July 21st: 6:30am
Nothing like an ice cold shower to wake you up in the morning! I'm grateful to even have a shower though that's for sure. It seems that it is taking me a little bit longer than I expected to become re-accustomed to the outdoors lifestyle. :) But I'm working on it. We had our breakfast (oatmeal) this morning out on the deck with Vervet monkeys running all around waiting for us to finish so they could devour the scraps. One of the females had an infant clinging to her stomach.. it's face was so remarkably tiny and human-like.
July 22nd: 6:30am
Ki kati! Oli otya?
Yesterday was so packed full of stuff I literally had no time to write a thing! We started at 7:30am and didn't finish up until 10pm. I think I was asleep before my head hit the pillow.. and I slept solidly through the night! The combination of those two never happen! Yay!
So we had our breakfast yesterday morning and then we all piled onto the Primate Handshake truck (her name is Nox) and drove to Kampala to get a few essentials. The overland truck has enormous tires and the roads are really rough so as you can imagine it was a rocky ride. All of the seats in Nox line the outside walls, so because I was seated facing the side and turned backward talking to my friend Jonathan, I started to feel a bit sick.. I ate my Dramamine about halfway through the ride and it knocked me out on the ride back. Forgot to get the nondrowsy kind. Oops. Jonathan is a fascinating person though. He's lived in Borneo for 2 years working with Orangutans, and lived in the Congo I think this past year working with Richard Leakey's Wildlife Direct. He told me that while he was in the Congo, that his team would have to be very mobile, because if they saw the local people starting to pack up and move, it meant the Rwanda army was just a 1/2 day away.. He was working on their website as a Graphic Designer.. He had some stories to tell of both Indonesia and the Congo and we found out that we share similar views on Conservation. Everyone here has a different story and background with Apes.. it's great to pick everyone's brain about their opinions and experiences.
After we got back from Kampala, loaded down with fresh fruits and veggies, an African woman named Peace had a discussion with us about Ugandan culture and customs. We learned the appropriate way to greet someone, how to say Hello, Goodbye, How are you, Please and Thank you in Luganda. Peace is a strikingly beautiful, very vibrant woman. She had us all captivated with her animated, eccentric personality. She confirmed what I had gathered in my few days traveling through Africa: that Africans, Ugandans in particular, are very big on hospitality. Everywhere you go, the local people are smiling at you, their eyes twinkling. Everyone is more than helpful and welcoming. It certainly makes traveling alone in a foreign country a bit more comfortable. Peace also brought along a few friends who played their Ugandan and West African drums for us.. which was fantastic! A few of us are going to find out if we can get an African drumming lesson while we're here. I would love to get a traditional Ugandan drum to bring home.. they are just so big!
Today we've got a very busy day planned. We're headed over in a boat to Ngamba Island, where there is a Chimpanzee Sanctuary. The Film team leader has asked me to document what they are shooting so that they can have stills to put in their shorts. The Web team has asked me to document the film team working to use for promotional pieces for the Handshake. In addition, Alasdair (one of the co-directors) wants to teach me the website software so that I can create a photo gallery on the website.. he also wants to teach me Lola Ya Bonobo's (the sanctuary in the DRC that I wanted to work at) website so that I can help and work on it in the US. Kate, a journalist, is writing the blog for the Primate Handshake website, so I told her that I would help with the daily photographs if I can. I'm going to be so busy! Looks like we have another 15 hour day ahead of us...
Off to Ngamba! Mweraba!
