I woke up at Kibale Lodge to the chirping of birds like Ross’s Turaco, then came the roosters and the sounds of the neighboring village that come to life. The final sound came from my butler, who reminded me that I had a chimpanzee hike in just a few hours.
After breakfast, Kiwanuka led me as well as another traveler at Kibale National Park. While we were crossing the forest, we searched for the awnings of red and white color monkeys. We stopped on the road waiting for a troop of baboons to cross.
Finally, we arrived at the start of the path for the Chimpanzee hike. Here, I met Bosco Bwambale, our ranger with Uganda Wildlife Authority.
He was with three other trackers, and before heading deeper in the forest, Bwambale gave a briefing on what to expect during the chimpanzee trek.
We would have a hike in the forest, where another set of trackers had speeds on the community of Kanyantale Chimp. Once we have found the chimpanzees, we put facial masks and observe them for an hour. Then we traveled the hike.
We went to the dense forest, where we followed pieces of elephants and listened to the radio calls of trackers.
Bwambale, which has been a ranger for almost two decades, saw the chimpanzees long before me. They were in the branches above us, and after a few moments, they let out cries.
Bwambale explained that the shrieks inform the others that they had found food and that it was lunch time.
As we get closer, I saw them in motion – jumping from branch to branch, sliding thick vines and moving to the ground.
Finally, they settled in an area, where I watched them prepare, eat and explore.
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