Kaniyo Pabidi Camp, Budongo Forest Reserve

  Kaniyo Pabidi, Uganda
Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Kaniyo Pabidi Camp, Budongo Forest Reserve

Wednesday June 18th, 2008. Chimp Tracking in Kaniyo Pabidi
Today's tracking was quite similar to the chimp tracking we did at Kibale Primate Lodge a few days earlier. The briefing was much the same and the forest looked much the same. The big difference was probably that we stuck primarily to the well worn trails that are set out in a grid so that researchers know where they are at all times. This made the walking a fair bit easier than at Kibale.
Our guide was Sauda - a local woman that had been working in this forest reserve for 14 years. She was clearly very passionate about the chimps she has been living with for so long and she knows them all extremely well. She was able to tell us who would do what next because she knew their individual behaviour.
The other three on the walk with us were with the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI) in the US and they were in Uganda on a fact finding mission and to get some work done. It took us a little while to meet and greet but in the end it was all very chatty.
One thing we noticed here was that the guides were a little stricter in the way they let you approach the chimps and this has a lot to do with the fact that this camp had been set up with a lot of help from the Jane Goodall Institute. Here we kept our distance from the chimps and never really got closer than about 10m/30ft. That said, Sauda was very entertaining and was able to tell us all sorts of stories about the forest, the chimps and the local people.
Sauda stopped us at one point to look at two chimps up in the tree about 10m above us. She knew what was about to happen. One of the lesser males and a female that likes him had snuck off for a little nooky. As I said, Sauda knew what was happening so after about 10mins when we were starting to loose interest, the female presented her behind and the male went for it. It was all over before it began, but it was fun to see how these two had to sneak away to have some fun.
There are a lot of baboons in this forest and they were all around us. We stopped to watch them a few times and they were always entertaining. Locals really have a problem with the baboons because they are so precocious and they tend to live on the edge of the forest/jungle and not in the middle like most other animals here. They cross paths with humans all the time and they can get immune to shouts and screams from humans. I love watching them but I guess I could see how it would be a pain to see your clothes, food, pots, pans, children, etc, etc stolen by these little buggers.
We headed for home after about 4hrs and it took about an hour to get back. I was exhausted by the time I got back and while there was the offer of another walk in the afternoon I just had to pass on it. I needed some rest. The pace of our trip was catching up and I needed some sleep. We had lunch with the girls from JGI and then went back to our cabin for the best shower we had had since leaving home and a nap. The nap was only interrupted by the need to eat at around 7pm.
Dinner was with the JGI girls again and Debby was back from her day's work so we had another few hours solving all that is wrong in the world. I swear the world would be a better place if sensible women ran it....