Friday 31, 2009: GPS Workshop for Community Members

Last night we arrived for a late lunch to the Silverback Gorilla Camp, a simple lodge that is owned by CTPH. On our drive from the Telecenter to Bwindi we saw a few more animal species. It is the dry season here, so there are not many animals in this region. Once at the camp we were shown around and visited the Gorilla Clinic/Lab that is there. This is where gorilla fecal samples are analyzed and is the only place at the camp where electricity is available for charging electronics.

This morning we woke to the peaceful sounds of birds chirping and hot tea brought to our porch for us to enjoy. Our living situation is like a tent camp and it is very comfortable. We also ate breakfast out in front of our tent.

There are about 25 community members that are here to learn about using the GPS in order to collect information for CTPH. There are CPE and CPD participants from various towns and villages surrounding Bwindi National Park. Due to their lack of formal education past Primary School, everything takes a lot longer because their thought processes are much slower than we are used to. Translations from the local language to English takes extra time as well thus causing the slow progress.

When the GPS workshop is finished, a monthly meeting about community progress will be held and we are hoping to learn a lot from that meeting. These participants are very well spoken in their native language and a few even know some English.

We are enjoying out stay in Bwindi, the people are very friendly and we are learning a few words in the native language. It is very nice to be surrounded by so much lush green vegetation and we are so excited to be able to help these communities.

Thursday July 30: Traveling to Bwindi

We woke to birds singing and striped mongooses walking along the road. At breakfast a family of warthogs went running around and digging in the dirt by the dinning area. We saw various people that Dr. Gladys worked with while at Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA). Dr. Margaret, who is a veterinarian and the Warden for Queen Elizabeth National Park (QENP), seemed very interested in DNA barcoding so that the poachers can be prosecuted as well as some butchers that mix game meat and cattle meat. While meeting with Margaret we all shared stories about our experiences being chased by elephants, their stories were much more interesting than ours!

On our drive from the lodge to the telecenter we saw a herd of elephants and a small herd of Ugandan Kob, native only to Uganda, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sudan.

Right now we are sitting at the CTPH Telecenter joint with UWA in the QENP overlooking Craters, some have water and others are dry, Lake Kikorongo which is one of the Crater Lakes, Lake George, the Rwenzori mountain range, and the Kicwamba escarpments.

The telecenter is used by CTPH for the use of internet access and UWA as a visitor information center and gate into QENP.

It will take another two hours until we reach Bwindi from here and will hopefully have more to add about todays adventures!

Wednesday July 29: A Day of Travels

Our lost bag was found by the airlines yesterday, we went to the Entebbe Airport this morning to pick it up. As we approached the airport we were told that the bag had already been moved to the office in Kampala, so we drove all the way back to Kampala to get the bag.

We then went to the CTPH headquarters in Kampala to pack up everything for our journey to Bwindi. Our morning goose chase to get the luggage took much longer than we had anticipated so we decided to stop at Queen Elizabeth National Park for the night instead of arriving to Bwindi late into the night.

It was a quaint little lodge that we spent the night at in the national park. Very peaceful here.

Tuesday 28 July: Starting the Project

Today consisted mostly of running errands. We exchanged money and purchased a sim card for our global cell phone. Picked up out tracking permits from the Uganda Wildlife Authority and visited the CTPH head quarters in Kampala.

We had a meeting with Dr. Gladys and her nephew Paul about how we can modify the Bwindi and Queen Elizabeth Community websites (the second link on the right). We then went to meet with the web master for this website, Jan van Diepen. He showed us how to use Drupal, the online program he uses to create websites.

We are currently at the CTPH headquarter in Kampala where we have internet access, but will soon be traveling back to our hotel. Tonight we will be having dinner with Gladys, Tendo and her older son Ndhego (whom we have not met yet).

Making the Trek: Sunday 26 July & Monday 27 July

San Diego to New York: 6 hours

New York: 2 hour lay over plus a 3 hour delay = 5 hours

New York to Brussels: 8 hours

Brussels: 10 minute lay over

Brussels to Entebbe: 8 hours

All but one bag made it even though we ran through the terminal to make our connection to Entebbe

Customs and attaining our visas were easily accomplished. What a relief it was to see a familiar face upon exit of the airport luggage claim area. Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka was waiting for us with her five month old son, Tendo, and Sam her associate.

We are staying at the Athena Guest House in Kampala, the capital of Uganda and the home town of Dr. Gladys.

Pre-Take Off

We will be writing daily blogs however we may not be able to post them on the appropriate day because we are unsure what Internet connections will be available to us.

The excitement is building up as we are about embark on such a fantastic journey through the jungles of Uganda and hope that you follow us through these amazing and meaningful experiences.

We will be working with Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka and her non-profit organization called Conservation Through Public Health (CTPH). There are many links that I have attached to this blog that may interest you about her and her work. I highly suggest perusing through these websites and pod casts to get a better understanding of her work and the conservation issues at hand.