Monkey Business

(Authors Note: I am fully aware of the fact that none of the animals mentioned in the following post are actually monkeys, but the title has a better ring to it than ape business.)

After being diagnosed with typhoid I decided some animal-cuddling was on the papers, and headed to Entebbe Wildlife Centre together with an American guy called Preston. We stayed overnight inside the zoo and the following day got an early start volunteering. Over the next 12 hours we helped out, cleaning the cages and feeding all the different animals. It was unbelievable how much we were allowed to do and in one day I not only saw "The Big Five" but even managed to pet them. However the absolute highlight of the day was the time we spent we spent with the orphan chimpanzee babies, a long lived dream I've had since I was a very young child, and saying goodbye to the little cuties was very tough. Back in Kampala I reunited with Canadian Paul and after a couple more days in the capital we moved across to the southern hemisphere and the small town of Kabale. The town itself doesn't have much on offer apart from it's proximity to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, which isn't slang for a nun's vagina but a National Park that houses half of the world's existing mountain gorilla population. The permit for the park is a hefty 500 U.S. Dollars (soon to be raised to $750) and the taxi back and forth from Kabale costs $100, but I knew I would regret not seeing them when I had the chance. So there are only around 700 remaining mountain gorilas on the planet and roughly 300 of them live in Bwindi while the others can be found in the rainforests between Rwanda and The Congo. Tracking them was a strenuous trek through dense jungle but after just one hour we found the gorgeous creatures having breakfast in a clearing. You are only allowed to stay with them for one hour as not to disturb them too much, but it was truly amazing to see our distant relatives at only a few metres stretch in their natural habitat. Back in Kabale we met Desiree from Colorado and the three of us took a long hike followed by a short canoe ride at Lake Bunyoni, after having seen the beautiful landscape here we decided to come and stay in the surroundings. The first night we stayed on the mainland and swam in the safe (crocodile-, hippo- and bilharzia-free) waters. The morning after we got in a hollowed out tree trunk and paddled to one of the small islands on the lake, we stayed there two nights and allthough the rainy season is just starting it was a really tranquil and relaxing place to be. We then caught a ride back to the mainland, this time opting for the pricier but less labouring option of motorboat. On shore Paul and I said farewell to Desiree and made for the border of Rwanda.