Shoebills, chimps and chapattis

Toro-Semliki Wildlife Reserve
Before leaving Lake Nkuruba, we were visited by Red Colobus monkeys and the Palmnut Vulture. We then moved off to the southern most tip of Lake Albert to Toro-Semliki WR to see if we could track the elusive shoebill. This reserve is not to be confused with the Semuliki National Park which is further west and the home of the hot springs.
The drive there is stunning albeit a bit narrow and steep in places. Trucks also use this road as there is a ferry crossing Lake Albert to the DRC and we thought it would be deserted. Arrived at the first “Visitor’s Gate” only to be told by Johnson, the first of many really friendly Ugandan Wildlife Authority (UWA) rangers that it was an experiment but not wildly used and we should proceed past the Semliki Lodge to the campsite at Ntoroko right on the shores of the lake. As Semliki Lodge was the only waypoint on Tracks in this neck of the woods, off we went. As the lodge was a sister lodge to Clouds in the Nkuringo Forest (Dear Reader, please refer back to previous blogs), we felt entitled to a good nosey, so at the next entrance gate before the lodge we found Jonah, a tour guide associated with the lodge and “Ali moosa”, another UWA ranger. Here we found out that not only was T-S a great place for shoebills, it was also home to a 12 year old Chimp Research Centre who could organise for some chimp tracking! Marvellous, as we had wanted to do this but Rebecca missed the minimum age for that too. As these chimps were not so habituated, they would be happy to accommodate Rebecca too, so what a win! But that’s not all… Jonah got on the phone to Tim, the Centre Manager, to see if “Richard, Karen and a baby” could camp there the night as tracking started early in the morning and the official camp site was still a bumpy 28kms away. They deliberated and came back with “no problem, as long as they are self-sufficient” which we are.
We drove in doing the tsetse dance through all the long grass to the Research site. What a magic place to have one’s office, in spite of the biting, stinging ants and the pesky tsetse.
2 of the researchers (Charlotte & Phineas) were from Cambridge, and Tim from an American university, I forget which, but he’d also studied at Cambridge. They and the rest of the camp staff were really welcoming and we readied ourselves for an early start. We tracked with Justice, the UWA ranger, and left from the camp. Before going 50 metres our boots were clogged with mud. No wonder that all the staff have wellies for going into the forest. We heard the chimps call a couple of times and had a great time in the forest, balancing on logs over the Mugiri (spelling?) river or wading through its many meanderings. Finally we got a glimpse of some chimps sitting in a Ficus stripping its green fruits. Unfortunately the fruit wasn’t enough to keep them occupied so they climbed down and headed off. We then walked past a cold water spring and did some real trail-blazing trying to locate them again, but to no avail. They were bigger than I was expecting and it was a real thrill to see them in the wild. We headed back to camp, sweaty and muddy after a 7km walk through the forest. Rebecca had walked the whole way without any hassle and loved the balancing bits. What a star! We packed up and headed to the proper campsite at Lake Albert with shoebills on the menu, hopefully. We also got the ok to camp with the researchers the following night, mindful of our long trek up to Murchison Falls which lay ahead.

Ntoroko Campsite
This campsite, this road, this park hardly crack a mention in the guide books and don’t even exist on the GPS which is a real travesty because it is fabulous and ranks up there with the best of anywhere we’ve stayed or visited and, as you know; the bushcats do know the bush, dear!
This park was ravaged during the Amin era and the subsequent hassles with the neighbours and is only now bouncing back. There are loads of kob, some ellies, buffs and lions. We heard the lion calling when back at the research camp. It is also home to the Abyssinian Ground Hornbill which we saw on the way out.
Anyway, I digress!! The hire of the shoebill-spotting vessel was organised by Patrick the UWA ranger managing this spot. A fairly steep USh 140 000 for the boat and crew and a 90% success rating. Not bad odds. Deal done and with a kick-off time of 7:20am the next morning, we enjoyed our campsite right on the water’s edge and the deckchairs, table, firewood and warm shower water Patrick laid on. Where else do you get that kind of treatment?
Heard the hippo chorus as we drifted off to sleep. ASDIEA!!! Another Special Day In East Africa!!

Shoebill Spotting
A fishing boat arrived much to Rebecca’s disgust as it was a bit smelly! With our ranger, Patrick, in tow, we set off to find the shoebill. We headed west towards the Congo and after about 30 minutes motoring we arrived at a scene reminiscent of the Okavango. Reeds, water lilies, and loads of water birds, including pelicans. Patrick directed the boatman towards a channel and after about 10 minutes, he spotted a shoebill and we were off. We found it, slightly obscured by some reeds, about 20 metres away from the water’s edge, busy hunting. He flapped his wings, lunged forward with his bill and came out with a huge lungfish in his mouth. It wriggled a bit but was quickly swallowed. Mr. Shoebill had a drink of water and was motionless again. Wow!
We watched him for ages and then moved off to have a quick scan of the nearby channels when Patrick spotted another, and yet another shoebill. We moved in closer. These were much closer but flew off as we came too close. They were far bigger and more impressive than we had expected. It is amazing to see the shoebills in a supposed marine sanctuary surrounded by fishermen, laying out nets and traps. Not sure how much of a sanctuary it really is. It is apparently managed by the community and not UWA.
By 11 o’clock we were back in the campsite with a fantastic experience behind us. We pottered around after a breakfast of toast and coffee and then packed up and headed back to the Research Centre with the idea of an afternoon’s chimp tracking dependent on where the researchers had found them in the morning.
We saw some amazing red-throated bee-eaters from the boat and tried to see them again before we left but to no avail.

Chimps, more chimps and chapattis
Before we’d even reached the park gate en route to the research camp, Kaz spotted some chimps in a tree just on the fringe of the forest below the lodge. One scampered down the tree when I climbed on the bulbar for a better vantage point but the other one just sat there staring at us and us at him/her. A great spot and one that the researchers just shook their heads at as they aren’t generally seen there at all, what luck!!

Edson, the chef, conducted a masterclass for Rebecca and me to learn how to make chapattis. He is a wizard in the kitchen and makes them most days. So we had chapattis and guacamole for supper.
We got chatting to Tim, Phineas and Charlotte again. Rebecca went off to see a little terrapin Charlotte had found. We thought Charlotte really special and what a fantastic role model for Rebecca to emulate one day.
We lent them the Planet Earth DVDs to watch and had an early night as we had a monster drive the next day up to Murchison Falls.

Fort Portal to Masindi
We revised our route to stop for the night at Masindi, which was a good idea as the road was fairly ropey in places and the distance we covered was over 300 kms in any case. Including our customary coffee stop (in a tea plantation!) and lunch stop (on the side of the road with our customary audience), we’d been in the saddle for about 10 hours, enough already!
We are camped in the grounds of the Masindi Hotel, very nice and a real little oasis. Tom Cruiser is booked in for a service in Kampala on Tuesday so we are cooling our heels here until tomorrow when we will head towards theMurchison Falls.