Golden monkey magic, a chameleon and slipping in buffalo poo in Uganda

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Uganda day 6
Golden monkey magic, a chameleon and slipping in buffalo poo.

A 5am start hurray!
Would breakfast be ready? What will it be? Will Claire get last night’s dinner instead or that and a pile of bacon?
Before we went to sleep last night there was a thunderstorm which caused a powercut. It came back on not long after but even the light coming back on didn’t wake Claire. We both woke up at 3:50 though as the rain was hammering down on the roof which sounded like it was made of tin. Sadly Claire didn’t get back to sleep and wasn’t too happy when the alarm went off at 5.
And so to breakfast which we had pre-ordered for 6am because we were leaving at 6:20. Coffee and tea were served at 6:02 but the food didn’t actually arrive until 6:15. Good job we pre-ordered!
The food here had more of a Western style with prices to match so we were glad we weren’t paying. I thought we were ordering a set menu but both just got one plate of food each. Claire had mushrooms and scrambled egg while I had potatoes in g-nut sauce. No, I have no idea what g-nut sauce is and it didn’t look that appealing but it was nice.
Zed was late of course and rocked up at about 6:30. We headed out into the dark and traversed roads mashed up by last night’s rain and puddles the size of Anglesey. Maybe…..
Note: Uganda is a lizard country which, to me, means that lizards share your accommodation. I like this, you may not. They don’t come near you, they don’t make a noise, they’re just there for you to look at and enjoy.
Note 2: We passed large crowds of people in a village yesterday with more joining. It turned out to be a funeral for which everyone is expectdd to at least stop work, although it looked like everyone was attending. Zed says that anyone from the community found still working will be beaten.
Note 3: Did you know that chimps will mourn a dead family member for between 3 and 5 days and won’t move on anywhere until mourning is over? Well you do now.
The road was so bumpy that my watch said I had completed my exercise goal before we got to our destination. Not all of it was due to the recent rain but it certainly didn’t help. We saw some lovely houses along the way but the roads are still poor and people aren’t allowed to construct or help with the roads. Why? Because it would be seen as trying to overthrow the government of course…..
I’m trying to leave commenting on Uganda’s homophobic government until I’m at least on the plane. How am I doing?
We arrived at Mgahinga National Park that has both gorillas and golden monkeys which were today’s target…..to shoot I mean…..with a camera of course. I’m not a sadistic, heartless, braindead git with a gun.
Before our briefing a group of girls danced and sang for us then we headed in to meet our guide Herbert, well I think that’s what he said. People speak very quietly here so, even if their English is great, it’s still dificult to understand.
There were a few other people on our trip including the Polish couple we met again yesterday. Everyone seemed really nice and there were about 11 of us in total. Claire hired a porter despite thinking about the old Tarzan films and how the blacks always carried the white man’s things. Now is different as the money goes back into the community and it is basically a job for someone. 20% of the money we pay also goes back into the community as well while some of the rest helps to protect the animals. Hopefully not too much gets to the incredibly homophobic goverment….damn….
Next note: Someone told us that gorilla permits are going to double in price next year so get here fast. That means the price in Uganda will be $1400US and $3000 in Rwanda. Good job we came this year as I think that would have been beyond our means.
I know it helps protect the animals but it limits the type of people who will come here. Imagine if they only get Tories who will starve the poor and shout racist comments out of the windows instead of smiling and waving at the local children. Awful.
We set off with Herbie and two armed guards who go at the front and the back. They are there to scare off any elephants or buffalo who might get aggressive but it is about four years since they had to do that. Then there are rangers who go out ahead and find the golden monkeys so the guide knows where to head. This is the same for all the primates but I’m sure Claire would employ one to do the same for lions and leopards.
And talking of big cats….one of the predators of the golden monkey is a golden cat which even Claire hadn’t heard of. Even with camera traps in tne forest (JUNGLE!!) they are very raely seen so there was no chance of us seeing one.
And talking of looking after the primates, you are only allowed to stay with them for one hour and you must wear a face mask when you are with them. This is the same for all of them.
We were offered bamboo poles to use as walking sticks and Zed advised that we would need them. And it did help. No-one fell over and the closest to doing so was….me….and, I have to admit…..that it was all……Claire’s fault…. She had her bamboo pole resting across her shoulders so I thought it would be a good idea to tap her pole with mine. Obviously I didn’t see the big splodge of buffalo poo and nearly slipped over in it. Can’t see how that could be anyone else’s fault but Claire’s….
As we trekked off we saw a few earthworms that were at least a foot long. The rain had brought them out and there were quite a few on the path. We then saw a kob and then a bushbuck. The going was a lot easier than the last chimp trekking place but there were a few steep bits….and lots of buffalo poo to navigate. Obviously it was a bit slippy after the rain but the weather remained dry and mainly sunny while we were on our trip.
After about 90 minutes we found the rangers who had found the golden monkeys for us. And they’d found about 100! Just like the chimps, they took no notice of us and just carried on moving slowly in one direction, eating their way through the forest.
At first they were quite high up but some came a lot lower but it was still difficult to get photographs of them as the light was constantly changing. But I tried. At times though I took on board some wise words that my father-in-law gave to Claire (this doesn’t happen often obviously!) when he said don’t always look at things through a camera lens. And so it was amazing to just stand and watch them go about their business, jumping, eating and moving about. There were youngsters as well with one pretty much just being carried around by Mum.
Most people won’t have had the privilege of seeing golden monkeys as they do not survive in zoos. They get depressesd and pass away so they can only be found in the wild, the really wild. So today was an amazing experience yet again.
The hour was over too quickly and we trekked back down. It seemed to take a lot longer going back down despite us voting to not stop for lunch on the way. Most people hadn’t got anything anyway. On the way Claire’s porter spotted a small chameleon then a gecko type thing so he was earning his money in other ways. The giant worms had all gone though.
An amazing experience and well worth doing if you’re in the area, particularly if you can’t afford a permit for gorilla or chimpanzee trekking.
We headed back into town for lunch and went to the same place we went yesterday as the food had been good, reasonably priced and the people friendly. They didn’t let us down today either and I got some extra food. I’d ordered mixed veg with rice but they brought it with chapatis instead. I said it didn’t matter and ate it all but then he turned up with some rice. Seeing that I had eaten everything he then went and fetched me a bit more of the sauce. Happy days.
As we’d arrived at the restaurant the rain had started again and it continued as we headed to our next hotel which was about 2 hours away. The mist got really bad at times which, coupled with the fact that the demisters were a bit crap, meant for a fun drive. We saw an old bus broken down on a sharp bend although it could have been unable to get up the slippery road.
We arrived at our accommodation for the next two nights which has a fabulous view over Lake Bunyoni. The lake is the second deepest in Afica and is a freshwater lake. Bizarrely there is no aquatic life in there, not even fish, so it’s basically an enormous swimming pool.
The room is good and the people are nice and seem to understand that I don’t want breakfast after my dinner tonight.

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