Entebbe to Ngamba Island
Trip Start
Jun 06, 2008
1
15
Trip End
Jun 24, 2008
Ngamba Island,
Uganda
Friday, June 20, 2008
A slow start out of "Hotel Lybia" and we were off to get the briefing and checks done at the Chimpanzee Sanctuary and Wildlife Conservation Trust (CSWCT) office near the Pier in Entebbe. Lilly in the office there was super friendly and that was a sign of things to come. The folks that work at CSWCT are all very happy in their work and love to talk about the chimps to anyone willing to listen.
After the briefing with Lilly we were taken down to the boat ramp by Martin where we jumped on a small sped boat to be taken out to Ngamba Island for our 2 nights there. The boat trip out was pretty uneventful but looking at the size of this lake and the state of the water I decided to read up a little on it once I got to the other side. It turns out this lake (the second largest body of fresh water in the world!) is slowly dying. Its so sad the way this lake is being destroyed and the challenges to reverse the problems are incredible - not least of which is the fact that the lake is in three countries so if you fix the problems of pollution in one country, how could you fix it in the others? Anyway, I digress....
The speed boat trip is about 45mins and the view is beautiful. Its especially nice to see all the water when we have been in the bush for 2 weeks.
Once we got to the other end we were greeted by Gerard - one of the local guides/care givers and then handed over to the camp staff to "check-in" to our tent - home for the next two nights. The tents here are basically the same as all the others we had stayed in but they are perched on the banks of the lake shore with views that would sell for millions anywhere else in the world.
Once we were settled we walked up the hill to see the chimps at their mid-morning feeding. The chimps here are all rescued chimps except for one that was born on the island (Surprise). As such these chimps do not all behave exactly like a wild chimp would. They all come back into the cages at night and then out to roam the forest again each morning. As the island is not big enough to be self sustaining for the chimps they have to be fed by the care givers four times a day.
With such a routine the chimps know when the feeding times are and they know how to get the caregivers' attention to give them each some food. The arms go up, the noises are many and varied and the running around and banging on trees and the ground are great fun to watch. Part of the trip was had planned was the "Caregiver for a Day" option (US$150 per person). This meant you would help prepare the food and then help feed the chimps, as well as clean the cages and even help transcribe some of the notes taken on to the PCs they have near the cages. We had just arrived so we were not up to the feeding yet but it was obviously going to be fun feeding these guys. They are so much fun to watch.
Once the feeding session was over we walked down to the cages to check it all out and we were shown to the new arrivals - Mack and Afrika. These are two young chimps that have just come out of quarantine and were being slowly introduced to the rest of the chimps before being released with them in a few weeks or months. These guys were to prove to be the absolute highlight of the trip and it was pure luck that they were to arrive on the island two days before us. They do not have new chimps on the island very often and they are fast reaching their limit so we felt very privileged indeed to be there when the young ones were being introduced.
At around 6pm the chimps are called into the cages for the night and we were then to go for what I thought would be the highlight of the trip and was only just beaten out of the top spot by the playing with Mack and Afrika. This is when we went for what they call the "Forest Walk". They re-release a handful of adult females to the forest section of the island and you are there to meet them and take them for a walk in the forest.
The best part is when you are standing at the entrance to the tunnel and the chimps come out and look at the people waiting for them (no more than 6 people go at a time). After a few seconds they will usually decide which person they want to go walking with. Rina was gobsmacked when the first chimp out came straight up to her and flopped at her feet. This was Nako and she wanted to be groomed by Rina so Rina had to oblige of course.
Next out of the cage was Billi. An older female and the biggest of the group. Apparently she likes big males so she walked straight up to me and raised her hand to my shoulder height. I grabbed her hand and she slowly climbed up my leg and on to my back. The other chimps came out of the enclosure and Nake climbed on to Rina's back and we were off. We went walking in the forest for the next 15 mins or so and then stopped for a session of grooming.
As soon as we stopped the chimps got off or back and we sat on the ground with them. The chimps then showed us their back meaning they wanted us to groom them. So groom we did. It wasn't long before the chimps then started to groom us as well and then lay all over us, lifting their arms asking to be groomed under there, etc, etc. It was a truly amazing experience.
We then walked around the forest a little more and as it was quite dark we headed for home. All in all it was about 45-50mins and an almost religious experience. These chimps are so tactile and friendly and soooooo amazingly similar to us. Looking them in the eye is like looking at yourself - its a cliche but its true. One thing that surprised me a little is that the chimps don't smell. They don't bathe - in fact they dont like water - yet they don't smell at all.
A truly brilliant experience and I can recommend it to anyone!
After this was all done we were back to the tent for a shower and then to the main hut for dinner. It was another set menu but with a little twist - all the hotel guests sat at the same table. At first we weren't too sure but it turned out to be a great idea. We had a great chat with the other guests and two biologists from Germany that were on the island to run some experiments on animal behaviour. A really entertaining dinner and another amazing day.
One slight negative: the forest walk is only offered first thing in the morning or just before dusk. I would not do the dusk walk again because you will run out of daylight.
