Day 8 (Tuesday, 3rd March)
Chimpanzee trekking in Kibale Forest
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The best day was arguably left
until the last. While the swamp walk the previous evening was good, this area
is famous for its population of Chimpanzees. Over 1000 are reputed to live in
the forest, with 3 families being habituated, 2 of these for study purposes, and
the third for tourists. That is where we come in, collecting at the forest
reception at 8am for the briefing, and then being allocated to a guide with
only two other intrepid explorers in our particular group. The other group was
led straight from the reception into the forest, but we were driven to another
part to increase the chances of finding the Chimps. The forest here is much
flatter than Bwindi for the Gorillas, so it is time rather than elevation that
would provoke tiredness. And this seemed to threaten. We had been going some
time without a sniff of the quarry, and the 85% success rate seemed to turn
round to focus on the 15% failure rate. Even the guide reported that the other
group were also struggling. By the time we came across them, all we had to show
was a Golden-winged Sunbird and Crested Francolin - birds were also hard to
come across!
However, after we sat for a rest
here, the guides came back with the good news that a Chimp was close by,
although when we got there it was tightly curled in a newly made nest. We
camped out hopefully underneath this for some time, trying to decide whether
views of an outstretched arm and hand counted for a tick, when another appeared
in the canopy. Decent views this time, and the first individual also raised
itself from its slumbers. Even better news was that another guide had found the
main family, so we were frog marched back to the van at reception, and dropped
off just a little further up than the ealier disembarkation. We expected to
optimistically see Chimps in better numbers, but perhaps still in the trees.
Wrong! The first 2 were sat on the ground grooming each other, and as time went
on, we came across more again on the ground. They were totally oblivious to our
(close) presence, and were either flat out resting, or eyeing each other up. 2
youngster topped the bill playing with each other and their mothers. We were allowed the regulation one hour
drinking in this wonderful entertainment, before having to return to the
vehicles.
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