Out of Africa

Back in Kampala, where the puddles are all the colour of ochre, the everpresent African dust saturating both them and your lungs. The only wildlife I see here are Maribou storks. They would almost be pretty if they didnt have enormous sagging neck pouches covered in naked pink skin. The road system does remind me of the savanna in some ways; the boda-boda (motorcycles) weaving inbetween traffic on the wrong side of the road or pavement like maniacal kob with a death-wish, and the matatus (buses) moving like herds of buffalo or schools of fish, one forces an opening in the congested roads and others swarm behind to wedge the gap open. Crossing the roads can take time.

Getting back to Kampala wasn't quite as straight forward as the journey to Semliki. The camp vehicle had broken down, the cause remaining a mystery. So I hired a taxi driver called Monday, the same guy who brought me from Fort Portal to Semliki a few months ago, to come pick me up. It turned out to be the only morning since Ive been here when we've had torrential rains. The result was a ranger, Alimosi, riding shotgun in the taxi shouting directions "LEFT!, RIGHT!, LEFT!" to Monday in order to navigate around the giant mud baths that were forming in the savanna roads. Monday had to keep travelling as fast as possible, 40-60mph, because once the car slowed it sank. At one point we stopped to try and help another car that had got stuck and as a result we sank too. So a team of 4 had to push us out of the mud and then run to catch up to the car and jump in while it moved. It definitely felt like being in a rally.

Now just killing time in Kampala before my flight tomorrow. Getting to follow the chimpanzees for the last 9 weeks has been fantastic and unforgettable. It's clear that the chimps here need further study, they dissappear for days on end and we have no sure idea where they go. More tracks in the forest and especially the savanna would go a long way towards helping. I hope to get a chance to go back in the future!