Dirks fabulous adventures in Uganda: Chimp tracking at Kibale

After another comfortable night and a very nice breakfast we left the Murchison River Lodge heading towards Kibale. It was a long drive on pretty bad and dusty roads. We stopped in Hoima for lunch where we were supposed to trying some local food, therefore Nelson reserved a table for us at a nice place where they had a lunch buffet with all kinds of local food. Unfortunately we could not eat there as they were “unexpectedly” fully booked because of some governmental workshop that was held there… What to do? – One could see when Nelson was unhappy and he was as it was already the 2nd time during our Safari that there was a problem with a reservation after three days only. Fortunately he knew some other place where we had very nice local food like sweet potato, casava, beans, posho, matoke, Tilapi (local fish) and some kind of spinach. Even though we enjoyed the food Nelson was still annoyed because of that other place. When we continued our journey he was ok again. After a couple of many more potholes and dust clouds we had to get fuel at the petrol station. I wanted to clean some clothes in the lodge so I bought washing powder at the shop. The staff felt very sorry for me as I was covered in red dust all over. I didn’t realise until I had seen myself in a mirror… No worries, a nice shower at the lodge will solve the problem.

As we came closer to that place it became more and more hilly. Then a few raindrops fell that cleared the air from the dust… at least a little. It seemed to have rained there before we arrived. The roads were very slippery and uphill would have been almost impossible without a 4WD. We passed by huge fields where they planted tea and it looked very nice there. If I remember correctly that plantation belonged to an Indian business man. Soon after we had passed this nice place we arrived in Kibale but as we turned into another very bad road we got stuck with the car. Nelson tried everything to overcome the slippery furrow in that street and even the special gear to be used in bad terrain didn’t seem to work. Almost instantly the car became surrounded by a bunch of local people who all exactly knew how to get out of this situation. Most of them just stood in our way as the car drifted from one side to the other when Nelson tried to get past the obstacle. So we asked all of them to go away but they wouldn’t. Some of the guys then tried to push as Nelson maltreated the gas pedal but that was all in vain. Nelson got off the car and locked the special gear manually as it obviously had not worked from the inside et voilà, it worked! And finally we arrived at Kibale Forest Lodge where some very friendly staff gave a welcome. We first shook the dust from our clothes and from the bags and checked in. A very small and super friendly guy carried my heavy bag which made me feel very sorry as it was almost larger than him. At the reception/bar we got a welcome drink and as we stood there sipping that drink, we realised how dirty we were. The staff showed us the Safari tent and asked whether we would like to have some hot water for the shower. Hot water it shall be! Then that same guy who carried my luggage went to get some hot water that they obviously had to boil over a fire and filled it in a tank that was attached on a block and tackle. You wouldn’t believe how much I appreciated that warm shower after that long drive. In the evening we had a nice supper and got to bed early as we had planned to go for a chimp trekking next morning. The lodge was located in the middle of the rain forest and one could hear water drop from the trees throughout the night. It was pleasantly cool in the tent. And how fantastic it was to listen to all these weird sounds of the jungle in the night!

Next morning I woke up and wanted to dress myself with a T-shirt that I had washed the night before but they were almost as wet and smelled a bit funny. I still wore it as I expected to get wet during the chimp trekking anyway. After breakfast we met our guide who was supposed to track and find the chimps and another two guys with machine guns to protect us in case of danger (they explained that we might meet forest elephants during the tracking). We walked a while and soon found ourselves beyond any path in the middle of the jungle but the chimps would not appear even though the tour company had sent trackers in the early morning to find the chimps. On our way we passed big trees with massive roots that the chimps use like drums to communicate with the group and to show off a bi. And we found elephant poo all over the paths.
After a while our guide spotted one chimp sitting on the very top of a big tree eating calmly. This guy was not to leave the tree for the next couple of hours so we soon continued tracking some others. Many bushes, branches and tendrils later we found a group of chimps in the trees that we observed for a while. Then some other tracking group joined us as they had heard by radio that we had spotted chimps. After staring in the trees and taking pictures for some minutes one of the chimps left the tree and soon others followed. So did we. And we had to do it very quickly at times as those chimps move elegantly through the woods. It was somehow strange to chasing chimps through the jungle and almost impossible to taking pictures but it was also definitely fascinating to seeing them in the wild. We followed one or two for a while when suddenly a group of chimps screamed like one knows from TV from somewhere behind us and then they started drumming on the roots. That was pretty impressive and I was glad that there were two guides with us who were able to interpret that situation. It was great to see these chimps in the place where they belong and we were all a bit sad when we had to leave the jungle.

Then we went happily back to the lodge for lunch. Even though I could hardly take any reasonable pictures it was still amazing to seeing these guys in the jungle.

Chimps – check!

tea plantation