Then we embarked on the 7-hour drive of 165 miles to western Uganda, through the outskirts of Uganda, then to Fort Portal and onward to the university field station where we're staying.
We had a short stop along the way at a vegetable market stand, a buffet lunch at the Gardens Restaurant in Fort Portal - drinking Stoney Tangawesi, our favorite African ginger ale.
We also visited Richard (Akiiki) Tooro's fine travel and safari shop in Fort Portal (left).At the field station, which is run by Makerere University of Kampala, we were met, to our enormous surprise, by all of our visitors from last year's Uganda-Weston exchange! Many made the rather long trip from Fort Portal during working hours to do this. We had a long and heartfelt session of "kugwamunda": tummy to tummy in warm greetings.
The field station celebrated 20 years in 2007. The facilities are remarkably good especially given the remoteness of the location. Our quarters are at the left end of the long white building (below) which is behind and up the hill from the main buildings (left). We're just a few feet from the jungle. At night the colobus monkeys sound like lawnmowers as they communicate warnings to each other.
No comments:
Post a Comment