It has been a whirlwind trying to gain my bearings out here in the African world, and to be quite honest, I’ve been a bit depressed and sad, and that’s not exactly the liveliest way to write a blog entry. Why would you want to come hear about how sorry I am feeling for myself because I miss people and my dog back home, eating delicious salads, and doing yoga everyday? Those are more fitting posts for whitepeopleproblems.us.... or perhaps, natural feelings for someone whose life just flipped on its head, but hey. As I may have mentioned previously, my inner critic is a mean bitch.
I am not super in love with Uganda yet. I feel like maybe I should be, because people kept telling me how jealous they were when I was getting ready to leave, and all the expats here seem to keep coming back for some reason--but I just don't get it, yet. Then again, those jealous people aren't the ones trying to avoid getting run over by boda bodas or choke to death on smog while crossing the street. I do realize there is a need for a bit more patience on my part, since I've now been living here for all of three and a half days. I promise to eventually explain more about what I am doing for a job, what the office and staff are like, where I am sleeping at night... but I will save that for another day when I am not in possession of----
wait for it....
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EXTREMELY ADORABLE PHOTOS OF BABY MONKEYS!
Why do I have such a wonderful thing, you may ask? Well, my friends, today was our office "fam trip" to the Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary. My timing in terms of starting work with Volcanoes was somewhat immaculate, as a Saturday spent eating all day and looking at monkeys, rather than coming into the office to work, is a pretty big treat. We also spent the day visiting several hotels to check on their conditions, as many of our clients have made complaints about different elements of their stay in Entebbe, and it's our job to understand what they are talking about.
The adventure began this morning at 6:30 am. Fortunately for me, I am sleeping in a room in the office, (got that info to you even faster than promised!) so I had nowhere to go, other than my closet, in order to get ready to meet everyone. Lower-ranking females chimpanzees often have to wait to eat, or stay in the back of the pack while the elders and more powerful chimps get their food first, and I think a similar process landed me in the car of the bosses/managers... essentially 30-something females in a tinny Rav4, instead of the more badass Mitsubishi Pajero with the 20-something office folk. Now, nothing wrong with 30-somethings (I am getting close!) but I do object to the musical affinities of said women, as I was confined for an hour (literally imprisoned, thanks to child-locks in the backseat!) to a blaring Phil Collins alongside expressions, like "Phil is a genius," "Brilliant!" and, "I would so love to see him in concert, along with Bruce Springsteen, who has such a beautiful bottom." Did I mention these women may or may not be British? There was also considerable car-dancing throughout the ordeal, of which generally I am a huge fan and participant; however, this was to wonders such as "Easy Lover," and I objected out of pure principle.
We finally arrived to Entebbe, and pulled out our prepared picnic breakfast--egg salad sandwiches, brownies, peanut butter cookies, banana bread, tea and coffee, and little weenie roll things. The second we sat down, Vervet Monkeys emerged in droves from the trees around us and encircled our camp. Me, being the general idiot that I am in terms of coming way too close to wildlife, got excited and ready to feed and try and pet them, while everyone else became edgy and nervous, and started swinging legs and bags in all directions to discourage the tiny sneaks from closing in on our cookies. And so, as promised, commence adorable pictures:
Ok, that one is actually a little scary... here are some milder ones:
In fact, I could fill up a 3-blog-feet of pictures of these Vervets, so better to re-direct you to my Picasa album and spare the bandwidth, or blogwidth, or whatever you call it. The next stop on our Fam Trip was Ngamba Island to see the
chimps. They live on a 100-acre section of the island, separated from their
human keepers and visitors by a 30-foot electric fence, which some occasionally
somersault and withstand electric shock to escape over. We were warned that in
the rare occasion this should occur, we should run like hell to the water, where
the chimps won’t enter to apparently rip our arms off and eat us barred-fang-bite-by-bite. And I always though Chimpanzees were simply nice, little mammals who also happen to be our closest DNA relative. In all fairness, many of these chimps were abused and mistreated, orphaned or shipped back and forth overseas into zoos and circuses, so I might be a little pissed-off at humans at the end of it all as well.
Chimps getting their 11 a.m feeding in. Carrots, papaya and other fruits were thrown over the fence by the keepers and volunteers.
This old gal was cracking me up, she would shove the last bit of food in her mouth then raise her hand to ask for more while still chewing. Other chimps clapped to draw attention to themselves, or could occasionally catch the food mid-air.
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However, the final phase consisted of withholding vomit throughout choppy open water, while we all willed the sun to set faster than nature allowed, thereafter donning ridiculous rain-gear in order to speed back into town before everyone's stomachs' truly gave way. For some reason, this final activity resulted in most of my co-workers screaming in delighted terror over the waves and spraying water, and in truth, we sounded worse than the chimpanzees.
Hi Holly...great blog! what a great way to let all of us here see Africa and what you're up to! Keep it up!
ReplyDeletethank you! :)
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