Chimps? We had seen the Gorillas but not the chimps. So it was off to RDB in Kigali to get the permits and book the campsite. The permit attendant tried serval ways of not taking our money but each time I out foxed her. She was perplexed at the idea camping and would not book the camp site see no need. The only thing I left with a rather vague promise of seeing chimps…
The drive down to Nyungwe was pleasant enough. Straight on at Muhanga (go figure). Right just before Huye. Up up up towards the Nyungwe then all of a sudden everything gets rather foresty. The road deteriorates some what and you expect either monkey or a truck to go come crashing into you.
The drive down to Nyungwe was pleasant enough. Straight on at Muhanga (go figure). Right just before Huye. Up up up towards the Nyungwe then all of a sudden everything gets rather foresty. The road deteriorates some what and you expect either monkey or a truck to go come crashing into you.
Finally we reached the campsite at the Unwinka reception centre. The chaps there knew the had camping facilities but could not quite understand the concept of someone using them. After the forth reassurance that we very much want to use the campsite they relented and graciously took our cash and gave us permits to camp. The actual camp site is down a perilous steep track, on which the wife slipped and fell hee hee hee. Eventually we reached a small plateau and began set up camp. We forgot that last time we camped one of the poles snapped and as it fell out of the bag in it’s tangled mess, there was an audible exclamation. There was a lot of fumbling and finally with a lot of the modern double sided sticky tape, duct tape, the tent was up.
At 4.30am we woke up and packed away the tent and set off to the chimps. We picked up our guide and joined the wider group on our way to the very small forest annex of Nyungwe called Cyamudongo. We arrived at one half of the forest only to be told that the cheeky chimps have moved to the other side of the forest. So immediately, we were back into the car going to the other side of the forest. We parked up for the second time and then hiked down the steep path into the jungle. Soon but intermittently the shrieks and howls of the chimps we blasted at us. Unfortunately, the chimp kept on move away as we become close. Eventually, the guide lead us off the path vertically up the steep slope fighting through the undergrowth. We came across the troop relaxing, eating, swing, chatting and groom in the trees. We had an hour of seeing this primeval chaps and few different monkey species in the mix.
We hiked out with contentment of having a world experience.
Expat East Africa 