Thursday Part 1

This morning our banda was very lazy. No one wanted to get up and no one definently did not want to be the first one in for a cold shower. I finally decided to brave the shower and it just to painful. I ended up just deciding to dunk my head under the tap and try and wash my hair that was. My poor hair is so tangled, it is so hard to comb through it after an ice shower. Our banda was down one roommate last night, Eileen, because she and Bethan and Fi (the film leader) went back to Ngamba island and slept there for the night so they could record more scenes over there and to get clips of the chimps going to bed and then waking up in the morning and going into the forest. Wish I got to go see that, but maybe I will do that at the end of the trip. Still thinking about canceling the gorilla trek. We are going chimpanzee trekking next week and I am a thousand times more excited about that then the gorilla one. I just think I would rather go on a gorilla trek if I was going to be with someone else so I could share the experience with them. It wouldn’t be the same if I was by myself. Oh I don’t know what I am going to do yet!

After morning porridge (there are rumors someone might actually make something different tomorrow morning) Lucy, Lisa, Jess, Gaynor and I met with David (UWEC’s outreach coordinator) and he drove us to a nearby Muslim community where they are doing wildlife outreach with them. We met some of the elders and young adults there and interviewed them about their views on wildlife and UWEC’s outreach program. Everyone seemed really impressed with the people they talked to , but I guess I just got stuck with the non passionate three. Of the three, two of them barely spoke (except to laugh when I asked them questions about wildlife) and the other one was very hard to understand. They did just start a community garden so that is good and they didn’t have anything negative to say about the local wild primates. They did say they stole their crops sometimes but realized that they were still important and didn’t want them to get hurt, so that is very good. Unfortunatly, they also spoke about having a pet monkey but someone came and took it away from them (luckily!), but I think they would be happy to have another one if they could get one of the local wild ones to “behave properly”. The other girls said the people they talked to were much more involved in conservation and wildlife interests.

After that meeting and the usual handing out of the contacts to them that they all desperately want, we got back in the van and traveled to Nkumba University (just a few miles away). At the Nkumba University David was also involved in working with the University’s Ugandan Wildlife Club. Their club is very impressive there. All the members we talked to were so passionate about conservation and so genuine in everything they said. They think that promoting conservation through music and song has a bigger impact than just trying to give a lecture about it, so they gave us an example of some of the songs they created about conservation. The song was amazing, in fact the African Keepers Association has adapted it and now use it and there theme song for their organization. The group of 5 guys sang it to us and it was amazing. I wish I had my video camera out during that part, but I was busy signing the guestbook (everywhere we go they want us to sign a guestbook).

After singing to us they gave us a tour of their University and the garden UWEC helped them start. We visited a tree that had sap leaking out of it and they scraped it off so we could smell it. It smells very nice and the Africans here actually collect it, let it dry, and then burn it as incense in the home. They also say the burning of it helps rid bad luck and the devil.

We arrived back at camp around 1pm and had lunch with the rest of the group. At that point we heard news from the hospital on Kate’s condition. Kate was suppose to have emergency surgery last night for appendicitis but at the last minute they decided it wasn’t appendicitis. They now think it is just a form of Gastrointronitis (sp?) and that she might get out of the hospital today. (Update: She is now at “The Surgery” getting a cat scan making certain it is not appendicitis. The leaders have gone into town for a meeting and also to go to the hospital and to check on her and Ben).

The afternoon everyone is working in the different bandas on their different projects. Lucy and I are sitting outside under a tree. We are both pretty tired of doing surveys so just trying to talk ourselves into getting back out there for a hour before we leave here. This is our last full day here. Tomorrow we are catching a boat to a local fishing community to see a celebration on wildlife the school kids are doing and to interview people on their views of Ngamba Island (Ngamba Island works with this community a lot helping the women make money buy selling their crafts at Ngamba Island to the tourists who come and see the chimps). Then the next day the truck leaves at 6AM to do the 12 hour drive to Kibale forest. We will be living pretty much in the rain forest for the next two weeks living near wild chimpanzees!!! I just looked up the area they say we are staying and it looks so amazing. I’m really excited. It’s called the Chimp’s nest. Check out their website at www.chimpsnest.com

Tonight, Peter from JGI is going to come by and give the whole group a talk about what JGI Uganda is doing. Peter is such a nice man, he was the man I interviewed a few days back, so I am really happy we will be seeing him again.

Totally random note - Just had a sip of Lucy’s drink “Stoney Tangawizi”. It’s a ginger flavored drink and it literally tastes like ginger snaps in the liquid form. I don’t think I could drink a whole bottle of it, kinda like you can’t eat to many ginger snaps in one sitting.

Will update more after tonights activities...