Close to the chimps

Next up on our route across Africa was Uganda. If there was only one thing to say about it, it would be that Uganda is incredibly green compared to its Eastern neighbour countries. After a bumpy night on the bus from Nairobi to Kampala, which involved waiting forever in the dark at the Ugandan border crossing, we drove in the early morning hours through miles and miles of lush green plantations of sugar cane, plantanes and corn on the way from Jinja to Kampala. The country lies a bit higher, gets more rain and has the mighty river Nile running across its lands, from Lake Victoria to Sudan in the North. It’s a complete change in scenery from the dry savannah that we had experienced in the Masai Mara or Kenya’s Rift Valley.

Even though we had seen four of the Big Five already in the Masai Mara (only rhinos were missing) and despite a tight budget, we decided to do another safari in Murchison Fall National Park, one of Uganda’s largest national park about 300 km northwest of the capital Kampala. The cheapest budget tour we could find was still a whopping US$380 per person for three days. Admittingly though it was amazing despite the price tag, which left yet another dent in our budget and triggered long discussions, why this stuff is so expensive in Africa.

Apart from us, our group of five consisted of one other world traveller, Nicole from Texas, and an English-French couple, Rose and Nicholas. Together it was the best tour group we had in a long time, and despite the tour being semi-professionally run at best, we had a great time – proving once more that the people you are with make all the difference. We slaughtered Jack the jackfruit together, took turns getting our driver to stop for elusive red birds and and defended our lunch from the warthogs.

Seeing rhinos on foot in the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary was our first activity. Even though we where told that the rhino is the most misunderstood animal in the world and it has never charged at people in the sanctuary, they seriously briefed us to climb on whatever tree there is if the rhinos do charge. During the day the rhinos are fairly inactive, and the one we encountered with a baby was also resting in the shade. Nevertheless it was an intimidating yet awe-inspiring experience to get so close to these giants and not have a fence between you and the animals. You feel like a guest in their territory, and tiptoeing through the grasslands becomes an intuitive behaviour. Interestingly, every single one of the 13 rhinos in the sanctuary is watched over and protected by two guards 24/7. Rhino poaching, which is a serious problem all over Africa and is fuelled by the Chinese/Vietnamese demand for rhino horns, make this a sad necessity.

Murchison Falls National Park itself was beautiful in terms of its landscape appearing out of the morning mist, but not too impressive in terms of the big game we saw there. I guess we were pretty spoiled from Masai Mara. In the afternoon we did a boat cruise up the Nile right to the base of the falls, which was spectacular. Huge herds of hippos lined the banks, crocodiles were sunbathing or catching their dinner. All sorts of birds left and right, and stunning scenery as the boat approached the falls. But only when we got off the boat and hiked up to the top of the falls, we could appreciate the full power and size of these gigantic waterfalls.

The highlight of the trip was yet to come the next day. Chimp tracking in Budongo Forest, a part of the National Park. You walk on foot into the thick jungle-like forest, and if you are lucky you will encounter the resident chimpanzees there. We were somewhat anxious whether we will actually find them, so the relief and excitement was all the bigger when – after about 45 minutes hike – we heard the first branches rustle in a tree and spotted a black furry creature climbing down. There they were! Soon afterwards we found ourselves surrounded by chimps. And I mean surrounded in a three-dimensional sense. Contrary to your usual game viewing, the chimps are not just on the ground but all over. They walked on the ground between the trees, climbed above us, slept in the trees, peeled some fruit, layed on their back and scratched their belly. It was incredible and I would rate it as one of the best animal encounters we ever had – I think partly because of their humanness. To catch their glance and look into their eyes is just really special.

The biodiversity Uganda has to offer and the conservation efforts the country undertakes are really impressive. Unfortunately, it seems that the high price tags for tourists are a neccessary incentive for people to protect the natural assets they have. If there is more money in poaching than in tourism, then the rhinos will disappear once again. Money is hopefully not the only motivator to preserve the wildlife, but it remains a somewhat sour feeling that tourism in Africa has become this cash cow that everyone tries to milk.