Nose ticks, school celebrations and who knew hiring a car could be so complicated

A few days after we returned from Kibale Forest National Park I sneezed an object out of my nose.  It was happy, plump tick.  I googled ‘ticks in noses’ an the first hit was a story about a scientist from the University of Wisconsin (https://www.sciencenews.org/blog/gory-details/hiding-your-nose-clever-strategy-ticks).  Tony Goldberg had also found a tick in his nose while studying chimpanzee diseases in Kibale Forest a few years ago.  Unlike me he kept his tick and found it to be a previously undescribed species that lives in chimp nostrils - beyond the reach of their probing fingers.

So I emailed Tony to let him know his ticks are still doing well in the forest.  He chastised me for not preserving my specimen and I promised to do so if I encountered any others.

Unlike a nasty bitey tick I had on my leg at Sipi Falls the nose tick was not evident until it decided to depart.

Mine looked just like this!  Cool isn't it?

Kibale Forest NP where apparently all sorts of lovely parasites lurk (not mentioned in the brochures).

It has been a huge week for School For Life.  On Wednesday the Riverside Secondary School at Mbazzi was officially opened ahead of the first secondary students commencing next January.  The staff and students have been busy learning dances and songs including the anthems of Uganda, East Africa and Australia.  The construction crew have been flat out landscaping the grounds and continuing on with construction. 

Lots of Australian supporters arrived with CEO Annabelle on Sunday after a successful charity climb up Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.  We had dinner with them in Kampala on Sunday at the excellent Ndere Group cultural performance.  Not normally my cup of tea but I thoroughly enjoyed it and the locals tell me the dances and songs from various parts of Uganda were quite authentic.  If you are in Kampala do yourself a favour - as someone once said.

The visitors came to the schools and visited the local communities on Monday and Tuesday then joined over 1000 parents and invited guests to the opening.  It was a long day but everyone had a great time.  The mums who dressed up in their finest colorful outfits, the construction crew, the local dignitaries and politicians who were all suitable lauded.  Most of all the kids and teachers who have worked so had on their songs, dances and speeches.

A riotous assembly - our mothers arriving.

Last minute instructions and some photos.

Mbazzi primary kids kicking off the day.

Mary has been at Katuuso School since it started and is now in her final year
 before heading to the new Mbazzi Secondary School in January.

Energy and enthusiasm!

Some teachers on traditional drums.

Colorful costumes made by the talented women of the Kumi Tailoring Program at Katuuso Primary School.

Some traditional story telling via dance and song.

The mums (and a few dads) up and dancing towards the end of festivities.

CEO Annabelle and Country Director Ange saying nice things about each other.

We stayed in Kampala to dine with the visitors again that night but the next day we headed back to Mbazzi and found a very weary bunch of students and teachers.  At Katuuso later we met up with a Channel Nine film crew who had been out a few years earlier and were back to do an update on the progress of the schools.  You can see the first documentary they produced back about 4 years ago on Youtube.

Today we went back into Kampala to collect our hire car for the next 3 weeks on safari.  We had a contract all sorted that said we would be there from 1000 to 1200 and they were to deliver the car to the School For Life office.  We left home about 0800 and soon had a call from the delivery chap to ask where the office was.  I had emailed the address and a detailed, easy to read map.  Never mind, Jenny explained it all again.  A while later we were in a huge traffic jam on the Northern Bypass and he rang again to say he was there.  We explained the jam and reminded him the contract said delivery after 1000.  We arrived about 0930 and he presented us with a bill for about half the amount we had agreed to.  Then he complained about the age of the US dollars in the $350 deposit were were paying.  Jenny pointed out that these were the same old dollars that they had give us when we got our deposit back from the previous car we had rented from them.  Just as he was leaving he mentioned the camping gear for four people in the back of the car.  We did not ask for camping gear!  Three hours later he returned and took the gear away.  In the meantime the owner rang us to apologise and said he had looked at our previous contract and assumed we wanted camping gear again.  I pointed out that we had not rented camping gear last time either.

We think that somewhere in Kampala today some tourists were delivered a car with none of the required camping gear, several hours late and for twice what they were expecting to pay.  I hope they sorted it out and have a great time.

So with the lovely old rented Land Cruiser safely home in Buloba we are monitoring the progress of friends Rob and Lou from Hamilton as they fly to Doha and then down to Entebbe where we will collect them tomorrow afternoon.  Sunday we hit the ground running with a Mabamba Swamp boat trip then we head off to Lake Mburo NP, Bwindi Impenetrable NP, Queen Elizabeth NP and Murchison Falls NP.  It should be a great adventure!

Uganda Heroes Day holiday long weekend

We recently found out that Friday 9th June was to be a public holiday so at short notice we booked 2 nights at Rweteera Safari Camp near Kibale Forest NP about 5 hours drive west of home.

Kibale Forest NP is a magnificent, large expanse of rainforest and swamp with a huge bird list.  No self driving or walking here so you must pay for a guide and specify you want birding or chimpanzee tracking.  We had two guides Bosco and Latitia on Friday afternoon and then Gerard on Saturday morning.  My main target was the Green-breasted Pitta.  To see the Pitta we were at the park office by 0600 Saturday morning and at the site by 0640.  Nearly two hours later we hadn’t seen the Pitta (or anything else) but then one turned up with sticks in its mouth for a nest somewhere and eventually we had decent views of a second.  For the next couple of hours we had more good birds including Narina Trogon, African Emerald Cuckoo (finally!) and Brown-chested Alethe.  Rainforest birding is always hard work and we heard far more than we saw.  At one point we were within a minute’s walk of a noisy chimpanzee family but Gerard was not willing for us to see them as we had only paid for birding ($US30 each for birds, $US150 each for chimps).

Bushbuck

Jenny with a forest giant

Green-breasted Pipit

A Duiker (not sure which one yet).

Full moon - 0525 10/6/17

Olive-breasted Greenbul

Lots of beautiful butterflies in the forest.

On the way back to camp for lunch we stopped at a bridge over a forest stream.  Thousands of butterflies were congregating here and two Cassin’s Flycatchers were feasting from perches on the bridge.

Cassin's Flycatcher

On Saturday afternoon we went on a guided bird walk around Bigodi Swamp. This is a local initiative to protect the swamp and provide income to local residents.  I highly recommend the 5 km walk to anyone visiting the district.  We had guide Julius and his trainee Everest this time.  Despite the birds being fairly quiet in the afternoon heat we saw 40 species and thanks to the skills of Julius we had fleeting glimpses of White-spotted Flufftail (look it up!) and good views of a Shining-Blue Kingfisher.

I also recommend Rweteera Safari Lodge.  It has a range of accommodation option from self-camping to safari tents to nice little bandas. Not too expensive and the food is good.  Excellent birding as well.  The advertised wi-fi again failed to eventuate however although we didn’t actually ask about it.

Olive-bellied Sunbird

African Pied Wagtail

On the way home on Sunday we stopped at a petrol station for a toilet break (or 'short call' as it is known here).  We could see the two toilets and Jenny went in to get a key.  “No toilets” she was told.  I asked the chap filling my car and he confirmed this, apologised and said it was a dreadful situation.  Then just as we were leaving the owner came out and asked “You just want short call?” and we said “Yes please” so we were allowed to use the nice clean toilets after all.  We have no idea why we were knocked back originally.  Many things in Uganda continue to confuse us every day.

This week will be a normal school week.  Next weekend visitors from home start arriving for the grand opening of Mbazzi secondary school on Wed 21st and we are attending functions in Kampala on Sunday and then the Wednesday night.  Today at Mbazzi I was the first to park on the new carpark.  Luckily it was dry and I didn’t track mud over the new pavers.  The school is looking magnificent for the opening.

Great Blue Turaco - Mbazzi Secondary School

Red-chested Cuckoo - Mbazzi Secondary School

First into the carpark - Mbazzi Secondary School

Gorillas, martyrs, forest destruction, a few bird notes, malaria and 14 km/h

Today we headed off to Kampala to tick off a few jobs in the School for Life office but mainly to collect our Gorilla Tracking permits that we purchased back in February.  Mission accomplished - now I just need to ensure we remember to take them with us on safari at the end of June.

Tomorrow is a public holiday to commemorate the Uganda Martyrs - a group of 22 Catholic and 23  Church of Uganda priests and their followers who were killed between 1885 and 1887.  It was possibly a great misunderstanding as the King of Buganda at the time apparently expressed a desire to be rid of them and his supporters took him too seriously perhaps.  It has also been alleged that as Africans were not prone to use incineration to kill people it was likely the work of European colonialists creating mischief.  Whatever, the martyrs are revered by a large proportion of the population and many people are on walking pilgrimages to the martyrs basilica to the north of Kampala.  For the last few days we have seen large groups of people trudging along the highway aiming to reach the basilica by Saturday for the commemoration.  Some have walked from the furthest points of Uganda - others are taking mini-buses and trucks.

Pilgrims approaching the martyrs basilica

Our school at Riverside Mbazzi (the soon to be opened secondary school) has a small remnant patch of swamp forest adjacent.  I have seen many good forest-dependent birds and there is a small family of Grey-cheeked Mangabey monkeys there.  Some of these forest dwellers will be essentially marooned on this little 2.6 ha island with the nearest decent forest patch about 10 km away.  I have discussed with school managers how important I thought this patch was and how it might be encouraged to expand with our help.  

My last visit was March 20th so I was keen to see what birds might have turned up when we visited the school on Monday.  Sadly I found the forest patch had been cut in half along the creek line with a bulldozed, 10m wide ditch.  No point blaming anyone for this - it is done.  Now, however, we have to see how to repair the damage and I will be reaching out to local environmental organisations for expert advice.

Recent earthworks through the Mbazzi school forest.

We have been back at school for three weeks now and I have added a few birds to the lists for both sites.  We had thought the wet season was over as we had no decent rain for about 10 days.  This week was very wet however so my birding was limited.  New species for my Uganda list are Velvet-mantled Drongo (a pair at Katuuso School), Wahlberg’s Eagle (one at Katuuso) and Dusky Long-tailed Cuckoo (one at Mbazzi).  

My Southern Citril and Striped Pipit records have been accepted by the East African Rarities Committee and are now on the official Ugandan list.  I’ve submitted my four records of Thick-billed Cuckoo from Katuuso as well - there have been only 2 previous records apparently.

Blue-spotted Wood Dove

Great Blue Turaco fledgling

Klaas's Cuckoo

Wahlberg's Eagle

Dusky Long-tailed Cuckoo

Red-billed Firefinch

Woodland Kingfisher

One of our colleagues - Emily, a primary teacher from Sydney - contracted severe malaria a month or so back and spent over three weeks in hospital in Kampala.  For some time she was extremely ill with non-functioning kidneys and pneumonia.  Her parents had come to visit and the three of them were on safari at Murchison Falls NP at the time Emily became ill and she was transferred to hospital.  She has had regular dialysis and was flown home to Australia via Johannesburg and Perth on Wednesday.  

The lessons from this are:

1. take Malaria preventative drugs; and 

2. have good travel insurance - the cost of all this hospital treatment plus business class airfares home for the three of them must be astronomical.  Malaria is not to be taken lightly!

Finally, as I reported at the beginning of this post, we drove into Kampala today.  The roadworks on the Northern Bypass continue and the concentrations of humanity and vehicles at each of the five roundabouts we negotiate increase daily.  Today our 21 km journey from home to the office took 90 minutes at an average speed of 14 km/h.  Coming home was much better at just under 30 km/hr.  Spare a thought for the two School for Life drivers - Rasheed and Bosco - who drive out to the schools and back each day.  I think they are amazing!