my return to Africa – at the Eco Farm

After we returned from our little excursion to the elephant trench I inspected the Eco Farm to find out about the changes since my last stay.

The first thing that caught my eye when we arrived is the new gate that has been built. The pigs were all gone. Instead the pighouse was temporarily used as a carpentry as Claudia had built two new cottages. As one was built for a friend of Claudia’s who later withdrew, Stefan bought it right away. It’s a nice cottage built on a solid foundation, with brick walls and a traditional grass roof which is way more effective in terms of keeping the outside compared to roofs made of corrugated metal sheets. There’s another unfinished cottage next to the other one. Further up the land Claudia had drilled a borehole for a water pump. While I lived at the farm, we had to get water from the nearest pump which is located at a distance of approximately 1.5 km. It was hard work to pump the water into jerry cans and took around three minutes each. We were able to attach three of them at our bicycle. Depending on the season we needed to go for water several times a day. The drinking water needed to be boiled before use. As they drilled down to the ground water, the water from the new pump doesn’t need to be boiled anymore. That saves a lot of time every day! Claudia allows the neighbouring families to use the pump for free but she had to define opening hours as there were too many people on the farm during the whole day.

What else did I find… Ok, the kitchen… we used to hang shower curtains and plastic sheets to protect the kitchen and ourselves from the heavy rains and winds during rain season. All the constructions never lasted for very long. Currently there’s a curtain made of plastic caps of soda bottles. I don’t know if it really works but it looks nice anyway.

In front of the kitchen you will find a lawn and benches. Then Claudia changed the paths that lead through the garden. I was pretty astonished that the garden was still pretty green even though it was the end of the dry season. I could see a few bunches of banana, papayas, pineapples… still green though but that will change very soon. Then there was another new place with chairs and a table. I guess they were made of bricks and cement.

Down at the green houses I discovered bunches of grass that were used to cover the roofs of the cottages. And then, what a surprise, I found out where all the caps that they made a curtain from stem from. Instead of using tarpaulin to cover the green houese, they built a cover made of plastic bottles on sticks. It looks great and I’m sure it will withstand the rains and wind for a much longer time than the tarpaulins that were pretty much worn down only after three months during the dry season. What a cool idea!

In the garden I only found chili and peperoni that was soon to be ready for harvest. Part of the chili was put on a rust for drying.

The fireplace for burning the garbage was moved from up where the latrine is to a place farther down where the green houses are. The land beyond that place was now entirely prepared for planting maize. At the end of the field Claudia had planted many eucalyptus trees.

In the meantime a sponsor bought the land beyond the eucalyptus trees where a neighbour used to live. The land is currently not in use. There are still a few bandas and other constructions on site, traditional ones, partly destroyed. It’s not yet defined what this land will be used for but who knows, maybe someday tourist will come to this place to spend a night or two in tree houses.

the farm’s entry is now gated

the pig house was temporarily used as a carpentry

Stefans new private cottage

pretty spacious

the other new cottage which is not finished yet

the farms own groundwaterpump (it’s open for free public use)

the ducks are still there

Fancy a puzzle? What is this?

it’s a curtain made of string and soda bottle caps

looks nice from the inside

the paths in the garden were a bit rearranged

banana, papaya and pineapple

in the middle of the garden Claudia had built a resting place

and another one

even though it was the end of the dry season one could still find blooming plants

bunches of grass to cover the roofs

using tarpaulin to cover the greenhouses was not sustainable: new attempt with
old soda bottles on sticks

looks nice from the inside

chili

pepper

dried chili

waste combustion

the farmland in the east is now used in its entirety

eucalyptus trees bordering the eastern farm land

the remains of the last maize harvest

neighbouring kids

a red dragonfly

a sad fact: wherever you go, you’ll find these liquor sacks on the ground

a sponsor bought the land between the Eco Farm and the park

who knows, one day tree houses will be built on that ground with a view to the park land

my return to Africa – visiting the elephant trench

It was a pretty hot night in my banda and I was distracted by rats nesting in my speergrass roof. Unfortunately they’re pretty active during the night. But anyways, I enjoyed listening to the familiar sounds during the night like the ones of the crickets. I got up at sunrise, prepared myself for the day and left my banda to go to the kitchen where the table was already prepared for breakfast. As always, Claudia was already up. I had a cup of coffee and when Stefan joined us she boiled eggs and made toast.

After breakfast we left the farm to visit Alfred down at the elephant trench. I knew the place as I had seen the devastation of a few elephants destroying the harvest of our neighbour in 2014. We also had elephants who entered the Eco Farm but only cracked a few branches of a popo (papaya) tree before it was scared away by fearless Moritz. We then tried to protect the farm with bed linen that we hung around the farm after soaking them in a mixture of chili water and mud. I guess it worked but it was not a very useful solution for protecting a big area. I remember many nights in Africa when farmers protected their harvest by banging sticks on pots and shouting out loud soon after dawn when the elephants left the park and crossed the river towards the farmers fields. The same story in the early morning… It must have been a very frustrating situation for the farmers and I understand that they are not at all friends with the elephants. As more and more farmers complained about the situation the park staff offered to build an elephant trench to prevent the elephants from accessing the fields. Alfred was assigned as the project leader for this.

We soon reached the river, a branch of the river Nile, where the elephants used to cross. The close trench was highly visible just a few meters away. There’s been quite a lot of workers who digging their way through dense, clayey soil. This was hard work, I can tell from my very own hands-on experience. Alfred approached to welcome us on site. He explained how to build a proper elephant trench. It’s got to be seven to eight feet deep and six feet wide. The soil needs to be piled up about 3 to 4 feet behind the trench. That should do. Unfortunately they encountered water after about 5 feet on the left side of the trench, so they could not dig as deep as they had planned to but after a few meters from where they had started they were able to dig to the planned depth. But due to budget restrictions they were only able to continue their work until the end of the week. They would later try to apply for more funds to finish the trench. I hope it’s going to work but I assume that the problem will not be solved by that trench. In the best case it will be moved to some other farmers farther down the river, in the worst case it will not change anything at all. We shall see…

the table was already prepared for breakfast

Claudia boiled some eggs

Swiss napkins…

down at a branch of the river Nile

right here elephants crossed the river to search for food on the fields

the elephant trench, flooded with water at about 5 feet

it’s very hard work to dig as the soil is very dense and clayey

the excavated material is supposed to be piled up behind the trench

Moritz watching the goings-on out of harm’s-way

my return to Africa – travelling back to Eco Farm

There we were sitting in a banda at the New Court View Hotel eating breakfast. Jane later joined us so we could chat a little. Soon a familiar all-terrain vehicle arrived at the hotel. It was Nelson who was going to drive us to the Eco Farm where I had stayed for almost half a year in 2014. I jumped off my seat and went to say welcome to Nelson with whom I had many interesting conversations and who was a superb eagle-eyed Safari guide. I chatted a bit with him before the others arrived as well. We then put our bags into the car, said goodbye to Jane and took off, heading to Chopalwor.

The ride was excellent and I really have to say that the roads became a lot better since 2014! No more potholes and frayed tarmac. This is due to the Chinese who are investing a lot of money in Uganda i.e. they’re  building water power plants and in order to do that they need propper roads. I don’t know about the contracts with the Ugandan government but I hope that it’s a fair deal for both sides.

On the way Claudia asked Nelson to stop to buy a sack of charcoal. When he found a good place he stopped and after a while came back with empty hands. Needless to say he succeeded in buying charcoal. He just came back to drive closer to the place where he could get the sack. The car was already stuffed with luggage so the sack of charcoal needed to be lifted and attached on top of the roof. As the sack was heavy, Nelson asked (actually he forced) ome bystander to help lift the sack and fasten it. After they had finished. After finishing the transaction financially we continued our journey. We soon turned into the dirt road to the Eco Farm right at the new post sign. Then we entered the farm’s ground which was now secured by a gate. I got out and helped unload the car. Then Alito came along, who’d been working at the Eco Farm for a couple of years. He helped us with the charcoal. Then I had to say goodbye to Nelson who invited me to visit him at his home the next day.

Then I went to the main house where Charles slaughtered and prepared a chicken for supper. He was wearing sunglasses which seemed a bit unusual. He then told me that he had an eye-infection and almost lost eye-sight on his right eye. When he took off his sunglasses I could see that his lense was not clear. Poor guy… his doctor told him that the eye-sight might get a bit better but it was most likely to stay like this…

Moritz, the farm dog, whom I had relieved from many ticks during my stay did not recognise me… When Stefan tried to pet him he flattened his ears and started to growl. I decided to wait for a few minutes before I would welcome him. We then sat down for a coffee before we went to our bandas for a siesta. Actually I started to write a couple of pages in my notebook for my blog.
I sprayed myself before I left my banda… Even though it was pretty dry for a while there’s mosquitos flying around in the evening and along with the mosquitos goes Malaria. I was lucky by now, never suffered from it, but – on the other hand – always used mosquito spray and wore long pants and long sleeves at dawn. Prevention helps!

Then I took a walk through the compound. Many memories came back to me during my stroll. Not only have the roads changed, also the farm changed quite a lot. But I’ll tell you later about this.
We all met again at the mainhouse where we met Alfred, who finished supper. He was an old friend of Claudia’s with whom she had worked back in the days when she worked at a park. He still works for the park and has a project just a next to the farm. They’re building an elephant trench to prevent the elephants from destroying the farmer’s fields and harvest. When the food was ready we all sat at the table and enjoyed the chicken, that Charles had prepared along with some local food like matoke and kalo which was very nice. Moritz was begging at the table. He has grown so fat during that year… Some neighbours seem to provide additional food which he cannot refuse to accept.

Alfred told us a bit about his work and invited to visit him at the trench in the morning. We also discussed the orphanage project and private stuff before we went to bed.

it’s always hard to say goodbye

good old Nelson after stowing our bags in the trunk

on our way back home we stopped to buy a sack of charcoal that this young man
helped lifting and attaching on the roof of Nelsons’s car

back at the Eco Farm – my banda on the left Nelson and Alito unloading the car

Charles was preparing supper

Moritz seemed a bit suspicous about the visitors… he would later remember…

my banda in which I had lived for almost half a year at the Eco Farm

Big surprise for Stefan: his brand new house

nice interior design

walk-in closet and a shower (no water though)


we had a coffee before we went to our bandas for a siesta

final preparation for supper
enjoying supper with the poor chicken and local food (matoke and kalo)

Moritz begging… even though he had already had his share and put on quite some
weight since I had left