December 14th: Chimps

After leaving Bwindi Impenetrable Forest we made our way north to Queen Elizabeth National Park. About 6-7 hours of the trip (the entire way) were what we would consider 4x4 roads. Nevertheless it was still relaxing as we watched for animals. We saw an animal of antelope-variety, a lone male elephant, a baboon, and a hornbill, which is a bird Tom was pretty excited about. But mostly I spent my time peeled on the branches of the fig trees, trying to find a tree lion. Apparently at around 11:00 am they climb into the trees to seek shade and relief from the Savanna sun.

We arrived at the Jacana Lodge which sits on the edge of lake in a forest. In the distance sits a volcano. The lodge and banda (cottage) where we slept was beautiful and probably the nicest place I've ever stayed. We were treated on our second night there to the sounds of chimps across the lake and a visiting hippo at the edge of the lake right underneath our window. I scared it away with all my excitement, though.

We visited the chimps in the national park, nestled in the trees of a gorge (I've forgotten my notes and don't have the name). The gorge was created by a river and had lots of vegetation within it, but savanna grasslands up top. Our guide described the permanent and visiting residents of the gorge; one of the latter being the hippos who walk into the gorge during the day to wade in the river and escape the heat. As we hiked down into the gorge we criss-crossed the hippo trail, which was very cool. Anyway, it took only about 20 minutes to locate the chimps. Our guide explained how to track them, the obvious being by sound and the not so obvious being by fresh pod shells and droppings on the ground, as well as knuckle prints on the ground, created as they move from area to area. The chimps were amazing to watch because we were underneath them and could observe them well. We spent awhile watching Brutis, the 2nd male in charge who put on a good show for us with cries and stomping on the tree. We observed some adolescents playing a mother with her baby, and strangely an adolescent male chimp having sex with his mother. Our guide explained that incest with a group this small and isolated was common, but it was still strange to see! I believe this group was of about 17 chimps. He explained that in areas with several groups, it is typical for a corridor to develop where chimp groups come together to meet, or they just ambush another group and take some of the others. The most exhilarating part of viewing the monkeys was when the head monkey started to charge Tom! He came toward us screaming and shaking the bushes around him, but our guide quickly de-escalated the situation.