Today I learned the term African massage. After 11 hours on the world's worst roads, we wanted to give Richard, our expert driver, a medal for getting us up to Kibale National Forest in one piece. It seemed doubtful at times. It was wonderful to experience the countryside though and see the wonder on peoples' faces as a car of bazungu (group of white people) passed through their towns. When we stopped to have lunch in the woods a group of kids found us. They were both curious and scared of us. Things warmed up when we broke out our stash of candy to give out.
The terrain turned from Africa hot to cool, humid jungle when we reached Kibale. The Primate Lodge was made up of beautiful, romantic tents, but lacked all creature comforts. Our goal in the Kibale rainforest is to track chimpanzees. Our Ugandan Wildlife Guide, Alex, gave us a thorough briefing--follow me, I have a rifle, do what I say. Understood. We slogged through the rainforest and were rewarded with several chimp sightings. Their mannerisms are so much like us that it's unbelievable. Then we hit the jackpot with three males sitting on a log grooming each other. We got 20 feet from them and watched them interact for about 10 minutes. Priceless. They were called by other chimps and went nuts before running off. So exciting!
Our Chimp experience was amazing and has wet our appetite for the gorilla trek!
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