Uganda cultural reflection:

Uganda has a vast variety of primates. In fact it is home to more than half of the world’s gorilla population. In Kibale national park there are 13 different species of primates—the chimpanzee, red-tailed monkey, red colobus, black and white colobus, grey-cheeked mangabey, galagos, bush baby, olive baboon, vervet monkey, potto, L’Hoest monkey, and blue monkey. Nearby Kibale is Bwindi Impenetrable national park and it is home to gorillas and chimpanzees but the main attraction is the gorillas. The UWA (Uganda Wildlife Authority) named it “Impenetrable” because of its dense forest. A couple more species in Uganda include the De Brazzes monkey, the golden monkey and the patas monkey. It is $50 to go on a chimp trek and $360 to go on a gorilla trek. It is so expensive because the UWA wants to limit the number of people that go to see the chimps and gorillas and impact their habitat. You can also go on a golden monkey trek in Mgahinga gorilla national park for $10. If you are under 15 years of age, you can’t see the gorillas. If you can do both, that’s great but if you can only do one of these treks, still go because it is a great experience. If you go on a chimp trek, listen for the fights that break out and the sounds that they make when they shake the trees and talk to each other. You can read more about my experiences in my travelog.  

February 27-March 3: Kabale

We got up at 7 A.M. and went to Kabale. We got a room at Town Centre Guest House, dropped our stuff off and went to Edward’s church. When we got there, we were welcomed by everyone and then we sat down. Their church service is much different than ours. They dance and move around a lot and really get into worshiping God. At our church, we don’t move that much. In the middle of the service, we got called up to say our names and what we thought about Kabale and their church. When we were done talking we sat back down and then about 15 minutes later, mom got up and talked about our journey to Kabale and how we decided to come. When the service was over, mom wanted to videotape the children singing so we all went back to the hotel and after they were done singing we all talked for a long time. When everyone left, we had dinner, talked and went to bed.

Today we got up and went to the community gardens and when we were half way there, it started raining so we stopped at a store and sat there for 30 minutes and we talked about how Mom and Dad raise us and how it is different in Kabale. We have input into our family decision-making, but in Kabale, parents make all the decisions. When the rain stopped, we kept going. When we got to the garden it started raining again so we went to the nearby school for shelter. When Dad or Marcia took a picture of the children, they got really excited. There were many children in the classroom for two teachers. We gave them a bag of pens/pencils because many of the children didn’t have good pencils or pens. When the rain stopped again, we went to the garden and started working. First we made a place to plant onions. When the row was done, G and I and the women volunteers started planting and while we were planting, Peter, Dad, and others were making a bed for the carrots. When we were done planting we went over to the carrot beds and started making places to plant the seeds. When we were done planting the carrots, we picked up our stuff and walked back to our hotel and got ready for Mom, Dad, and Gma’s classes the next day.

In the morning Marcia went to the garden and the rest of us went to the place to teach. When we got there, Peter and I went into a different room to work on school work and when we got into the room, there was a poster of the games of the English premier league so I copied the games down and then worked on my travel log and To Do list. When the classes were done, we went back to the hotel and worked on more school work. I checked my email and started a PowerPoint about Dian Fossey’s work. For the whole night Mom and Dad got the computer because they had classes the next day and had to do some research and preparation for their classes.

In the morning Marcia went to the garden and we went to the seminars. When we got there Peter and I when to the room again and this time I got the computer. I worked on my PowerPoint and travel log. Then dad needed the computer for his class and peter and Mom went to the garden. In the middle of dad’s class, Gma and I went to the market and got avocados, onions and tomatoes for guacamole. Then we went back to the seminar and got the computer and Gma and I went back and I worked on school work, Power Point and got pictures of Dian Fossey and the gorillas off Google. When I was done I transferred them to our computer and then Dad, Mom, Peter, and Marcia came back from the garden. Dad worked on a map for Victory Community Gardens for 7 hours so he got the computer the rest of the day and so I had to work in my book and hand-write my school work. We ate dinner and then went to bed.

Today was the election day for the Kabale mayor so Marcia, Gma, Peter, and I went to the cabbage patch to weed it and Mom and Dad went to the seminars. When we got to the cabbage patch, we started weeding. I went to the left side where there were a lot of weeds. I started taking out the weeds and when I was done I had blisters on my hand. I went to the other side of the garden and half way through, one blister broke and it hurt a lot so I stopped using the hoe and took a break. When we were done we weren’t finished with the whole bed and we couldn’t come back. When we got back to the hotel, Dad was there and so Gma, Peter, Dad, Marcia, and I went to a store and when we were walking back, we met Henry and mom was at his house and she wanted us to come and so Marcia, Gma, and Dad went to his house while Peter and I went back and worked on school work. When we had just started, Henry came and mom wanted us to come too. When we got there, Henry and his family had made us food and the food was great. It was vegetables, sauce, chips, and potatoes. When we were done eating, Peter and I were playing. Peter chased me and one time he grabbed me and pulled me down and I landed on a rock and got a huge cut on my knee so we had to leave. When we got back I went to bed.

Today we all went to the seminar and Marcia taught her class on gardening and then Mom, Dad, Marcia, and Gma stood up and everyone asked them questions and when they were done asking questions, we all got in a circle and said our feelings about the week. When we were done, Mom handed out the certificates and I videotaped and Peter took pictures. When we were done we went back to the hotel and packed and then went over to Edward’s house for dinner.              

February 23, 2006: Lake Bunyonyi

Our four days at Lake Bunyonyi were for getting caught up on school work. The first night at Lake Bunyonyi we watched Barcelona vs. Chelsea in the Champions League. In the first half, Messi on Barcelona was running down the sidelines with the ball and two opponents were after him. He ran into the corner and one of the Chelsea players tried to slide tackle him but Messi hopped over him. But, then the other opponent came and he smashed into Messi and they both rolled on the ground. Five minutes later, the referee gave the Chelsea player a red card and he was kicked out of the game. The commentators really liked Chelsea so every time the camera showed Messi, the commentators would comment, “We still can’t forgive him for his ‘theatrics’ in the first half.” Nobody scored in the first half but Barcelona seemed to be in control. In the second half, Lampard got a foul near the goal and it was a free kick. When he crossed it in, a Barcelona player got in the way and knocked it in. But then Barcelona fought back and the same thing happened. Ronaldinho crossed it in and Terry, the captain of Chelsea, headed it in by accident. Then, with 10 minutes left, Ronaldinho ran down the sidelines and crossed it in to Samuel Eto’o and Eto’o headed it in. Eto’o SCORES to win the game for Barcelona. My mom kept calling Terry, the captain of Chelsea, Impenetrable, after Bwindi Impenetrable national park, because she thought he was an amazing defender and would come out of nowhere to practically block everything!

The first day at the lake I worked on school work all day with only a couple of short breaks. The second day was better but I still accomplished a lot. On the third and fourth days, we did some work but mostly hung out.  On the third day I did some of my Thunder Cave essay and worked on my wildlife spreadsheet.  I also went to Dian Fossey’s website(www.gorillafund.com), signed up for a newsletter and got their email address. After I got some information off the website, I got onto my email, checked it and sent email. After I was off the Internet, we ate dinner and then went to bed. On the fourth day Peter, Marcia, and I went on a bird boat ride in a dug out canoe. We saw almost 20 species: Long-tailed cormorant, Pin-tailed whydahs, Hadada ibis, Yellow-throated bee-eater, Black-faced weaver, Blue-chested sunbird, Swamp flycatcher, Hunter’s sunbird, Cape wagtail, Fiscal shrike, Arrow babbler, Grey flycatcher, Vieillot’s black weaver, Yellow-vented bulbul, Grey-headed sparrow, Speckled mouse bird, Pie kingfisher, Crested crane, Malatchite kingfisher, and black otter. I was the only one to see the black otter. When we got back, we packed for the next day when we will go to Kabale for 5 days to work at a community gardens that Mom made contact with when she was working for the City of Eugene. She received an email one day from Pastor Edward, who is the founder of the project. He wanted to know more about the community gardens program in Eugene because he was starting a community gardens in his village.

February 21, 2006: Kibale Forest National Park Chimp Walk

We got up early and ate breakfast and then started on our chimp walk. Right as we started, we saw a group of red-tailed monkeys and then we walked for a half-hour and didn’t see anything. Then I spotted a group of grey-cheeked mangaby monkeys and red-tailed monkeys. Dad got some pictures and we went on. When we went a little longer, we hit a road and started walking down it. We heard a very loud noise and our guide said that there were chimpanzees ahead. So we walked faster and finally came to a big tree with fruit in it and there were about 15 chimps in that tree and the one behind it. We watched them eat, groom and fight. When they got into fights, there were fruits falling everywhere and lots of noise from the chimps. When they called each other, everyone would call and there was lots of noise. We walked into the forest because our guide told us that they were coming down so we rushed in and saw a chimpanzee coming down a tree and then lots started coming down. One of the chimpanzees crossed the street and we got a great look at it because it was only a couple of meters away from us! We also watched a family with a Mom, Dad and kid. Mom spotted the kid swinging around in the bushes and then it went to make a nest and then it abandoned it and went off and groomed itself. When that family came down, it was a cool sight because it was the Dad, Mom and then the kid. After our hour was up, our time with the chimps, human’s closest relative, was over but we had a great time in that hour.  When we got back to the camp, we packed our bags and went down to the road to find a matatu. While we were waiting, dad and I walked up the road to look for animals. We saw a group of grey-cheeked mangaby monkeys and then a group of red colobus monkeys. I heard a loud noise and I saw a hornbill fly over us. It kept calling to its mate across the road and finally the other one flew over. We walked a little further and saw olive baboons in the middle of the road but we didn’t go close because we didn’t know if a matatu had come yet or not.

Animals seen at Kibale National Park, Uganda:

Day 1

Black and white Colobus

I’hoest colobus monkey

Red-tailed monkey

Red colobus monkey

Day 2

Grey-headed sparrow

Great blue turaco

Swamp flycatcher

Grey-cheeked mangaby (monkey)

Snow-crowned robin chat

Black and white colobus

Red colobus

Red-winged starling

Grey-cheeked mangaby

Green mamba (snake)

Hornbill, black and white casqued

Bush baby

African civet

Day 3

Little green boubou

Red-tailed monkey

Grey-cheeked mangaby

Chimpanzee

African grey hornbill

Grey-cheeked mangaby

Red-tailed monkey

Red colobus

Black and white colobus

Red-tailed monkey

February 20, 2006

We woke up at 6:30 a.m. to go on a full-day hike (9 a.m. to 2 p.m.) in the national park. When we got down to the restaurant, we ate and when we were done, there were some people looking at something so I ran over and there were three great blue turacos. So, I ran back and got Mom to show her and then D and I went out on the trail to get a better look. We saw the turacos better but then a group of red-tailed monkeys scared them away. When the turacos flew away, we went to sign in to go on our hike and then Grandma and I went to get a walking stick and dad’s mini lens. When we got those things, we went back and left to go on our hike. When we were only 100 meters in, I saw grey-cheeked mangaby monkeys and moved on through the forest. We didn’t see anything for a while but then we saw trees moving and it was a red colobus monkey. But it went away fast so we kept moving.  After walking a little longer, there was a lot of commotion ahead: There were monkeys everywhere! It was a huge group of red colobus and a couple of black and white colobus monkeys. Dad was looking for a black and white colobus to get a photo and I was helping him out. We went a little off trail into the monkey madness and there shooting up a tree was a black and white colobus. D-son got three pictures of him sitting in the nook of the tree. Then he started peeing and Dad got a picture of it peeing! We kept moving on. We crossed through grasslands and forests and then stopped to eat in the forest. We ate our chapattis, bananas, eggs, and pineapple and started hiking again. When we were almost done with our hike, Dad spotted a full tree of grey-cheeked mangaby monkeys. The tree had lots of purple flowers on it and M thought that was the best!

When we got to the tree house, we opened all the windows to look for wildlife. There was no wildlife that we could see so we had a few snacks and were about to start our work, when it started to rain—HARD! So we closed a couple of windows but left a couple of windows open. Then we had a leak so Mom put a bucket under it but then there was another leak and another until there were leaks everywhere! First we had to protect the bed so we put towels under the leaks and used our heads as stoppers so the bed didn’t get wet. Peter bossed everyone around and punched and pushed me a lot so I sat in the back of the bed and ate his last cookie and when he found out, he started hitting me with the box of cookies. He is very violent. Now we have to write for 45 minutes about what we did today and we can’t talk at all because M forced us!