Lessons in parenting from Mweya’s Mongooses!
A morning with the famous Banded Mongooses of Queen Elizabeth National Park
I often forget when we go out on safari how – even on short distances – a vehicle is necessary. And so, armed not with a gun or a machete, but a long radio antenna, we jumped into the back of a pickup truck and headed off the main track and into the scrubby bush.
The sun was shining as we watched Pink-backed Pelicans sailing down the Kazinga Channel towards us. Within just a few minutes, our researcher guides Solomon and Francis had tracked down our family, one of six habituated groups of Mongooses* living on the Mweya peninsula in Queen Elizabeth National Park, western Uganda. Over two decades of research have given Solomon, Kenneth and Francis an intimate knowledge of Mweya’s nine families of Banded Mongoose.
Our job for the morning was to weigh each of the 32-member family. But where do you start?
With a call of “coo-coo-coo-coo-coo” the mongooses come trotting out of the bush, snorting, sniffing, whistling and chirruping.
Well, would you believe it – these guys can be identified by their different haircuts! Every two weeks each mongoose has a number clipped into the fur onto its back to identify it. Regular monitoring is invaluable in monitoring their health.
As the mongoose family rolled up, we set to work. Each mammal was individually weighed and its personal number and weight noted. (What impressed me was how Solomon managed to remember which individuals he’d weighed). Later, the data is compared to check that the mongoose pups are growing healthily and to monitor any pregnancies.
During the weigh-in, the researchers told us about Mongoose society
Known as ‘cooperative breeders’ the female mongooses all give birth on the same day. Incredible! As many as 15 pups will be born in a day. A pup can be suckled by any of the females. Pups will then choose which male – the babysitters of the species – will care for them. According to Solomon, a pup can distinguish between a good or a bad parent. (These fascinating creatures could surely be good role models to a few men we could mention!)
If a subordinate female becomes pregnant, when the dominant four females aren’t, she will be “beaten up” in Solomon’s words, and forced to abort. If she’s lucky, she will then be allowed back into the group (the risk is that if subordinates keep getting pregnant, they threaten the dominance of the group). Examples of this behaviour were captured on the BBC TV series Banded Brothers, aired in 2010.
When I commented on how healthy the mongooses looked, Solomon replied “Yes, these are rich guys. They live near the Lodge!” Rubbish from Mweya Lodge and the Uganda Wildlife Authority hostel is collected and taken to a covered pit, but with so many tourists passing through Mweya, it’s inevitable there are still scraps of food to be scavenged.
When they find a rat “they go crazy and make a lot of noise” to attract the rest of the group to the hunt. We watched as a Mongoose (carefully) attacked a giant Millipede, bashing it against the ground to first remove its poison. The others were quick to dive in and help him eat it.
When they’re not busy foraging or fighting, mongooses can be seen removing the ticks and lice from compliant warthogs. Did you know this behaviour only happens in Uganda’s Queen Elizabeth National Park? Other unusual behaviour witnessed here was the Mongoose who took a dip in the lodge pool!
To get closer to the action, I sat on a tuft of grass at the edge of the track. Note: sitting down on the bare grass is not recommended. By afternoon, my legs were itching like crazy!
As we talked, we heard a car pass along the track above us. Every Mongoose was on high alert, heads turned in the direction of the noise, on their back legs, scanning the horizon. With a piercing shriek, the crew scattered. They headed for cover, as one.
“If they see a Leopard they will just freak and run. Even if they find the dung of a lion, they run!” (And so might I!)
The Mongoose’s greatest enemies are the Leopard and the Python. Just recently a Leopard had attacked their den and eaten five of them. At Kabatoro Gate, a Python had eaten a mongoose wearing the radio collar. They’d tracked the perpetrator of course!
How to book the Mongooses Experience
A few hours – or longer – in the presence of these knowledgeable researchers, who so obviously love their subjects, is a great way to get up close to nature, support conservation and see the park from a different angle. Unlike some other wildlife experiences, you can get out of the car and even let the Mongooses run between your feet.
The experience can be booked with the Uganda Wildlife Authority.
What is so special about mongooses?
There are 32 species of Mongooses in the world, of which only four are social: the Meercats, the Dwarf, the Yellow and the Banded Mongooses.
The Banded Mongoose Research project is run by the universities of Cambridge, Exeter and Zürich (and has links to more photos and video footage). And why are they studying Uganda’s Banded Mongooses? “These ‘cooperatively breeding’ societies pose a challenge to evolutionary theory because natural selection is expected to favour selfish behaviour that maximises an individual’s reproductive success. The banded mongoose population at Mweya provides an opportunity to answer questions about the evolution of cooperation and the resolution of conflict in wild mammals.”
*One Mongoose (singular), several Mongooses (plural).
Have you taken part in the Mongooses Experience?
A close encounter with lions!
One of the incredible benefits of working with UCF, the Uganda Conservation Foundation, has been work trips to the Bush – and free game drives. Friends and family back home may be under the impression that’s all I’ve been doing for the last two and half years! Unfortunately, once I’d got the hang of the projects, trips and wildlife encounters (in the Bush at least) were few and far between and I spent as much time chained to the laptop as I did in any other office job I’ve ever had, writing one funding proposal after another.
Feline like a quickie in the Bush – then time for breakfast
Yet the Bush is still within a day’s drive from home, UCF has given me some wonderful contacts in Queen Elizabeth National Park, and I am indeed a very lucky girl to (continue to) have this experience. I make the most of every day I have in Uganda – here’s a highlight from last week:
The driver had promised us the earliest of starts (although I was disappointed that the agreed game drive would happen in a bloody saloon car!) I’d insisted that we should go in a 4×4 but come 6.30 in the morning, I’d buttoned my lip, deciding to make the most of the cheap price and trusting in the fact that a locally based guide should be able to find all the wildlife straightaway.
Eddie the driver gave us the normal tourist platitudes, and I switched off. UCF has spoiled me. We’ve travelled with rangers off the beaten track; we’ve followed the lion researchers at night and heard all kinds of wildlife close-encounter stories round the campfire.
At the famous Kasenyi track, south of Lake George, we headed for where the lions had last been seen. With the grass long, thanks to the seasonal rains, spotting a lion can be near impossible. Sometimes all you see are the tips of their ears or a flick of a tail.
Awesome, truly.
“Look, he’s just finished mating! Now he will want to hunt.”
Three handsome adult lions, a female and two brothers, were in a lazy, playful mood and Eddie anticipated their next move.
I was captivated: I had never seen male lions at such close quarters. They really are magnificent.
The males casually sauntered off to our right and the female lay down to drink water. As we slowly drove past her, I suddenly had a tight feeling in my stomach, realising what a powerful, and potentially lethal, animal I was approaching.
We stepped on the gas to head the lions off, further along the track. And there they were, not at all perturbed by our presence, two magnificent male lions walking directly towards us (walking directly towards us?! Hang on a minute shouldn’t I be scared?) Admiration turned to fear right at the last minute as the two enormous lions walked the length of our car just a metre from us. I grabbed the camera.
What a handsome creature!
As the big pussycats and I made eye contact, I felt myself slide down my seat (much to the delight of my friend, who giggled and poked fun at me from the back of the car). The lions crossed the track heading for the Uganda kobs’ mating ground (their favourite place for breakfast). I’m just glad it wasn’t me on the menu…
These aren’t the best wildlife encounter photographs. To photograph wildlife requires a good zoom lens and more than an impromptu five minutes with the animals in question. I’m pretty pleased with my x10 optical zoom but hey, when wildlife gets this close – who needs the zoom anyway?
Kampala to Nairobi by bus – 14 hours of speed bumps!
Travel by bus between Uganda and Kenya – with tips and links to some of my favourite travel stories!
It was a terrible night’s ‘sleep’ – a 14-hour bus journey from Kampala to Nairobi: the speed bumps shuddered us awake every few minutes. I swear I woke a hundred times. I awoke cold, shivering and aching.
A few glasses of Waragi – it was my birthday after all – would have knocked me out, but I daren’t drink too much when I know (from the equally long bus ride to Kigali in Rwanda) that the bus drivers have bladders like camels and only stop once, twice if you’re lucky, on the whole journey.
Cowhides for sale along the road to Nairobi from the Uganda border
As night became day, I heard Chinese say “Nagawa, look!” and she pointed to a beautiful caldera (volcano), tinted pale brown, with a pale blue sky and mist in the distance. What a magical sight.
An hour before reaching Nairobi, I watched people walking to work: a man carried enormous lidded baskets over his shoulder, donkeys trailed box carts, a man lay on the ground inspecting his bicycle. Stalls sold cowhides displayed at the roadside.
The bus sped past the ‘Master Kitchen Hotel’ and ‘Hotel Paradise’, two-room shacks painted in bright vertical stripes. Despite their simplicity, I enjoyed the variety of the architecture, in contrast to the uniformity of Uganda.
As we passed tree plantations, I thought of Professor Wangari Maathai founder of the Green Belt Movement and wondered whether they were her work? She died just a few days before we travelled. Since 1977, the Green Belt Movement has planted over 45 million trees in Kenya, and thousands of women have been empowered to lift themselves and their families out of poverty. In 2004, Wangari Maathai became the first environmentalist and African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize. I’d been thinking about her all week and what an incredible role model she was so it was quite moving to be racing through Kenya and seeing plantations of young trees.
In Nairobi, street sweepers’ brooms have handles! – unlike the back-breaking work in Kampala where the ladies are bent double, laboriously sweeping the roads by hand, as rush hour traffic speeds past inches away from them.
Despite the grubbiness of downtown Nairobi (why do bus stations always take you to the shittiest parts of town?) I had to smile at the wonderfully named shops ‘Recovery Pharmacist’ ‘Arise and Shine Fashions’ and ‘Best Care House Girls.’
Our group stumbled, bleary-eyed, out of the bus and jumped in a matatu (slightly less battered than the Kampala ones!) and headed to our hotel in a leafy part of town. I couldn’t believe it when we pulled up next door to the HQ of the Green Belt Movement! The Hashers made for the bar; I made my way to the condolences book and paid my humble respects, alongside tributes from governments and politicians from across the world. I couldn’t believe the timing – I confess I’d only recently known of Professor Maathai’s work and here I was staying a few metres from the base of this fantastic operation, during the week of condolences.
Paying respects – condolences book. late Professor Wangari Maathai
This cross-border bus journey marked the start of the epic Nairobi to Naivasha Relay which Kampala Hash House Harriers have emulated with our equally awesome Kampala to Jinja Relay!
I love the Hash – together we have travelled all corners of East Africa – and beyond – to Hoima, Kigali, Addis Ababa, Malindi and even to the border with South Sudan (where some silly muzungu got rather lost!)
If you enjoy my cross-border bus journeys, read The real ‘boda boda’ – Nagawa travels sidesaddle into Kenya and MASH-tastic the muzungu’s bus tips from Kampala to Nairobi.
Save Mabira Forest! we can live without sugar
To everyone’s horror – but few people’s surprise – the President has decreed that ‘the degraded part’ of this ancient and fabulous forest, protected under international law, should be cut down. And for what crucial development project?
The president says the current scarcity of sugar warrants giving away the Forest. Ugandans aren’t silly (and they love discussing current affairs); everyone thinks that the President is just using the high price of sugar as an excuse.
The Mabira issue is in every paper and on TV every day. Conservation organisations have come together to issue a statement with Nature Uganda supported by Friends of the Earth and Uganda’s National Association of Professional Environmentalists.
So, the President (against the wishes of many in his Cabinet) plans to give away one third of the 30,000 hectare rainforest to SCOUL (the Mehta Group’s Sugar Corporation of Uganda Ltd), a producer with significant operations in the area, near Jinja. A planned giveaway was opposed in 2007, culminating in a demonstration that left three people dead and a boycott of Mehta sugar. The victim people often talk about was Indian, the same ethnic group as Mehta’s owners. This man strayed into the angry demonstrators and was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time and beaten to death. Thus not only do we have the very real possibility of violence, but I’d hazard a guess that increased racism against Indians is likely, and will last well beyond this debate. Rumour has it there are soldiers guarding Mabira forest.
The President claims opposition politicians and activists who supported the giveaway in 2007 are to blame for the current sugar scarcity. On August 13, he said “how can Uganda import sugar? This indiscipline should stop. We have defeated armed terrorists. We cannot accept to be defeated by unarmed terrorists.”
In the last few weeks, the price of sugar in Uganda has risen dramatically, from 2,500 shillings* / kilo to a high of 7,000 shillings / kilo and has since dropped to approximately 3,500 shillings / kilo and today the inflation rate is at 21.4%, the highest in 18 years. The rising cost of living is affecting everyone and everything: high fuel costs, high commodity prices, a badly weakening shilling and economic strikes, walk to work campaign, and strikes by taxi drivers, traders, teachers and doctors. *(Normally I’d convert this into dollars / sterling but that’s losing meaning as the shilling continues to fall).
This deceptively beautiful green is a tea plantation. The two trees are all that remain of this section of Mabira Forest
The most obvious challenge (well, to me with my conservation hat on) is environmental: Mabira is home to 300 bird species, including the endangered Nahan’s Francolin, the Papyrus Gonolek and nine endemics (species not found anywhere else in the world). Mabira is the only remaining large natural forest on the northern shores of Lake Victoria.
Uganda has 4.9 million hectares of forests and woodlands cover, according to the National Forestry Authority. Mabira is categorised as a ‘protection forest,’ crucial for safeguarding watersheds and catchments, biodiversity, ecosystems and landscapes. In 2007 the World Bank, the National Forestry Authority and an inter-ministerial committee all advised against the Forest giveaway.
Environmentalists say the revenue lost to government by giving away part of the Forest for sugar growing, in terms of carbon credits, is estimated at US$316m. The value of the land is estimated at US$5m and the value of the wood at US$568m. That means the Ugandan public stands to lose almost US$890m, about 1.5 trillion shillings, equivalent to 25% of the 2011-2012 national budget, as a result of the government’s plan to degazette part of the Forest, according to the NGO, Environmental Alert.
Note: this is just valuing the land and the timber, how do you value a catchment area for Lake Victoria, Lake Kyoga and three rivers including the River Nile? What about the lost livelihoods of local people who are dependent on the Forest? How do you value biodiversity? A species? What will the impact be on tourist dollars?
If the President gives away this Protected Area, what about the others, where will be next? In 2010 he announced he would let the Madhvani Group build a golf course right in the middle of Murchison Falls Protected Area. “Where is the pollution from golf? Where are the fumes?” He is reported to have said. Thankfully that idea got mothballed.
The Mabira issue is not just an environmental one, it gives a fascinating insight into Ugandan society. Some of the other issues, discussed in this week’s media:
Alternative solutions to addressing the lack of sugar have been offered:
Let the president take the land offered by the Baganda kingdom offered as an alternative to Mabira in 2007. This isn’t the first time the Baganda kingdom has offered alternative land for sugarcane growing. If the issue is to increase sugar production, then the kingdom’s offer will suffice. Otherwise, insisting on Mabira would imply there are ulterior reasons to giving away the natural forest land, since sugarcane can grow almost anywhere.
The Church of Uganda is also said to have offered land for the same purpose.
Other people have suggested plots of land right across the country; in fact many say that Mabira is not good land for sugarcane growing: there is too high a water content in the cane and a comparatively low ratio of sugar extracted (all while polluting the local rivers and using disproportionately higher levels of electricity).
Here are key parts of an interview with respected commentator Godber Tumushabe, Executive Director of ACODE (Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment).
Q. What will be lost and gained if the Forest is given away?
Apart from being a vital water catchment area from Lake Victoria, if you’re building dams around River Nile* you do not want to do anything in the hinterland that will disrupt the hydrological feature. Forests are considered to be one of the major carbon sinks, if you then destroy a forest like Mabira you would have destroyed a very important sink very close to the capital city with a fast-growing industrial sector. We have not developed the technological capacity to cope with adverse climate change and ecological disruptions. We would lose the climate modifying element of an important forest like Mabira.
*The new Bujagali hydropower project is being constructed close to Mabira, due to come online within the year. Currently, the country is experiencing major power outages throughout the day. Lack of capacity, inefficiencies at the providers, high cost of fuel, increasing population size are all blamed.
Economically, agricultural communities around Mabira depend on the forest’s resources, and are therefore highly vulnerable.
*NEWSFLASH*
In an interesting twist, today Mehta say they don’t want the forest land and never asked for it. The Indian business community are understandably worried about how the proposed giveaway affects them and have come together to form their own lobbying group. Even without any protests, Indian businesses must have been losing revenue these last two weeks.
We watch the news with interest! Now what will the President do?
Information sources
Extracts from The Independent magazine Aug 26 – Sept 1 2011
Bwindi – eye to eye with my totem
Nagawa meets the Red-tailed Monkeys of Bwindi Impenetrable Forest
THUMP!
THUD!
CRASH!
If ever there was a rude awakening, this was definitely it.
It’s early.
It’s been one hell of a journey to get here (a whole day’s public transport from Kasese to Buhoma). The house rat has kept us awake half the night and I need my shut-eye… I turn over and try to get back to sleep.
But it’s not to be.
Above my head it sounds like the gates of hell have burst open!
At any moment I feel the tin roof will give way and whatever’s out there will land right on top of us. I can’t imagine what’s making such a racket.
The noise seems to move from one side of the roof to the other.
“What the hell …?” I shout loudly at Steve above the noise.
The unholy din subsides. They’ve gone.
Woken from my deep sleep, I’m not appreciating the hullabaloo created by the family of Red-tailed monkeys – locally known as Nkima – emerging from Bwindi Impenetrable Forest to clamber across Stevie’s little tin-roofed shack in search of their breakfast.
Nagawa’s totem, the gorgeous Red Tailed Monkey, nkima, clan totem of the Buganda Kingdom. Bwindi Impenetrable Forest
There’s a rat in the rafters, what I’m a gonna do… [to coin a popular UB40 song].
Across the field of pineapples, tucked away in a damp corner at the edge of Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, stands my home for the week-end. It’s a typical Ugandan house construction: a coating of plaster covers a wattle and daub box; wooden shutters cover the two paneless windows. There’s no electricity, no running water and the toilet, an earthen pit latrine, is a two minute stumble in the dark from the house.
My first night in Bwindi, mosquito nets tucked in tightly, we take bets on “whose bed the rat will scamper across in the night.” We snuff out the kerosene lamp.
As our laughter subsides, the house comes to life. There’s a definite pitter patter of small rodent feet. It’s getting louder.
“It’s in the rafters above us!” Steve cries. “IT’S COMING OVER!”
The house has two rooms. The wall that separates them only extends two metres high. We’ve attempted to pull the warped wooden door shut to keep the rat out of the bedroom but rats make their own rules. They love height. It will obviously climb over the top. I try not to snigger; I secretly look forward to a rodent encounter.
The morning after
With “the upstairs neighbours’ party over” – but unable to sleep again – I get up to make my morning tea. As I strike a match to light the gas ring, the rat leaps out from its nest inside (yes, inside!) the stove’s metal casing. It’s a WHOPPER!
Tea mug in hand, I wander outside to investigate the bird-like ‘tut tut’ coming from a nearby tree. I twitch, ready to reach for my binoculars.
A blue face peers down at us. He sports a white, heart-shaped patch on his nose. Pure white cheek whispers frame his distinctive features. Seen straight on, the effect is quite alarming.
Resting to feed on some leaves, the Red Tailed Monkey’s sumptuous long copper tail loops suggestively around a branch. He quietly chomps away. His thick tail fur glows russet in the sun’s early rays.
Red-tailed Monkey on roof. Bwindi Forest
“He must like women,” Steve comments. “He’s never let me get this close before,” he says, sounding slightly put out. (I can’t help but smile at my luck for such a close encounter!) Steve has lived a stone’s throw from Bwindi Impenetrable Forest for months. We are fellow VSO volunteers.
Wildlife enthusiasts like me thrill at the chance to get so close to nature. However, my work with the Uganda Conservation Foundation has shown me what a grind it is to deal with noisy, foraging animal behaviour every day. It’s hard to imagine how the average poor Ugandan farmer copes, especially when you have your own family to feed. But, I admit to a real soft spot for these forest guenons.
The early morning sunshine glow of a Red-tailed Monkey in Bwindi Forest
Protecting my totem, morning tea in hand. Nagawa meets Red-tailed Monkey. Bwindi Impenetrable Forest
Nagawa, protector of Nkima, the Red Tailed Monkey
At an exhibition by the artist Taga, I bumped into a Ugandan lady called Nagawa in front of this painting of our totem! Nagawa, enkima clan, protector of the Red-tailed Monkey
“If you stay in Uganda, you must have a Ugandan name,” my tour driver friend Rashid had insisted one day, and so I was named Nagawa, protector of the Nkima (or Enkima) clan. In Buganda culture, each clan is represented by a totem, which can be an animal, bird, fish or plant – even a mushroom! You are not allowed to hunt, eat or kill your totem. I am honoured to have been awarded custody of such a fabulous creature.
Back in Bwindi, our red-tailed observer follows us around the forest clearing as we finish our tea.
The sunlight picks out a spectrum of colours in the grizzled brown fur of his back. The white fur on his belly looks as soft and downy as a baby rabbit’s. I imagine how it might feel to brush my face against it.
Takeaway chicken
A little later, Nkima pauses on the dry banana leaf roof of Steve’s chicken shed, peering beneath his front feet into the empty shed below. (The chicken was carried off by the Safari ants one week-end when Steve had left Buhoma).
Safari ants can be vicious – and put the organisational skills of the average human to shame! As we leaned over them to take photos, the big guy waved at us menacingly. His job is to protect the worker ants
The chicken may have gone but a bag of chickenfeed remains to tempt a hungry monkey. He quickly climbs down the outside of the shed and hops inside to grab a handful of feed before he jumps away across the tin roof of Steve’s house, back to his family group waiting in the larger trees.
Monkey business done for the day, a cold ‘bucket shower’ and a breakfast chapatti beckon the bazungu!
The celebrated Ugandan artist Taga Nuwagaba has dedicated many years to researching and painting Uganda’s totems, in order to preserve their culture and promote conservation.
African Elephant painting by Taga
Visit the Buganda Kingdom web site for more information on clans and totems. (The Baganda are not the only tribe in Uganda to have clan totems, but their system is the most complex and best documented).
This story took place on the edge of Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, south western Uganda. It was my entry into this year’s BBC Wildlife Nature Writer of the Year competition. Alas I was unsuccessful – fingers crossed for another year then!
Warning – this blog contains snakes!
Entebbe’s Reptiles Village has been on my list of places to visit for ages.
Chameleon, Reptiles Village Entebbe. Close-up of one of the world’s most fascinating creatures!
When I suggested to the team that we all have a day out together at the Reptiles Village in Entebbe, organised by Nature Uganda, we were equally split down the middle: two for, two against. Enid’s words were in fact “No way, I’m not giving up my Saturday to see snakes!”
After the office was repainted, I noticed that she put back the posters of birds, butterflies and mammals – but not the one of the snakes. Patrick is equally averse to snakes – I remember his look of disgust when we walked past the enormous python at UWEC (a.k.a. Entebbe Zoo). To be fair though, last year a cousin of theirs was killed by a notorious Puff Adder out in the bush towards Tanzania; he was dead within a few hours.
It’s run by a Ugandan who is passionate about snakes in particular and reptiles in general. All the animals he rescues are native to Uganda. He rescues reptiles that are in danger of being killed by humans, and tries his best to ‘sensitise’ people (as we seem to be doing with elephants, dogs, birds, you name it)…
The message is generally: “you don’t have to kill it – it’s unlikely to harm you unless provoked and there are measures to deal with elephants, dogs, birds” [complete as appropriate]. Today at Reptiles Village, I couldn’t stop myself telling people off. I was tired, I wasn’t very gentle, I just said “stop doing that.”
Each reptile has a story. The Monitor Lizard only has one claw on its left paw, as a result of the fight he had with the humans who wanted to use his skin to make a drum. The shell of one of the Leopard Tortoises seems to have melted, where it was rescued from a fire. “I hear they are very good for traditional medicine,” one lady said. “Some people eat them,” someone else said.
Monitor Lizard and baby crocs – cute – at this size!
If you turn a tortoise upside down, it will panic and wee itself. If it does this too often it will become dehydrated and eventually die. I didn’t know this myself until last year. I bought a tortoise from some boys down one of the back roads in Muyenga (I shouldn’t have, I realise now). Anyway the tortoise (who didn’t hang around long enough to get a name) tumbled over a step and overturned. I turned him the right way up – and he did the most enormous turd (a sure sign he was scared!)
Being on today’s trip reminds me how much people need to be sensitised. These are not even your average Ugandans; these are people with a proven interest in conservation, and yet they were letting the kids pull leaves off the young saplings and getting too close to the animals. It was a fun and interesting day out but it just reminds me how much work there is to do in conservation in Uganda.
The lady guide was very informative but admitted she won’t hold a snake! We were lucky enough to have a HERPS (herpetology / reptile) specialist, Mathias, on our group. He was a mine of information.
Watching us without moving. An African Rock Python, Reptiles Village, Entebbe
Like a sentry on duty, the first snake we saw was the Forest Cobra, head up and in aggressive mood. Reptiles Village Entebbe
The three metre (?) long African Rock Python is a constrictor. Apparently this is the only snake large enough to consider eating a human but attacks are very rare, although their long teeth can inflict painful wounds. These beasts are often found in caves.
We couldn’t believe our eyes when we saw a small manky-looking puppy curled up asleep in the same cage. “Breakfast,” we asked? Twenty minutes later it had gone, nowhere to be seen! The snake hadn’t moved though so we can’t blame him…
Jackson’s Chameleons at Reptiles Village, Entebbe
Holding the pretty Von Hohnel’s Chameleon was a highlight of the day. Its black tongue is coiled tightly like a spring enabling, it to PING into action and trap insects half a metre away! Its eyes are hilarious, constantly rotating, one looking forward and down while the other looks backwards and up! “How does the brain process all that information?!” Erik asked.
Everyone loved the Twig Snake. It was the thickness of a twig, brown and only a foot long. Amazingly, however, this tiny little snake can give you a nasty death, poisoning you over the course of a week.
Death by other snake bites can be much quicker, especially if you’re in a remote area without access to the anti-venom injections, which is most likely. To put this in perspective though – assuming you’ve had the courage to read this far – only 10% of the snakes in Uganda are venomous. You’d be incredibly unlucky to meet one of that 10% and if you were to get bitten, they don’t necessarily release their poison either. I do love seeing Ugandans interacting positively with reptiles. (There seems to be so much fear around them, even though most are harmless).
Frankly I’ve hardly seen any snakes in my first two and a half years living in Uganda: two dead grey ones in the road and a couple of harmless Grass Snakes in our compound.
I had to wait a year before I saw a decent snake: and there it was stretched across the whole length of the road ahead of us, an enormous black snake (not a Black Mamba, they’re actually grey), on the road to Uganda Wildlife Authority campsite in Ishasha. It was a beauty!
Have you visited Reptiles Village? How do you feel about snakes and chameleons?
Around the World with 40 Lonely Planet bloggers
Did you know Diary of a Muzungu featured on Lonely Planet from 2009-2012?
If you like travelling – real or armchair! – you’ll love this …
Diary of a Muzungu has been appearing on Lonely Planet, as part of the travel bloggers’ Blogsherpa programme since 2009.
The Lonely Planet “Blogsherpas” is a group of 250 of the world’s best-known bloggers. Our free photo e-book “Around the World with 40 Lonely Planet Bloggers” takes readers on a world tour of almost 70 countries, and introduces the world of professional travel blogging. You can download a copy for FREE!
Diary of a Muzungu was a Lonely Planet Featured Blogger from 2009 to 2012
In the e-book, Diary of a Muzungu highlights some of the incredible places I’ve visited in Uganda. I had just two pages in which to select my favourite photos of Uganda – so it wasn’t an easy decision!
It took me weeks to decide which of my photos of Uganda I could include. I have hundreds more… Photos – Diary of a Muzungu – as featured in the Lonely Planet bloggers’ e-book
“Around the World with 40 Lonely Planet Bloggers” features a collection of stunning images that capture the essence of our travel experiences.
The gathering of this eclectic group of travel experts was born out of Lonely Planet’s effort to broaden content for their audience. “The concept was simple – get the best 10% of travel bloggers out there to share their thoughts and ideas…shining a light on the very best travel writing and photography on the planet,” tells Matthew Cashmore, former Innovation Ecosystem Manager at Lonely Planet on the creation of the BlogSherpa Program.
“The 40 BlogSherpas showcased in the e-book specialize in travel modes ranging from solo to couples to family travel, road trips, budget travel, expat living, voluntourism and even perpetually traveling digital nomads,” explains Karen Catchpole, one of the featured bloggers.
Fishermen in a dugout canoe paddle through the early morning mist on the Rover Nile, near Jinja. Photo – Diary of a Muzungu – as featured in the Lonely Planet bloggers’ e-book
The BlogSherpas have reached beyond our own blogs, featuring in National Geographic Traveler, Huffington Post, Travel + Leisure, AFAR and more.
I’m delighted to be associated with Lonely Planet and to share and learn so much from the Lonely Planet Blogsherpa global community.
“Around the World with 40 Lonely Planet Bloggers” is free to download here.
It’s a big file so make yourself a cup of tea while it’s downloading … we hope you enjoy the e-book as much as we’ve enjoyed collecting the content for you 🙂
If you want to see more of my photos, check out my Gallery on Flickr or follow Diary of a Muzungu on Instagram and Facebook.
R.I.P. Mary – elephant entertainer extraordinaire
Tragic news from Queen Elizabeth National Park this week-end: Mary the orphan elephant has been found dead, believed to have been poisoned.
This famous elephant was raised by Marcel Onen (who worked for Michael Keigwin, my boss and Founder of the Uganda Conservation Foundation (UCF), for seven years. Michael writes “After years of Mary entertaining us all in Mweya and elsewhere in QE it is very sad, but somewhat inevitable, that this would happen. Everyone is very upset.”
Recently, Mary has been quite the media darling, appearing in the local newspaper stopping traffic and of course causing losses to some traders, who just couldn’t keep up with her demand for bananas. Just last week my colleague Patrick met her at Katunguru where she was rubbing her shoulders against a tree.
Image courtesy of Jan Broekhuis, Wildlife Conservation Society
She was a delicate lady: friends have told me stories of how she would delicately remove all the crockery from the outside sink – without breaking a thing – before turning on the tap to quench her thirst.
Despite our best efforts, ivory poaching and retaliatory killings of elephants are on the increase in Uganda. The poaching / global ivory trade now operates on an industrial scale, and growing human populations encroach on what little remains of the Protected Areas. Fact is though, Mary was harmless – all three tons of her. She’d been reared by humans, was not one of the destructive crop raiding elephants and was adored by thousands of tourists and rangers. She’ll be sorely missed.
The Uganda Conservation Foundation works with the Uganda Wildlife Authority to try to protect elephants and sensitise local communities to the benefits of community conservation. However, the prevalent mindset is still simply to kill any animal that gets in your way.
We won’t give up however: there are many dedicated men and women rangers who put their lives on the line on a daily basis to protect wildlife, and they need our support more than ever.
UCF has the fastest growing conservation page on Facebook in Uganda, with supporters from across the globe.
Do you have any funny stories about Mary you’d like to share? We’ve created a Facebook photo album in Mary’s honour and invite everyone to upload photos, post comments and share this link with friends.
If you’d like to support UCF, a British registered charity that has been operating in Uganda for ten years, you can donate here
The call of the wild
I feel in limbo today. I’m waiting for friends to come back, I’m waiting for them to go, I’m waiting to get better, I’m waiting for a call. I should be promoting the new blog but I’ve run out of steam.
The three day week feels more like a six day week and I’m getting tired, wondering if even considering writing a book – yet another area of my life that I have to run and manage on my own – is just madness.
Last week my laptop went into complete meltdown. I was warned I had probably lost the laptop and everything on it: this year’s work, unpublished ‘blogs in progress,’ my entire music collection … I put off how that would feel … it seems I may be lucky and I may get it all back. But I’ve ‘lost a week’ and had to type all week when I could have been saving my wrist by using my dictaphone.
Thank god we have electricity today at least.
Six months left with UCF, still so much I’ve committed to do and projects that keep coming at me from all sides – at least that’s what it feels like.
I need a break.
Patrick says we’ll be go off to the bush once the big donor report is out of the way… that’ll take longer than we think; these big reports always do.
I need to be in the bush. I need to reconnect with my reason for being here.
Grasshoppers back on the menu!
Yet grasshoppers are quite a delicacy in Uganda. Last week, we experienced a biblical moment as clouds of grasshoppers flew above our heads as we ran through the banana groves. (So that’s what a plague of locusts must look like!) I kept my mouth shut just in case a grasshopper …
In the Old Taxi Park Kampala, with Diary of a Muzungu
It feels like the middle of the night but it’s just 9 p.m. in the Old Taxi Park. Commuters are standing in line patiently until a taxi arrives and then it’s a free for all. No chicken on my lap for this journey at least.We pass the boys selling chapatti, their wooden glass cabinets on the front of their bicycles lit up by a candle. The journey home is thankfully quick. I’m tired and I ache all over after yesterday’s 10 km race (part of the MTN Marathon).
muzungu runners MTN Marathon 10km
Half of Kampala turns out every year to run the annual MTN marathon. Not everyone is happy to wear yellow though (as it happens to be the colour of the ruling NRM political party too).
Today’s ‘recovery run’ at the Hash was hard work; I just didn’t have it in me.
As I limp home the last few hundred metres (hark at me, I’ve only got a blister!) I see dozens of cars parked either side of Namuwongo Road, where normally there are none. Thirty or more people are gathered outside the front of a house. And then I remember seeing the funeral services car outside the same house this morning.
I hear the sound of singing and notice the bowed heads.
A blog from last year was Grasshoppers – eat them or smoke them? Discuss.
It’s Hip to be a Hippo
Protecting the hippos of Queen Elizabeth National Park
Look at me – I’m gorgeous! Ugandan men prefer a bit of meat on their ladies…
During the 1970s and 1980s, severe poaching decimated wildlife numbers.
Improved park management is leading to a slow repopulation, but today killing hippos for meat remains the most frequent form of poaching. The frequency and impact of poaching is easy to see, with many of Queen Elizabeth National Park’s rivers and ‘hippo pools’ noticeably empty.
Hippos bask on the shore of the Ishasha River, Queen Elizabeth National Park. The distant riverbank is the DRC (Congo)
Hippo carcasses are quickly collected and disposed of, following the Anthrax outbreak of 2010 in Queen Elizabeth National Park. PHOTO Uganda Wildlife Authority
The UCF / Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) biannual hippo survey of Queen Elizabeth National Park involved three weeks of sometimes risky work across very difficult terrain: of uncharted swamps, fast-flowing rivers and turbulent lakes, all while on the look-out for hippo, a mammal responsible for more deaths across Africa annually than any other. (Did you know that?) The survey team noted that hippo are very wary of humans where there is illegal fishing, highlighting the fact that poachers have been killing and smuggling hippo meat via boat. On the rivers, hippo tend to congregate in safe havens such as ranger camps. Far from the camps, they are easily scared, jumping out of the river when the team approached, an indication that man is an enemy to them.
‘Rebel lookalike’ Patrick and I laughed at this one! Actually these are the good guys! In the middle, wearing a baseball cap, is my UCF colleague Patrick with the Uganda Wildlife Authority rangers, patrolling Queen Elizabeth on the biannual hippo count PHOTO Uganda Conservation Foundation
Hanging with a baby gorilla!
Have you ever wanted to go gorilla trekking in Uganda?
Despite working in conservation in Uganda for nearly three years, tracking the gorillas was never top of my wildlife wish list, until now. I still can’t get enough of safari game drives in Queen Elizabeth and birdwatching all corners of Uganda – but I have to say: today’s trek to see the gorillas was very special.
Here are the Muzungu’s reasons why gorilla trekking in Uganda should be on everyone’s travel bucket list!
A gorilla peeks at us through the thick leaves of Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. Gorilla trekking Uganda
Bwindi is heavenly. The air is pure. The height and age of the majestic trees are awe-inspiring. Before I came to Uganda, the revered mahogany was just something my great aunt’s table was made of (!) and now there they were growing ahead of me in the forest: century-old mahogany trees.
After an early start, and a briefing by our Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) guide David, we trekked uphill through a small tea plantation and a field of bananas.
Briefing from Uganda Wildlife Authority ranger before our Mountain gorilla trekking in Bwindi, Uganda. Here we were shown photos to introduce us to the gorilla family members we were hoping to encounter
“But the other hills we can climb them seated” advised David, as we slid down a muddy hillside to the edge of the forest.
It was a typical misty Bwindi morning – it’s not called Bwindi Impenetrable (Rain)forest for nothing! Treks to find the gorillas vary; occasionally the gorillas are seen in the grounds of the lodges around Bwindi. Sometimes you may have to walk three, four or even five hours before you find them.
More mist… climbing through the banana plantation. Mountain gorilla trekking in Bwindi, Uganda
Our Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) guides helped us every step of the way. Here we slid down a steep slope and traversed a small stream
The hike through the countryside (one and a half hours in our case) was a big part of the thrill for me: would we turn a corner and find the gorillas right in front of us?
How would the gorillas react when they saw us?
And finally, in a dense section of the forest, clambering through the bushes, we met up with another group of UWA rangers who would show us where the group of 10 or more gorillas from the Habinyanja family were feeding and sleeping.
Every gorilla trek is different. We saw the Silverback, although all we could see of him was a mere glimpse of silver grey fur through the foliage. This photo shows how difficult it can be to get a good photo in the dark forest…
None of the gorillas seemed at all perturbed by our presence, as we shuffled quietly from tree to tree, peering through the dark green of the forest to make out gorilla mothers’ suckling gorilla babies and young adults grooming each other, all just a few metres away from us. Even the Silverback gorilla, the often awesome male leader, slept through our entire visit (grunts notwithstanding).
But it was the smallest, youngest gorilla that stole the show….
Can you spot the baby gorilla? … It hadn’t occurred to me that I’d see a Mountain Gorilla in the trees above my head!
Effortlessly. Hanging out with the baby gorilla. Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. Gorilla trekking Uganda
There was no chest thumping, we didn’t get charged at and there were no scenes of drama for the humans to witness on this particular morning.
Carefree.
Not to be ignored, the youngest gorilla of the group entertained us to an aerial display, dangling by one arm and pirouetting above us, eye-balling us with those beautiful big dark brown eyes.
He seemed to share our fascination as we watched, transfixed. I’d trek Bwindi all over again, just to relive those few precious moments.
This moment made the whole hike worth it. Hanging out with the baby gorilla. Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. Gorilla trekking Uganda
Diary of a Muzungu’s (first) gorilla trekking certificate, issued by UWA, the Uganda Wildlife Authority
Next lifetime, I’m coming back as a Mountain Gorilla!
September 2013: With over 7 million views, this Uganda gorilla trekking video has been an internet sensation: showing one tourist having the type of wildlife experience we all dream of. Such moments are few and far between. They certainly can’t be manufactured, nor can these animals be coerced – and it just shows how gentle and inquisitive gorillas truly are.
This wasn’t my first time in Bwindi meeting primates. Coming eye to eye with my totem – the Red-tailed Monkey – is a moment Nagawa (the Muzungu) will never forget!
Nagawa AKA Diary of a Muzungu. My totem is enkima, the red-tailed monkey. This painting is by Taga. I adore his art!
South western Uganda has become famous for gorilla trekking, but there are plenty more activities for tourists nowadays, including canoe trekking across Lake Bunyonyi, hiking the volcanoes of Mgahinga, golden monkey trekking, or hiking across Bwindi. The day-long walk from Buhoma through the thick of Bwindi Impenetrable Forest south to Nkuringo is one of my favourite Ugandan expeditions.
Before you start this adventure, make sure you have comfortable footwear and some high quality insoles for hiking Globo Surf.” I prefer walking boots that support my ankles but many locals love wearing gum boots. They don’t have much grip (but they certainly keep the ants out!)
