Pakanyi

Despite not being a morning person, it took me no time at all to hop out of bed for my dream come true “birthday adventure”- chimpanzee trekking in the Budongo forest!! For every activity we assumed we would be with others but continued to be gleefully surprised that we had a guide (and the animals!) all to ourselves. We headed out to the trail at 8am and by 8:40 saw our first chimp! He was right in front of us on the path and began walking towards us. Instantly my eyes filled with tears as chimps and monkeys of all kind have forever held a special place in my heart. My elementary school self who wrote papers on Jane Goodall and dressed up as her for “wax museum day” couldn’t have believed that one day I would be in one of the exact forests that Jane was! Over the course of the 3 hours we saw 20 chimps, our guide was so pleased as that’s not always the case. One of the most moving parts was seeing the rangers love for the chimps. James was so committed to giving us the best experience possible, and that he did! He knew everyone by name, could tell us their story and even predict/explain their behavior. Some highlights:
- The variety of settings we saw them in: seated on the ground, walking on the ground, seated in the trees, swinging in the trees, eating, calling to one another to meet up, scaring another male away, grooming one another- even mating!
- Our favorite 3 who we spent a lot of time with were Jan, Jacko and Brave. Jan (named after his birth month January) lost his mother at a young age and was raised by Jacko. Jacko is older and feels especially comfortable around humans so would allow us to get close. At one point I was filming him and he started walking right towards me. James could see my fear but said “keep filming, don’t move, you are safe” and Jacko walked right around the other side of the tree I was behind. What a thrill!! Video attached :)
- At one time Jacko and one named Brave were grooming each other and we got to just sit and watch, it was magical! Brave got his name because a while back he was caught in a snare trap and was able to escape but the trap was still on his arm. They are working tirelessly to prevent poachers/those trying to harm the animals but a few still get through. Brave hid from the rangers out of fear but they knew he would continue to be in pain as long as it was on him. They were able to soon find him, tranquilize him, the doctor (who they have on staff) removed the snare and wrapped his hand. They placed him leaning against a tree and when he woke up he looked at his bandaged arm, leaned it against the ground to test that he was no longer in pain, looked at the rangers and nodded his head in appreciation towards them. Woof, I tear up just thinking of it! So now even though he prefers his distance from humans (understandably!) they named him Brave for his courage.
- When we asked James (our guide) how he got into this career he shared that when he was a young child his dad worked for the forestry clearing trails and he and his siblings would help his father. He said that he often wouldn’t do a good job because he would get distracted looking at the butterflies and birds, begging to learn their calls. Then when he was 12 years old he joined his school “Wildlife Club” where they would explore nature. When he learned Lisa’s love of birds, his eyes were bright and he made sure to include them as part of the walk. Within minutes of starting the trek, he was making bird calls with his mouth and using an app on his phone, even telling us to wait on the path while he went into the woods to encourage them to move towards our path.Read more