8/3/09

Had a last minute phone call from Julie on Thu evening saying her and her mum were going to Chimp Island (Ngamba Island) the following day and did I want to join them? So I quickly rung and booked, then had to run down the road to get money for the trip and some stuff for a packed lunch as the food on the Island was ridiculously expensive! Then it was time to get ready for the musical soiree. Was just people from school, I arrived just in time for the food - perfect timing! Then we settled down outside and the windows to the room with the piano (behind some plants so some of the pics are quite funny!) were opened and the music began. Was mainly singing - the barber shop group sang, and there were several duets between people, Julie played an Elgar piece, the Cantori sung a couple of pieces (I only sing in one as I’d never sung the other) and it was generally just fun! Was a late-ish night, followed by a stupidly early start for Julie, Grace (her mum) and me.
We had a taxi coming for us at 6.30am to take us to Entebbe Zoo where we would be taken to the boat to take us to the Island. We made it there, pretty sleepy and boarded the ‘traditional boat’ that was taking us to Ngamba island. There was a group of 5 others with us - 3 Australians and 2 Canadians doing a tour of East Africa in this huge truck - looked pretty fun! The boat was a long thin thing with seats down either side. The only problem was the weather decided to turn on us and the Lake (Victoria) was very choppy so we were bouncing all over the place and being splashed lots. We were provided with rain jackets (and life jackets) and the journey that was supposed to be a nice hour and a half float across the lake took is 2 and a quarter hours! Finally arrived and received a well earned cup of tea while being given a talk about the Island. It is a sanctuary for rescued Chimps who have been abused, or used as household pets or their habitats being destroyed. The Island is 100 acres, 95 of which the 45 Chimps are allowed to roam free. Because the island is getting quite crowded now, they have the females on the contraceptive pill so they can’t reproduce! One still did though, and the baby is named ‘Surprise’. At 11 it was feeding time so we headed up to the viewing platform, a raised area where you can see the chimps from about. It is protected by a wire fence so the chimps can’t climb up to reach you. On the way there we passed a huge cage which contained 4 chimps in - 2 babies who aren’t ready to be integrated with the group, and 2 adults, one of which used to be a dominant male and acts that way when he enters this group which just causes fights. So they are being looked after there. On the viewing platform, once the Chimps had been called, it was amazing to see them all file into the feeding area in a line, behind the important guys. Then when the food was thrown at them, the younger less important ones just sat there and waited, not taking any of the food, until the important guys had taken their fill. Was really amazing to see how they all respect the dominant leader(s). As they have mostly been brought up in the sanctuary they are quite humanised and have learned behaviour like stamping their feet and clapping when they feel they are being ignored and not having any food thrown at them. Is hilarious! They are also just amazing creatures to watch - did you know they share 99% of their DNA with humans?! They eat pretty human food too - sweet potatoes, passion fruit, limes, carrots, bananas (which they actually peel!). Most of them can recognise their names too and react when you call them. Very cool stuff. Next was lunch and the sun had definitely decided to come out, was boiling! But because we were on the lake there was quite a nice cool breeze. I do have a bit of a red nose now, ooops! Thankfully the sun coming out had calmed the water down a bit and it was a much better journey back to Entebbe after lunch, still a bit rocky, but nothing as bad as the morning! And I had a nice chat with the Australians about places I should visit when I’m there. We then hopped in a matatu back to Kampala (Julie’s mum hadn’t been in one yet!) and it was a very pleasant, surprisingly quick (less than an hour) journey back to Kampala, costing only 1,500 shillings, for about a 40km journey! Ironically it then cost us 1000 each from the Old Taxi Park back to where we live (which is very close to each other), maybe a 5km journey…I suppose there were jams, plus it’s the city. So that was a fun, but tiring day!
Saturday was the last Junior Orch rehearsal before Friday (the day of the first concert!). We are now only doing Money in the concert, and Bob is organising lots of new parts to make it better and more exciting. One desk of the cellos have now been designated the bass section, pizzicato-ing their way through the piece to give more momentum, and Sam is going to be honorary tambourine player I think! I’ve hardly seen him at all this week which has been a bit weird, plus Carys has been in Burundi (she gets back today). But he seems to be doing fine - busy as always, and he’s no longer peeling you’ll be glad to hear! He has been asked to teach Grade 6-8 theory by Mr Yiga which is happening on Sat afternoons. He is also setting up a jazz group which will be cool, but is at the same time as our aural lessons are meant to be (on Sat afternoons) so that may have to change after the concerts. Lets just get through them first then worry about other stuff! Was a chilled out afternoon. I’ve decided it’s about time I start brushing up on my music theory too as at the moment it is appalling! So I’ve brought a couple of books home from the library with the aim of reading them and remembering it! We’ll see if it happens…
Today (Sun) is very hot - just a day of swimming, practising, maybe learning some music theory and relaxing. It’s going to be a very busy week! X