Off to Kibale

Making all my final preparations to leave for Kibale tomorrow morning. I should arrive at Kanyanchu by late afternoon or early evening. I'm enjoying my stay at The Boma in Entebbe. Check it out: http://www.boma.co.ug/
xoxo

Nanyuki -> Nairobi -> Kampala

The next few days are all about travel. Our time at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy has been great! Here are some photos:




And a few more...
































And a few more:

Made it to Ol Pejeta

We made it to Ol Pejeta Conservancy late yesterday afternoon. Today we've had a drive around and met with our collaborators here. Back to Nairobi Friday morning.

Highlights:
Silver backed jackals
elephants
spoonbilled stork
warthogs
chimpanzee sanctuary

Having fun in Kenya

I am headed out to Sweetwaters sanctuary next week after the long holiday weekend. In the mean time, I'm waiting in Nairobi. I've had a chance to visit some interesting places: the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, the Giraffe Center and the Blixen Museum. Today we also took a drive through the biggest slum in Nairobi: Kibera. Quite a contrast with the neighboorhood where we are staying (Karen...after the one and only Karen Blixen).

Looking forward to getting back in the research groove. In the mean time, here are some photos from recent days:

Chage of plans: No Tanzania :( but more Uganda :)

So it looks like our wildlife permits have fallen through in Tanzania. :( So we are on to plan C. The good news is that we have a chance to collect data on another chimpanzee community here at Kibale...and it has 100 individuals. (Kanyanchu). I'm crossing my fingers for Ngogo, too, but not sure if we can get details sorted out in time. An amazing research assistant has joined the team to help out. His name is Timothy and in addition to having a Master's degree, he used to be a warden at Kibale and has done extensive work with surveys relating to conservation and community development. I am so happy to be working with him!

I leave for Nairobi on the 1st and will be in Kenya for just under two weeks. Then I'm back to Uganda. We'll wrap up data collection at Kibale, and then we are hoping to head back to Ngamba Island for a bit. I can't wait to see my friends there again!

Watched an egyptian mongoose stalking red tail monkeys. They were in a mixed group together with red colobus. Once they saw him/her, there was a cacophany of alarm calls, and he had to give up and just sulked off into the forest. Score monkeys!

More from Nairobi! Big hugs all around!

Catching up - Mar 21

Sun has finally come out (sorta), which is nice after cold water showers.
A couple of nights ago, the local villagers (about 1k away from park camp) had a
tiff with a local elephant herd. they took torces (the fire kind) and tried to
chase them out of their gardens screaming and blowing horns at
them and such. Mostly, it pissed the elephants off...and they made
even more noise. The drama of the day in the forest. :)
Otherwise, things are going ok.

I saw an interesting encounter between a red colobus group and a baboon troop yesterday. Despite disparities in body and group size, the red colobus managed to chase of the baboons. This happened literally feet outside my guesthouse window. The red colobus males were dispalying like crazy...vocalizing, jumping up and down on the ground all puffed up and slapping the ground. What courageous little dudes! I suppose if you are willing to take on chimapnzees when they are hunting you down, then a baboon is nothing!

A couple of good guenon shots, too. Hope to post them soon. In the mean time, some more photos from Ngamba!

photos of my journey to Kibale

some recent photos for your enjoyment

All washed up

Some of you may recall that I am completely crazy about having enough underpants in the field. In particular, during my first trip to Ranomafana I did not have enough. That was miserable. On subsequent trips, I brought an unusual amount, but had many challenges drying them (more or less baking them and often melting them) in the rainy seasons. As a result of these experiences, I brought many, many pairs of underwear with me on this trip - though perhaps not enough???

Mango flies lay eggs on drying laundry, which can apprently pass through the skin where development takes place. After about 3 weeks, the adult busts out. Painful. Sounds kind of like a sand flea. Ick. I found out about these horrid little things after spending 2 days trying to get my underpants dry in the so-humid-it's-almost-raining weather at Kibale. Now I have to rewash all my damp undies in boiling water, before I can let them hang dry(ish) and iron them to ensure that there are no surviving eggs. I have exactly 2 clean, dry undies stashed in a ziplock bag. That's 2 more days. Nothing compared to a life time fear of mango flies infiltrating my rear end!

On the other hand, I've seen several primates without even leaving my bungalow: Red colubus, black and white colobus, red tailed monkeys and baboons. Data collection starts today!

Surprise!

Got up in the middle of the night to use the facilities still blurry-
eyed and complete with bed head. Unexpectedly found weird translucent
gecko on toilet paper. Eek. Thankfully, this happened before either
one of us came to any real harm.

Peas porridge hot...

I mentioned that the everyone gets porrdige at night. Here are some shots of me feeding porridge to the two youngest residents, Baron and Afrika.

Saturday is winding down

Today started with thunder, lightning and lots of rain, but the sun has since come out.

I saw Afrika grooming Mawa this afternoon. I also watched Baron play with a tire...he would pick it upa nd hop through the hole in ther center. try to balance on it and roll it around and chase it. Cute video but too big of a file to post.

Check out the sanctuary at www.ngambaisland.org

Here til the 12th :) Hope everyone is well.

xoxo
D

March 4, 2010

Really getting to know the routine at the island. I am able to join the care staff with some of their duties, which was a good thing because I did not have my surveys until today and thus could not begin my work. Tomorrow data collection will begin...

The routine here involves getting up around 6 and then prepping food for the chimpanzee residents. Everyone gets bananas and posho – a local dish made of corn flour. The youngest residents (those who would not yet be weaned in the wild) also get powdered milk. After the food is made, there is a brief staff meeting. Babies are fed and the others take the short journey from their night quarters to the forest feeding area.

After food is delivered, the chimpanzees wander off to the forest and we head back to clean the night quarters. Pretty stinky mess after a night with 44 chimpanzees! Once things are spic and span, there is a break to shower and clean up and then there is a light breakfast. The morning is serious work, at least as far as I am concerned, so I have been hungry and happy to have breakfast! (bread spread with avocado, chapattis or porridge) and coffee.

Not long after breakfast, preparations for the 11AM feeding begin. There is a complex daily schedule of fruits, vegetables and grains that offers great variety and solid nutrition. It's a menu made in heaven as far as I am concerned…it includes passion fruit, avocado, eggplant and other things that I absolutely love like papaya (called paw-paw) and jack fruit (messy, but delicious). Feeding takes more energy than one might imagine…foods are hurled off a feeding platform to the forest feeding area…like pitching baseball to different chimpanzees who are waiting. Order is important because of the hierarchy…and individuals certainly have their favorites. I toss eggplant and cucumbers, and someone will just grunt and nod and wait for me to throw something they like more…jack fruit and pineapple are common favorites. Everyone seems to like avocados and posho, too.

There is a lull in activity midday – which is nice because it's either bloody hot and humid or raining. There's a nice lunch of rice and beans around 1:30 and preparations for the 2:30 chimpanzee feeding begin immediately thereafter. There is coffee and tea around 5…just before Ethe chimpanzees get dinner. The last chimpanzee feeding is around 6 PM. everyone comes back to the night quarters where they get individual servings of millet porridge. Each individual is given a bowl of the porridge, which is a funky purple color. Sometimes bowls are held for babies as they drink the porridge. There is lots of nice nesting material and a plethora of hammocks and platforms where the chimpanzee residents can settle down for a comfortable night of sleep.

(Human) Dinner is about an hour after the last feeding, leaving time to clean up, make calls and socialize. Dinner has been sweet potato, rice or posho with beans and either cooked cabbage or other veggie (I skip the ubiquitous fish…it is an island, so not much of a surprise). Given all the fruit around, it's kinda sad there is no dessert :(

Hope everyone is well :) Miss you. Send email :)
xoxo

March 3, 2010

Just so you know, I am not near the region affected by the deadly
mudslide a couple of days ago (Near Mt Elgon).

I am now at the Ngamba Island chimpanzee sanctuary. I arrived on
Sunday – the weather was beautiful and the lake was perfectly calm.
The boat ride from Entebbe took about 45 minutes. I immediately met
my collaborators here and did rounds with them during the afternoon
and evening.

The facilities here are very nice. Solar power, cell phone coverage,
a proper bed, desk and closet in my small but very comfortable room.
These were things I'd only dreamed of during years in a tent and
bathing in a cold river! I feel like a fairy princess in a castle here
by comparison.

And guess what else? A rec room with a TV!!!!! It can run for an hour
or two at night. Local news is first priority, but football and other
shows come on after. The most hilarious are the dubbed soap operas.
This was familiar from my time in Madagascar. There it was "Marie
Mar," which was a Mexican soap opera dubbed into French. The same
episode was shown before and after the news…the exact same episode…and
folks liked it so much they would watch both showings. (I was often
called Marie Mar on the street because I was blonde) Here, I've seen
"Shades of Sin" an Italian soap opera "dubbed" (and I use that term
loosely) into English by exactly two voice over people…one male and
one female. The other gem is a Filipino soap opera dubbed into
Luganda, a local language. Talk about hilarious. I don't understand
a single word and actually don't have to in order to be entertained.

TGIF

Kampala Latino Club for dinner followed by dancing at Bamboo! The
highlights: "Cassonova" by LaVert, C&C Music Factory and "Rock
Steady." :) My dancing? "Like a mizongo."

Day 2 of administrivia

More permits and fees today. Meh.

Met an amazing dog yesterday named Hope. She lives at USPCA's shelter
called The Haven. She was run over by a 4x4 - twice- as part of a
cruel joke. She managed to survive and eventually started living with
a homeless man and learned to walk on 2 legs because of parapalegia.
When USPCA came to rescue and offer proper vet care, she courageously
defended her human companion, who she thought was in danger. This
despite the cruelty exacted upon her by other people and even though
she was barely able to move.

Hope's rehabilitation has gone unexpectedly well given the extent of
her injuries. She has Bern fitted with a wheelchair and greets USPCA
staff and visitors with enthusiasm.

I put a link to USPCA's website in an earlier post. Check them out
when you can. Big kudos to Dr Alex and the rest of the great team at
USPCA for the great work they do on behalf of animals in Uganda!

Cheers,
Deb

First stop: Uganda

I leave in one week! my very first stop is Uganda. I'm fortunate to be working with the Uganda SPCA while there. They are doing amazing and critical work.

Check them out: http://uspca-uganda.org/index.php

Watch here for updates

I'm setting up this personal blog to share stories, pictures and other updates from my travels during 2010. More to come: I leave for Uganda February 23rd. Watch here or subscribe via RSS