Uganda > To Chimps Nest

I feel much better when I get up in the morning. Still, I hold back at the breakfast buffet. Other travelers went to the disco last night—it was a fun experience. I leave Hoima heading toward the chimpanzees. The road is a dirt road again—a so-called “dirty road,” full of potholes and bumps. This road is known as one of the worst in Uganda. Yay… (not). Just outside Hoima, the bumpiness begins. Edwin skillfully steers the bus around the holes, sometimes driving on the left side of the road, sometimes on the right. When meeting oncoming traffic, it often becomes a game of who can stay on the best part of the road the longest. I am often surprised that the side mirrors never touch. Cyclists and motorbikes hardly play along; the ideal line isn’t adjusted for them. Even when they ride on the opposite lane, they have to swerve to avoid cars. Pedestrians jump onto the grassy edges for safety. Edwin drives a few hundred meters behind Jampa. The dust from the first bus settles over the streets, houses, and people.

Uganda - A butterfly at Chimps Nest in Uganda

Sometimes the dust from passing cars is so thick that Edwin must stop because he can’t see his hand in front of his face. Everything turns orange. Even inside the bus, a thick layer of dust covers everything. Strangely, children still wave at me enthusiastically along the route. I notice many unfinished houses along the roadside. Many are started with clay bricks but never completed. Shrubs and even trees grow from the remnants. Other unfinished houses are already occupied. The building style is mostly the same: each hut about five meters wide, often built in groups of three or four. The front has only a double metal door, the front wall up to four meters high, and the roof sloping backward. Sometimes there’s a small overhang above the entrance. Goods are sold from the huts, displayed on the veranda. I approach a town and the inhabited world again. The road is paved. In the town center, I have a pizza for lunch. Across the street is a bank ATM, but the line is long and barely moving. I decide not to wait. In two days, I will have another chance to withdraw money, and I think I have just enough for that. I continue toward Kibale Forest National Park, passing countless tea plantations covering entire hillsides. Frank shows me how the tea grows and is harvested. Once a week, the young leaves are picked for tea production. Pickers can collect about 90 kilos per day, earning only 65 shillings per kilo.

Uganda - Large tea plantations in western Uganda

By five o’clock, I arrive at Chimps Nest Lodge, just as it starts to rain a little. The cottages are spread widely through the forest, some up to a fifteen-minute walk from the main area. Because of the distance, I am not allowed to walk to the restaurant alone in the dark; there may be wild animals around. My cottage is closer. It’s a wooden house with a large balcony. The shower and toilet are outside, attached to the house. In the evening, the shower is heated with a fireplace, lit for me daily at six o’clock. The cottages also have electricity, as long as the solar power lasts, so I am advised to use it sparingly. All in all, it’s an exciting setting as a base for visiting the chimpanzees tomorrow. After dinner, one of the staff guides me back to my cottage. I quickly understand why I shouldn’t walk the pitch-dark paths alone. The guides mention that an elephant may be nearby. Fortunately—or unfortunately—I don’t encounter it in this thrilling environment.