Chimps

Chimps Done (school home)

Another early morning as we woke up early to hike into the Forrest to find the Chimpanzees. Chimps are our closest relatives according to DNA and this Forrest was one of the only places to find them in Uganda in the wild. I had not gotten my hopes up because they do not guarantee that you will see the Chimps and everyone I had spoken to previously had not found them during their trek.

The walk was beautiful of course. We went on a pretty well beaten path. As we wondered around it seemed pretty impossible to find a chimpanzee in the mass amount of trees high above us. We wondered deeper into the forest and across logs. Along the way we saw a few other types of monkeys quickly as they jumped between trees.

Our guide got a call and we immediately turned around and started right back where we came from. After a short hike he heard some calling in the distance. We continued on further and came to a very tall tree with a chimpanzee comfortably lounging high up in the branches. 

The chimpanzee was one lonely chimp. The forest had two different groups of chimps with over 25 each but this one had be outcast for some reason. We watched as we shifted positions and gathered more leaves to munch on. 

 

It felt wild to sit below such an intelligent animal in its natural habitat. Seeing all of these animals in the wild is such an amazing feeling. After our hour visit of trying to get the best shot we were left with a few of him looking down at us! After we made it back out of the forest we walked through a tea plantation and back to the camp. Then we were on the road again!