in Kabale, there were 15 other tourists and we were asked if we had reservations! We have hit the "touristed" part of Uganda. The experience in Kibale was very different than Kaniyo Pabidi. It was more like "chimp chasing". The guide had us running through the forest and crashing through the undergrowth after the chimps. With all the noise and commotion we were causing, we couldn't see how we would ever get to see the chimps. After about 2 hours, we came upon a fig tree and there were 4 or 5 chimps sitting up there, chomping away. While the experience was a little unusual, it was still exciting to see the chimps moving through the trees. It is amazing how quickly they can climb up or down a tree. You try and get a photo of them in the act and you end up with a picture of the tree and no chimp!

For the afternoon, we went on a "Swamp Walk" at Bigodi Wetland Sanctuary. It's a community project with all the guides coming from the local area and all the proceeds benefiting the community. The walk started out with us seeing a number of monkeys playing in the trees above our heads. As we walked into the marshy areas, there were more butterflies (over 100 species in this park) and birds (over 300 species in this park). We realized how unvaried things are at home when while walking 10 feet here we saw about 10 different kinds of butterflies. Our guide Hillary was probably the best we had on this trip. He knew his birds and plants better than anyone else we have met. He would hear a bird call, tell us what kind of bird it was, show it to us in his bird book and then point our where it was in the nearby tree or bush. We are not birders, but it's a lot of fun when it is made so accessible and you have an expert helping you see and hear them.

Lake Nkuruba, formed from a small volcanic crater was next on our itinerary. As with most places outside the city, there was no running water or electricity. The living was pretty basic. Charcoal fires for cooking and jerry cans of water from the lake. We got the "lakeside cottage" for about $14. It was 50 feet from the lake, all by itself with no other people nearby. There was an outhouse and the shower consisted of a bucket with a shower head coming out of the bottom. You used a rope and pulley to lower the bucket, filled it up with water, raised it and took your shower. The cottage was a nice size with a double bed, two chairs and a table inside and benches on the porch. We spent a lot of time on the benches, sitting and watching the lake (and the one resident hippo) and the various monkeys and birds in the trees just over our heads. On our whole trip, this was probably the best spot for watching monkeys. We sat there and watched a troop of about 20 black and white colobus monkeys as well as a troop of red tailed monkeys. When they jumped from one tree to another, sometimes they made it, other times they missed. We wondered if the monkeys were embarrassed when we laughed at them?!

From Lake Nkuruba, we traveled to Queen Elizabeth National Park, another major attraction in Uganda. The Park includes Lake Albert and a number of channels and rivers. We stayed at a clean, comfortable place with shared baths but for drinks we went to the expensive ($170/night) lodge where we had a great view of the lake and channel. In the distance, we saw herds of elephants along the lake shore and pods of hippos in the water. The next morning, we were up at 6:30am for a game drive. It started out very promising. Just as the sun was rising, we came across a group of elephants including a baby. Then a couple of hippos walked across the road in front of our car. However, the goal of the game drive was to see cats - lions, cheetah, and leopards. We spent about two hours looking and had no luck. Oh, well, next time, I guess.

We had read that Lake Bunyoni, near Kabale was worth a stop, so off we go. One unusual occurrence along the way: we got into a matatu that had 4 empty seats! It stayed this way for about 3/4 of a 2 hour ride. We felt very uncomfortable - something was not right in the world! Ah, finally we start filling up and ended the ride with 20 people in the 15 person matatu - we felt better! Bunyoni was another crater lake, except much larger than Nkuruba - over 20 km long. It was surrounded by lush greenery all along the shores. The place we stayed had a number of little gazeboes overlooking the lake where you could sit and eat breakfast, lunch or dinner. We bought some of the local firewater - waragi, made from millet, mixed in a little lemon soda and sat back and relaxed. (To fully understand a culture, you MUST partake of the local firewater - preferably, in excess!).

After a few days at Lake Bunyoni, we were off to Buhoma and Bwindi Impenetrable Forest to track gorillas - but that is another story...

 

Gorilla Tales Part 4

        

        

Gorilla Tales Part 6

 

all content is copyright © Paul Schneider, 2003.