Old Sawmill 2.3.08

Good morning Uganda!

Sonso 020308

The last two days were not quite as adventurous as the beginning, but still filled with many impressions. My birding list is now up to 50 species, some of them just incredibly beautiful. I didn't even have to walk further than two kilometres yet, so there is much more to come.
Yesterday we went to Masindi again in order to do the food shopping for the whole camp. That's where we took most the pictures above. For a part of the trip, I was driving one of the camp vehicles, a Toyota Hilux pick up (my favourite!!), which was quite strange. Driving on the right side and shifting with the left hand for the first time. Fortunately, Zinta in the passenger seat reminded me every five minutes, that I was drifting towards the right. Well, usually there is no traffic anyways. Just to clarify: the roads here are all dirt roads except in Masindi. Along them are many little villages with kids standing around and waving at the car full of Muzungus. Other traffic participants are oxes, goats, chickens and pigs. If a vehicle comes from the opposite directions, it may be a truck heading to the sugar mills (Kyniara Sugar) or a truck that transports 20 or so locals, that almost fall off. And they won't slow down much, and pretty much force to stear into a ditch. Always hoping that our passenger on the back of our Toyota does not fall off. Whenever our vehicle heads somewhere, we will also take along folks from the surrounding vehicles. Yesterday, Moses a young man from Kabokwa was heading to Masindi to start school. So he brought along a suitcase, a matress and lots of other stuff. Gotta love it!
After Masindi we stopped at the forestry college nearby, where the Asst. Director, Roman Wittig, lives with his wife and kids. Saturday there are the football matches of the village league, so we witnessed the spectacle! The sidelines are basically defined by the people standing around the field and the grass is about 30 cm high. At halftime, the whole village gathers around the team and everybody has some advice for the players. Two of our field assistant were also playing and did so well. At the time we left, the match was tied, I hope they won.
The evening we spent sitting around nipping on warm beer (did I mention there is no refridgerator here?) and discussing american politics. Funny, considering none of us are american.
This morning, Zinta and I went birding on the grounds of the old sawmill. A beautiful place with half-destructed buildings, tons of birds and a couple of chimps wandering by (Squibbes and Mausa ?). The other chimps were nearby screaming like crazy. Quite impressive! Well, now I have to get back to work: Ludwig is still waiting for the results from Brazil :)


Sawmill and Sunrise


Yes, I am a crow-addict!


Just beautiful