IanRRobinson
Well-Known Member
I hate to say it, but with that corner of Uganda bordering a war zone in DRC, I would be far more concerned about people than animals. AK47s deter armed poachers, not elephants, chimps or buffalo.
Hix Does Uganda (Part I) - All But A Shoebill
Wild Chimpanzees never learn their own strength, which the ones in Zoos do and which makes them so dangerous. Obviously habituated groups of wild chimps have largely lost their fear of Man, at least under controlled situations, but they still don't have 'the knowledge'.....
I remember in Gombe how some walked single file along a path and then sat down with their arms on knees and heads resting on their arms and stared adjectly into space, doing absolutely nothing. I've seen exactly the same in zoos where many people seeing that behaviour interpret it as boredom and remonstrate with zoos for keepng them. However, it seems to be universal behaviour- 'down time' in the Chimps' daily life.
I agree 100%, I'm just relaying what they told us. Nobody ever mentioned poachers, even in passing. They probably want to keep that aspect quiet.
Pertinax said:
We saw the same thing too. And sitting in trees.
Hix
IanRRobinson
Well-Known Member
I find it very hard to imagine that animals as psychologically complex as Chimpanzees can be perpetually "content". They must, even in the wild, have periods when they're bored, stressed, irritated, or as you say, just having "down time".
And animals that have been habituated must surely have had thoughts about their strange cousins, who always carry so many odd things around with them, and never seem to really know how to live in the forest. I wonder what those thoughts are?
Day 8 – Wednesday, September 4th
Another (relatively) late start, with breakfast at 7:00am. While we were eating I heard a bird call that could have only come from a parrot; leaving the table and going outside I was just in time to catch a glimpse of a couple of African Grey Parrots flying past. Unfortunately, these were the only wild Greys I was to see on the whole trip, but I didn’t know that at the time and I thought it was a good omen for bird-watching that day. After breakfast we quickly left for Bigodi Wetlands arriving around 8:00. It was sunny this morning, although there was still that annoying thin cloud cover which got darker as the morning progressed.
The Bigodi Wetlands is a protected area of only around four square kilometres – 400m metres wide and 8 kilometres long. At the centre is a large papyrus swamp which is well known for Papyrus Gonolek, a spectacular red, black and yellow bird that is endangered. Unfortunately, it’s also very shy. Also resident in the swamp is the Papyrus Canary and White-winged Warbler, two more rare and shy species that favour papyrus.
But the species Bigodi is most famous for is the Great Blue Turaco. So far I’d seen Eastern Grey Plantain Eaters and Ross’s Turaco, but I was keen to see more, and as I said in my previous post, Great Blues are very colourful. The bird is deep blue all over apart from its chest which is a greeny colour and the vent which has a reddish wash to it. There is a bit of greeny yellow in the tail, and unlike other turacos there is no red in the wing. It has a silly looking little crest of dark blue/black. Its beak is bright yellow with a red tip, looking just like gaudy lipstick. Combine that with the blue body and crest and the bird looks like it should belong to a clown.
Before we left on the walk our Guide – Owen – told us to tuck our trousers into our socks. We had done this yesterday when chimp tracking too. Failing to do this and stepping in the wrong place could lead to an impromptu display of what the locals call the Mzungu-Siafu Dance – a dance that involves no music, no tempo, no rhythm ... and no co-ordination what-so-ever. These seemingly spontaneous performances are extremely entertaining and often involves the dancer voluntarily dropping their trousers. Everyone in the group tucked their pants into their socks (my boots have zips so I was able to go one step better) and so nobody had the ignominy of dancing uncontrollably, despite crossing several large safari ant columns.
The path to the swamp led past farms and fields, and almost immediately we were seeing lots of birds. Owen knew his stuff, and was pointing at little things and rattling off names simultaneously. Some of the early ones were species I had photographed the day before at the Guesthouse but not identified yet, like Grey-headed Sparrows and Black-crowned Waxbills. Early on we also saw Red-tailed Monkeys and Sun Squirrels, and a young L’Hoest Guenon.
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/black-white-mannikin-337283/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/black-headed-weaver-337289/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/veillotts-black-weaver-337290/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/green-coucal-aka-yellowbill-337291/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/vanga-flycatcher-337263/
A few minutes into the walk Owen pricked up his ears to a “... gronk ... gronk ...” sound and said “Turaco”. We tracked the sound to a tree in the swamp, the bird sitting on a branch behind some leaves. Because I knew what I was looking for I could make out its shape quite quickly, even though there was only a few bits visible behind the foliage. But Linda and (I think) Angela were having trouble finding it. Eventually they could see some movement but couldn’t get a clear view of it. That changed a few minutes later when a pair of adults flew into an umbrella like tree next to the path. They were joined by three young birds, and we all got a good close-up look at these weird birds.
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/great-blue-turaco-337287/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/great-blue-turaco-337286/
Walking further along we came to an observation tower which had commanding views over the swamp to the other side, but all we could see was a common heron in a tree. We continued on until we eventually came to the boardwalk which crosses the swamp itself. I looked and listened for the three papyrus specialists, but all I found was a sunbird.
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/observation-tower-337285/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/view-over-bigodi-swamp-337269/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/boardwalk-through-papyrus-swamp-337288/
Coming out of the swamp we followed a path that led alongside the wetlands (but no papyrus) and one of the first things we came across was a group of black-and-white guereza colobus. They were fairly low down in the trees (some were only a metre-and-a-half of the ground) and allowed us to get fairly close, which afforded some good photo opportunities. They were feeding mainly on a plant of the genus Acanthus, which had large thorny leaves. The thorns didn’t seem to bother them at all, and the monkeys appeared to relish the leaves.
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/colobus-337277/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/colobus-337276/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/colobus-337270/
http://www.zoochat.com/1681/acanthion-spp-339011/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/colobus-337275/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/colobus-337272/
A bit further down the track, in a large Cassia tree was a group of Red Colobus. Unlike the Guerezas, these monkeys were high up in the tree, but also feeding on leaves. And there were a few little ones who seemed to enjoy jumping around on their wobbly little legs, which appeared to cause the ladies I was with some consternation.
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/red-colobus-337278/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/red-colobus-337280/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/red-colobus-337281/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/red-colobus-337279/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/red-colobus-337271/
After walking for 20 minutes and not seeing anything much, we suddenly came upon a shaded little grove that was full of birds, and Owen was back to pointing and naming just as fast as they appeared.
“That talkative one is a Little Greenbul ... the one under that big leaf is a White-chinned Prinia ... the little one with no tail is a Green Crombec ... on that branch up the top is a Brown-eared Woodpecker ... the little black one is an Indigobird ... the one with the curved beak is a Green-headed Sunbird ...."
This was great, it saved me having to thumb through the field guide trying to find a correct identification! I wish he could have joined us for the rest of the trip too!
As well as birds and mammals there were a few other things we found, all on the ground. The first was a Giant Snail shell. This was a small one, and it was empty, but large ones are so strong you can drive over them with a truck and they won’t break. Giant snails are enormous and are eaten in many parts of Africa. They have been taken to other parts of the world where they have become accidentally introduced and then become a serious problem. In Fiji they are responsible for the extinction of several species of land snail in the genus Partula, as a result of direct competition. They now occur in much of Southeast Asia and the Philippines, and in the last year or two they have appeared in Florida where they are eating people’s houses.
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/giant-african-snail-shell-339026/
The second invert we saw was a millipede. At the time I was told it was a centipede, and it certainly has that centipede look about it. But I thought it was a millipede because of its legs. However, not familiar with the wildlife in this part of the world, I didn’t really argue the point because inverts are not my forte. But others who have seen my photo now concur it is definitely a millipede, with armour. We also saw a more traditional millipede, large and colourful.
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/centipede-millipede-337284/
The last invert we saw was the Siafu, which is Swahili for ‘biting ant’: the dreaded Safari Ant. Although we had seen them in the forest the previous day, I didn’t get an opportunity to inspect them closely, but now I did. We found about three columns, one was quite large crossing a dusty track and afforded a good look at them.
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/safari-ants-337266/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/safari-ants-337267/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/safari-ant-column-337264/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/safari-ants-ground-level-337265/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/safari-ants-337268/
Safari Ants, also known as Army Ants or Driver Ants, are renowned for killing large animals (including mammals) and can be a hazard for humans if the column decides to march through your house. The soldiers have large very strong and painful pincers which can puncture the skin, and remain attached even after the ant has had its body pulled away. The soldiers act as sentries and set a perimeter for the column, while the workers run quickly through this perimeter.
Fascinated by my first real look at a column I put my compact camera very close to the column for some close-ups. The vibration from footfalls close to the column caused the soldiers to lift their heads high and spread their mandibles. Although my hand was quite close, they never made a move toward me or the camera, because they are blind. One worker did manage to run onto the camera (accidentally) and from there onto my hand; a quick flick and he was gone.
We had all originally thought this walk would last about an hour, maybe 90 minutes, but when we returned to where we started from it was 11:00 - the walk had taken three hours! No wonder we were exhausted; a cold Coke was definitely in order!
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/blue-spotted-wood-dove-337282/
We were returning to the Guesthouse when we saw some monkeys crossing the road in the National Park. They were mangabeys, and because we hadn’t seen them too clearly the day before in the forest, we stopped to take some pictures. There were also Red-tails in the trees, and we seem to have interrupted the troops as they were crossing the road (the mangabeys were running across the road, the Red-tails leaping from a tree overhanging the road to a similar tree on the other side). And while we were focussed on the monkeys we could see, some L’Hoest’s Monkeys ran across the road behind us while our backs were turned, and they disappeared quickly into the bush before we could get any photos.
At the Guesthouse we collected our luggage and then continued on towards our next destination, Queen Elizabeth National Park. It was not a great distance, no more than 200kms, but it still took us a few hours. The sun came out after a while and the mercury went up. We didn’t mind the temperature at first, and then was some picturesque scenery along the way; not far from the Guesthouse are two crater lakes, almost side –by-side, and the road travels between them.
http://www.zoochat.com/1681/crater-lake-339012/
The Bigodi Swamp walk had made us late somewhat, so we decided to eat our packed lunch while on the move and not waste time stopping at a picnic location. And then we wasted time in the town of Kasese. Joseph had stopped to get fuel, but also needed some distilled water for the battery. We went to four different stations before we found one that had battery water.
I had been looking forward to arriving in Kasese because it is the nearest town to the Rwenzori Range – the legendary ‘Mountains of the Moon’. With the third highest mountain in Africa, the Rwenzoris tower over the rest of the countryside, including the neighbouring Virungas in the DRC. They certainly tower over Kasese, not that you would know it unless you were really looking hard; we could barely see the mountains because of the haze. At least, I think it was haze (might have had some smoke too). All we could see, really, was the outline, which was very disappointing.
Some time later we came to a place where we just had to stop: the Equator. There were two circles on either side of the road right on the equator, so like good little tourists we all jumped out of the car for a few photos. We were very close to the National Park, and less than ten minutes later we stopped at a place called the Queen’s Pavilion, a hill with some commanding views all around. We could see Lake Edward and Lake George and the grassland plains, but no game, just a few birds.
http://www.zoochat.com/1681/view-queen-s-pavilion-339013/
Queen Elizabeth National Park (QENP) is the second largest park in Uganda. It’s made up of several different habitat types, and incorporates former game reserves. Lake Edward is a large lake in the northern part of the park, to the east is the smaller Lake George, which feeds into Lake Edward by way of the 30km long Kazinga Channel. The park headquarters is on a peninsula beside the channel where it meets Lake Edward, and the upmarket Mweya Safari Lodge is also on this peninsula. I had really wanted to stay at this lodge because there is also a few bird hides constructed down near the water and I knew it would be good for birdwatching. Unfortunately, we were staying in a lodge about an hours drive away, the Kyambura Game Lodge.
The Kyambura Game Reserve is now a part of QENP, and the Kyambura River flows through a steep, deep gorge to the Kazinga Channel. Not far from the gorge, on the edge of an escarpment overlooking the park, is the Game Lodge where we would stay for the next two nights. And although I had wanted to stay at the Mweya lodge, if I go back to QENP I will not be disappointed to stay at Kyambura again.
The rooms (which are more like cottages) are all separated from each other by dense gardens, but each have great views out over the park. The rooms are spacious, and the furniture rustic, made with local logs. There are even dead tree branches rendered into the walls. My combined shower/bath was almost big enough and deep enough to swim in. Really, REALLY nice accommodation.
We dropped our luggage and then instead of settling in, we went back to the truck and Joseph took us on a game drive. It was around five o’clock at this time, but when we got to the gate to the National Park, the guard told us we could not enter because it was too late, and if we wanted to continue we would need to pay for a night drive. This was disappointing as the sun had not set yet. Joseph, very politely told the guard that he wanted to speak to the head ranger, and despite the guard saying the head ranger was stubborn and would not change his mind, Joseph got out of the car and headed into a nearby banda.
While we waited my attention was caught by some odd little grey birds on the road ahead of us, eventually flying into some trees. They looked a little like South American Icterines, but I later found them in my field guide – Wattled Starlings that were not in their breeding plumage. I also photographed, by the side of the road, what I thought was a rail but I later identified as an African Crake.
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/wattled-starling-339024/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/african-crake-339025/
Joseph returned a few minutes later with the go-ahead from the chief ranger and we drove on into the park. I had learnt that, in the early 1990’s Joseph had worked for eight years for the Ugandan Wildlife Authority, then worked for a few years at the Mweya Lodge before finally joining Churchill Safaris about ten years ago. So I figured the Chief Ranger was either an old friend, or Joseph knew where the skeletons were buried.
I was standing in the car with the roof up when I sighted the bustard. It was good to see a bustard, this one was a Black-bellied Bustard, because I had been told they were very common in Murchison, along with Kori and Denham’s Bustards, but because of the long grass we hadn’t seen any. And now there was one walking around in the weird rocking way they do, about 20 metres away.
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/black-bellied-bustard-339020/
The light had started to deteriorate and it was getting dark. I took a couple of shots of the sun going down behind the Rwenzoris, at a point where the haze wasn’t too bad, but it’s not a very good shot. Bird-wise I was able to photograph a Red-neck Francolin, Crowned Plover, Whydah and Whitebacked Vulture before it became too dark for photography. And in the dark we returned to the Game Lodge.
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/white-backed-vulture-339023/
The restaurant at Kyambura Game Lodge (Kyambura is pronounced Chyam-bura) is an open-air restaurant, near the pool, and during the day has views over the park. While this open-air style is quite appealing it does have its drawbacks – during the day birds fly through the restaurant (a sunbird was making it’s nest in one of the table lamps), but at night bats fly through attracted by all the insects which are attracted by the lights. This was of concern to two of the ladies – Linda because she is squeamish around creepy-crawlies (and she’d been hit by a beetle when we were returning to the lodge, when it fell into the car on her and I had to remove it), and Orangeperson who seemed to attract all the biting insects. This was something that I never really understood; I often went about in a short-sleeved T-shirt, and at night in my room I’d wear no shirt at all, and I only got bitten once or twice the whole time I was away. Orangeperson wore longsleeves and long pants all the time, yet was being bitten several times every day. Insects were biting through her clothes, I believe. She obviously tasted better than I did.
Anyway, we turned off the lantern on our table so the insects would be attracted to other tables. This wouldn’t bother anyone else because we were the only guests staying at the Lodge. We had been the only guests at Pakuba in Murchison, and at the Chimpanzee Guesthouse there had only been one other couple staying there, so we’d been getting lots of attention from the staff wherever we stayed!
Turning off the lantern worked and the number of insects joining us diminished. While waiting for dinner to be brought out I caught sight of something that landed on a deck just outside of the restaurant. It seemed to be spinning around and I had no idea what it was so I excused myself to go and have a look. To my surprise it was the largest beetle I have ever seen. It was on its back and trying to right itself by flapping its wings, but all that did was cause it to spin in circles. I picked it up and it immediately started making a rasping/crying noise. The girls were asking what it was, so I told them before I took it in to show them as I knew the effect it would have if I just walked up and surprised them. Luckily I had my compact camera with me so I took a couple of photos of it on my hand (it covered half my hand) before releasing it. I know Goliath Beetles get bigger than this, but this was still a bloody impressive insect (and we were later joined by other beetles just as big).
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/big-beetle-339019/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/big-beetle-339018/'
The next morning we knew was going to be exhausting, so we all had an early night.
New Birds: African Grey Parrot, Greyheaded Negrobird, Brown-eared Woodpecker, Brown-headed Tchagra, Common Waxbill, Village Indigobird, Dusky Blue F;lycatcher, Green Crombec, Little Greenbul, White-chinned Prinia, Black-and-White Mannikin, Green Coucal, Purpkle-headed Starling, Green-headed Sunbird, Olive-breasted Sunbird, Great Blue Turaco, Vanga Flycatcher, Blue-spotted Wood Dove, White-headed Saw-wing, Wattled Starling, Spot-flanked Barbet, Black-bellied Bustard, Crowned Plover, Red-necked Francolin, African Crake, White-backed Vulture.
New Mammals: L’Hoest’s Monkey, Red Colobus,
New Reptiles: Blue-headed Agama
Hix
Attached photos: Rwenzori Sunset; the three ladies, Joseph and Hix, two Zoochatters representing the Southern and Northern Hemispheres respectively.
Another (relatively) late start, with breakfast at 7:00am. While we were eating I heard a bird call that could have only come from a parrot; leaving the table and going outside I was just in time to catch a glimpse of a couple of African Grey Parrots flying past. Unfortunately, these were the only wild Greys I was to see on the whole trip, but I didn’t know that at the time and I thought it was a good omen for bird-watching that day. After breakfast we quickly left for Bigodi Wetlands arriving around 8:00. It was sunny this morning, although there was still that annoying thin cloud cover which got darker as the morning progressed.
The Bigodi Wetlands is a protected area of only around four square kilometres – 400m metres wide and 8 kilometres long. At the centre is a large papyrus swamp which is well known for Papyrus Gonolek, a spectacular red, black and yellow bird that is endangered. Unfortunately, it’s also very shy. Also resident in the swamp is the Papyrus Canary and White-winged Warbler, two more rare and shy species that favour papyrus.
But the species Bigodi is most famous for is the Great Blue Turaco. So far I’d seen Eastern Grey Plantain Eaters and Ross’s Turaco, but I was keen to see more, and as I said in my previous post, Great Blues are very colourful. The bird is deep blue all over apart from its chest which is a greeny colour and the vent which has a reddish wash to it. There is a bit of greeny yellow in the tail, and unlike other turacos there is no red in the wing. It has a silly looking little crest of dark blue/black. Its beak is bright yellow with a red tip, looking just like gaudy lipstick. Combine that with the blue body and crest and the bird looks like it should belong to a clown.
Before we left on the walk our Guide – Owen – told us to tuck our trousers into our socks. We had done this yesterday when chimp tracking too. Failing to do this and stepping in the wrong place could lead to an impromptu display of what the locals call the Mzungu-Siafu Dance – a dance that involves no music, no tempo, no rhythm ... and no co-ordination what-so-ever. These seemingly spontaneous performances are extremely entertaining and often involves the dancer voluntarily dropping their trousers. Everyone in the group tucked their pants into their socks (my boots have zips so I was able to go one step better) and so nobody had the ignominy of dancing uncontrollably, despite crossing several large safari ant columns.
The path to the swamp led past farms and fields, and almost immediately we were seeing lots of birds. Owen knew his stuff, and was pointing at little things and rattling off names simultaneously. Some of the early ones were species I had photographed the day before at the Guesthouse but not identified yet, like Grey-headed Sparrows and Black-crowned Waxbills. Early on we also saw Red-tailed Monkeys and Sun Squirrels, and a young L’Hoest Guenon.
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/black-white-mannikin-337283/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/black-headed-weaver-337289/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/veillotts-black-weaver-337290/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/green-coucal-aka-yellowbill-337291/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/vanga-flycatcher-337263/
A few minutes into the walk Owen pricked up his ears to a “... gronk ... gronk ...” sound and said “Turaco”. We tracked the sound to a tree in the swamp, the bird sitting on a branch behind some leaves. Because I knew what I was looking for I could make out its shape quite quickly, even though there was only a few bits visible behind the foliage. But Linda and (I think) Angela were having trouble finding it. Eventually they could see some movement but couldn’t get a clear view of it. That changed a few minutes later when a pair of adults flew into an umbrella like tree next to the path. They were joined by three young birds, and we all got a good close-up look at these weird birds.
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/great-blue-turaco-337287/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/great-blue-turaco-337286/
Walking further along we came to an observation tower which had commanding views over the swamp to the other side, but all we could see was a common heron in a tree. We continued on until we eventually came to the boardwalk which crosses the swamp itself. I looked and listened for the three papyrus specialists, but all I found was a sunbird.
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/observation-tower-337285/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/view-over-bigodi-swamp-337269/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/boardwalk-through-papyrus-swamp-337288/
Coming out of the swamp we followed a path that led alongside the wetlands (but no papyrus) and one of the first things we came across was a group of black-and-white guereza colobus. They were fairly low down in the trees (some were only a metre-and-a-half of the ground) and allowed us to get fairly close, which afforded some good photo opportunities. They were feeding mainly on a plant of the genus Acanthus, which had large thorny leaves. The thorns didn’t seem to bother them at all, and the monkeys appeared to relish the leaves.
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/colobus-337277/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/colobus-337276/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/colobus-337270/
http://www.zoochat.com/1681/acanthion-spp-339011/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/colobus-337275/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/colobus-337272/
A bit further down the track, in a large Cassia tree was a group of Red Colobus. Unlike the Guerezas, these monkeys were high up in the tree, but also feeding on leaves. And there were a few little ones who seemed to enjoy jumping around on their wobbly little legs, which appeared to cause the ladies I was with some consternation.
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/red-colobus-337278/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/red-colobus-337280/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/red-colobus-337281/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/red-colobus-337279/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/red-colobus-337271/
After walking for 20 minutes and not seeing anything much, we suddenly came upon a shaded little grove that was full of birds, and Owen was back to pointing and naming just as fast as they appeared.
“That talkative one is a Little Greenbul ... the one under that big leaf is a White-chinned Prinia ... the little one with no tail is a Green Crombec ... on that branch up the top is a Brown-eared Woodpecker ... the little black one is an Indigobird ... the one with the curved beak is a Green-headed Sunbird ...."
This was great, it saved me having to thumb through the field guide trying to find a correct identification! I wish he could have joined us for the rest of the trip too!
As well as birds and mammals there were a few other things we found, all on the ground. The first was a Giant Snail shell. This was a small one, and it was empty, but large ones are so strong you can drive over them with a truck and they won’t break. Giant snails are enormous and are eaten in many parts of Africa. They have been taken to other parts of the world where they have become accidentally introduced and then become a serious problem. In Fiji they are responsible for the extinction of several species of land snail in the genus Partula, as a result of direct competition. They now occur in much of Southeast Asia and the Philippines, and in the last year or two they have appeared in Florida where they are eating people’s houses.
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/giant-african-snail-shell-339026/
The second invert we saw was a millipede. At the time I was told it was a centipede, and it certainly has that centipede look about it. But I thought it was a millipede because of its legs. However, not familiar with the wildlife in this part of the world, I didn’t really argue the point because inverts are not my forte. But others who have seen my photo now concur it is definitely a millipede, with armour. We also saw a more traditional millipede, large and colourful.
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/centipede-millipede-337284/
The last invert we saw was the Siafu, which is Swahili for ‘biting ant’: the dreaded Safari Ant. Although we had seen them in the forest the previous day, I didn’t get an opportunity to inspect them closely, but now I did. We found about three columns, one was quite large crossing a dusty track and afforded a good look at them.
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/safari-ants-337266/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/safari-ants-337267/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/safari-ant-column-337264/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/safari-ants-ground-level-337265/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/safari-ants-337268/
Safari Ants, also known as Army Ants or Driver Ants, are renowned for killing large animals (including mammals) and can be a hazard for humans if the column decides to march through your house. The soldiers have large very strong and painful pincers which can puncture the skin, and remain attached even after the ant has had its body pulled away. The soldiers act as sentries and set a perimeter for the column, while the workers run quickly through this perimeter.
Fascinated by my first real look at a column I put my compact camera very close to the column for some close-ups. The vibration from footfalls close to the column caused the soldiers to lift their heads high and spread their mandibles. Although my hand was quite close, they never made a move toward me or the camera, because they are blind. One worker did manage to run onto the camera (accidentally) and from there onto my hand; a quick flick and he was gone.
We had all originally thought this walk would last about an hour, maybe 90 minutes, but when we returned to where we started from it was 11:00 - the walk had taken three hours! No wonder we were exhausted; a cold Coke was definitely in order!
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/blue-spotted-wood-dove-337282/
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We were returning to the Guesthouse when we saw some monkeys crossing the road in the National Park. They were mangabeys, and because we hadn’t seen them too clearly the day before in the forest, we stopped to take some pictures. There were also Red-tails in the trees, and we seem to have interrupted the troops as they were crossing the road (the mangabeys were running across the road, the Red-tails leaping from a tree overhanging the road to a similar tree on the other side). And while we were focussed on the monkeys we could see, some L’Hoest’s Monkeys ran across the road behind us while our backs were turned, and they disappeared quickly into the bush before we could get any photos.
At the Guesthouse we collected our luggage and then continued on towards our next destination, Queen Elizabeth National Park. It was not a great distance, no more than 200kms, but it still took us a few hours. The sun came out after a while and the mercury went up. We didn’t mind the temperature at first, and then was some picturesque scenery along the way; not far from the Guesthouse are two crater lakes, almost side –by-side, and the road travels between them.
http://www.zoochat.com/1681/crater-lake-339012/
The Bigodi Swamp walk had made us late somewhat, so we decided to eat our packed lunch while on the move and not waste time stopping at a picnic location. And then we wasted time in the town of Kasese. Joseph had stopped to get fuel, but also needed some distilled water for the battery. We went to four different stations before we found one that had battery water.
I had been looking forward to arriving in Kasese because it is the nearest town to the Rwenzori Range – the legendary ‘Mountains of the Moon’. With the third highest mountain in Africa, the Rwenzoris tower over the rest of the countryside, including the neighbouring Virungas in the DRC. They certainly tower over Kasese, not that you would know it unless you were really looking hard; we could barely see the mountains because of the haze. At least, I think it was haze (might have had some smoke too). All we could see, really, was the outline, which was very disappointing.
Some time later we came to a place where we just had to stop: the Equator. There were two circles on either side of the road right on the equator, so like good little tourists we all jumped out of the car for a few photos. We were very close to the National Park, and less than ten minutes later we stopped at a place called the Queen’s Pavilion, a hill with some commanding views all around. We could see Lake Edward and Lake George and the grassland plains, but no game, just a few birds.
http://www.zoochat.com/1681/view-queen-s-pavilion-339013/
Queen Elizabeth National Park (QENP) is the second largest park in Uganda. It’s made up of several different habitat types, and incorporates former game reserves. Lake Edward is a large lake in the northern part of the park, to the east is the smaller Lake George, which feeds into Lake Edward by way of the 30km long Kazinga Channel. The park headquarters is on a peninsula beside the channel where it meets Lake Edward, and the upmarket Mweya Safari Lodge is also on this peninsula. I had really wanted to stay at this lodge because there is also a few bird hides constructed down near the water and I knew it would be good for birdwatching. Unfortunately, we were staying in a lodge about an hours drive away, the Kyambura Game Lodge.
The Kyambura Game Reserve is now a part of QENP, and the Kyambura River flows through a steep, deep gorge to the Kazinga Channel. Not far from the gorge, on the edge of an escarpment overlooking the park, is the Game Lodge where we would stay for the next two nights. And although I had wanted to stay at the Mweya lodge, if I go back to QENP I will not be disappointed to stay at Kyambura again.
The rooms (which are more like cottages) are all separated from each other by dense gardens, but each have great views out over the park. The rooms are spacious, and the furniture rustic, made with local logs. There are even dead tree branches rendered into the walls. My combined shower/bath was almost big enough and deep enough to swim in. Really, REALLY nice accommodation.
We dropped our luggage and then instead of settling in, we went back to the truck and Joseph took us on a game drive. It was around five o’clock at this time, but when we got to the gate to the National Park, the guard told us we could not enter because it was too late, and if we wanted to continue we would need to pay for a night drive. This was disappointing as the sun had not set yet. Joseph, very politely told the guard that he wanted to speak to the head ranger, and despite the guard saying the head ranger was stubborn and would not change his mind, Joseph got out of the car and headed into a nearby banda.
While we waited my attention was caught by some odd little grey birds on the road ahead of us, eventually flying into some trees. They looked a little like South American Icterines, but I later found them in my field guide – Wattled Starlings that were not in their breeding plumage. I also photographed, by the side of the road, what I thought was a rail but I later identified as an African Crake.
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/wattled-starling-339024/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/african-crake-339025/
Joseph returned a few minutes later with the go-ahead from the chief ranger and we drove on into the park. I had learnt that, in the early 1990’s Joseph had worked for eight years for the Ugandan Wildlife Authority, then worked for a few years at the Mweya Lodge before finally joining Churchill Safaris about ten years ago. So I figured the Chief Ranger was either an old friend, or Joseph knew where the skeletons were buried.
I was standing in the car with the roof up when I sighted the bustard. It was good to see a bustard, this one was a Black-bellied Bustard, because I had been told they were very common in Murchison, along with Kori and Denham’s Bustards, but because of the long grass we hadn’t seen any. And now there was one walking around in the weird rocking way they do, about 20 metres away.
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/black-bellied-bustard-339020/
The light had started to deteriorate and it was getting dark. I took a couple of shots of the sun going down behind the Rwenzoris, at a point where the haze wasn’t too bad, but it’s not a very good shot. Bird-wise I was able to photograph a Red-neck Francolin, Crowned Plover, Whydah and Whitebacked Vulture before it became too dark for photography. And in the dark we returned to the Game Lodge.
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/white-backed-vulture-339023/
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The restaurant at Kyambura Game Lodge (Kyambura is pronounced Chyam-bura) is an open-air restaurant, near the pool, and during the day has views over the park. While this open-air style is quite appealing it does have its drawbacks – during the day birds fly through the restaurant (a sunbird was making it’s nest in one of the table lamps), but at night bats fly through attracted by all the insects which are attracted by the lights. This was of concern to two of the ladies – Linda because she is squeamish around creepy-crawlies (and she’d been hit by a beetle when we were returning to the lodge, when it fell into the car on her and I had to remove it), and Orangeperson who seemed to attract all the biting insects. This was something that I never really understood; I often went about in a short-sleeved T-shirt, and at night in my room I’d wear no shirt at all, and I only got bitten once or twice the whole time I was away. Orangeperson wore longsleeves and long pants all the time, yet was being bitten several times every day. Insects were biting through her clothes, I believe. She obviously tasted better than I did.
Anyway, we turned off the lantern on our table so the insects would be attracted to other tables. This wouldn’t bother anyone else because we were the only guests staying at the Lodge. We had been the only guests at Pakuba in Murchison, and at the Chimpanzee Guesthouse there had only been one other couple staying there, so we’d been getting lots of attention from the staff wherever we stayed!
Turning off the lantern worked and the number of insects joining us diminished. While waiting for dinner to be brought out I caught sight of something that landed on a deck just outside of the restaurant. It seemed to be spinning around and I had no idea what it was so I excused myself to go and have a look. To my surprise it was the largest beetle I have ever seen. It was on its back and trying to right itself by flapping its wings, but all that did was cause it to spin in circles. I picked it up and it immediately started making a rasping/crying noise. The girls were asking what it was, so I told them before I took it in to show them as I knew the effect it would have if I just walked up and surprised them. Luckily I had my compact camera with me so I took a couple of photos of it on my hand (it covered half my hand) before releasing it. I know Goliath Beetles get bigger than this, but this was still a bloody impressive insect (and we were later joined by other beetles just as big).
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/big-beetle-339019/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/big-beetle-339018/'
The next morning we knew was going to be exhausting, so we all had an early night.
New Birds: African Grey Parrot, Greyheaded Negrobird, Brown-eared Woodpecker, Brown-headed Tchagra, Common Waxbill, Village Indigobird, Dusky Blue F;lycatcher, Green Crombec, Little Greenbul, White-chinned Prinia, Black-and-White Mannikin, Green Coucal, Purpkle-headed Starling, Green-headed Sunbird, Olive-breasted Sunbird, Great Blue Turaco, Vanga Flycatcher, Blue-spotted Wood Dove, White-headed Saw-wing, Wattled Starling, Spot-flanked Barbet, Black-bellied Bustard, Crowned Plover, Red-necked Francolin, African Crake, White-backed Vulture.
New Mammals: L’Hoest’s Monkey, Red Colobus,
New Reptiles: Blue-headed Agama
Hix
Attached photos: Rwenzori Sunset; the three ladies, Joseph and Hix, two Zoochatters representing the Southern and Northern Hemispheres respectively.
Attachments
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The accommodation was really great and Joseph was a fantastic guide. Here are some pics from the Kyambura Game Lodge.
1. The Lodge as seen from the main road.
2. My cottage
3. My front porch
4. Cottage interior
5. Cottage Interior
6. Cottage interior and view
1. The Lodge as seen from the main road.
2. My cottage
3. My front porch
4. Cottage interior
5. Cottage Interior
6. Cottage interior and view
Attachments
Hix;712189 I'll try and get Day 8 written and up in the next day or two (Gorillas are Day 12). :p Hix[/QUOTE said:Hi Hix,
Absoloutley enjoying every step/post of your journey, and trying to be patient while waiting for you to share your gorilla experience.......Since we have met l feel that much more involved in your posts as l can picture and hear you as l read your posts,
So with the best of intentions l say COME ON! Tell us about the gorillas LOL
Was it worth the long trek?
Let's see the pictures,
Did you feel a connection to them
Did u feel safe in the area?
What company did you go with
Was it expensive? I have heard $500 US
That's just the permit regardless of which company you go with!
We should do! It was a great place for a meet-up!
zooman said:
- It was worth the long trek (to Africa) and the relatively short trek on the day.
- Pictures coming soon.
- Ummm.....can't answer that one.
- Felt completely safe throughout Uganda, although when I was alone at the start of my trip I did feel cautious and kept alert.
- The company was Churchill Safaris.
- The gorillas trekking permit is currently USD$500 per person per day. This is the fee imposed by the Ugandan Wildlife Authority (their equivalent of our NPWS) and not the tour operators. On January 1 it goes up to USD$650. (Rwanda currently charges USD$750). And there are no guarantees of actually seeing gorillas. The entire safari - including the gorilla permit, chimp tracking permits, boat trips, park entry costs etc - cost me AUD$4276.87, but had I payed a month earlier (before the Aussie Dollar dropped, it would have been around $3900). This doesn't include the extra two days at the beginning and another two days at the end of the safari, nor does it include extras we asked for like night walks and night game drives, and a boat ride at Lake Mburo. Nor does it include tips.
Hix
Tipping was mostly for rangers and guides in the parks. We worked on UGX 20,000 each. At the end of the tour we each gave a big tip to Joseph in USD, based on what was recommended. WE were paying full board in all the places we stayed, so tipping waiters etc. was not necessary.
I assume, your first failed attempt to enter the Queen Elizabeth Park was rather due to the guard trying to get a bribe.
While we were driving through the park we came across a car with a breakdown.
Our driver pulled aside, all wheels on the grass, to offer help.
Only moments later some rangers stopped demanding money from him -as punishment- for leaving the track.
As there were heated arguments without end, loosing precious time, I proposed to pay the extra fee. But the driver firmly rejected it, as it would give the wrong signal. We didn't pay in the end.
I would have prefered to meet the bats at dinner time: I ended up in a cabin full of bats, moving with incredible speed above my bed. Not knowing at that time how infectious they can be, all I could do was to pull the sheet over my head and fall asleep.
While we were driving through the park we came across a car with a breakdown.
Our driver pulled aside, all wheels on the grass, to offer help.
Only moments later some rangers stopped demanding money from him -as punishment- for leaving the track.
As there were heated arguments without end, loosing precious time, I proposed to pay the extra fee. But the driver firmly rejected it, as it would give the wrong signal. We didn't pay in the end.
I would have prefered to meet the bats at dinner time: I ended up in a cabin full of bats, moving with incredible speed above my bed. Not knowing at that time how infectious they can be, all I could do was to pull the sheet over my head and fall asleep.
Day 9 – Thursday, 5th September
Kyambura Gorge is another chimp trekking site, and it’s only a 15 minute drive from the lodge. We were there at 8:00am, at Fig Tree Camp, for the briefing where we met our ranger/guide Godfrey. As well as the four of us (and Godfrey) there were five other people – a young man from the UK, the Americans we had seen at Kibale, and another couple that were initially of indeterminate origin. I was a little disappointed to see the Americans again, because the husband had brought his tripod again (which was ungainly and in Kibale often got caught on vegetation), and because he had no bush etiquette – when he walked through the bush he would push a branch out of the way and let it fling back into the face of whoever was behind him. In Kibale, when I was behind him at one point, he gingerly moved a thorny branch out of the way of his face and remarked to himself “That’s a nasty one” before letting it fly back towards my face. And toward the end of the Kibale trek he wasn’t walking through the forest, he was literally plodding. His tripod was collapsible, but he carries it fully extended so it’s ready to use at a moment’s notice. And he had his video camera too.
The couple of indeterminate origin were Caucasian, but not British, American or Australian – I could tell that by looking at them. To me, they looked Continental European. The male was unshaven, had his shirt untucked and unbuttoned half-way down his chest, and overall looked bedraggled. He had the look of someone who wasn’t coping with the heat and humidity of Africa. This was in contrast to his wife who was quite presentable. Before the briefing they were both smoking, and I can’t remember seeing anybody else in Uganda smoking which is why it was noticeable to me at the time. During the briefing, they seemed distracted, like they knew it all and weren’t overly interested in what was being said. I know this is a stereotype but I got the impression they were French, and this was confirmed when they spoke.
Godfrey explained to us what we would be doing that morning, but also pointed out that the chimps in the Gorge were “like to be tricky” and might be hard to find. He also explained the meaning of the word Kyambura (pronounced ‘Chambura’, and previously it was written this way as well). Originally there was the village of Kyambura, the river ran through the village, so they called it the Kyambura River. The river then flowed through the Gorge, so they called it the Kyambura Gorge. It flows right through the Gorge and empties into the Kazinga Channel (which presumably had already been named). The word “kyambura” itself, in the local language, means something that had been lost, or taken, and cannot be found. The example Godfrey used:
“If you go down to the river to wash your clothes, and you get home and find you are missing a shirt, you go back to the river and look for the shirt. You look and you look but you can’t find it. Then you say ‘kyambura !’ because you can’t find it.” And he shrugged his shoulders.
http://www.zoochat.com/1681/kyambura-gorge-339235/
After the briefing we drove about a kilometre down the road next to the Gorge to get to the path that would take us into the Gorge itself (the Gorge is sixteen kilometres long and there are several entry/exit points) . As you can see from the photos, the side of the Gorge are very steep, and our entry was down an almost vertical descent, carefully stepping down on rocks and well-worn ‘steps’ that had been made in the ground. It was slow going, but there were no accidents and we all reached the floor of the Gorge safely.
http://www.zoochat.com/1681/climbing-down-into-gorge-339232/
http://www.zoochat.com/1681/climbing-down-into-gorge-339233/
Unlike the rest of QENP up top, the vegetation in the Gorge was a magnificent and tall forest, similar to Kibale, but not as dense. I got the impression the rainfall here was different too as Kibale appeared to be more of a rainforest. However, it was overcast when I visited Kibale, and the sun was shining brightly (and hotly) in Kyambura, so that might have skewed my views slightly.
http://www.zoochat.com/1681/forest-bottom-gorge-339234/
Walking through this forest was a wonderful experience with the sun shining through the canopy here and there and although it had been hot up top, it was noticeably cooler at the bottom of the gorge. The floor of the gorge is probably only 200 metres wide, and in the middle of it flows the Kyambura River, twenty to thirty metres wide. We followed a path alongside the river heading south and although there wasn’t too much in the way of birdlife, there was other things to look at. The muddy waters of the river were scenic, there were tent spiders that had completely covered a large shrub in their communal web (which caught the attention of members of our group who hadn’t seen this sort of thing before), millipedes, dung beetles, and old chimp nests in the trees.
http://www.zoochat.com/1681/kyambura-river-339237/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/millipede-339246/
For most of this trip I carried a sling – a bag made by Lowe for cameras and lenses that I found very comfortable to carry – and while climbing into the gorge I had put the camera away so it wouldn’t swing around and get in the way (or get damaged). When we reached the floor of the Gorge I took the camera out, the young British man did the same, as did the American, and the Frenchman who was carrying a rather large camerabag and removed a camera with a very large lens. Despite my Canon having a 70-300mm zoom, it was the compact camera that I used mostly here because I needed the wide angle to capture the beauty of the forest.
After walking for about 20 minutes (a kilometre or so) we came to the end of the trail. So we turned around and headed back the way we came. We were almost at our starting point when some of us heard chimps hooting. It wasn’t sustained, probably only half a dozen short hoots, muffled by the forest, by coming from behind us. We walked back a couple of hundred metres to where a long-dead tree had fallen across the river.
“The chimps use this as a bridge” said Godfrey “and they are on the other side. We will cross over it too.”
“Cool! “ I thought, a bit of adventure. I had done a similar thing more than 25 years ago in New Guinea and I was up for challenge. However, it appeared that Godfrey and I were the only ones who felt this way. The three ladies didn’t want to attempt it, and this didn’t surprise me, as there was a real risk that one of them would fall. The Americans weren’t keen on the idea either. The young Brit was quiet about it, but I think he would have given it a go. But it was the Frenchman’s reaction that decided what would happen. When Godfrey said we would cross over on the fallen tree, before anybody else had time to say anything the Frenchman blurted:
“NO!! NO!! ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!”
He didn’t yell it, but he was loud and forceful, and clearly upset by the idea. There was no doubt in anyone’s mind that he would not be setting foot anywhere near the fallen tree. The rest of the group expressed their uncomfortableness with the idea, but in a much quieter and more polite fashion. “We have cameras” was the main argument, and a very valid one at that; the Frenchman’s camera and lens looked more expensive than mine and Orangeperson’s combined. Although he wasn’t as loud as his initial outburst, he was still adamant that he would not be crossing the tree, and seemed offended that anyone would suggest he do this. He wanted a real bridge. Godfrey offered to carry all camerabags and equipment over for everyone, and to help anyone who needed it, but this offer did little to alleviate the fear of falling in the river that I guess many of them had (again, a very valid concern). So Godfrey suggested we wait where we were while he went over and checked out the trail to see if he could find the chimps. This was agreed to by all and Godfrey climbed onto the tree. First he straddled it and moved forward by using his hands to lift himself and move forward. When he reached the middle he slowly stood up on the tree and carefully walked to the other side. It didn’t help his case that he was shaking a little when he stood up and walked over, because everybody saw this and it didn’t inspire confidence, although I was still happy to give it a go. But I didn’t like the idea of straddling the tree, because it would take too long to cross, and standing up in the middle is a tricky balancing act. I would have walked the whole way. However, there were two trunks at our end that would have made it difficult to walk initially, which is why Godfrey straddled to start with. And he had recommended that if we did cross, we all straddle the full length.
http://www.zoochat.com/1681/crossing-river-pt-1-a-339238/
Godfrey was gone for almost ten minutes. During that time the French couple muttered away softly to each other and although quiet, his tone was still the same. The rest of the group expressed their concerns for their cameras, or for their propensity to fall.
When Godfrey returned he waited until he was off the tree to tell us he hadn’t found the chimps.
“Godfrey returns .....no chimps” the American intoned. “Which makes almost everybody very happy” I added and, looking around, I saw he had his video camera out again and I had just contributed to his commentary.
Back at the entry point we started climbing the escarpment to the top. It was tough going, and the top part wasn’t shaded by the trees so we were in full sun. I reached the top before everybody else, hot and sweaty, and had a drink of water from the car while I waited for the others. Godfrey decided we would try another location so we drove a few more kilometres down the road. Climbing down into the gorge was just as steep as the previous one, and the bottom was about the same too. Looking around I noticed our group was smaller.
“Where are the French couple?” I asked.
“They didn’t want to do this, they went back to their hotel” I was told.
“They gave up” I thought, “how very French.”
In fairness, the Frenchman certainly did not appear to be coping with the heat; after climbing out of the gorge I noticed his shirt, open even further, was soaked in sweat. They may have also had other commitments, other places they had to be (like the swimming pool).
This second trek was much longer as we had a longer trail to follow and we spent about an hour and half in the gorge this time. We crossed the river to the other side on a bridge that consisted of two saplings across the river with wooden slats nailed crosswise on top of them providing a two-foot wide , flat surface to walk across (although it wasn’t level, the last part was at a steepish angle). There was no railing or handholds but everyone traversed it without incident. We later crossed back on a another bridge - this had a thin log across the river, with wooden slats nailed lengthways along it creating a footbridge about a foot wide, but there were uprights nailed to the side to support a rope railing/handhold.
http://www.zoochat.com/1681/crossing-river-pt-2-a-339239/
But we saw no chimps.
We did see, however, Red-tailed Monkeys, Ross’s Turaco, Black-and-White Casqued Hornbill, and a young African Fish Eagle perched over the river. In the river were some hippos (venturing up from the Kazinga Channel) and although we didn’t see any live ones, we found some elephant bones next to the river. We also found reasonably recent elephant and buffalo dung (by recent I mean a few days old).
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/hippo-kyambura-river-339245/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/african-fish-eagle-immature-339244/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/elephant-bones-339242/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/elephant-skull-339243/
At one point we were walking along the trail, Godfrey in the lead and me behind him, when he suddenly stopped and walked backwards into me. He didn’t stop, think, and then walk backwards; he was walking forwards and just reversed suddenly almost without stopping, like you would if you suddenly felt a spiderweb on your face. I figured the only thing that would cause a guide to do this would be something very dangerous, so I looked down the path for an elephant, buffalo, lion or even hippo, but saw nothing in the distance. Then a saw a snake, couple of metres in front of my feet. It was about a metre long, very slender, and bright green with a black stripe through the eye. I made some onomatopoeic noise to express my delight, and may have even said “Cool!” as I pointed my camera at it. I wanted to get a photo before the others arrived in case they scared it off. It looked like a tree snake and could probably move like quicksilver.
While looking through the camera and not immediately recognising the species I asked Godfrey “What is it?”
“A snake” was the reply.
“Yes, I’d guessed that much” I laughed, “but do you know which species?”
“A Green Snake” he answered.
To me (and I imagine most ZooChatters), that’s like asking someone what kind of dog they have and being told ‘a black one’.
A number of the snakes in Uganda are a bright green, especially those that live in the trees, and although most of them are called ‘green snake’, I wasn’t convinced this was the actual species name, or a name Godfrey had just made up because it was appropriate. By this time the others had arrived, and asked the same question, and Godfrey again said ‘green snake’.
Looking through the lens I was certain it wasn’t a mamba as the head shape was wrong and it didn’t have the mamba’s ‘smile’. I was fairly certain it was a colubrid, and equally as certain that it was either non-venomous or not considered to be dangerous to man. BUT – I couldn’t rule out the small possibility that it might be a boomslang. Or another highly venomous species. We were in a National Park, so catching it was not permitted, but I photographed it with both my cameras and with my compact I can get very close using the macro function. The snake was alert, but not stressed and I held the camera close enough to be safe, even though I was within striking distance. However, this was too close for Godfrey’s comfort: “Too close! Too close!”. So I quickly took just one close-up and moved back.
The snake was on the side of the path, half in the bushes. When we had all taken our photos Godfrey wanted it well off the path before the others passed so he moved it along – by throwing a large stick on it. I was not too impressed for a number of reasons – Godfrey works for the Ugandan Wildlife Authority; the snake had shown no aggressive or unsociable behaviour; and it had graciously posed for our cameras. However, many people die from snakebite in Uganda every year as the country is home to several species of mambas, cobras, spitting cobras, vipers and adders and hospitals are few and far between, and not of the standard you get in the Western World. There are very few herpetologists in the country and most people grow up fearing snakes, and passing that fear onto their children. So I can’t really blame Godfrey for a small indiscretion; the stick didn’t harm the snake in anyway, it was the act of throwing something that did not impress. At least he didn’t kill it, which is what most Australians would try and do.
When I was photographing it I remember thinking the black eye stripe might be diagnostic; then again, it might just be a regional variation in the pattern of a diversely coloured species. However when I got back to the lodge and checked my book I found the eyestripe is diagnostic – the species is the Emerald Snake (Hapsidophrys smaragdina), a harmless colubrid.
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/emerald-snake-339248/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/emerald-snake-339247/
The girls had been talking to the young British man, and it turns out he had already been trekking with the Mountain Gorillas, in Rwanda. As we were climbing back up the exhausting escarpment, I asked him if trekking for the gorillas was like this.
“Yes”, he answered, “except muddy and slippery”
We climbed out of the Gorge a few kilometres from where we went in so we had to radio the cars to come and get us. As I climbed out, on one of the last steps out of the escarpment, I saw what looked to be a very large white corn kernel. I picked it up, expecting it to be hard but found it only to be firm. It had some brown markings on the ends and on the sides. I thought it might have been a gorged tick (in Australia Paralysis ticks are the same whitish colour) but I didn’t have my glasses with me and it seemed way too big to be a tick. I showed it to Godfrey.
“Cattle Tick” he said.
So I took a photo of it because it was so big. It was the size of the first joint of my thumb. What puzzles me is how it got to where it was. There are no cattle around for miles (that I had seen), so it probably had been feeding on an antelope. But it was on the steepest part of the escarpment, and not even a duiker would have tried negotiating that incline. A klipspringer could, but they aren’t found in this part of Uganda. The mystery remains.
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/tick-339249/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/tick-339250/
We thanked Godfrey and all gave him the standard tip, and he apologised because we hadn’t seen the chimps. I looked him square in the eye, shrugged my shoulders and said “kyambura”. He looked at me with a blank look on his face for a split second before it sunk in, and then he had a good laugh.
http://www.zoochat.com/1681/kyambura-gorge-339236/
Back at the Lodge we had some time before lunch, so Orangeperson, Angela and I went for a swim in the pool. This was the first place we’d stayed that had a pool, and we’d brought out bathers so we figured we might as well use them. And we were all hot and sweaty too. Despite the temptation, we refrained from putting our heads beneath the surface, just in case there was some microscopic organism waiting to infect our ears, nose or eyes. This is probably a side-effect of the conditioning everyone receives about freshwater in Africa – don’t drink tap water anywhere, even from the best hotels in Kampala, because it’s not safe; don’t swim in the freshwater lakes and rivers because of bilharzia (or schistosomiasis, caused by a fluke). The pool was chlorinated so we should have been OK, but we didn’t chance it. While in the pool I noticed a lot of birds in the gardens around the pool, so after I’d had a shower I returned with my camera and photographed a Variable Sunbird male feeding on Lantana flowers, some Speckled Mousebirds and a pair of Red-billed Firefinches that were on one of the steps into the swimming pool, drinking the water. Nearby there were also some Blue-headed Tree Agamas, spectacular lizards sitting in some of the low trees and on the ground.
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/variable-sunbird-339969/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/baglafecht-weaver-339971/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/speckled-mousebird-339966/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/red-billed-firefinch-339965/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/blue-headed-tree-agama-339961/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/blue-headed-tree-agama-339962/
After lunch we headed out again, this time for the Kazinga Channel, the 50 km long river-like body of water that connect Lake George to Lake Edward. The Channel supports a large amount of birdlife and there are daily 2 hour boat-trips leaving from just below Mweya. We arrived early and while Joseph organised our tickets we had a quick look around the Visitor’s Centre which wasn’t all that impressive. They had some stuffed animals that were pretty bad, and the lions looked awful. The mane of one appeared to have fallen out and had been replaced with string.
My idea of the Mweya Peninsula had been a small peninsula, maybe a kilometre long and half as wide, and a few metres above the water level. Fairly easy to walk around. In reality, the peninsula is much larger, about four kilometres long and 2 kilometres wide, and the neck of the peninsula is around 100 metres above the shoreline.
Joseph had found a friend, who happened to be the Captain of the boat, so we drove him down to the dock. Otherwise I think he would have been walking there and although it wasn’t too far, it was very hot and he was in full uniform (dark green, long pants, long-sleeved shirt etc).
On the boat we could see the wildlife on the other side of the channel – a herd of elephants walking along the shoreline, an even larger herd of buffalo lying down either on the hard ground or in mud, and black shapes poking out of the water which we knew to be hippos. The channel is around 500 metres wide for most of its length, and we crossed over immediately, then headed towards Lake Edward for around 4-5 kilometres before crossing back to the Mweya side and heading back to the dock.
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/elephants-339934/
Upon reaching the opposite side the elephants were in the water and were walking around a headland that was a few metres high, but as we got closer they panicked and started to rush back along the shallows to a point where they could get out of the water. It was quite amusing to see elephants inadvertently poking the elephant in front in the bum with their tusks in their hurry to get out. Over the cruise, which took about 2 hours, we saw many elephants, but didn’t get as close to any as we did to those.
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/elephant-339935/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/elephant-339936/
As I mentioned, there were also a lot of buffalo both here and further along the channel, and they were accompanied by their usual birdlife – cattle egrets and yellow-billed oxpeckers. Other birds at this first site included Egyptian Geese, Yellow-billed Stork, Marabou, Sacred and Hadada Ibis, and Spurwing Plover (or Lapwing, if you prefer).
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/buffalo-calf-339924/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/buffalo-339926/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/yellow-billed-storks-339955/
Coming to some reeds we also saw African Jacana and plenty of hippos including calves, and a very pink adult hippo. And a dead hippo calf which was bloated and floating in the shallows with a Nile Crocodile keeping guard over it.
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/african-jacana-339944/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/hippo-339943/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/nile-crocodile-339929/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/nile-crocodile-339930/
This first open area was full of elephants and buffalo, and although we did see some further along, it was mainly birds we saw afterwards. Perhaps the fact that a fishing village is found further towards Lake Edward had something to do with the absence of large mammals. But the shoreline was literally teaming with birdlife. There were spoonbills, herons (Goliath, Grey and Black-headed), egrets (Cattle, Intermediate and Little), Hamerkops, Sandpipers, Greenshanks, Black Crakes, Wattled Lapwings and Water Thick-knees. In the low bushes hanging over the water we saw hundreds of Pied Kingfishers and several spectacular Malachite Kingfishers, plus Black-headed Weavers and their nests. In the tall trees were African Fish Eagles, Palm-nut Vultures and a Tawny Eagle, White-throated and Madagascan Bee-eaters.
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/elephants-339937/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/buffalo-339925/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/goliath-heron-339941/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/cattle-egret-dinner-339933/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/little-egret-339932/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/long-tailed-starlings-339954/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/water-thick-knee-339958/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/black-crake-339928/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/madagascan-bee-eater-339923/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/pied-kingfishers-339951/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/malachite-kingfisher-339948/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/african-fish-eagle-339931/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/palmnut-vulture-339959/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/tawny-eagle-339957/
And then we came to the rookery (or at least that’s what I called it). On a sandbank below the fishing village were a lot of African White Pelicans (around 100), with a few Marabou and a large number of Great Cormorants (possibly as many as 200). And sleeping on the bank beside them were a few hippos. A bit further up on another beach were several dozen Grey-headed Gulls and a lone Lesser Black-backed Gull in its first year plumage.
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/rookery-339952/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/pelicans-marabou-cormorants-hippo-339950/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/african-white-pelican-339949/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/great-cormorant-339927/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/grey-headed-gulls-339938/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/grey-headed-gulls-339940/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/lesser-black-backed-gull-339939/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/grey-heron-339942/
After this point we crossed over to the Mweya side and headed back up the channel, but the only new birds species we saw were a Striated Heron and a Squacco Heron in the bushes, and White-winged Terns flying over the channel itself.
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/striated-heron-339956/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/squacco-heron-339953/
http://www.zoochat.com/1681/fishermen-339978/
The boat returned to the dock at about 5:00pm and we started to drive back to the lodge. The roof was up and I was standing viewing the trees and bushes for birdlife (or anything else). After a few kilometres we came upon four other safari vehicles parked rakishly together along one side of the road. This usually means they’ve seen something interesting so Joseph pulled alongside. The other vehicles had their occupants either standing up or leaning out windows (and some were on the roof), all looking in the same direction. I couldn’t see anything so I asked someone what we were looking at and they answered “Leopard!”
I had thought maybe they’d seen a lion, but a leopard was very exciting! We asked where and they pointed at some grass and said it was lying down. The grass was only about two-foot tall and none of us could see anything. “Just wait a minute” the people in the other car said, and a few seconds later a striped tail flicked above the grass then vanished again. She was around 20 metres away from us and even though we were elevated above the road and the grass was only two-foot high, she was completely invisible. I even stood on the roof to get better elevation, and still saw nothing.
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/leopard-tail-339945/
Note: I’m calling it ‘she’ because at one point I mistakenly thought I saw a cub in the long grass, but we don’t really know what sex it was.
And so we waited. And waited. And waited. Every so often there would be a tail flick, and then nothing. Peering through my viewfinder I was sure I could see the pattern of rosettes in the grass, but then I’d realise it was just the grasses giving me that illusion. I wasn’t the only one that fell for this either.
Periodically one of the cars would start their engines or someone would open and slam a door, or honk their horn. It had no effect, the leopard remained invisible. Even motorcycles going past got no response. The fact of the matter is, the leopard had probably been sleeping there all day and was used to the sounds of vehicles. In fact, Mweya has very few large trees but a decent sized leopard population (and is one of the best places to see leopards), so she probably hears these loud noises everyday. I wondered if we could use the cars to block the road and force the motorcycles to go round us near the leopard, maybe that might make her sit up; but the others thought I was joking.
An hour passed. Other cars had joined us, and some had left. At one stage there were seven or eight vehicles, with a couple quite happily blocking the road to other cars (but motor-cycles could still slip by - damn). The door slamming and horn honking had failed, so one idiot started making goat bleating noises, also to no effect.
And then the leopard stretched her head up and scratched her chin for a few seconds, then lay down again. This prompted a flurry of clicks from cameras and renewed excitement from everyone.
We had been there just over an hour and a half when the leopard finally stood up and walked away from her bed in the long grass, walking parallel to the road, but this brought it closer to us. She stopped about eight metres away, had a stretch and sat down in the grass, but this time her head and shoulders were still visible because she was sitting, not lying. And she completely ignored all the cars and people gawking at her. She sat there for another ten minutes, with her eyes closed, dozing, occasionally looking behind her as if she had heard something of interest to her, and then would go back to dozing.
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/leopard-339947/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/leopard-339946/
Eventually we decided to leave. We had been waiting there for around one hour and fifty minutes, but we saw our leopard and got some photos, it would soon be dark, so we all agreed it was time to head back. Arriving back at the lodge we were told that a herd of elephants had been on the plain below the lodge all afternoon, and although disappointed we had missed them, the thrill of seeing the leopard outweighed the elephants. One of the Lodge staff later told me the elephants had wandered around the base of the hill we were on and were nearing the village of Kyambura (probably to raid the plantations), and the local police were preparing to scare them away if that happened.
http://www.zoochat.com/1681/sunset-mweya-peninsula-339241/
Dinner was rather uneventful compared to the previous night, no giant beetles although I Ginat Water Bug did fly into the restaurant. I saw it on the floor and, thinking it was a Water Scorpion, picked it up gingerly. Water Scorpions and Giant Water Bugs are related and look similar, and both have a painful bite so I was careful handling it. Linda, who hates creepy crawlies, even got so brave as to point out a stick insect walking on a railing, putting her finger very close.
Even though the paths to the rooms were well-lit I still carried my headlamp and after dinner I shone it down on the plain below to see if I could see elephants or any other game. There was nothing on the plains but on a post just below the restaurant was an owl. I hurried back to my room and got my camera and returning I found another three owls nearby on the fence by the pool. They were all the same species (which I later identified as Scops Owls) and, despite the usual difficulty focusing, managed to get a couple of shots. I also saw a bat with very big ears – a Yellow-winged Bat. It made a nice finish to a very full and productive day.
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/african-scops-owl-339967/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/african-scops-owl-339968/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/yellow-winged-bat-339963/
New Birds seen: Variable Sunbird, Baglafecht Weaver, African Spoonbill, Wood Sandpiper, Malachite Kingfisher, Madagascan Bee-eater, Black Crake, Water Thick-knee, Marsh Sandpiper, Tawny Eagle, African White Pelican, Grey-headed Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, White-winged Tern, Squacco Heron, African Scops Owl
New Mammals seen: Leopard, Yellow-winged Bat
New Reptiles seen: Blue-headed Tree Agama
Hix
Kyambura Gorge is another chimp trekking site, and it’s only a 15 minute drive from the lodge. We were there at 8:00am, at Fig Tree Camp, for the briefing where we met our ranger/guide Godfrey. As well as the four of us (and Godfrey) there were five other people – a young man from the UK, the Americans we had seen at Kibale, and another couple that were initially of indeterminate origin. I was a little disappointed to see the Americans again, because the husband had brought his tripod again (which was ungainly and in Kibale often got caught on vegetation), and because he had no bush etiquette – when he walked through the bush he would push a branch out of the way and let it fling back into the face of whoever was behind him. In Kibale, when I was behind him at one point, he gingerly moved a thorny branch out of the way of his face and remarked to himself “That’s a nasty one” before letting it fly back towards my face. And toward the end of the Kibale trek he wasn’t walking through the forest, he was literally plodding. His tripod was collapsible, but he carries it fully extended so it’s ready to use at a moment’s notice. And he had his video camera too.
The couple of indeterminate origin were Caucasian, but not British, American or Australian – I could tell that by looking at them. To me, they looked Continental European. The male was unshaven, had his shirt untucked and unbuttoned half-way down his chest, and overall looked bedraggled. He had the look of someone who wasn’t coping with the heat and humidity of Africa. This was in contrast to his wife who was quite presentable. Before the briefing they were both smoking, and I can’t remember seeing anybody else in Uganda smoking which is why it was noticeable to me at the time. During the briefing, they seemed distracted, like they knew it all and weren’t overly interested in what was being said. I know this is a stereotype but I got the impression they were French, and this was confirmed when they spoke.
Godfrey explained to us what we would be doing that morning, but also pointed out that the chimps in the Gorge were “like to be tricky” and might be hard to find. He also explained the meaning of the word Kyambura (pronounced ‘Chambura’, and previously it was written this way as well). Originally there was the village of Kyambura, the river ran through the village, so they called it the Kyambura River. The river then flowed through the Gorge, so they called it the Kyambura Gorge. It flows right through the Gorge and empties into the Kazinga Channel (which presumably had already been named). The word “kyambura” itself, in the local language, means something that had been lost, or taken, and cannot be found. The example Godfrey used:
“If you go down to the river to wash your clothes, and you get home and find you are missing a shirt, you go back to the river and look for the shirt. You look and you look but you can’t find it. Then you say ‘kyambura !’ because you can’t find it.” And he shrugged his shoulders.
http://www.zoochat.com/1681/kyambura-gorge-339235/
After the briefing we drove about a kilometre down the road next to the Gorge to get to the path that would take us into the Gorge itself (the Gorge is sixteen kilometres long and there are several entry/exit points) . As you can see from the photos, the side of the Gorge are very steep, and our entry was down an almost vertical descent, carefully stepping down on rocks and well-worn ‘steps’ that had been made in the ground. It was slow going, but there were no accidents and we all reached the floor of the Gorge safely.
http://www.zoochat.com/1681/climbing-down-into-gorge-339232/
http://www.zoochat.com/1681/climbing-down-into-gorge-339233/
Unlike the rest of QENP up top, the vegetation in the Gorge was a magnificent and tall forest, similar to Kibale, but not as dense. I got the impression the rainfall here was different too as Kibale appeared to be more of a rainforest. However, it was overcast when I visited Kibale, and the sun was shining brightly (and hotly) in Kyambura, so that might have skewed my views slightly.
http://www.zoochat.com/1681/forest-bottom-gorge-339234/
Walking through this forest was a wonderful experience with the sun shining through the canopy here and there and although it had been hot up top, it was noticeably cooler at the bottom of the gorge. The floor of the gorge is probably only 200 metres wide, and in the middle of it flows the Kyambura River, twenty to thirty metres wide. We followed a path alongside the river heading south and although there wasn’t too much in the way of birdlife, there was other things to look at. The muddy waters of the river were scenic, there were tent spiders that had completely covered a large shrub in their communal web (which caught the attention of members of our group who hadn’t seen this sort of thing before), millipedes, dung beetles, and old chimp nests in the trees.
http://www.zoochat.com/1681/kyambura-river-339237/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/millipede-339246/
For most of this trip I carried a sling – a bag made by Lowe for cameras and lenses that I found very comfortable to carry – and while climbing into the gorge I had put the camera away so it wouldn’t swing around and get in the way (or get damaged). When we reached the floor of the Gorge I took the camera out, the young British man did the same, as did the American, and the Frenchman who was carrying a rather large camerabag and removed a camera with a very large lens. Despite my Canon having a 70-300mm zoom, it was the compact camera that I used mostly here because I needed the wide angle to capture the beauty of the forest.
After walking for about 20 minutes (a kilometre or so) we came to the end of the trail. So we turned around and headed back the way we came. We were almost at our starting point when some of us heard chimps hooting. It wasn’t sustained, probably only half a dozen short hoots, muffled by the forest, by coming from behind us. We walked back a couple of hundred metres to where a long-dead tree had fallen across the river.
“The chimps use this as a bridge” said Godfrey “and they are on the other side. We will cross over it too.”
“Cool! “ I thought, a bit of adventure. I had done a similar thing more than 25 years ago in New Guinea and I was up for challenge. However, it appeared that Godfrey and I were the only ones who felt this way. The three ladies didn’t want to attempt it, and this didn’t surprise me, as there was a real risk that one of them would fall. The Americans weren’t keen on the idea either. The young Brit was quiet about it, but I think he would have given it a go. But it was the Frenchman’s reaction that decided what would happen. When Godfrey said we would cross over on the fallen tree, before anybody else had time to say anything the Frenchman blurted:
“NO!! NO!! ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!”
He didn’t yell it, but he was loud and forceful, and clearly upset by the idea. There was no doubt in anyone’s mind that he would not be setting foot anywhere near the fallen tree. The rest of the group expressed their uncomfortableness with the idea, but in a much quieter and more polite fashion. “We have cameras” was the main argument, and a very valid one at that; the Frenchman’s camera and lens looked more expensive than mine and Orangeperson’s combined. Although he wasn’t as loud as his initial outburst, he was still adamant that he would not be crossing the tree, and seemed offended that anyone would suggest he do this. He wanted a real bridge. Godfrey offered to carry all camerabags and equipment over for everyone, and to help anyone who needed it, but this offer did little to alleviate the fear of falling in the river that I guess many of them had (again, a very valid concern). So Godfrey suggested we wait where we were while he went over and checked out the trail to see if he could find the chimps. This was agreed to by all and Godfrey climbed onto the tree. First he straddled it and moved forward by using his hands to lift himself and move forward. When he reached the middle he slowly stood up on the tree and carefully walked to the other side. It didn’t help his case that he was shaking a little when he stood up and walked over, because everybody saw this and it didn’t inspire confidence, although I was still happy to give it a go. But I didn’t like the idea of straddling the tree, because it would take too long to cross, and standing up in the middle is a tricky balancing act. I would have walked the whole way. However, there were two trunks at our end that would have made it difficult to walk initially, which is why Godfrey straddled to start with. And he had recommended that if we did cross, we all straddle the full length.
http://www.zoochat.com/1681/crossing-river-pt-1-a-339238/
Godfrey was gone for almost ten minutes. During that time the French couple muttered away softly to each other and although quiet, his tone was still the same. The rest of the group expressed their concerns for their cameras, or for their propensity to fall.
When Godfrey returned he waited until he was off the tree to tell us he hadn’t found the chimps.
“Godfrey returns .....no chimps” the American intoned. “Which makes almost everybody very happy” I added and, looking around, I saw he had his video camera out again and I had just contributed to his commentary.
Back at the entry point we started climbing the escarpment to the top. It was tough going, and the top part wasn’t shaded by the trees so we were in full sun. I reached the top before everybody else, hot and sweaty, and had a drink of water from the car while I waited for the others. Godfrey decided we would try another location so we drove a few more kilometres down the road. Climbing down into the gorge was just as steep as the previous one, and the bottom was about the same too. Looking around I noticed our group was smaller.
“Where are the French couple?” I asked.
“They didn’t want to do this, they went back to their hotel” I was told.
“They gave up” I thought, “how very French.”
In fairness, the Frenchman certainly did not appear to be coping with the heat; after climbing out of the gorge I noticed his shirt, open even further, was soaked in sweat. They may have also had other commitments, other places they had to be (like the swimming pool).
This second trek was much longer as we had a longer trail to follow and we spent about an hour and half in the gorge this time. We crossed the river to the other side on a bridge that consisted of two saplings across the river with wooden slats nailed crosswise on top of them providing a two-foot wide , flat surface to walk across (although it wasn’t level, the last part was at a steepish angle). There was no railing or handholds but everyone traversed it without incident. We later crossed back on a another bridge - this had a thin log across the river, with wooden slats nailed lengthways along it creating a footbridge about a foot wide, but there were uprights nailed to the side to support a rope railing/handhold.
http://www.zoochat.com/1681/crossing-river-pt-2-a-339239/
But we saw no chimps.
We did see, however, Red-tailed Monkeys, Ross’s Turaco, Black-and-White Casqued Hornbill, and a young African Fish Eagle perched over the river. In the river were some hippos (venturing up from the Kazinga Channel) and although we didn’t see any live ones, we found some elephant bones next to the river. We also found reasonably recent elephant and buffalo dung (by recent I mean a few days old).
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/hippo-kyambura-river-339245/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/african-fish-eagle-immature-339244/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/elephant-bones-339242/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/elephant-skull-339243/
At one point we were walking along the trail, Godfrey in the lead and me behind him, when he suddenly stopped and walked backwards into me. He didn’t stop, think, and then walk backwards; he was walking forwards and just reversed suddenly almost without stopping, like you would if you suddenly felt a spiderweb on your face. I figured the only thing that would cause a guide to do this would be something very dangerous, so I looked down the path for an elephant, buffalo, lion or even hippo, but saw nothing in the distance. Then a saw a snake, couple of metres in front of my feet. It was about a metre long, very slender, and bright green with a black stripe through the eye. I made some onomatopoeic noise to express my delight, and may have even said “Cool!” as I pointed my camera at it. I wanted to get a photo before the others arrived in case they scared it off. It looked like a tree snake and could probably move like quicksilver.
While looking through the camera and not immediately recognising the species I asked Godfrey “What is it?”
“A snake” was the reply.
“Yes, I’d guessed that much” I laughed, “but do you know which species?”
“A Green Snake” he answered.
To me (and I imagine most ZooChatters), that’s like asking someone what kind of dog they have and being told ‘a black one’.
A number of the snakes in Uganda are a bright green, especially those that live in the trees, and although most of them are called ‘green snake’, I wasn’t convinced this was the actual species name, or a name Godfrey had just made up because it was appropriate. By this time the others had arrived, and asked the same question, and Godfrey again said ‘green snake’.
Looking through the lens I was certain it wasn’t a mamba as the head shape was wrong and it didn’t have the mamba’s ‘smile’. I was fairly certain it was a colubrid, and equally as certain that it was either non-venomous or not considered to be dangerous to man. BUT – I couldn’t rule out the small possibility that it might be a boomslang. Or another highly venomous species. We were in a National Park, so catching it was not permitted, but I photographed it with both my cameras and with my compact I can get very close using the macro function. The snake was alert, but not stressed and I held the camera close enough to be safe, even though I was within striking distance. However, this was too close for Godfrey’s comfort: “Too close! Too close!”. So I quickly took just one close-up and moved back.
The snake was on the side of the path, half in the bushes. When we had all taken our photos Godfrey wanted it well off the path before the others passed so he moved it along – by throwing a large stick on it. I was not too impressed for a number of reasons – Godfrey works for the Ugandan Wildlife Authority; the snake had shown no aggressive or unsociable behaviour; and it had graciously posed for our cameras. However, many people die from snakebite in Uganda every year as the country is home to several species of mambas, cobras, spitting cobras, vipers and adders and hospitals are few and far between, and not of the standard you get in the Western World. There are very few herpetologists in the country and most people grow up fearing snakes, and passing that fear onto their children. So I can’t really blame Godfrey for a small indiscretion; the stick didn’t harm the snake in anyway, it was the act of throwing something that did not impress. At least he didn’t kill it, which is what most Australians would try and do.
When I was photographing it I remember thinking the black eye stripe might be diagnostic; then again, it might just be a regional variation in the pattern of a diversely coloured species. However when I got back to the lodge and checked my book I found the eyestripe is diagnostic – the species is the Emerald Snake (Hapsidophrys smaragdina), a harmless colubrid.
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/emerald-snake-339248/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/emerald-snake-339247/
The girls had been talking to the young British man, and it turns out he had already been trekking with the Mountain Gorillas, in Rwanda. As we were climbing back up the exhausting escarpment, I asked him if trekking for the gorillas was like this.
“Yes”, he answered, “except muddy and slippery”
We climbed out of the Gorge a few kilometres from where we went in so we had to radio the cars to come and get us. As I climbed out, on one of the last steps out of the escarpment, I saw what looked to be a very large white corn kernel. I picked it up, expecting it to be hard but found it only to be firm. It had some brown markings on the ends and on the sides. I thought it might have been a gorged tick (in Australia Paralysis ticks are the same whitish colour) but I didn’t have my glasses with me and it seemed way too big to be a tick. I showed it to Godfrey.
“Cattle Tick” he said.
So I took a photo of it because it was so big. It was the size of the first joint of my thumb. What puzzles me is how it got to where it was. There are no cattle around for miles (that I had seen), so it probably had been feeding on an antelope. But it was on the steepest part of the escarpment, and not even a duiker would have tried negotiating that incline. A klipspringer could, but they aren’t found in this part of Uganda. The mystery remains.
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/tick-339249/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/tick-339250/
We thanked Godfrey and all gave him the standard tip, and he apologised because we hadn’t seen the chimps. I looked him square in the eye, shrugged my shoulders and said “kyambura”. He looked at me with a blank look on his face for a split second before it sunk in, and then he had a good laugh.
http://www.zoochat.com/1681/kyambura-gorge-339236/
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Back at the Lodge we had some time before lunch, so Orangeperson, Angela and I went for a swim in the pool. This was the first place we’d stayed that had a pool, and we’d brought out bathers so we figured we might as well use them. And we were all hot and sweaty too. Despite the temptation, we refrained from putting our heads beneath the surface, just in case there was some microscopic organism waiting to infect our ears, nose or eyes. This is probably a side-effect of the conditioning everyone receives about freshwater in Africa – don’t drink tap water anywhere, even from the best hotels in Kampala, because it’s not safe; don’t swim in the freshwater lakes and rivers because of bilharzia (or schistosomiasis, caused by a fluke). The pool was chlorinated so we should have been OK, but we didn’t chance it. While in the pool I noticed a lot of birds in the gardens around the pool, so after I’d had a shower I returned with my camera and photographed a Variable Sunbird male feeding on Lantana flowers, some Speckled Mousebirds and a pair of Red-billed Firefinches that were on one of the steps into the swimming pool, drinking the water. Nearby there were also some Blue-headed Tree Agamas, spectacular lizards sitting in some of the low trees and on the ground.
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/variable-sunbird-339969/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/baglafecht-weaver-339971/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/speckled-mousebird-339966/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/red-billed-firefinch-339965/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/blue-headed-tree-agama-339961/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/blue-headed-tree-agama-339962/
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After lunch we headed out again, this time for the Kazinga Channel, the 50 km long river-like body of water that connect Lake George to Lake Edward. The Channel supports a large amount of birdlife and there are daily 2 hour boat-trips leaving from just below Mweya. We arrived early and while Joseph organised our tickets we had a quick look around the Visitor’s Centre which wasn’t all that impressive. They had some stuffed animals that were pretty bad, and the lions looked awful. The mane of one appeared to have fallen out and had been replaced with string.
My idea of the Mweya Peninsula had been a small peninsula, maybe a kilometre long and half as wide, and a few metres above the water level. Fairly easy to walk around. In reality, the peninsula is much larger, about four kilometres long and 2 kilometres wide, and the neck of the peninsula is around 100 metres above the shoreline.
Joseph had found a friend, who happened to be the Captain of the boat, so we drove him down to the dock. Otherwise I think he would have been walking there and although it wasn’t too far, it was very hot and he was in full uniform (dark green, long pants, long-sleeved shirt etc).
On the boat we could see the wildlife on the other side of the channel – a herd of elephants walking along the shoreline, an even larger herd of buffalo lying down either on the hard ground or in mud, and black shapes poking out of the water which we knew to be hippos. The channel is around 500 metres wide for most of its length, and we crossed over immediately, then headed towards Lake Edward for around 4-5 kilometres before crossing back to the Mweya side and heading back to the dock.
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/elephants-339934/
Upon reaching the opposite side the elephants were in the water and were walking around a headland that was a few metres high, but as we got closer they panicked and started to rush back along the shallows to a point where they could get out of the water. It was quite amusing to see elephants inadvertently poking the elephant in front in the bum with their tusks in their hurry to get out. Over the cruise, which took about 2 hours, we saw many elephants, but didn’t get as close to any as we did to those.
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/elephant-339935/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/elephant-339936/
As I mentioned, there were also a lot of buffalo both here and further along the channel, and they were accompanied by their usual birdlife – cattle egrets and yellow-billed oxpeckers. Other birds at this first site included Egyptian Geese, Yellow-billed Stork, Marabou, Sacred and Hadada Ibis, and Spurwing Plover (or Lapwing, if you prefer).
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/buffalo-calf-339924/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/buffalo-339926/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/yellow-billed-storks-339955/
Coming to some reeds we also saw African Jacana and plenty of hippos including calves, and a very pink adult hippo. And a dead hippo calf which was bloated and floating in the shallows with a Nile Crocodile keeping guard over it.
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/african-jacana-339944/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/hippo-339943/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/nile-crocodile-339929/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/nile-crocodile-339930/
This first open area was full of elephants and buffalo, and although we did see some further along, it was mainly birds we saw afterwards. Perhaps the fact that a fishing village is found further towards Lake Edward had something to do with the absence of large mammals. But the shoreline was literally teaming with birdlife. There were spoonbills, herons (Goliath, Grey and Black-headed), egrets (Cattle, Intermediate and Little), Hamerkops, Sandpipers, Greenshanks, Black Crakes, Wattled Lapwings and Water Thick-knees. In the low bushes hanging over the water we saw hundreds of Pied Kingfishers and several spectacular Malachite Kingfishers, plus Black-headed Weavers and their nests. In the tall trees were African Fish Eagles, Palm-nut Vultures and a Tawny Eagle, White-throated and Madagascan Bee-eaters.
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/elephants-339937/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/buffalo-339925/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/goliath-heron-339941/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/cattle-egret-dinner-339933/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/little-egret-339932/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/long-tailed-starlings-339954/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/water-thick-knee-339958/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/black-crake-339928/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/madagascan-bee-eater-339923/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/pied-kingfishers-339951/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/malachite-kingfisher-339948/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/african-fish-eagle-339931/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/palmnut-vulture-339959/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/tawny-eagle-339957/
And then we came to the rookery (or at least that’s what I called it). On a sandbank below the fishing village were a lot of African White Pelicans (around 100), with a few Marabou and a large number of Great Cormorants (possibly as many as 200). And sleeping on the bank beside them were a few hippos. A bit further up on another beach were several dozen Grey-headed Gulls and a lone Lesser Black-backed Gull in its first year plumage.
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/rookery-339952/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/pelicans-marabou-cormorants-hippo-339950/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/african-white-pelican-339949/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/great-cormorant-339927/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/grey-headed-gulls-339938/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/grey-headed-gulls-339940/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/lesser-black-backed-gull-339939/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/grey-heron-339942/
After this point we crossed over to the Mweya side and headed back up the channel, but the only new birds species we saw were a Striated Heron and a Squacco Heron in the bushes, and White-winged Terns flying over the channel itself.
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/striated-heron-339956/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/squacco-heron-339953/
http://www.zoochat.com/1681/fishermen-339978/
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The boat returned to the dock at about 5:00pm and we started to drive back to the lodge. The roof was up and I was standing viewing the trees and bushes for birdlife (or anything else). After a few kilometres we came upon four other safari vehicles parked rakishly together along one side of the road. This usually means they’ve seen something interesting so Joseph pulled alongside. The other vehicles had their occupants either standing up or leaning out windows (and some were on the roof), all looking in the same direction. I couldn’t see anything so I asked someone what we were looking at and they answered “Leopard!”
I had thought maybe they’d seen a lion, but a leopard was very exciting! We asked where and they pointed at some grass and said it was lying down. The grass was only about two-foot tall and none of us could see anything. “Just wait a minute” the people in the other car said, and a few seconds later a striped tail flicked above the grass then vanished again. She was around 20 metres away from us and even though we were elevated above the road and the grass was only two-foot high, she was completely invisible. I even stood on the roof to get better elevation, and still saw nothing.
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/leopard-tail-339945/
Note: I’m calling it ‘she’ because at one point I mistakenly thought I saw a cub in the long grass, but we don’t really know what sex it was.
And so we waited. And waited. And waited. Every so often there would be a tail flick, and then nothing. Peering through my viewfinder I was sure I could see the pattern of rosettes in the grass, but then I’d realise it was just the grasses giving me that illusion. I wasn’t the only one that fell for this either.
Periodically one of the cars would start their engines or someone would open and slam a door, or honk their horn. It had no effect, the leopard remained invisible. Even motorcycles going past got no response. The fact of the matter is, the leopard had probably been sleeping there all day and was used to the sounds of vehicles. In fact, Mweya has very few large trees but a decent sized leopard population (and is one of the best places to see leopards), so she probably hears these loud noises everyday. I wondered if we could use the cars to block the road and force the motorcycles to go round us near the leopard, maybe that might make her sit up; but the others thought I was joking.
An hour passed. Other cars had joined us, and some had left. At one stage there were seven or eight vehicles, with a couple quite happily blocking the road to other cars (but motor-cycles could still slip by - damn). The door slamming and horn honking had failed, so one idiot started making goat bleating noises, also to no effect.
And then the leopard stretched her head up and scratched her chin for a few seconds, then lay down again. This prompted a flurry of clicks from cameras and renewed excitement from everyone.
We had been there just over an hour and a half when the leopard finally stood up and walked away from her bed in the long grass, walking parallel to the road, but this brought it closer to us. She stopped about eight metres away, had a stretch and sat down in the grass, but this time her head and shoulders were still visible because she was sitting, not lying. And she completely ignored all the cars and people gawking at her. She sat there for another ten minutes, with her eyes closed, dozing, occasionally looking behind her as if she had heard something of interest to her, and then would go back to dozing.
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/leopard-339947/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/leopard-339946/
Eventually we decided to leave. We had been waiting there for around one hour and fifty minutes, but we saw our leopard and got some photos, it would soon be dark, so we all agreed it was time to head back. Arriving back at the lodge we were told that a herd of elephants had been on the plain below the lodge all afternoon, and although disappointed we had missed them, the thrill of seeing the leopard outweighed the elephants. One of the Lodge staff later told me the elephants had wandered around the base of the hill we were on and were nearing the village of Kyambura (probably to raid the plantations), and the local police were preparing to scare them away if that happened.
http://www.zoochat.com/1681/sunset-mweya-peninsula-339241/
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Dinner was rather uneventful compared to the previous night, no giant beetles although I Ginat Water Bug did fly into the restaurant. I saw it on the floor and, thinking it was a Water Scorpion, picked it up gingerly. Water Scorpions and Giant Water Bugs are related and look similar, and both have a painful bite so I was careful handling it. Linda, who hates creepy crawlies, even got so brave as to point out a stick insect walking on a railing, putting her finger very close.
Even though the paths to the rooms were well-lit I still carried my headlamp and after dinner I shone it down on the plain below to see if I could see elephants or any other game. There was nothing on the plains but on a post just below the restaurant was an owl. I hurried back to my room and got my camera and returning I found another three owls nearby on the fence by the pool. They were all the same species (which I later identified as Scops Owls) and, despite the usual difficulty focusing, managed to get a couple of shots. I also saw a bat with very big ears – a Yellow-winged Bat. It made a nice finish to a very full and productive day.
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/african-scops-owl-339967/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/african-scops-owl-339968/
http://www.zoochat.com/1682/yellow-winged-bat-339963/
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New Birds seen: Variable Sunbird, Baglafecht Weaver, African Spoonbill, Wood Sandpiper, Malachite Kingfisher, Madagascan Bee-eater, Black Crake, Water Thick-knee, Marsh Sandpiper, Tawny Eagle, African White Pelican, Grey-headed Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, White-winged Tern, Squacco Heron, African Scops Owl
New Mammals seen: Leopard, Yellow-winged Bat
New Reptiles seen: Blue-headed Tree Agama
Hix
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What a great adventure and so much information. So well written and illustrated. Thanks for sharing.
I thought the Frenchman looked very hung-over before we even went near the gorge! He had to be persuaded down the first time so I knew he'd never go down the second time.
To give credit where it's due to Mr Videoing American he carried Mr Frenchman's big camera back up as well as his own stuff or he'd never have made it out of the gorge.
Biggest camera lens we saw was an Indian man here, he was obssessed with Malachite kingfishers.
To give credit where it's due to Mr Videoing American he carried Mr Frenchman's big camera back up as well as his own stuff or he'd never have made it out of the gorge.
Biggest camera lens we saw was an Indian man here, he was obssessed with Malachite kingfishers.
In fairness, and I should have included this somewhere, but the American was not as bad as he was in Kibale, possibly because we weren't pushing our way through the forest so there were no branches to fly back into faces.
I did see his wife carrying his tripod at one point and thought she'd been lumbered with it, but didn't see him so if he was carrying the Frenchman's gear, then kudos to him. The Frenchman had caught everyone's attention we all had a good laugh about it later.
Was that the guy on the boat on Kazinga? I asked him about it - a Canon 300mm prime, f2.8. Sells for around USD$7,000.
Hix