Day 1, Ngamba Island, Lake Victoria
March 11, 2009, Wednesday
We were never so happy to be on real ground when arriving at Ngamba Island. We were given the tourist information on the chimps and their rescue. Formalities over, we went on to our tents to find some dry clothes, hopefully. I had put all our camera gear and lenses in plastic bags with tight ties on them. With all the water running through the boat floor, we could have had some very serious camera problems. We put our wet clothes on the tent railing, and found some clothes that weren’t wet. The sun came out and we ordered a cold beer. Attitudes immediately improved, but it didn’t dull our memory of the boat trip. In fact we were to leave the next morning. I flatly said I was not leaving in a boat if there was another storm! We unpacked a little to check things. Everything was laid out that was wet. We were the only sleep over tourists there, the rest of the people were camp workers. Before lunch, there was a chimp feeding at their outdoor compound. The fencing is very tall and electrified. The chimps are a fat and sassy. Chimps do things that humans would get arrested for! All the females have a birth control implants in them to control the population. The island is too small to support some 35 chimps for natural food collection. They are fed four times a day, and they are trained to be there on time! They are given lots of raw fruits and vegetables. They get hard boiled eggs too. In the evening they are rounded up and brought to a big, metal cage building to be fed a special protein drink and more fruit and vegetables. Although each chimp is supposed to go into the cage, there’s always a few that stay in the forrest overnight. The caretakers check the chimps daily for their health and injuries. The chimps are not treated like pets.
We slept all afternoon until the four o’clock feeding. Afterwards we had a glass of wine on the deck of our tent listening to thousands of weaver birds getting ready for bed. As the sun was setting millions of huge bats flew out of the caves to cover the sky. TIA-This Is Africa. We had dinner by candle light. There is a community outhouse, and flashlights. Showers are heated water in a canvas bag over the tent. Pull the string for water. The next day there were no storms. I got in the boat, but we had a new captain!
Tags: Africa, chimpanzies, Ngamba Island, safari, Uganda
Thanks so much for sharing your trip. That boat ride sounded like a ride from hell. But as they say you only live once.
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