ROAD TO ENTEBBE

Uganda Log: Sunday 1 November 2009

This morning we ate breakfast at the Guest House: Rwenzori View at 7 am. Nate went to an ATM but the machine “ate” his credit card. He never got it back, nor did he get his 700,000 Ugandan Shillings so I used my old VISA card so that we had shillings to buy gas to get to Entebbe. We discovered that again we were loosing brake fluid and had to jerry-rig another brake fluid cap at the service station where we got gas. The drama never seemed to end.

We pulled out of Fort Portal at 8:35 am and drove for five hours through some heavy rains then headed over to Entebbe via Kampala. The rain let up as we got into Kampala. Check out the cows in the middle of the road as we try to navigate through Kampala to get down to Entebbe.

As we drove aside Lake Victory on our way to the Entebbe Airport, Nate attempts to point our the Air France Flight 139 aircraft that was the target of the 1976 counter-terrorist Raid on Entebbe.

We stopped for a nice buffet at the The Windsor Lake Victoria Hotel in Entebbe. We arrived at the airport and bid farewell to Nate and P.J. who would be staying through until Thursday to finish up some business at Makerere University. We were an hour and a half early at the airport, only to find that the “system” was down and they had to do everything by hand but they promised to hold the plane. We lifted off an hour and a half late and didn't check in to the Millennium Hotel in Dubai until after 2 am. So Erin and I had to sleep quick and for only about 3 hours. But, as on the way there, the accommodations were very nice.

Uganda Log: Monday 2 November 2009

Erin and I flew from Dubai to San Francisco. It was a pretty smooth 16 hour flight. Marjolein, a bio-engineer PhD from the Netherlands who's doing a post-doc at Stanford and working at a gait clinic in Minneapolis, picked us up at the airport. We ordered a pizza , watched the 5th game of the world series, went to bed early, and slept through the night.

Uganda Log: Tuesday 3 November 2009

I took the last leg of my journey from San Jose Airport to O'Hare Field in Chicago, not without some additional drama, but not enough to mention on this blog.

Mary wanted to buy me a fancy camera to take with on this trip, but I told her I wasn't a photographer and if I were to bring a camera that wouldn't fit in my pocket, I wouldn't take it because I didn't want to lug anything extra around with me. So just about all the pictures and video clips (except for the few borrowed from Erin, P.J., and Blackie) were taken with my little Sony Cyber-shot camera. It was enough to capture enough memories to last me a lifetime and to share with all of my friends online.

Finally, I'd like to thank Nate and Erin for inviting me along on this adventure. It was a wonderful opportunity and I enjoyed every minute. My love for them and respect for their research has risen to a new level.

GUEST HOUSE IN FORT PORTAL

Uganda Log: Saturday 31 October 2009

The Guest House: Rwenzori View
This was a very nice stay. Below is a view from my room looking out to the double cabin with P.J.'s room on the right and Nate and Erin's room on the left.

We even had electricity--well for part of the time.

We had a great dinner with other people from all over the world.

These rooms actually had a view of the Rwenzori Mountians which form the boarder between Uganda and the DRC.

There was a great back porch off the dining room where you could read the morning newspaper--the first one I read in a couple of weeks.

And here's the view from the porch.

With a close up of the bush.

KIBALE

Uganda Log: Saturday 31 October 2009

Nate did the research for his PhD here in 1999. We got to see where Nate lived for 11 momths and we saw the research center, library, tool shop, etc. which is all affiliated with the UWA (Uganda Wildlife Authority) and Makerere University, which is located in Kampala.


We took a walk through the forest and saw monkeys and heard chimpanzees but then the rains came quite heavily and we went back to the Guest House where we took our first hot showers in 2 weeks, had a few beers, and a wonderful dinner.



Monkeys in trees are not easy to spot.

A Strangler Tree. See Britannica Online to see why this is such an interesting tree.

This is a very familiar sign for Nate and Erin and anyone else who has been to their house in California. One of these old and battered signs for Kibale National Park hangs on the house facing their back yard.


Watch video:

REST STOP

Uganda Log: Saturday 31 October 2009

Somehow we found a really nice rest stop along the way to Kibale National Park.
It was clean, modern, and had great views.


Large . . .
. . . and small.

P.J., Nate and Jack

P.J., Nate and Erin

We had to drive carefully while going to Kibale to avoid a herd of cattle that were taking up half the road.
See video.

LOTS o' ELEPHANTS

Uganda Log: Saturday 31 October 2009

As we rode along in Queen Elizabeth National Park we noticed that a lot of trees had been knocked over, a sure sign that elephants have been busy in the area.

We saw more elephants than you could shake a tree at.

We were at a point where, if we saw another elephant, we wouldn't even slow down to look at it. "Oh, just another elephant in Africa."

KOBS, VULTURES & BABOONS

Uganda Log: Saturday 31 October 2009

Two Kobs sparring. What else on a beautiful Saturday afternoon.


















A Topi runs across the savannah.



Vulturine Guineafowl click to go to Wikipedia.



Vulture in the roadway.

Lots of big vultures!

They were all gathered in one area. We didn't know why we just hoped it wasn't on our account.

We watched the baboons also cross the road.

ISHASHA

Uganda Log: Friday 30 October 2009

We were able to procure two bandas for the night in Ishasha within the confines of Queen Elizabeth National Park.



There was a cantina on the site where we could enjoy a few warm beers and some type of a spaghetti dinner.























The only light was provided by a lantern which gave off a cozy and comfortable feeling, as did the warm beer.




We also breakfasted at the cantina. The kitchen was right outside the window behind P.J. and is pictured on the right.

ANIMAL SIGHTINGS

Uganda Log: Friday 30 October 2009

After leaving Kihihi with a full tank of gas and a pocket full of Shillings, we headed for a place to spend the night in the Ishasha sector of Queen Elizabeth National Park. We had a few animal sightings on the way.















The Crested Crane is Uganda's national bird and is displayed on their flag.

An Ugandan Kob on the left and Topi on the right. CLICK HERE to go to YouTube hear Nate's "David Attenborough"-esque description of the Kob behavior.

STOPPING IN KIHIHI

Uganda Log: Friday 30 October 2009

We left Buhoma at 4 p.m. and headed off toward Ishasha but we needed to stop in Kihihi to fill our gas tanks and visit the ATM machine. There was spotted the BatwaMobile--what a small world: to think that we would actually meet someone we knew in this little part of the world. Richard, who is part of the Batwa Development Project (BDP) had driven into Kihihi since it had the nearest service station that could replace the broken lug bolts. So the BatwaMobile was back in action.


CLICK HERE to go to YouTube and watch a video of Kihihi which includes an industrious young man who had a business of sharpening machetes.

ARCHERY

Uganda Log: Friday 30 October 2009

Bernard and a couple of women gave us a demonstration in the art of using a very primative bow and arrow. The original arrows were just straight sticks with sharpened points.

















When I was in the Task Force in 1970, equipped with very young eyes, I qualified as an expert marksman during training at Camp Logan military base in Zion, Illinois. However, I had never shot a bow and arrow before. To everyone's amazement, I hit the little duiker antelope target on my first try. All the Batwa jaws dropped and I acted as if it were expected. Thankfully they didn't ask me to do it again.


We thanked our Batwa friends and bid them goodbye.

Today we walked over an hour at high altitude. We met Batwas Bernard and James—both claiming to be in their 80s—and their two women companions. We saw their huts, banda, tree huts, religious ceremony and we were entertained at the banda. We learned to use a bow and arrow and fire sticks. Although we did not see the solo SilverBack who also inhabits this vicinity, we did see evidence that he had been around. Nate and P.J. came back from lasering the forest around 1 pm. We all ate lunch and then stowed the equipment. Afterwords Nate, Erin & I went back to clean up and pack. we left Buhoma at 4 pm heading to Kihihi for gas and the ATM.

FIRE STARTING

Uganda Log: Friday 30 October 2009

We were given an amazing lesson in fire starting by Bernard who, by rubbing two sticks together, was able to light his cigarette in about 30 seconds, with enough flame left over to light his woman's pipe.








These people would make great boy scouts! Watch the videos.