New Kid on the Block

For those of you who have not been keeping up to date with my blog (shame!), I am the newest resident of the village of Kibwona, following a long line of other muzungus. I have moved from Busingiro to Kibwona, and trek into the Kasokwa forest fragment each morning to observe the 14 chimpanzees that live here.

Village life is interesting- I always have an entourage of kids following, poking, and prodding me, and inspecting the contents of my backpack. Here’s a rundown of the usual crowd:

Edigar- the two year old son of our cook, Prossy. Spoiled and entitled. Never naps, always cranky during dinner. But the way his face lights up every afternoon as he runs towards me when I get home from the forest makes up for it.

Moses, aka “Where are your pants?”- this quiet klepto’s typical garb is a tweety bird vest, and that’s all folks.

Jossy- cute little girl whose natural rhythm is a dance.

Dennis- parents are on extended vacation in Kampala (euphemism: they died of AIDS). Has weeping sores all over body; cant help but feel sorry and give him a hug.

Kelvin- quiet girl who stutters, and tags along with the older kids

Patrick, aka “the smart one”- older boy, maybe 9, who understands my miming and translates the rules to hide and seek.

Helen- older girl, maybe 8, held back in school for sucking her thumb. Only removes it to slap others.

I’m also making friends my own age- Lucky, the 22 year old girlfriend of my 34 year old- married with two kids- field assistant Joseph. This situation is completely normal and in fact Lucky and the wife are good friends. And Prossy, a girl working at the internet café who I see often; she pulled me aside and asked in all seriousness if I would be her friend, she seemed as nervous as if she were proposing! But “making friendship” is a big deal, and you want to be able to bring friends home to mother.

You might think that hiring a cook would reduce your worries, but in fact it is sometimes stressful communicating your order. Everything has tomatoes, and we average a half dozen a day, even if we are only having rice and beans. I dont know where they all go! Also, the food pyramid here is drastically different. Meals consist of a carb-rich, flavorless base, such as cassava, posho (maize flour and water), rice, irish (teeny potatoes), chapatti (like a greasy tortilla) or muzungu pasta. It is apparently normal to eat, though I wont allow, two of these in the same meal. The base is served with a "sauce" or "soup"- any combo of cooked veggies resembling pasta sauce. anything uncooked is "salad," even if it is only an avocado, or only a cucumber.
The other day in Masindi town, I tried to order a vegetable curry entree, and the waitress explained I had to also order something else because what I wanted was "a small cup of sauce;" So I'm imagining it will be like ketchup, and order a side of potatoes. Of course the curry was this huge bowl of delicious spicy veggies, and then I had a plate of bland potatoes I didnt know what to do with. Perhaps she was new, but I suspect the traditional meal plan requiring a "base" forced her to advise me against only curried veggies.

And of course what would an update be without more on the chimps?! We had a busy week documenting the disturbances to the forest- 3 fires, 1 person chopping wood, and 1 snare. Despite this, the chimps have been relaxing in the same tree all week, enjoying ripe antiaris fruit. A quick intro to some of the chimps:

Koojo- "the spy" always notices our arrival on the scene and watches us closely for several minutes before returning to his own activity.

His younger brother Elvis is independent and playful, with ears as big as his personality.

Their mother, Kemoso, is easy to identify by her missing leg. She often climbs up trees using her two hands, one foot, and her knee.

Kangeye was miss popular for a week due to her large estrous swelling.

her son Makosa is a steadfast playmate to Ajabu, and it's hard to tell the two apart when they are wrestling in the treetops!

Kaija Alice is a pudgy, squinty-eyed female, older sister to Ajabu. Their mother Kakono is missing a hand, so when she scratches those places she cant reach with her remaining hand, she contorts into the strangest positions!

Ruhara is a balding female with a newborn infant. Whoever determines the infant's gender gets to name the baby. the competition is fierce!! Her older son, Ritch, was recently caught in a snare, and it is still tightly wrapped around his hand.

The adult males include Abooki, Sukari, and Komuntu. It is their job to raid the sugar cane and bring the spoils home to the women.

I have FINALLY posted some pictures onto my website so you can get to know these personalities from afar, and more are on the way!! (sorry internet is so slow!!):

http://s249.photobucket.com/albums/gg223/MsKatieHall/UGANDA/

Darn!

I was all excited to try uploading pictures again, I thought I might have a way around the large file size. But I forgot my darn USB cable that connects the photos on the memory card to the computer! I promise I will post pictures next time, and I will send out a mass email with the link.

In other news, feeling better from my bout with giardia, or at least thats what i think it was. The chimps have been very stationery lateley, spending all day in a single fruiting tree, several days in a row. that makes things easier for us researchers! just sit back and watch the day unfold.

sorry not much excitement this time around-be patient for pics, it may be another week before Im in town.

A lesson in Sharing

So the other day I was baking cookies to celebrate my admission to the PhD program at he University of St Andrews (!!!) and an old woman stopped by to chat with Prossy (our cook- i was showing her a favorite muzungu recipe- chocolate chip!). This old woman kept eyeing me and the plate of cookies curiously. to be polite, i offered her one to try. She smiled and took the plate, and began eating one. Prossy whispered to me, "are you sure you want to give her all of those?"

ME:"of course not, Im taking these to the meeting at Sonso tomorrow, I just offered her one."
PROSSY: "she thinks you are giving her the whole plate."
ME: "can we ask for it back? i didnt know..."
Prossy asks the woman to return the plate of cookies, and after swallowing her third one, she responds "I am still needing it."

This old woman ate the entire plate of cookies that I had toiled over a charcoal fire for nearly two hours to create in merely two minutes!! She of course had never eaten cookies before, and certainly acted that way.

After the woman left, Prossy suggested that in the future, if i want to share, I should choose the smallest single item and hand it to the person, meanwhile hiding the rest of the stash.

Since when are either of these behaviors "sharing"????

Surprise!

Unexpected surprises come to those who wait. During (yet another) hot afternoon of chimp searching, we correctly guessed the chimps' direction of travel and quickly took a shortcut to the crossroads (yes, there is a road bisecting the forest) to wait. I sat as bikes rolled down the hill, women collected water from the stream, and the heat grew more intense. For a brief moment, there was silence and I found myself alone at this busy intersection of wildlife and humanity. My solitude did not last long, as I heard rustling in the undergrowth.

Abooki popped his head out to check the scene, and was visibly startled to see me approximately 25 feet away on the hillside. (SIDE NOTE: Abooki is an adult male who I suspect is alpha, or on his way up. According to field guide Joseph, Komuntu and Sukari share alpha position, but I have reason to believe otherwise. Aside from being first in line in group travel, I have seen only Abooki copulate with the one female in estrous, Kangeye. All other females have nursing infants, so this may be the males' one chance to compete for copulation for several more years, assuming she conceives this month. No other males have been seen to attempt copulation with Kangeye, and it is often the case that powerful alpha can have sole "mating rights" with estrous females).

Ok back to the story- I'm on the road as the chimps are preparing to cross from one side of the forest to the other. Abooki has seen me and lays low. Kemoso, a female with infant Elvis, and adult male Sukari also check me out. We are each watching, anticipating the others' next move. Since I am alone and greatly outnumbered (14 to 1), and since I want to gain their trust, I do my best "apprehensive chimp" impersonation. I slightly shift my weight and loudly scratch my arm. Luckily I am wearing long black sleeves so the sound is audible to them. I divert my gaze towards my lap, and clear my throat in a submissive pant-grunt manner. I peek up to gauge their reaction. Not quite convinced, so I continue to scratch loudly. Abooki and Kemoso step out onto the road.

At this point, I cant help but look at them closely to learn to identify their unique features . All the adult males, plus Kemoso carrying Elvis, pass in front of me, and the other females with infants pass behind me. I'm surrounded for an instant by these now silent stewards of the forest, the victims of human encroachment. I notice Kemoso is missing her entire left leg, but still hobbles across the road with infant in tow. Kakono carries Ajabu, and is careful not to touch the stump of her missing hand to the ground. Once they have passed, I try ot count them for a group composition census before they disappear into the green. I count and recount 13. Is that everyone? Suddenly the silence is broken by Ritch, still on the other side, who whimpers and scrambles across the road to catch up. The wire snare around his wrist and fingers glitters in the afternoon sunlight; he was trailing behind because of the limp this recent (3 weeks) injury causes. Vets have tried unsuccessfully to dart him to remove the snare- otherwise his hand will become infected, gangrenous, and fall off, if not kill him from septicemia. Now he is suffering, but hopefully soon he will be yet another survivor in the blighted Kasokwa community. Im glad my impression was good enough to convince them it was safe to cross so close to me.

Little Village

Osibirota!

Since my last update, I have moved to the village of Kibwona to study the chimps of the Kasokwa forest fragment, and have begun to learn the local language, Kinyoro. Despite the alliteration of the letter K, no one can correctly pronounce Katie, so instead I have been dubbed "Abuoli" (humble).

I live in a very nice house with a dining room, pantry, shower room, two bedrooms, 2 dogs, 2 goats, 5 pigs, countless hens with chicks, and a constant flock of children following me. The livestock and kids are free to roam the village, so I'm not sure which, if any, of the aforementioned creatures belong to this house. There is one exception- we have a hired cook, Prossy, and her playful son Edigar is a constant companion. We are all surviving his "terrible two's" tantrums, but when he is in a good mood I hear him bragging to his friends about me (based on the repetition of the word "muzungu").

I have been ferried around town to sign "visitor logs" of the important figures in the village, including the Chairman and the principal of the college (only 6 students- I guess all the other eligible kids form my entourage). The kids are always busy poking at my fingernails (apply pressure and they turn from pink to white), pulling my hair, and pressing buttons on my wristwatch. I'm still working on engaging them in other activities, but "down by the banks" isn't really catching on.

On the chimp side of life, the Kasokwa forest fragment is extremely different from my previous post at Busingiro. It is a very small fragment (73 hectares), supporting only 13 chimpanzees. The area is heavily logged for domestic use, the stream serves as a local well/cattle watering hole/swimming pool, and ash from nearby burning sugar cane fields regularly rains on the forest flora. It is the perfect site to study human impact on chimpanzee health and wellbeing. Furthermore, many chimps suffer from missing fingers or even entire hands/feet from snare injuries; snares are set to catch smaller mammals but given that trees are few and far between, these chimps spend a lot of time on the ground.

I have been lucky enough to take some great photos, I will try to upload as many as possible, but the slow internet connection coupled with large file size means I may only be able to post a few of the best. Please find the link in my first blog posting.
Orale kurungi,
Katie (Abuoli)

Back to Basics in Busingiro

Habari! Muzuri!

Careening down a dusty dirt road to Busingiro, I notice several dark faces emerge through the red clouds, and though I cannot hear their shouts over the rattle of the truck, I see their lips form a word I have come to know all too well: muzungu. Deriving from a swahili verb "to go in circles," muzungu refers to white people and their frantic pace of life. Everywhere I turn, children run and wave with both hands, teenage girls blush and feign disinterest (until I have passed, then they, too, run to tell friends), and men engrossed in matatu, a card game like UNO played at lightning speed, look and stare in disbelief. So this is what it's like to be a celebrity. Or a circus freak.

The people here in Busingiro, a village 40 km from the nearest town with electricity and running water, are very friendly, often engaging me and my roommate Shannon in curious conversation.
"Where do you come from?"
California always results in blank stares, so I always say "America."
"Ah yes, America. You are welcome. How do you find Uganda?"
After the standard explanation of my provenance, many are curious to know what crops I grow in America, what season they are planted, and how long before harvest. These questions being difficult to answer, are easily evaded by returning the same questions. Millett, cassava, beans, matoke (small green bananas), pawpaw, and jackfruit are the staples gracing everyone's fields here. Then comes the question of my reason for staying in Busingiro.

"I am doing chimpanzee research in the forest."
Most people use resources from the forest- such as illegally logged wooden poles- to build their mud and thatch houses, so needless to say, they are wary and suspicious of my involvement with the corrupt NFA, the National Forestry Authority. When I assure them my interest is solely in the chimps, they still demand to know who pays me for my work, or at least who will compensate me for my expenses upon return to America. The concept of volunteering is perhaps more bewildering to some than the fact that they have just encountered a muzungu in Busingiro!!

Despite the fishbowl effect, I truly am enjoying my volunteer work in Uganda. The chimpanzees at Busingiro are not well habituated, so many days are spent following the sound of pant hoots without a sighting. Many days are silent. Though the days we have seen the chimps were exceptional!! I have been very fortunate to witness a rare colobus monkey hunt. 2 adult male chimps, presumably the alpha male and his wingman, trapped a black and white colobus monkey in a bare tree (much easier to see without foliage), and flung the monkey out of the tree with vigor. Since we did not hear any chimps "cheering" below, we assumed the hunt was a failure. We continued following the chimps' path and quickly realized the hunting success- we came upon a clearing littered with blood, tufts of fur, a piece of cranium, and several bones. How exciting!

After our usual 15 km hike through the forest, we head home for a "shower" (aka bucket of rainwater), discussions over what to cook for dinner, considering what will go moldy the soonest and what will be good for 8 more days before our trip to the market, and then we are finally lulled to sleep by the sweet serenade of tree hyraxes (imagine a young girl screaming bloody murder every three seconds all night long).

Other recent highlights in Uganda include a trip to Murchison Falls national park, where we camped at the top of the forceful falls- the narrowest point along the nile before it empties into lake Albert. We saw hundreds of hippos, several elephants and giraffes, abundant bird species (sorry im not much of an ornithologist), Uganda kob, bushbuck, oribis, and even a lion and two cubs stalking warthog prey. Of course I cant leave out the more exciting moment of a hot shower with running water at Kinyara on my day off!! It was the first time I felt clean...I should go back every two weeks :)

Today I am sadly moving away from this farmtown village of Busingiro to an actual house in Kasokwa, about 35 minutes away. Though I am excited to see chimps more reliably, so I will have more stories soon!

-Katie Hall

Murchison Falls National Park

ts 40 degrees celsius here, i dont know what that converts to, but its HOT! anyway, just got back from murchison falls national park, where the nile is at the narrowest point and shoots forcefully through this great waterfall. the victoria nile empties into lake albert (can see the congo on the other side) and then continues into the albert nile. We took a boat trip up to the falls, and saw hundreds of hippos, huge crocs, several bird species (though im not much of a birder, so all i can remember is the kingfisher, honeyeater, and fish eagle), and two elephants!! later that day we went on a game drive through the park and saw more elephants, some giraffe, bushbucks, water buffaloes, uganda kob, some other antelope-like creatures with different names, and the finale was watching a lioness stalk her warthog prey (but no catch). this morning driving out of the park we saw some cubs, but mama must have been hunting again.

in other news, im heading back to busingiro, but only for a few days before moving on to kasokwa, my intended destination for chimp research. there were problems with scheduling and training, etc, but by the end of the week i should be in kasokwa. i am looking forward to being trained to identify the individuals there, as sightings are few and far between in busingiro, despite the AMAZING hunt we saw last week.