Our relocation was successful and by yesterday evening the team was happily cooking off the truck and assembled in a circle, seated atop camping stools chowing down on beans and vegetables. I wanted a Margarita so bad I could taste it, but the warm beer was still a welcome refreshment after a hot day of work. We are quite spoiled with the bandas that UWEC so graciously provided for the next 3 nights. Whoever the lucky person is that gets to the shower (our own private one!) first gets hot water to wash off.. however the other 3 roommates don't fair quite as well as the water quickly turns ice cold again. Complete with beds, hot water, private bathrooms and a beautiful view of Lake Victoria, our little secluded spot will be a lovely place to live and work in the coming days.. this weekend we will be off to the rainforest to camp for the next 2 weeks.
Today is definitely going to be a scorcher.. I woke up at 6:00am, along with Lucy and Katie to cook breakfast for the team, and in the last 3 hours the temp has changed from a little bit chilly to positively hot. It is still quite cool inside our bandas though, and most of us will be spending the morning toiling away, hunched over our laptops out of the heat. Yesterday, I was allowed to be escorted by the JGI director to see the amputee Chimp. She was highly agitated, clinging with three limbs to the top corner of her enclosure screaming wildly. Because the bars of her enclosure criss-crossed to form small 1.5" square openings, I was unable to stick my lens through. Instead, we opened the small door to her enclosure and I photographed quickly, while being perched to run as the caretaker slammed the door should she decide to attack. I noticed that she repeatedly positioned her body so that her amputated leg was hidden from view. The keeper confirmed that this wasn't just a coincidence, but a behavior she had been exhibiting for weeks now. I suspect that it developed as a defense mechanism, in order to not display any weakness in the wild. We're still waiting to hear whether or not I will be able to travel to the release site to document with the team.. I really hope that it works out.. I'll keep you posted!
Unfortunately our resident writer Kate Smith has become ill and was whisked off to the doctor in Entebbe a few hours ago, her loyal boyfriend Ben in tow. We are all hoping that the doctor will be able to accurately diagnose her illness so that she will have a speedy recovery. However until that point, our photography team (me) will be assuming the duties of expedition writer. I will be writing the blog for the Primate Handshake website, so I may just spruce up my personal blog entries and make it a bit more objective to represent the entire team..
Allright then, we just heard from Gaynor who went to the hospital with Kate and Ben and it seems that Kate has appendicitis! She has been admitted into the hospital.. they set her up with a drip but said that her appendix is too inflamed and infected to operate. They are hoping that the meds they give her will be enough so that she can finish the trip and get her appendix removed when she gets back to the UK. I guess if she needs to have it removed now, they will fly her home to have the surgery. I'm pretty bummed because I've really enjoyed hanging with Kate... it seems like everyone is dropping like flies! Simon is recovering from his malaria, but unfortunately, the drugs they give you to treat it make you really sick.. so needless to say he hasn't been feeling like doing much work. He is a fellow "one man team" handshaker as well.. he does the music for our videos, animations etc. Simon has been feeling well enough though to have a little jam session in the evenings with his guitar, and the rest of us drumming on anything that we can find.
Peace and some of the other local ladies are making lunch for us today so Lucy, Katie and I got out of cooking! We're all about to head over to Peace's family's home where her and her sisters have been working to prepare enough food to feed 23 of her "special guests".. This evening for dinner, Lucy, Katie and I are going to try to tackle a very complicated meal of veggie burgers (from scratch) and pasta salad. I'll let you know how it turns out. :)
July 29th: 2:45pm:
Oh man! I almost forgot! Yesterday, I went with the Anthro team to interview one of the Chimp keepers named Mukasa and we spoke with him about his work, his beliefs, his opinions about conservation. Afterwards, he walked us around to a restricted area behind the Chimp's island to a little area that connects the island to their indoor/nighttime enclosure. The Chimps all came up to the gate, putting their arms under and through the bars to hold our hands... they even were able to maneuver their mouths between the bars to suck on our fingers. It was amazing being that close to them and looking in their eyes. Even though I knew how strong they are, I was still shocked at how powerful their hands were. We had to be very careful that they didn't completely wrap their hands around ours. If they had decided to quickly yank our arms back through the bars, there would have been absolutely nothing we could have done to stop it. But for the most part, they were very gentle and would put their back to the bars to get a little scratch. Even though the staff really shouldn't have allowed it, it was still absolutely amazing! We were all buzzing off it as we walked back to camp. My first direct interaction with a Chimp! Very cool!
