1. The disappearance of elephants in Nyugwe national park (by poachers) has greatly effected the forests’ eco system, allowing evil plants (that only bloom every 15 years) to grow unchecked. Every 15 years when these plants bloom bad things tend to happen, i.e. genocides or famine. Watch out 2009. And even when they are not blooming, they contribute to forest fires, and kill trees.
2. The army ants in Rwanda are more aggressive than the ones encountered in Paraguay. And it is preferable to have your brother pick ants off your naked legs, than your African forest guide.
3. Reservations for chimp trekking are necessary. For some reason guides don’t hang out at the office at 4 am waiting for tourist groups to randomly show up…go figure.
4. But should you show up two hours before the office opens without a reservation, have no fear because you can always sleep in the car or catch up on the 4 required 300+ page readings for your class in Uganda which begins in 6 days. And trekking Colubus Monkeys is a pretty amazing alternative.
5. While stopping in a rural town’s market en route to by bananas, it is perfectly acceptable for the markets “security guard” to beat the 20+ people that have gathered around your car with a stick. They will leave and stop staring.
6. Squirrels looks surprising like monkeys to the untrained eye. And its possible to make your entire group stop and look for said monkey in a tree for 10 minutes only to later discover your error.
7. 4 hour walks on the “pink trail” will cause your calves to be in intense pain 3 days following. (even if you have long prided yourself in strong calf muscles)
8. Chimps (even if you don’t get to see them) are very smart creatures that use leaves for sponges, sticks to beat (and kill L) Colubus monkeys, and beat on tree trunks to communicate.
9. Potholes.
10. If you decide to drive the 5 and a half hours to sleep in the supposedly picturesque Cyumbe (sp?) at the base of lake kivu, you may want to attempt to see it in the daylight, something that won’t happen if you hike until 5pm. And then get up at 4 am to go chimp trekking.
That being said, I had a great time and highly recommend the trip to Nyuguwe. Beautiful. Lots of Gorillas in the Mist type scenery
2 comments:
Glad to hear your are continuing on your Army Ant world tour. You should perhaps try the Asian Marauder Ants next.
I'm disappointed in your calves.
Post a Comment