Was feeling lucky. By 7.30 I was already being pushed on a small bus and shown a lovely seat at the front. As I was getting comfy the bus was already on the move. But, I looked behind me and saw that the bus was empty. We were only re-positioning ourselves in the craziness of the bus park. The wait began. There was only one other person on the bus. Across the aisle was a cute young thing in high heels, a tiny shoulder-less pink and black dress, and lots of cheap gold-coloured bling. While we waited, she flirted with every vendor who came onto the bus. She bought a giant stuffed tweety bird,a gold coloured watch, a black plastic patent wallet, a soccer ball and a newspaper.
The bus re-positioned itself a few more times, perhaps to make us more attractive to potential customers. At 10.30 every seat and every fold-down aisle seat was finally taken and we began to inch our way out of the lot into the congested streets of the city centre. I was sharing my space with an Indian gentleman working in textiles.
Five hours later we arrived in Fort Portal where I jumped out to find transport to a resort on a crater lake near Kibale National Park. I had been given instructions to catch a shared taxi. Again, I was the first so was given the front passenger seat in the beat-up Corolla. Along came a lady who sat in the back, then a large man and another woman in the back .. and a young man got in the passenger seat. I looked at the driver.. we were to share. The final passenger we were waiting for arrived, a very big woman with luggage. After the trunk was tied shut, she was shoved in the back, the door was slammed shut on me, and we could be off. But.. just before the driver got in, a tall man in a brown velour suit jacket slipped into the driver seat. 4 in back, 4 in front, and now we could leave. I hung onto the death grip handle on the roof as we rattled along on a very bumpy dirt road for 23 km where I could finally pop out at my resort.
I had only eaten 2 bananas all day - I hadn't seen anything else that looked safe or appetizing at any of the pit-stops along the way - so I ordered dinner for 6.30. After settling into my room, I went back out to the dining area to chat and wait for my food. At 7.00 I started pacing and poking my head around. I was starving. At 7.30, the vegetable soup arrived - stewed cabbage with a carrot or two thrown in for colour, and oil floating on top. Next came a huge plate of wet rice, vegetables (more oily cabbage and carrots) and scrambled eggs. It all had an unpleasant smell. I no longer felt hungry. I picked at it, ate a bit, then said goodnight. I had an early start for the chimp tracking in the morning.
Ready by 6.45 and waiting for Everest and his boda (motorbike taxi). He arrived late and offered me his helmet. Altho it was way too big and wobbled around on my head I wore it anyway. It was 10 km on the same very bumpy road towards the forest. A couple of the bumps gave me a real jolt. Are you ok? Yes, I am fine. By the way, the weather is fine today. Yes it is. Then deeper into the forest, baboons playing on the road, we arrived in plenty of time. I was second after J, a guy from Montreal who has been traveling for the last 7 years. We chatted until we had a group of 6 and then we set off. About 1/2 hour into the forest we could hear the chimps hooting and hollering. They were on the move looking for food, and we followed them. Soon we found a mother and child, lagging behind the group, then we came upon others, in the trees and on the ground. I was watching one swinging in a tree above.. then he began to slide down the tree right in front of me. Uh oh, what do I do? Be still. He reached the ground, gave me a sideways glance and then ran off throwing branches as he went to show how powerful he was. We hung out with the chimps for about an hour and then started the long walk back to the start. A fantastic experience.
Back at the visitor's centre there was a boda waiting for anybody. I let J take it, thinking I could easily find something going my way. Nope. Truly everything was going the other way. I kept walking. I started to think about food... water.. and the baboons. Then a vehicle coming up behind me. A 4x4. I waved. It stopped. A group of Quebecois women and their driver. Thank you!
1 comment:
sounds fantastic. simply fantastic.
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