The Best Day of My Life

We arrived safely in Entebbe, Uganda around midnight on Saturday. We spent the night at Green Valley Hotel and Sarah left for New York that morning at 530 am. That morning Judy and I went to the Entebbe wildlife park to see the chimpanzees, and other animals, of course. When we first got to the park, we were amazed at the number of bugs around. There were swarms of lake flies that were so thick that it looked like it was snowing. We had to keep our mouths covered to prevent inhaling the flies. I still managed to swallow and inhale a few, but I think they are harmless. We wandered through the park and got some good pictures of rhinos, monkeys, lions, etc. It was great. We went to the chimpanzee area and I was lucky to meet up with Edmund, the man that I had talked to when I was at the wildlife park at the end of April, when I first passed through Entebbe. He and I talked about safaris and chimp behaviour for well over an hour, like we did the last time I was at the park. He introduced me to a volunteer program that allows people to work directly with the animals in that park. I told him that it has been my lifelong dream to work with the great apes and that I am fascinated with chimpanzees. After a long time of talking, I was just about to leave to catch our private hire ride to Kampala when Edmund asked me "can you jump the fence?" I said "of course," and followed him to a restricted area where there was a 2 year old chimpanzee named Achan sitting on the grass. Edmund called her over and she ran up and grabbed my leg. I grabbed her hands, lifted her up, and she clung to my body. She was beautiful! Her hands were so soft and it is amazing how weighless she felt because she held her own body weight. She climbed onto my head and began grooming my hair. It was amazing. When it was time to go (we were half an hour late for our ride to Kampala) I had a very hard time letting her go. It was hard because she had taken a liking to me and refused to let go of me. Edmund had to convince her to let go and he peeled her off of me. It was sad to leave but I was SOOOO happy. I am now one thousand percent that I need to work with the great apes directly. I am going to try to set up a volunteer position at the wildlife park for the end of my trip here. I can't wait! For now, that was the BEST day I have ever experienced.

One of the resident chimpanzees relaxing:

Another requesting more food:

A red-tailed monkey trying to figure out how to get the pulp out of an orange:

A habituated black rhino: