Chimpanzees in the rain
Trip Start
Unknown
1
9
11
Trip End
Ongoing
Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Itīs not every morning you wake up lost in a zoo. Thatīs going to be todayīs adventure, back to yesterday.
Chimp tracking was the activity for the day. What can I say - very disappointed. Two groups of 4 were tracking - and I was in the one with the bad tracker. He didn seem able to locate the group, just take us to places they sometimes hang out Whereas the other guide heard them and charged off after them. They aparently had an amazing time, surrounded by chimps jumping down from trees, swinging through the trees having small fights etc. . We just wandered around in circles, occassionally seeing a chimp had been there since we were last We wandered back to the road, where our tracker radioed the othr and heard they were in the bush just behind us, about to cross the road which would have been an amazing sight.70 to 80 chimps in broad daylight. So what did he do? drag us charging into the bush, battling vines and other creepers which would wrapping round your legs and even getting caught in your hair (turns out being dragged through a bush forwards is not much better a look than backwards). of couse while we were doing this they crossed the road. Although our time was up, we decded to have one last attempt at locating them on the other side. Finally we caught a glimpse of one in the tree. And then the torrential rain started. We were soaked!
It was a long drive back, depsite having left murchison falls at 6am we didnīt reach Kampala until 7pm. Then Chris and I continued on to Entebbe. We experienced the full horror of Kampala traffic. The 45 minute drive took 3 hours. The car had the engine off more often than on. At 11pm we arrived - and hoped they would let us in - we had booked accomodation in Uganda Wildlife Education Centre. The man on the gate ws a little shocked to see us so late, but gave instructions to our driver and let us in. Driving through a zoo n pitch black is an interesting experience, many a wrong turn to a lion or rhino enclosure was almost made. But we made it, having no idea quite how to get out so decided to skip dinner and go straight to bed.
