Finally I got 8 hours of sleep. Fr. JC gave me a sleeping pill last night. I took it at 12.30 and was asleep little after 1. Hopefully it put me on a good sleeping schedule, but I don't have any memories of the night, no sounds, no turning, no dreams. So, I don't know I'd take it again. I did feel a bit drowsy in the morning, but all good after about an hour. We had a good breakfast because we would not be eating till late afternoon, checked out and were on our way a little after noon and to Kibale National park and then over to Kamwenge.
Oh, the road was so dusty. Soon after we left Fort Portal, we were on a plain dirt road. With lots of holes. We were still in the same minivan that we had from day one, and those seats are not meant for potholes! When another vehicle would pass us, and I have no idea what big transportation trucks were doing on that little road, a huge trail of dust would follow it. There was not that much traffic, of course, but every 5 min or so we’d pass someone. We had our windows down for taking pictures and for cool air, but it was getting hard to breathe a few times. Like I said before, the red dust gets into everywhere. 
But, the views were wonderful (that’s why we wanted the windows open). Rolling hills, plantations, banana trees, little villages with goats, chicken and barefoot little children running around. These days the country is also having some local elections, so in those villages we’d see almost the entire village gathered around in front of some house, and a man standing in front of them telling them something (either explaining how to vote, or a candidate). After yesterday’s incident, I was cautious not to be obvious when talking pictures of people. By accident, one man was passing by just as I stuck my hand out with the camera, and he yelled back. I didn’t get his ‘spirit’ on the camera. 
After about 1.5 hours, we arrived at the park. We met fr. Izzy’e brother Greg there, who had the tickets to enter the park. Once there, there were two tour options: $10 for a two hour “nature walk” and a $90 for a 3.5 hour chimp tracking tour. (prices for Ugandans are 1/10th that). There is no guaranty we'd see the chimps on either of those. We opted for the nature walk.
The park is a rain forest, but not as damp as I have imagined it. Tall lushes trees, hanging tree branches, huge butterflies, interesting birds, large red ants, and monkeys. There was a somewhat beaten narrow trail that we were following, but we still had to move branches away with almost every step. We saw dozens and dozens of green, yellow and all other colors butterflies, the size of a palm. After about an hour, the guide pointed out the sounds of chimps not far away. We got off the trail and started heading in that direction. The monkeys would make just a few calls and then be silent or move away, so it took us some time to find them. And there we saw the chimps! There would be 2-3 of them in one spot, and when we moved further, another few. We saw the alpha male, Mutunbu, few mothers with babies who would be most scared. They are about 3-4 feet tall and we would come some 20 ft. away from them. When far enough, they would be just checking us out while doing their (monkey) business. Then they would turn and walk away, or jump to the tree and hop away.
This off the beaten path trail is that second, more expensive tour, for which we didn’t pay, so our tour guide didn’t want the next group that he heard in the distance to see us there. We didn’t see anyone else while on tour, and there was just one other car when we came back. That morning, they had just 2 tours. We were very happy that we got our wish to see the chimps and agreed to go back to the trail. We got off the trail one other time, and saw another mom and the baby. The guide got a good tip for taking us to follow the chimps. We also saw few other monkeys up on the trees while on the trail, like gray-cheek-red-tail-mangabe. Didn’t see any parrots. The trail had some up and down parts, and it was a bit warmer that in town, so we got somewhat sweaty, but it was OK. We were very happy with a successful chimp sighting.
Then we headed back toward Kamwenge, another hour away, again on a dusty road. This is where fr. Issidore is from. The village is smaller than Fort Portal. The roads we were on were dirt roads. We saw few schools, few mud houses, but the rest of them were brick. Half clothed children run toward the street to wave at us. The place where we stayed, Club Afreka, stands out at the end of one of those roads. Cute little round orange huts made of bricks. There are six that are finished, and 2-3 still being constructed. They are all the same size, but some have one and some have two rooms. Our rooms are named by different rivers (mine is Nile). In the middle is a nicely landscaped square. The staff came out to greet us, and all treated us like we were the most important guests ever. We met the manager, the owner, his father, the hostess,… The workers were checking us out, and couple of little kids came to see up close who arrived. They were asking for soccer balls - wish we knew they were so popular here and brought some. The rooms have double beds with netting hanging off of four pillars, a fan (yay!), a night stand, a chair, and a little bathroom. Very simple, but sufficient, and more than I expected, especially when fr. Izzy told us we’ll be ‘ruff-ing it out. :)
We left our bags around 6.30 and were escorted up the hill on few stairs to where the restaurant was. Along those steps there were few other rooms named by mountains: Rwanzory, Alps, Himalayans,… We relaxed over a beer, and then moved under a huge grass-top area to eat. Ours was the only table, setup in the middle, and the food was served in one corner. There was only one light on the side, which we didn’t think about, so by 8 it was quite dark. The food was good, the pineapples for desert so sweet and fresh. And the staff very friendly. They were friendly yet professional enough to give us balance between chatting with us and giving us space to eat.
We opted to not go for a ‘night life’ :) and retired to our quarters. Quick cold shower, but a welcomed shower, fan On (it’s comfortable temp.), some writing, and around 10 a knock on my door: fr. Issidore! We haven’t seen him since last night, he had his own business, and now came to check on us. He hasn’t even been home yet. Others were asleep, so we just chatted for a bit. He was happy. He was home. It’s a big day for him tomorrow and again on Monday.
Wow, we’ve been here just five days, and it seems much longer. That’s what happens when days are so eventful. Not complaining! At. All.
No comments:
Post a Comment