Whilst I love the forest here in Semliki and find it an incredible place to work, I will admit that there is a less than welcoming side to it.
As I discovered in my first few days here, when rushing eagerly off-trail into the tangled vegetation, many of the forest’s vines, shrubs and branches are armed with vicious spines and thorns. These well-defended plants act to slow our progress through the understorey, with the hooked barbs that many possess often latching onto clothes or skin to pull us sharply backwards as we chase after the chimpanzees.
In addition to the pain inflicted upon us by the vegetation, much of the forest’s insect population mounts daily attacks on our flesh, and I am regularly subjected to the bites of many a mosquito, tsetse fly and ant as I move amongst the branches and vines.
A day in the forest frequently leaves me covered in bites, scratches and puncture wounds, and I spend many an afternoon busy extracting thorns from my skin and covering swollen bites in antihistamine.
It seems that intact and unbitten skin is a necessary sacrifice when in the business of chimpanzee chasing, and so it is lucky for me that it is one I am more than happy to make. After all, what’s a few scratches when you get to spend time with the Semliki chimpanzees!
Written on Friday 28th August
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