8.7.09
In an effort to protect the rainforest and all of it's inhabitants, the Ugandan Wildlife Authority has invented various methods of providing alternate means of income and energy, while simultaneously increasing national pride, for the local villages surrounding Kibale. As a source of income, locals are resorting to the bushmeat trade, laying snares and mantraps for catching duikers and bushpigs. Chimpanzees, gorillas, and other primates inadvertently get trapped and unless rescued, die of sepsis, gangrene, loss of blood or as prey to other animals in their weakened state. To help provide different sources of revenue, UWA has worked with women of the local villages to sell their (sustainable) crafts (baskets, jewelry, wood carvings etc) in tourist hotspots, establishing beehives in local villages to produce beeswax, shoe polish, furniture polish, candles etc, digging ponds for fish farming, planting pineapple fields and so on.. Also, the local farmers have been having problems with elephants destroying their crops, so the UWA has worked with the farmers to dig trenches lining the perimeter of the rainforest to prevent the elephants from passing over. After our team had a morning meeting with the Conservation Officer of UWA, a few of us were fortunate enough to be able to travel out to some of the villages to witness firsthand the projects that have been set up.
Half of our film team, our 2 anthropologists, our project coordinator and myself packed into the back of a UWA ranger's green pick up truck for the considerable rides through the rainforest and between villages. To say the ride was bumpy would be an enormous understatement.. I think a lot of us are going to have bruises as our bodies took the hits while we tried to protect our camera equipment! As more UWA officials piled on at each stop, we packed in more tightly in the bed of the truck. At one point, I counted 12 people around me. I lucked out for most of the day and was able to stand up right behind the cab and hang on to the roll cage as we sped down the dusty roads in the hot African sun. I honestly felt like I was in a movie.. while we were traveling to the rural villages on the outskirts of the forest, we drove through some absolutely unreal scenery, huge mountain ranges on either side, bright green tropical forest against the red roads and bright blue skies.. At one point, David, who was standing next to me, hanging on for dear life, hollered over the wind "Jess I bet you never get to do this in America!" There have been many times during this expedition that I have felt so empowered. This day was definitely one of them.
