Chimps and Chicks 🙈🙉🙊

Arrived safe and sound from Dubai, Carleen had a few mishaps on the plane (she said her tray was tilted….?), but overall an uneventful trip and smooth entry to Uganda. Entebbe is a “suburb” of the big, bustling capital city Kampala with approximately 80,000 people and is home to their international airport. The population of Uganda is approximately 46 million and has increased by 10 million in the last 10 years because it has one of the most open refugee policies in the world, granting land and work rights, so it’s a major host country to those nearby (DRC, Sudan, Rwanda) fleeing war or political instability. 70–75% of Uganda’s population is rural, relying heavily on subsistence agriculture for food and income.

Checked into The Boma Hotel - a lovely place set in a beautiful garden. Wonderful!

We had one day in Entebbe, so spent the day touring about. First stop was the Entebbe Botanical Gardens, where Tony toured us around this 130 year old garden established by the British. The park is on the shores of Lake Victoria, the largest freshwater lake in Africa and second largest in the world. It is also home to several types of monkeys.

The park is also the setting for the original Tarzan movie filmed in 1942:

We strolled through the weekly Saturday market, that was an experience! I think the locals were fairly surprised to see us there, we definitely didn’t blend in.

On the way to church?

Afterwards we toured Aero Beach, which seems to be the local hang out for the young ones on a Saturday. It’s called Aero Beach because there are several decaying airplanes scattered around the beach which the visitors can walk on, in or examine the inner workings of. It was a bit weird to be honest…

We found Mecca!

The next day our driver, Luke picked us up for our adventure in Uganda:

Then we drove and drove and drove….gave a whole new appreciation of what MAMBA really means! (My sister Tara gave me a heads up on this saying from her African trip in the late 80’s “miles and miles of bloody Africa”) Really really really bad roads and really crazy traffic…

Paradise at Kibale Forest Camp, our next home!

Chimps in Kibale Forest National Park

Today was the day for one of our long awaited treks, the “Chimpanzee habituation experience” and the pictures will speak for themselves, it was incredible! We applied for permits way back in January and it was worth the wait. The habituation program was started in 1992, and the chimps we saw were habituated back then (which means they get used to being in the presence of humans). They are a family of 120 individuals, so there was plenty to see. The four of us had a very knowledgeable guide who was a biologist, two porters and two guards, with guns, (there are elephants and other animals in the park, in addition to the chimpanzees) and we wore masks when close to the chimps for their safety, we wouldn’t want to share any of our germs with them. Chimpanzees have 98% of the same genes as we do, our closest relatives!

We were told we may have to trek up to an hour to see them so we were quite surprised when they were walking right in front of our truck as we were driving to the drop off spot. We got to start viewing right away and we learned so much about the chimps in the five hours we spent with them. They were so comfortable with humans they would walk within a foot of us, they really just carried on with their lives ignoring us for the most part. It was fascinating, their eyes gazing at you just a person would and the dexterity of their “hands” was unbelievable to watch.

The thinker?

Dogs of Uganda - Copa was the resident watchdog at our hotel and it was comforting to have her wondering around. Added to the already wonderful ambience at The Boma Hotel. Her little brother Scampi was a typical puppy, very sharp teeth! ❤️🐶❤️

Next Stop: Queen Elizabeth National Park, hopefully to see tree climbing lions 🦁 🦁🦁!