Daudi,
Thanks for the report. Too bad the animals in Tsavo were hiding. I’d love to see those crazy chimps. For your work I need a smiley that’s throwing up, but I can’t find one. You have to return soon to get your cow! Have you noticed the aardvark thread? You’ve seen one in the Mara. Haven’t you?

David,
Another very interesting trip! Thanks for sharing. And a cow for a beer is a pretty fair trade.

Thanks for the quick report, David.

hi,yes i agree of course-i am getting the better of the deal with the cow for a beer haha.
i like to mention about all these trackings i did-they were worth it.at
only 50.00bucks per track ( cant beat it),because i know the rangers there now and also i know a warden just transfered from queen eliz park to kibale. who i met in june-on the tues he fixed it so i was tracking alone with a ranger.
oh you would not believe the people that were showing up for the morn track! no way- i couldnt.so i skipped that one.i knew i would be lucky for the 2nd track.
but it took 4 tracks to get that real good one. for my self i dont have an issue staying in one place for some time. things change suddenly. would i suggest staying at a place like kibale for 4 or 5 nts? if you want chimps- i'd say yes. the chimp researcher there-julia is very nice. everyone there is awesome. if you go to uganda-try to stay 3nts.
i have to call jan goss this weekend let her know that the satao camp area is empty.
oh i did my first game drive- ME- I drove my land cruiser in tsavo east. for a couple of hrs- weird with the wheel on the other side hahaha.it was fun being able to drive in tsavo.
d

Thanks for the update Dave.You got it right there is nothing better than video.

hi dlo,i am starting to get more into the video thing these days.my 3rd trip using it- i find my self using it more and more.
even looking back at one of the dvd's from june- i had forgotten about what my masai driver kashu was saying while viewing elephants & buffalo at voi safari lodge one eve.pretty good stuff he was explaining.
for the chimps-just the sounds alone is worth forgetting about stills.
between the root banging,fighting,screaming,howling,tree swinging-amazing things on video.
i am not saying forget the stills all together. you need them for the camp, people,truck,some wildlife if the time and moment is there.oh i still will bring both me. but geared more towards video.
thx, d

Was it just you on the Great Lakes portion?

How close were the chimps to you at the closest point? At what distance did you observe them for most of the time?

Were you able to find the chimps in the morning before they awoke?

So when are you going back to retrieve your cow? Great story!

Thanks for posting!

hi lynn, let me get back later-just at work this morn.
thx, d

hi lynn, yes just me for the greatlakes and eco-resorts thing. the whole trip-thats the way i like it.when i can- i do it that way.
for greatlakes-me and my driver gerald.
i paid gls at the office what i owed them.
in kibale i paid directly there.
fuel for the truck-i pay as we go.
food, water, ect pay as we go.
the chimp tracking money-paid directly at kibale when i was done.
i think thats it for that stuff.

the chimps-all the time-some in the trees and some on the ground. we had male chimps on the first and 4th trackings.
with only females and babies around-its pretty quiet. no crazyness and the like.
what ever we saw even though it seemed very high-was great.you can see and hear everything. and follow what they are doing.
the last tracking-we had one huge male walking from our right-right at us!all flexed up and big.then at about 15feet-he turned slightly away-went to his buddies.
many on the ground-males loosing their minds,some fighting,mating calls, all kinds of stuff.the 2nd in command male after some action-started going after my
female park ranger(harriot).you have to stand your ground! she had no choice-she
almost wet her-self haha. she stood there-the male got pretty close-then decided to get back to sit by the tree.
if harriot were to take off-the chimp would go after her.
as soon as it all started it stopped! of course all on video.
even right now- am burning one of those tapes to dvd.
it took 4 trackings to get a tracking like that-but who could know.thats the beauty of wildlife viewing-you never know whats around that corner.
hope this helps lynn.
d

Thanks for the additional details. Those male primates do like to intimidate human females, like your guide. I've had it happen to me with baboons too.

Never thought of elections affecting the game activities. I usually try to avoid elections in Africa but did not think of it canceling a game activity.

Must have been many thrilling moments in Kibale.

Dave,
I know you do mostly video now, but will you alert this board when/if you put up photos from your most recent trip?

Thanks, and again, I enjoyed reading about your latest adventure very much.

hi lynn, those baboons are not afraid of mzungus! not even a little bit.
about the elections-it was all over by the time i got there-and really no issues. but
they still had orders-they wanted no one inside the park during the dark hrs.
no one knew-not even greatlakes people.i found out from the reseachers at kibale.
again you would never know that elections were held.
oh, i love kibale.

leely,i really hardly took any pics.the handful i have is of people and the accom. i stayed in. in tsavo-some people,and the bone house at voi gate.
but i will alert when i post them. again nothing all that special.
thx, d

hi to the ones that posted here. wanted to let you know i burned to dvd the day of the really good chimp-tracking. amazing stuff.even if the the chimp sounds were by them selfs still awesome and very loud.
also much information from the ranger tracker.
no, i havent posted pics yet-sorry.
thx d

D,
I saw that you had written a bit on your “Virtual Tourist" thing. When will there be pictures?

soon i guess sue-be warned there is almost nothing in pics this time. the ugandan forest too dark-video is better any way. tsavo-like i said was pretty much empty this time.
but will let you know what i have i will post.
see ya d

hi there, i just realized the other day i am missing a couple of rolls of film.from my march trip.as it turns out i left them with my kws friend in kenya! i had so much film left over. i gave some to my driver and kws friend. she has 2 rolls marked. so along with a tsavo west shirt-she is sending me back those 2 rolls.
cheers, d

Something to look forward too. Kind of like your own Easter egg hunt.