I will post pictures next time. Internet connection is not allowing me to transfer photos.

A bit of travel thought:
Lake Victoria Hotel in Entebbe (http://www.laicohotels.com/en/hotel/ouganda/entebbe/laico-lake-victoria.html) and the Sheraton in Kampala (www.Sheraton.com/Kampala) are pretty low rent hotels that are resting on their name. Both are very old and in desperate need of a major facelift. They are sold as high-end but do not believe it. The Sheraton was so bad that the phone in my room did not work and neither did the air conditioning, but I was too tired to complain. Also, the desk clerk who checked me in forgot to record my 5:30am wakeup call (which was of no consequence since my phone was broken) so I was late leaving the hotel.
The drive from Kampala to Kibale (pronounced Cheebali) Forest was about 6 ½ hours – 5 ½ by paved road and the last hour on a dirt road to the forest. Although Isaac warned me that the road to the forest was bumpy, it was pretty tame compared to some of the cratered roads in India and China. The journey to the forest was long, but Isaac filled the time with info of each town we passed through and the local politics. There is a recent scandal in the press regarding a local politician who died suddenly and the press is claiming foul play because she was backing an ordinance that President Museveni was against. There was a picture of her on the front page of the paper with her body guard now claiming that she died from a diet pill overdose.
We passed through lots of very poor townships with shanty town housing – they looked more like outhouses than homes (tin roofs and walls that were boards barely held together by rusty nails. The children like to wave goodbye as we passed. We also passed a lot of tea plantations – hills and hills and hills of tea plants growing. Right before we took the road to Kibale Forest, we drove by the home of King Oyo, the 19-yr old king of the Torro Kingdom. It was a huge brick home with lots of windows high up on a hill giving him a great view of his loyal subjects below. When I hopped out to get a photo, two guys on the street yelled I should pay for the photo, but Isaac said I was taking a picture of African culture, which is important to preserve. Then the guys hollered I should pay them and Isaac laughed and said, “why should she, you are not the king!” We all laughed and I hopped back in the jeep and off we went to Kibale Forest.
I am staying in the Primate Lodge (www.ugandalodges.com/primate). I was to stay in the tree house the first night and a tent the second. BUT I have to admit I wimped out and stayed in a cottage instead of the tree house. The tree house was a twenty minute walk outside of the lodge down a dark, muddy, overgrown trail about 2-feet wide. There was no running water or a toilet only a bucket for emergencies. The space was tiny with a set of bunk beds shrouded in mosquito netting, a table and two chairs by a screen window that could open, but I was told not to open it at night because the monkeys may come inside, an oil lamp missing the globe, a fire extinguisher, and of course the covered bucket with toilet paper on top placed next to the bunk beds. After dinner I would be walked back to the tree house by a camp guard. If I wanted to shower in the morning I would have to tell them the time so someone could come and get me to walk me to the shower (a little too ominous if you know what I mean). Once inside the tree house at night, I could not leave without a guard coming to get me. It was getting dark and I was terrified knowing there was no real escape so I wimped out and stayed in a vacant cottage. The next night I would be moved to my tent as originally planned. Although, if I had been murdered in the tree house by marauding monkeys with a thirst for American meat, my death would have made a pretty good story for future visitors. Unfortunately, I am a wimp.
I have always been the type who wants to hear ghost stories late at night and then am too terrified to go to sleep. Once when I was a kid, I got in line for the haunted house at Disney Land with my mother, sister, and cousin. We waited in line for over an hour and once we got to the front to enter, I started crying and chickened out. My poor mother and I (especially me) had to take the walk of shame back through all the people to get out of line while my sister went in the haunted house with my cousin Joey who was much older. When they came out and said it was not that scary I asked my mother if I could go in and of course she said no. Alas another missed opportunity…but now I am off subject.
The Primate Lodge is on the modest end. It is right in the forest so it is convenient for chimpanzee tracking – just minutes from the ranger station. There is only hot water for showering in the late afternoon and the power is not turned on until 6pm (although more like 7pm because no one seems to concerned to turn it on – mostly guests have to remind the staff). The food is pretty bad – it’s kind of like eating a friend’s house and your friend is a bad cook (unimaginative, bland, greasy food just thrown on a plate – I had scrambled eggs swimming in a shallow pool of oil). I would not recommend staying here other than for the convenient location. Also the rooms do not have plugs so I have to charge at the bar or use a charging station. I am writing this missive at the bar while I am sipping tea. It’s New Year’s Eve and I am sipping tea…a first!
Now to the meet of the matter: I planned in advance to do the chimp habituation, which gave me from 6am to 3pm to track the chimps with a guide. I met my guide Charles at 5:30am and he explained to me that I could track the chimps as long as I liked and he would take me as close as he could to them. Some he said were friendly and others were more stubborn.
When we entered Kibale Forest it was quite dark and the chimps were still sleeping in their nests in the trees. Charles and I only had the thin beam of light from our torches to illuminate where we were stepping. The ground of the forest is a treacherous, tangled web of knotted, raised roots and fallen vines interspersed with tall thorny, spiky stalks and broken limbs with a few deep holes well-covered by leaves and vines — the perfect mix to twist an ankle. So I had to take care and constantly look down to see where I was stepping. Also the ground is very wet and soggy in parts so I would step from a dry twiggy area only to step down into a muddy swamp up to my ankle while constantly pushing low-hanging thorny vines out of the way so I wouldn’t hang myself in the process. BUT all was no matter once I saw a chimp. Charles called him the Prime Minister, named Sebbo. He is the number 3 male in the hierarchy of the group. He had just come down from his nest and was sitting on a tree limb eating leaves. He allowed me to take a picture and then turned and was on the move. We followed him only to find 6 more way up in the trees. It was feeding time and they were out to eat as much as they could.
We then followed the group a little further. There are three communities in the forest and the group we were following (120 in number) decided to enter the next group’s territory because there were fruits on the other side that they wanted. The alpha male Magezi, or as Charles called him the President, started hooting and the others then started hooting wildly and Magezi’s hair puffed up and he charged through the forest beating on trees and making lots of noise to let the other community know they were in their territory and they were ready to fight. There was no response so Magezi’s troupe felt free to eat and eat and eat as much fruit as they could fit into their bellies. Once full, they sat around grooming each other. I was able to take lots of photos, which I will post next. I was able to stay with this group for almost 10 hours, but I must say the tracking was a bit scary due to the unstable environment. I was constantly afraid of tripping or choking on a vine. Thank god I did not stumble into a fire ant hill.
At times, I was within two feet of a chimpanzee Ruka (Charles’s favorite. Ruka means Black). I was also able to get pictures of a mother grooming her child. The whole experience was fantastic and thrilling to be so close to them, but still respect their wild nature. Charles and I sat on a fallen tree and had lunch while the chimps were above in the trees resting. I had a packed lunch from the lodge of a cheese sandwich with tomatoes, some sliced pineapple, 2 apples, and banana cake, all which I shared with Charles. Since Charles’ son’s birthday was today, I told him to take the cake to his son. When a few chimps came down from the trees, Charles and I put our lunch back in my pack and continued tracking them.
At around 4pm, I told Charles I had had enough. So we followed a few chimps as they crossed back into their territory. Charles and I stood on the road separating the 2 communities and waited for Isaac to pick us up. Charles called him with our location. I was so lucky that more chimps continued to cross while I stood on the road waiting for Isaac. I was able to take tons of pictures. The forest habituation is AMAZING. If you decide to come to Uganda to track chimps in the wild, I highly recommend it over the 1-hr visit that most tourists do because I got to really see their behaviors and learn about their individual personalities. It was truly a stellar way to spend the day. The 10 hours went by extremely quickly.

Tomorrow morning I head to Queen Elizabeth Park in the Ishasha Sector to see the tree climbing lions. WOOOOHOOOOOOO! I am loving Uganda!