Blogs from Central Region, Uganda, Africa - page 44

To keep this short- people are waiting to use the computers, I'll be brief- just come to the presentation in September. Queen Elizabeth was exhausting but loads of fun. We spent our days (early early days) tracking lions and our evenings calling for hyenas- resulting in very little sleep. We did manage to see 3 aardvarks (very rare- apparently we'll live to be 300 now) and had 6 or 7 leopard sightings (coming out of the woodwork for us). We were allowed to go off road, so we were able to get close to elephants (not too close), kob (antelope-like), buffalo, and warthogs (very habituated). Jeff almost got attacked by some research mongooses (no one was hurt). Andrew was also hit by a bird (go figure). Vet stuff: we got to do a couple of post ... read more

To keep this short- people are waiting to use the computers, I'll be brief- just come to the presentation in September. Queen Elizabeth was exhausting but loads of fun. We spent our days (early early days) tracking lions and our evenings calling for hyenas- resulting in very little sleep. We did manage to see 3 aardvarks (very rare- apparently we'll live to be 300 now) and had 6 or 7 leopard sightings (coming out of the woodwork for us). We were allowed to go off road, so we were able to get close to elephants (not too close), kob (antelope-like), buffalo, and warthogs (very habituated). Jeff almost got attacked by some research mongooses (no one was hurt). Andrew was also hit by a bird (go figure). Vet stuff: we got to do a couple of post ... read more

We have just returned from our 2 weeks with Dr. Siefert in some of Uganda's national parts- so much has happened that I'll split up the entry into 2 parts, and try to keep it short. We left a day later than planned, but we are taking that as par for the course. We made it only about one and half hours out of the city when a tire blew (lucky number 2 for us), so we got to change it in the blazing heat of the middle of a road in the middle of fields of papyrus. We did make it eventually, and picked up another student from WCVM on the way (Viv), in addition to us and another student from Cornell (Lena). Mburo was full of very early morning nature walks, game drives, and ... read more

So, besides ranting about Kampala, I completely forgot to mention the NGO that I visited yesterday. So, three of us went to HURINET which is Human Rights Network but, we mostly talked to the project director of UCICC- Uganda Coalition on the International Criminal Court. It was super interesting. We discussed his work, which is basically providing information, which is supposed to be neutral, about the ICC most speciically its role in the conflict in NUganda, which is what we have been studying for the past week and a half. The course material is so interesting, I mean devastating but extremely complex. Just a little explanation: Uganda is made up of what was a bunch of different clans/kingdoms before the British drew arbitrary lines and made all of these different cultures and people members of one ... read more

So, I have not been able to use the internet for very long periods of time so, Ihave been unable to blog in a while. But, Sunday Iwent to my homestay and I am staying with a really great young couple and their 8 month old baby and the fathers sister. They are very nice and their home is simple and clean. I have my own room which is nice and they have a semi stnad up shower (very rare). So, although they have a modest home they have some nice accomodations, which is more than I can ask for. I have been commuting from their house in the suburbs of Kampala to class every day at Makerere University. I have to take two taxi/buses and I have to leave at like 730. It was intimidating ... read more