Downpour!

During my time in Semliki there has been a lot of rain, an unusual amount for this time of year, which should be the dry season. But so far this rain has been restricted to the nights and the days have been clear and dry - until today that is.

This morning we had planned to visit a different region of the forest close to the nearby safari lodge as the chimpanzees had recently been calling from there. After the drive to lodge through the steadily falling rain, and the test of Edson’s still-brilliant driving skills that this involved, we arrived to discover that the chimpanzees no longer appeared to be in the area as they had not been heard the previous night.

As we headed back to camp Edson explained to me how difficult it is to find the chimpanzees when it is raining. On these occasions the chimpanzees are typically quiet and hidden sheltered on the ground out of sight. The noise of the rain also makes it difficult to hear any sounds that the chimpanzees do make.

Despite these words of warning we were eager to get into the forest when we arrived back at camp, as we discovered that the chimpanzees had been heard nearby. After over a week of seeing nothing but the briefest of glimpses of the chimpanzees I was willing to take even the remotest chances of finding them.

My initial optimism soon faded when I realised the realities of chasing chimpanzees in the rain. What had started as a drizzle steadily increased as we ventured deeper into the forest, until we were struggling to hear the shaking of branches and the calls of the colobus monkeys above the relentless patter of rain. The storm clouds overhead also meant that the forest was shrouded in darkness so that even if we could have found the chimpanzees we would have struggled to see what they were doing let alone identify them.

After slipping and sliding along the water-logged trails for a couple of kilometres William, today’s UWA ranger, decided that the search should be called off and continued in the afternoon when the rain would hopefully have cleared up. It was as we turned to head for camp that the heavens opened and the already fairly heavy rainfall turned into a downpour.

I was soaked to the bone within seconds and was just glad that I had thought to cover my rucksack with its waterproof cover this morning. We raced back against the flow of water now covering much of the ground and I was soon drenched, splattered with mud and looking and feeling a lot like a drowned rat. Even my feet got wet, as the normally low river was now deep enough to overflow my waterproof boots. We arrived back at camp dripping wet, much to the amusement of everyone sheltered in the dry of the kitchen hut.

This morning’s brief attempt at chimpanzee chasing reminded me of past excursions on Dartmoor and other rain-soaked regions of the UK, and was a far cry from the heat and humidity or our previous Ugandan forest walks. I just hope that rain disappears this afternoon so that we can continue our search for the chimpanzees, who I imagine right now are sat somewhere in the forest with dripping fur looking as sorry for themselves as a chimpanzee can manage!

Written on Wednesday 28^th July