Lubare Ridge

Today we went trekking for chimpanzees in the Kalinzu Forrest, it was an early start having to get up at 4:45am to have breakfast and get on the transfer bus. It was about a three hour drive before we got to the starting point where we met our guide for the day.

We decided while there to take advantage of a toilet stop but it turns out there was no advantage, it was a long drop toilet that hasn't been covered for a while and it smelt horrendous! I would have rather of stopped for a 'bush toilet' which meals squat!

After that ordeal we got back into the bus and drove for a further ten minutes until we reached the Kalinzu Forrest where we would be entering. As we entered the Forrest we began walking down further, I was providing entertainment to the others as I slid onto my bum about 5 times on the way down at one point Imogen and I were laughing so much that we were almost crying - one of those 'you have to be there' moments. We could hear the calls of the chimpanzees and were following them.

We walked about thirty minutes before we saw our first chimpanzee, which was good considering sometimes people have to walk three hours! Soon after the first sighting we saw a second chimpanzee and a black and white colobus in the tree tops. It was very difficult to get a good photo because they are so high, we continued walking for a bit when I heard a noise behind me. I looked behind me to see a chimpanzee sitting in a tree at eye level about ten meters away! I alerted the group and the chimpanzee remained there letting us take photos of him.

About twenty minutes after that I heard noises coming from behind again, this time the noise was moving fast towards us in the tree tops and once close enough we were able to identify them as two red tail monkeys playing - they were way too quick and fast to take a photograph of!

We then started to head back when we saw a blue monkey and it's baby in the trees above, we stayed there for a little while and watched them. After a little while it was time to walk back to the bus, the walk was all up hill and let's just say I got a bit of a sweat up.

We got back to the bus alive and started driving back to camp, that night at dinner everyone was talking because half had gone trekking for chimpanzees and the other half went trekking for gorillas - the way the gorilla trekkers described their day I hope that we don't have to trek that far because I may possibly die!Read more