Whilst at home I am terrible in the mornings, but here my excitement meant that I was awake even before my 6am alarm had a chance to go off. After hurriedly getting dressed and packing my field bag, and a scrummy breakfast of fresh chapatti and peanut butter, I was ready to go.
Soon I was heading into the forest for the first time with Duncan and Eli, our UWA ranger for that day. We dodged roots and vines and negotiated our way across rivers as we headed deeper into the forest, all the while with Eli pointing out things of interest - there was a fresh elephant footprint, that rustling noise was made by a black and white colobus monkey and that call belonged to the black and white casqued hornbill.
My senses soon became better attuned to the conditions so that I was often able to pick out the culprit when branches were shaken and identify some of the footprints myself. My memory for bird calls was however less impressive and Eli seemed to find it hilarious when I assigned obviously incorrect birds as answers when he tested me on various calls.
In parts of our study area the thin belt of riverine forest meets savanna and so I occasionally found myself pushing through shoulder-height grass in the blazing sunshine.
Being in the foothills of the Rwenzoris, the forest trails often climb steeply and so much of the first morning was spent clambering up slopes, carefully placing my feet to avoid slipping. With a drop of one hundred feet or so to the river below, falling from the trail is certainly something to be avoided!
We stopped on a steep slope to rest our legs and take on food after around 3 hours of walking. I was covered in mud and dripping in sweat but was deliriously happy as I sat eating my honey-covered chapatti and surveyed the forest below.
Another 3 hours or so of walking took us back to camp, where I enjoyed a much needed cold shower and a delicious Ugandan-style lunch. Whilsts we didn’t see the elusive Semliki chimpanzees today, it was still a fantastic day and I now can’t wait for my next forest visit.
Written on Thursday 8th July
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