First Days on the Job -- The Kasiisi Project

Day 1

Well I’m sitting in my new apartment on grounds at Kasiisi Primary School to begin my first paid field job, with The Kasiisi Project.  www.kasiisiproject.org.  This is the same project I worked on for 6 months at 2 weeks per month, May-Nov 2011.  This is the first moment in at least 3 months that feels like life just slowed down for a few hours.  Although I feel somewhat lonely, I am actually not really alone.  There are crickets, a local street dog that ran through the field, and plenty of other flying invertebrates, a.k.a bugs. And I can’t forget the two night watchmen who are in charge of the grounds; one has an AK47. 

This is the yard in front of the house that I can't wait to landscape.

From the porch; this is where I am emailing you now.

"My side" of the duplex that I share with other volunteers

My new home is a basic staff house for the school, but due to the raised tariffs to live in Kibale National Park at the research station, we are transitioning this housing into volunteer quarters for the foreseeable future.  Right now it doesn’t have running water, so that is a bit tough for me but I will get used to it in a week.  We have put up two new rain barrels, but seeing as it is the dry season, water coming out of those taps will wait until March-ish.  So right now we “fetch” water from the rain barrel next door.  Luckily we have electricity and a travel gas stove to boil water, plus a filter.  I was assigned a cook, that’s just how it is done here, his name is Richard, and he will also help with sweeping/mopping and laundry along with another hired hand because, in 4 days, 6 volunteers are coming to the house, so we will all be mighty busy.  It is an exciting time and I feel so lucky and happy to be here!

Do you like the colors that the painter picked out in our living room?

I have told myself, now that I will be able to have a routine for the first time in over a year, that I will run on the main road every morning. In fact I want to run to the project’s 20 acre farm, which we use to sustain the Porridge Project.  I want to learn as much as I can about farming, and I can’t wait to get started.  My boss also told me I could landscape the front lawn of the house, I’m so excited that I call this “my house”.  It is a wonderful and much awaited feeling being able to call a field site my home.  I feel blessed.  All that is needed is a puppy, which will come in time when everything is settled.

Day 2

I went for my first jog up the road for 30 minutes.  I didn’t make it to the Kasiisi Farm, but I made it into the turnoff branch towards the farm.  The weather was perfect of course, the only complaints are the dust and exhaust from cars/motorcycles/big trucks passing.  It kinda feels like you are smoking a cigarette while running, ok not that bad, but my lungs probably feel that way. I might start running with a scarf to be honest.  The other complaint is: being stared at by everyone, but I smile and wave and greet them in Rutooro, “Ori ota?” Good morning, how are you? or, “Muli muta,” How are you (to more than one person)? And they laugh back in disbelief.  We will quickly get used to each other.

All the staff worked today even though it is a Saturday, to help finish what needs to be done in the house for the 6 volunteers that are coming in 3 days. The electrician, another Kasiisi Scholar graduate put more circuits in the bathroom, kitchen, and outdoor kitchen and latrine. Tomorrow he will do the same in the apartment next door, plus fix the outlet in my room.  I had a meeting with Mathew, Assistant Director of the project, to discuss details on the housing and the next steps to finding money to finish everything.  Francis, Conservation Education co-director, was also kind enough to help, and we discussed details on how to landscape the front yard.  The main thing is, we need to wait for rains, but we must be ready when they come in 1-2 months. That means that all holes and trenches are dug for each plant and plants are bought and cared for inside their containers until ready to be planted.  The ground is really hard right now, however, so that will be a good challenge and exercise.  We want to make a fence called a live hedge around the property since we share the space with 1200 students of Kindergarten through seventh grade at Kasiisi Primary school – who by the way came in at 745 place out 11,500 schools in the country! Maybe when I get a dog, it will tend to stay inside that barrier, but we’ll see!  The hedge will be planted by burying branches of an adult hedge in the ground. Sounds simple, but we’ll see.  As far as other vegetation, I was thinking of planting indigenous trees with the Wildlife Clubs, for them to see how they will grow on their own turf.

I also started planning out where to dig two pits behind the latrine.  One for compost, the other for non-biodegradables, like plastics and cans of DOOM – my fumigator in a can.  It’s really interesting to see how you are ruining the environment when you have to find a place for your own waste! The US hides it from us! I have a debate question for you – should you bury your non-biodegradables or burn them?  Everyone here burns. I believe in burying.  We’ve been very lucky the last two days; the electricity has been on in our area! However, the internet stick that I use in my USB port (Orange it’s called) was out for 24 hours…  At least the music that is pumping from the trading center only comes on the weekends. I completely forgot it was a Saturday. I slept like a baby last night, maybe tonight too?  I love my new place!

Day 3

It is now Sunday and a bit hotter today than yesterday –no clouds.  I went for my second run, on the same road, and said hello to even more people today because I left later in the morning and it is church day so people are walking everywhere.  Half way through my run a young Ugandan man asked if he could run with me, with his jeans and sandals on.  I said sure, thinking he would not make it so far (believe it or not I have noticed people here are in great shape, but lose their breath easily when running; this is not the first time a person has run next to me…). So he went as far as to the place where I turn around and he continued with me back to his house. Then he asked for my name and phone number. I gave him my name, plus my pet name, Akiiki.  Maybe by the end of my time here I will have a running group. Wouldn’t that be fantastic?!

Well I got home just in time to not get undressed for showering, and the electrician was at the door, a young man who just graduated through the Kasiisi Scholarship Program.  He needed to fix the two outlets in the bedrooms, but it was not an easy fix, so Mathew will have to get another wire from town tomorrow and Joseph will have to come back yet again.  Then the carpenter came by to finish nailing wood strips to the walls for hanging things, and especially for the laundry clothesline.  I can’t do laundry yet because I need to buy a clothesline! Fort Portal Town is 35 minutes away and chaotic, but a nice place to find everything you need and even order pizza! This project is very nicely located.

I picked up the 4-wheel drive project vehicle today, now I really feel like a project director!

And the best part of the day was when I found a new, more convenient place to get an internet signal, on my own porch! Halleluiah!  This morning I was in the hot sun walking around the big field in front of my house holding my computer above my head.

I am enjoying and taking advantage of the quietness of the area right now, because in a week school begins and there will be 1200 primary school kids on grounds. I think school starts at 8am, which means I should leave for my jog exactly at 8 and the roads should be a bit cleared of people walking in the hundreds, we’ll see how my theory goes…

This blog just took longer to post than if I had dial-up to post. Remember those days of dial-up? Yeah I'm back there now.

Thanks for tuning in to The Akiiki Kasiisi Blog! 

Wildlife Club End of Year Party

Kasiisi Project Wildlife Club End of Year Party

Friday, 11 November 2011

The Kasiisi Project wanted to show appreciation for the efforts of all WLC patrons and members.  We ended our 6-month pilot program with an end-of-year party for 5 school’s Wildlife Clubs (WLCs). The patrons planned all activities for 160 people, and the party was a success, plus it didn’t rain!  We also stayed within our budget.

snacks, drinks, supplies

preparing the church

The celebration lasted from 2-5pm.  All WLC leaders (patrons) decided they wanted to have the party together at one school, which would mean they would have to walk because transport could not be afforded in the budget.  All schools walked to Kigarama Primary School, one school as far as 6 miles to get there, and they arrived early! (They were given a ride home).  As schools were arriving, members sung the “World Above the Ground” song that was taught during the year as a WLC activity about what lives in the forest canopy.  Margaret of Kibale Fuel Wood Project motivated the members to sing with pride.

Once all schools were gathered in the church on school grounds, we ran out to the field to play games like tug-of-war, sack races, jump roping races, and a creative carnivore/ herbivore/ human disturbance tag game that the patrons developed. All schools and genders were mixed up into teams to promote unity.  It was a thrill to see the excitement and smiles from the students and patrons – there was happiness in the air.

patrons keeping score - though no one was declared winner at end

Back at the church, drinks and snacks were passed around energetically. We had a gorging session of juice, popcorn, ground nuts (aka peanuts), and biscuits (cookies similar to animal crackers).  Then a patron shared his knowledge on salt mining to the members.  We had a small ceremony to congratulate all schools.  Rweteera Primary School, the first to build/grow/promote indigenous tree nursery beds donated 5 tree seedlings to each school, and 1 to each patron and Kasiisi staff (me and Francis).  Then I handed out a laminated picture collage to each school to show my gratitude for their hard work and dedication to wildlife.  Pencils were given to each student.  And finally, we watched the first half of a conservation video about the Serengeti.  Besides a small technology glitch, the day ran smoothly and was a blast!

Kasiisi holding Rweteera's donated seedlings

Me and Annet of Rweteera

Me and Christian of Kiko

Me and Didas of Kyanyawara

Lions and Elephants and Car Troubles, Oh My!

Dominic had to do some research in Queen Elizabeth National Park (QENP), and I was working for the Kasiisi Project, which is on the way from Kampala to QENP.  We decided to meet in Fort Portal so that it was easy to take the tarmac road instead of the dirt road from my room at the station at Makerere Biological Field Station or MUBFS, as everyone refers to it. Dom rented a vehicle from a friend of a friend. It was a Nissan 4 door 4x4 pick up with an open back (I don’t know anything about trucks so this is the best I can describe it).  There was a miscommunication about us needing a 4x4, so the transaction happened last minute and late at night.  Dom left Kampala early the next morning and got to Fort Portal by noon.  We were heading south about two hours to the beginning of QENP.  Just past Kasese town and the equator there was the first information station for the Park up a big hill. Dom had to drop off a camera to a lady there at Conservation through Public Health, a local NGO focused on studying and helping with health at the human-domestic animal-wildlife inteface – human populated areas nest to national parks. They served us tea and we took some pictures of the wonderful scenery overlooking QENP from on top of the hill, and we paid for our entrance fees to the Park.  Dom and I were happy to be traveling again together and ready for a mini-safari.  Even after his 7 hour drive that day, he was ready for more.  We decided to take the Crater Lake Drive into the Park headquarters and Mweya Peninsula. It was off the beaten track and most people don’t know or have time for this path.  We had the narrow road all to ourselves from mid-afternoon to dusk and we took our time. It was so nice.  On the way we weren’t sure what we would see but we had our eyes peeled.  We couldn’t believe the stunning landscape, the geology is amazing and so different.  Some looked like the Serengeti, another looked like an old crater lake that was filled in by earth, then a real crater lake, then a smelly (sulfer….or rotten eggs) drying up crater lake. We drove along the ridge for two hours and had great views everywhere we looked! The first large animal we saw was an old waterbuck with white on his face and long horns.  We also saw a decent size monitor lizard, an owl, an eagle, many tweety birds (this is a major migratory route for E Africa with 619 spp. of birds reported – we learned about 20 of them!), and close to the end of the path two elephants of the exact same size playing around in an open field all to themselves with a sunset on one end and dark storm clouds and a fainting rainbow on the other.  The rainbow didn’t come out in the pictures because we caught it too late unfortunately, but it was stunning just to be there!

We arrived late to Mweya Peninsula just on top of the Kazinga Channel, which connects Lake George and Edward, and signed into the small hostel located there where we made ourselves comfortable just in time for the electricity to go out for the entire rest of the night.  It is much warmer in QENP than it had been in Kibale and Kampala, but we survived without a fan.  After a simple meal and wanting a shower so bad, we went to bed dirty.  In the night there was a lion, I repeat a lion who vocalized right outside our window. No I didn’t see it, but it was there, and I didn’t sleep much after that.  Our plan for the morning was to get up really early for a game drive to find lions.  On past safaris, which isn’t many, I never expect to find lions or other cats. This helps to not get disappointed, but also I am happy hanging out with herbivores.  However, this trip was all about the lions. Dom and I were on our way to Ishasha (two hours south but still within QENP) – where the “tree climbing lions” are found, but I first wanted to stop at Kob Flats (across the main road from the Penninsula) where I was told by an avid safari guide and friend that an early drive to this area would give us a good chance at seeing a kill.    Well, who knew luck was on our side!  Literally on the side of the road were ten lionesses and 3 cubs with a buffalo kill not far from the gate!  We arrived to the spot before all the safari tour vehicles, so we had a prime spot.  As we were filming, a group of hyenas challenged the lions with yipping and laughing and other interesting vocalizations, but the hyenas had no chance. We don’t actually know who made the kill – it could have just as easily been the hyenas.  There is a misconception that hyenas only scavenge; they also hunt for themselves. After hanging out with the pride for about 20 minutes and 200 pictures, Dom and I headed to the Salt Lake further into Kob flats where we saw, you guessed it, Ugandan kob, buffalo, many more tweety birds.  It was a great beginning! 

During this morning safari, Dom also taught me to drive stick shift.  I know it is very sad that at the age of 30 I didn’t know how to drive a stick nor a 4x4, (not counting Erin Murphy’s mom’s red camero when I was 16) but it’s all good now. I can drive on unpredictable back roads, up hills, through narrow muddy and dangerous bridges, on the left side of the road, on the right side of the car with the shift in my left hand, (which I prefer anyway), with buffalo, elephants, goats and villagers crossing the road, and in 4 wheel drive. Phew…check that one off the list!  

 

We continued on to Ishasha, which is at the southern part of the park, just next to the DRC border.  An understaement would be that Ishasha road is not very well kept.  It is also the road one takes to get to the mountain gorillas in Bwindi, so we were very surprised at the condition and the huge trucks that used it.  There was construction of 3 bridges that we needed to cross to get there.  At the third bridge, we waited for 2.5 hours to cross. This was due to a semi truck that got stuck on the [narrow] bridge in the mud and couldn’t get out!  Quite scary, and unpredictable.  Hmmmm, what do you do when the only way to get where you are going is to pray that you can get there safely?  I kept thinking, if this were Zambia we would be here for the rest of our life unless we turned back. But this is Uganda, so somehow things will be fixed.  We both decided to wait because we were not ready to give up on getting to our destination.  Another semi offered to pull the truck out, but the rope he was trying to use didn’t exactly work. Then he tried again and his grill popped off the truck!  Then a rain storm came, but we were lucky it didn’t last long and none of us (the line of cars) got stuck in the mud where we were parked. After 1.5 hours, Dom finally got out of the car to help the truck driver and other men to organize a way for the driver to do that back and forth thing to get momentum. And wah-la, wouldn’t you know it, somehow the truck managed to get out of the mud!  Great job Dom, and we were so happy to continue our trip and it was only 2pm because we had such an early start!

This was the point where Dom had to tell me his surprise for our housing that night…he was treating us to a river-side lodge in Africa (Ntungwe River Camp)! We headed towards Ntungwe but there had been so many rains recently that getting to the lodge off of the main road was a swampy mess.  I mean literally the water splashed onto our windshield! We came up to 1-2 foot deep “puddles” on the path that we drove through with the car before coming to a “lake” that we decided we would definitely not risk driving in to.  Dom talked to the manager for an hour before convincing him that the water was simply too high to cross “it’s higher than the knees of your employee who is standing in the middle of the 50m pond telling us its fine, the car can’t go through”. We were not in a Land Rover, we were in a Nissan and this was not worth the risk.   In the meantime we had to back out of the muddy path we were on to turn around.  The car was slipping in the mud and Dom backed onto a village family’s garden!!  Rule number one: don’t piss off the villagers!  They were upset until Dom handed the woman a bill (international symbol for Im sorry!) and she ran off giggling.  I gave the kids some cookies from our car snacks, and Dom paid two other men something for helping get the car out of the mud (of course I helped too).  Once again the muzungus were messing up, trying to save their reputation, and paying everyone off!   The adventure continued.  We came all the way to Ishasha to get less than 1 km to our destination and had to make up Plan B on the spot (tip for those traveling to Africa – you should always have a Plan B).  Luckily, the lodge manager made a phone call to transfer us to a neighboring lodge outside of the park for about the same price, but we had to drive another 45 minutes to get there. So we did, we had no choice.  All I kept saying was, “Thank goodness we saw those lions this morning!”

The alternate lodge, called Savannah Resort was nice.  We had a cute banda with hot water mind you, and the best pork chops I’ve ever eaten, while the Liverpool game was on!  Dom and I both love Liverpool and always try to plan on seeing the games on the weekends, but somehow it never usually works out.  So of course when we didn’t plan it, there it was - a very nice surprise.  So the night ended with a hot shower, a happy tummy and some entertainment. Needless to say, we slept very well.

The next day was planned for Ishasha ‘tree’ Lion stalking.  We got 20 minutes into the park before we came upon mud, more ponds on the road and it was simply too wet too continue.  After the scare we had the day before neither of us was in the mood to risk anything – not to mention, we were in a Nissan, not a what? A Land Rover To make a long story short, the Ishasha lion experience quickly went Ka-Put and we gave up trying.  We ran into another couple on tour and they had checked on the trees with their guide and hadn’t found anything. It was just not in the stars.  But the Kob Flats lions were, and I kept thanking those stars.

But I got to practice driving stick shift all the way from Ishasha through the 3 sketchy bridges and bad roads to the main road near Mweya. I feel confident now, just need more practice, and in a city…

I forgot to mention, when Dom and I went to QENP on his first research scouting visit in September, we saw a leopard, my first leopard, and it wasn’t in a tree, it was 30 yards from the hostel!  While we were grabbing beers from the restaurant with our new CDC friends, one of the UWA rangers spotted the leopard he “grew up with” in his backyard.  So he invited us to pile into his car to get a glimpse before the leopard hid in his favorite place, an abandoned research house.  Yup we saw it alright, absolutely spectacular, but strange to see it walking into a house.  I felt like I was back at the zoo.

Kazinga Chammel

“On the road again” we headed back to Mweya Peninsula and Lodge for lunch, and boat tour on Kazinga Channel between Lake Edward and Lake George – a spectacular site.  We saw over 70 elephants on the water, countless buffalo, pelicans, storks and cormorants. Hippos, Egyptian geese, small crocs, pied kingfishers – common on every lake in Uganda, weaver birds, fish eagles and other birds, and few baboons and a bush buck. I took video while Dom photographed. The weather was perfect as usual.  Dom decided that he would again treat ourselves to a lodge experience because the previous one was obviously not enough, so we were excited to stay at Mweya. Everything was awesome, I only have one complaint: since I’m not young anymore and I can’t sleep just anywhere, the bed mattress was so hard we might as well have been sleeping on the floor.  But I awoke in the middle of the night to an adult hippo chomping on the grass 5 feet from our back door, which was a wall of windows.  He or she let us know it known it was there and vocalized, yeesh.  Another tip: Hippos are not cuddly like they are in cartoons and babies books. Working with exotics at a zoo will teach you that right away, but when there is hardly a barrier between you and the animal it hits closer to home.  One common fact about African animals is that the hippo (the big one, not the pygmy) is the most dangerous, having killed the most humans of any other animal.  This is because they are very territorial and may not want a boat getting their way.  To change the subject, I never knew lodges had spa rooms.  If we had time and money we would have gotten back massages for a good price, but Dom had business to do and I felt bad getting one without him. Oh shame, guess we’ll have to continue our awesome weekend adventure without. I had never been in a steam room before, that was interesting after having relaxed with 3 Savannah Dry’s watching the sun go down with a perfect view of both lakes on the top of the lodge.

Dom also had to meet with the Research Director of QENP, a wonderful lady named Margaret, who is considering a PhD program with UMN and Makerere Univeristy in Uganda.  Lunch was quite nice at the gazebo watching elephants interact with hippos across the channel. Dom’s meeting went later than planned, but he still felt confident we could make it back to Fort Portal before it was pitch black.  Driving in the dark on Ugandan roads (which are not too bad) without street lights and people and goats walking on the side of the road, with fire smoke and high beams in your eyes is really stressful, so we try not to do that.  When we got to the car, we had a flat tire.  This always happens to us. It happened on our way out from Budongo last December too.  We were so lucky it happened at the lodge which has a full-time engineer/car mechanic and even their own petrol station to put air in the tires.  Only 30 minutes wasted and $10 spent there. But the kicker was while driving.  I started to smell something, and Dom doesn’t have a good sniffer so he was counting on me to be sure. I said, “Yuck, what’s that smell? It better be coming from the car in front of us!”  We stopped the car and sure enough it was coming from under our car!  I am not a mechanic and have been blessed without too many car troubles in my past, but it turns out that these big trucks need a lot of oil!  Going back to the first paragraph of this blog when I said Dom received the car in a rush late at night… well he trusted that the guys gave him a car with full fluids, but this was a nice reminder to check things first!  Luckily we were close to Kasese town where there was a petrol station with a great mechanic who not only had oil for us, but took the nail out of our tire, patched it, and changed it from the spare, for 90,000 shilling which was $35 at the previous exchange rate. Renting a car that you know no history of can be quite stressful, duh.  Driving in the dark was challenging but fine, Dom did a great job and I was sorry he had to drive so much this weekend.

We arrived Fort Portal and crashed at a hotel in town with breakfast the next morning.  Then, Se la vi, I had to go back to the forest while he had to drive another 4 hours to Kampala. This time he had no car troubles, phew!  “Thanks for being a great sidekick!”