The monkeys

On my last day in Uganda I finally got to see what I have been longing to see...the chimpanzees. One of my colleagues from IFPRI and I took an hour boat ride to Ngamba island, which sits on the Ugandan part of Lake Victoria and is home to a chimpanzee sanctuary. This sanctuary houses 42 chimps who have been rescued from poachers and illegal pet traders. Since chimps are quite aggressive and territorial, all the chimps were brought to the sanctuary as babies so that they can be easier reintegrated into the sanctuary chimp community. We were there right in time for the afternoon feeding. Since the monkeys know what time they get fed, when we first got to the island, we heard this loud noise, which resembled both screaming children's voices and the noise that chickens make when they are being chased. We also heard some banging noise, which made it sound as if the chimps were banging on each other. When we got to the gated area of the island that separates the forest where the monkeys live and the small area with the camping tents and keepers' quarters, the chimps were already there eagerly waiting for their food. At lunch they get fruit and vegetables; we were told that they prefer fruit, but still eat eggplant and carrots after they get done with the good stuff.

It was truly amazing to see how the chimps behaved at the time of feeding. The keepers were throwing pieces of fruit and veggies across the fence, and the monkeys were running around, picking up the food, pushing and fighting with each other, and hoarding the food they collected before eating to gather up some more (exhibiting truly capitalist behavior). But at the end of the meal you could see some of the grown-up females picking up the younger ones and carrying them on their backs back to the forest (the guide explained that babies usually get adopted by an adult female).

Overall, this was definitely a very fun experience. Hanging out with the chimps, who btw share 98% of human genes, made me forget about the stress of the previous week. Besides the minor inconvenience of getting sunburnt (hello, it's the equator), the boat ride to the island and back allowed a nice chance to get a better view of the lake and bathe in the warm sun before returning to the icy cold DC (spring is being terribly late this year).

The flight back home was pretty tolerable, and Im beginning to endure these long flights and really liking the Airbus 330. It is good to be back home (despite the weather).