In the Summer of 2010 I shall be going to Uganda as a research volunteer on the Semliki Chimpanzee Project. I will spend ten weeks following and studying the chimpanzees of Semliki Wildlife Reserve, learning the ropes as a fledgling chimpanzee chaser. This blog will chart the memorable animals, people and events that I encounter along the way and my experiences with the stars of the trip, the Semliki chimpanzees.

Friday, 16 July 2010

Elephant encounters

Today I saw my first forest elephants!

The first indication that the elephants were nearby came from the trail of destruction, footprints and incredibly large dung that we happened upon. We continued slowly, listening carefully for signs of the elephants’ presence.

My first glimpse of one was a sighting of the top of a mountainous grey back as the elephant ambled noisily through the understory. Further on we found ourselves in the slightly scary position of having elephants at close range on either side of us, although our ranger William seemed, perhaps worryingly, unconcerned.

On one side I could see the back of an elephant’s head and I watched as its ear flapped to dislodge the tsetse flies that landed upon it. On the other side the sound of breaking branches and swaying trees indicated that more elephants were nearby.

It was incredible to think that such huge animals could move around the thickly overgrown forest and be hidden from view and it was an amazing experience to get so close to them.

After a couple of minutes of wonderful minutes watching and listening to the elephants we proceeded onwards, making sure we didn’t stumble across the paths of the forest giants as we went.

Written on Saturday 10th July

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