12.02.2021
Kibale National Park – Bigodi Village
This magnificent morning Chimpanzee tracking had not only mentally drained me … after a quick lunch I had to take a well deserved nap. We had a short break and I could fit in 25 min of eye-shut. Working on cruiseships for decades had let me master the art of power napping … set the timer, lie down, close your eyes, sleep … done.
With renewed energy I got ready for the afternoon. On the way to the parking I enjoyed the many flowers in the garden and of course had to take photos of them.
At 14:00 we met for our afternoon excursion. The plan had initially been to do the Bigodi Swamp Walk and then a village visit. But since that was cramming too much into too little time and tomorrow we would only drive anyway … Matovu suggested to only do the village visit this afternoon and the swamp walk tomorrow morning. That was fine with us. Bud had decided to have a relaxed afternoon at the lodge, so off we were in a slightly smaller group.
The meeting point for the Bigodi Community Walk was in the middle of the village by the main road and it was only a short drive there. From there we started out walking. Bigodi Wetland Community Walk is a community based organisation which started in 2016 and is directly supporting the local comunity by providing employment to guides and demonstrators. Bigodi is a village of approx 400 adults and has been involved with tourism since 1991.
When viewing Kibale National Park from satellite, it is easily possible to define the borders of the park. The surrounding areas are densely populated with 2 major ethnic groups – the Batoro and the Bakiga – both agricultural tribes. The Batoro are said to be the native tribe here, while the Bakiga immigrated from the southwestern part of Uganda and were granted land to farm on the borders of Batoro villages – mainly to serve as a buffer zone from crop-raiding animals. In the past, communities depended on the forest for logging, hunting, cultivation, medicinal plants, firewood, crafts materials and wild coffee. Some activities such as illegal extraction of firewood, fishing and poaching still occur … especially during the current situation when tourists – and the business they bring – were scarce.
Our local guide was Peter and he was leading us through the village up Kaikusa Hill. We passed the community water pump. The most common technology options for rural water supply are protected springs, boreholes, protected wells and gravity flow schemes. Here they had a borehole with a handpump.
In 2010 the United Nations explicitly recognized the human right to water and sanitation and acknowledged that clean drinking water and sanitation are essential to the realisation of all human rights. The Resolution also defined the right to water as the right of everyone to sufficient, safe, acceptable and physically accessible and affordable water for personal and domestic uses.
What is sufficient? – According to the World Health Organization WHO, between 50 and 100 litres of water per person per day are needed to ensure that most basic needs are met and few health concerns arise. – Did you know, that the average water use ranges from 200-300 litres a person a day in most countries in Europe to less than 10 litres in countries such as Uganda? People lacking access to improved water in developing countries consume far less, partly because they have to carry it over long distances and water is heavy. For approx 884 mio people in the world who live more than 1 km from a water source, water use is often less than 5 litres a day. The basic requirement for a lactating women engaged in even moderate physical activity is 7.5 litres a day …
What is safe? – The water required for each personal or domestic use must be safe, therefore free from micro-organisms, chemical substances and radiological hazards that constitute a threat to a person’s health. – Did you know, that at any one time, close to half of all people in developing countries are suffering from health problems caused by poor water and sanitation? Together, unclean water and poor sanitation are the world’s second biggest killer of children.
What is acceptable? – Water should be of an acceptable colour, odour and taste for each personal or domestic use. All water facilities and services must be culturally appropriate and sensitive to gender, lifecycle and privacy requirements. According to WHO, the water source has to be within 1000 m of the home and collection time should not exceed 30 min. Water, water facilities and services must be affordable for all. The United Nations suggests that water costs should not exceed 3 % of the household income. – Did you know, that people living in the slums of Jakarta, Manila or Nairobi pay 5 to 10 times more for water than those living in high-income areas in those same cities and more than consumers in London or New York? In Manila, the cost of connecting to the utility represents about 3 months’ income for the poorest 20% of the households, rising to 6 months’ in urban Kenya …
In Uganda and around the world, millions are navigating the current pandemic with the added challenge of living without access to safe water. Now more than ever access to safe water is critical to health …
We also passed the village school … it was basically closed. Uganda closed all academic institutes in March 2020 – resuming only some school classes in October. Few people question the economic benefits of education. The problem is – Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest rate – 49% – of children not being reached due to the pandemic – over 15 mio children in Uganda are out of school at the moment as a result – according to UNICEF. Hopefully, they will eventually return … The literacy rate – definition: Age 15 and over can read and write – in the country is anyway only approx 82.6 % among the male population and only approx 64.6 % among the females.
Uganda is home for many tribes that speak different languages. There are apparently 54 tribes and about 9 indigenous communities that formally came to recognition. That was why our Matovu spoke English to all the local guides we met during our tour. English – inherited from the colonial period – was the only official language until the constitution was amended in 2005 and Swahili – a widely used language throughout the African Great Lakes region – was approved as the country’s second official national language. But in every reagion and area they speak their local language. In this village people from the Batoro and the Bakiga tribes were living.
We passed a huge Termite mound – it had been harvested already. Termites are considered to be the most destructive insect pests in the world – but for Ugandans White Ants are a real treat! They are popular food and represent a valuable source of protein and fat. In fact, the Termites are a considerably higher source of protein than their equivalent weight in rump steak … let that sink in … Termites are collected when they take their nuptial flight during migration after the first rains following the dry season. Different communities have different methods of collecting and sometimes cultivating Termites. Peter explained us how villagers cover the mount with a blanket before the insects fly. Sometimes they will sprinkle water onto a mound before rainy season to trick them into leaving the mound prematurely. Drums are brought in and beat continuously to simulate the sound of rain. Usually within 3 hrs of drum beating, some Termites will appear at the surface followed by larger amounts. A fire is lit at the only exit that is left … The fire will burn the Termites wings and they can then be easily collected. Traditionally, Termites are a much-anticipated treat at the beginning of the rainy season because the new crops have not yet produced food, the livestock is lean and the supplies from the previous season are running low.
Typically, the Termites are first cooked and then fried for a few minutes. Not sure if I wanted to try it … but it is probably the same as Assamese tribes eating the Pupa of the Silk Worm … I did not try these either … mainly because the opportunity did not occur … What I have tried, though, were grilled Grasshoppers in Bangkok and barbequed Scorpions in Bejing! Believe it!
Our first stop in the village was the Banana Beer brewer. I had been looking forward to that. The first time I ever tasted Banana Beer was on my 2002 East Africa tour in Tanzania. I am always for trying out local brews and regularly have been the one to taste the Rice Beer in Assam when on our Brahmaputra Cruises … because if I did not doe it, the guests would not either …
The community was all set up to demonstrate their trades to tourists. The Banana Beer brewer showed us the entire procedure. Africans were using locally available crops to brew Beer long before Europeans introduced their own techniques, but East Africans stand out in that their traditional Beer is made with Bananas. In Uganda, one of the names under which the original Beer Bananas are known is mbidde. The mbidde cultivars are mutants of the cooking Bananas, but since farmers propagated them despite their lack of culinary qualities, it would mean that mbidde Bananas are an example of a crop domesticated especially for Beer, not food. The practice of making Banana Beer the traditional way is still alive in many rural areas of Uganda and other east African countries, where it is an important part of the rural economy along with non-traditional methods of processing Bananas into wine and gin. These Banana-based beverages are one of the few income-generating options available in rural areas.
Different Banana varieties are grown in the area including those that provide tasty juice from which the local brew known as Tonto and Waragi are extracted using rudimentary methods. The Bananas are harvested green and artificially ripened. He had a small storage hut on stilts in which this was done. A small fire was burning below the hut to accelerate the process. Banana Beer is made from ripe – but not over-ripe – East African Highland Bananas. After 4-6 days, the Bananas are usually ripe enough.
Nowadays most brewers use mixed cultivars that were introduced in more recent times and that – unlike mbidde cultivars – are also eaten raw or cooked. In Uganda, the preferred cultivar for brewing Beer is Kayinja appreciated for its hardiness and the type of juice it produces. The share of Beer Bananas on land under Banana cultivation is in Uganda approx 10 %. They are only called Beer Bananas because they are often used to make Beer. Most of the brewers are farmers using their own Bananas. Once ripened, the Bananas are peeled. If they cannot be peeled by hand, they are not ripe enough. After peeling, the Bananas are kneaded until soft.
Bananas are crushed by using Spear-Grass – such as Imperata Cylindrical – and kneading is done by hand. The juice is then filtered to get clear Banana juice – they use the grasses again stuffed in a Banana leaf as a filter to do that. The Juice is then diluted with water and boiled with Black Tea powder, ground and lightly roasted Sorghum and yeast.
This mixture is then left to ferment for 24 hrs before being filtered once again. Fermentation usually takes place in a plastic brewing vessel, which is covered with banana leaves. After fermentation, the Beer is poured in jerrycans and ready for consumption. Banana Beer Bars are often run by women from their homestead or near it, making it easier for them to combine their income-generating activity with household chores. Of course, we tasted the Banana Beer here as well. It was actually quite good. It looked a bit like cloudy Black Tea, but it was tasty.
We were also shown how the produce they local Warangi Banana Gin. The term Waragi is synonymous with locally distilled Gin in all parts of Uganda. Waragi is also given different names – depending on region of origin, the distillation process or both. It is known as a form of homemade Gin. Moonshining and consumption of Waragi and other alcoholic beverages is widespread in Uganda. Basically it is the same procedure to get the Banana juice as for the Banana Beer – with the juice than double destilled in a simple apparatus.
And we got to taste that as well – I liked it! I was thinking about buying some to take home, but they had it only in lableless plastic bottles … The Uganda Waragi as is known today – is also the industrially triple distilled Gin. Waragi derives its name from “war gin”, as the British colonial expatriates in the 1950s and 1960s referred to the distilled spirit known in Luganda language as Enguli. Its appearance first came about when British soldiers were first starting to create inroads into East Africa. They used brigades of Nubian Soldiers to help with the feat and they concocted the alcohol to help keep up good spirits. It then spread throughout Uganda as a well-known drink. Another theory is that the name is a corruption of “Arak” the North African spirit with which the Nubian soldiers would have been familiar.
The colonial authorities of Uganda banned the drink and the laws still exist today. In 1965, the Enguli Act decreed that distillation would only be possible under licence, but it was never successfully enforced, as unlicensed production of Waragi persisted. People in Uganda still drink the harsh gin and authorities overall ignore the law and do not enforce it regularly. It is sold in shops and bars across Uganda.
The product that is sold in shops under the lable Uganda Waragi – produced and marketed by East African Breweries Limited – is double and sometimes triple distilled from the alcohol that village distillers make for the factories in Uganda. When it is distilled, flavors are added and many impurities and dangerous parts of the alcohol are filtered out. That is also why I decided to buy my souvenir bottles in the supermarket in Entebbe before flying home … but the drink here was very good, too … Tasted a lot like what we call Obstler – Fruit Brandy – in Germany.
We continued our tour walking through the fruit plantations. Banana trees everywhere … and Matovu found a Tamarillo tree! Yeah! Tree Tomato! The egg-shaped fruits were still unripe and green, but unmistakeably Tamarillo! I make a mean Tamarillo Poncha, I can tell you!
What is Tamarillo? The Tree Tomato – also known as Tomate de Árbol, Tomate Andino or Blood Fruit – is a small tree of the nightshade family. They are popular globally and being cultivated in many parts of the world – especially in Peru, Colombia, New Zealand, Ecuador – where I had encountered it for the very first time – Rwanda, Australia and the United States. Apparently it has a lot of benefits – Tamarillo is packed with vitamins A, C, E and pro-vitamin A and is a good source of B-complex vitamins. It can aid weight loss – when it is consumed raw, sprinkled with herbs or in the form of salads. The juice acts as a detoxifier and its acidic properties help cut down fat. Just as regular Tomatoes, these can be used in home remedies for various skin problems and anti-aging. The chlorogenic acid present in Tamarillo helps lower blood sugar levels in type-II Diabetes Mellitus. It contains excellent antioxidants, which can reduce oxidative stress in organs such as the pancreas and the liver. Loaded with good sources of minerals and potassium, this fruit helps control blood pressure and to balance the harmful effects of high sodium levels in the heart. It provides magnesium for the proper functioning of the cardiovascular system and contains high fiber content that helps restrain absorption of bad cholesterol in the body. Tamarillo fruits are also very good for maintaining healthy eyesight, because Vitamin A restores the moisture of the membranes of the eyes which act as a barrier to bacteria and viruses.
There was also a sizable Piri-Piri plant – like all Chili Peppers a descendant of Capsicum Frutescens from the Americas which has grown in the wild in Africa for centuries and is now cultivated commercially both for food processing and the pharmaceutical industry not only in Uganda. Plants are usually very bushy and grow in height to 45-120 cm. The fruits are generally tapered to a blunt point and measure 2-3 cm. Immature pod color is green, mature color is bright red or purple. I had seen entire fields of Chili Peppers on the sandbanks of the Brahmaputra River in Assam. Here they had only one big plant for their home use probably.
Between the Banana tres there were also plantations of Robusta Coffee trees. Although there are more than 100 species of plants that belong to the Coffea genus – only 3 species meet the genetic conditions for human consumption – those are Coffea Arabica originally from the mountainous regions of Ethiopia accounting for 60–80% of the world’s coffee production – Coffea Canephora Robusta first discovered in Belgian Congo in the 1800s and accounting for about 20–40% – and Coffea Liberica native to western and central Africa and naturalized in South East Asia. Only the Arabica and Robusta species are those that are commercialized at important levels.
Coffee is Uganda’s top-earning export crop. In 1989 Uganda’s coffee production capacity exceeded its quota of 5000 tons, but export volumes were still diminished by economic and security problems and large amounts of Coffee beans were still being smuggled out of Uganda for sale in neighbouring countries. During the 1990s international sales of Coffee increased to 110000 tons per year. However, Coffee production in Uganda eventually encountered another slow down at the turn of the century. Additionally to the decreased demand for Coffee and consequently a lower market price for the commodity, Uganda’s capacity to produce Coffee was hindered by the onset of a widespread case of coffee-wilt disease, a fungus-induced wilt that resulted in complete death of Coffee plants. Trees that suffered from coffee-wilt disease were not salvageable and had to be completely rooted out before it could spread to other trees or the soil. By 2003 as many as 45% of the nation’s Robusta Coffee trees died. As a result, exports dropped dramatically.
Robusta Coffee grows natively in the Kibale forest area. From 1999 to 2002 an effort was made to commercialize this Coffee as a premium consumer brand, emulating and extending the success of this in Central America. Revenue from the Coffee production was intended to finance conservation management activities. Initial funding for project development came from USAID. The project had initial success in setting up local production standards, procedures and control infrastructure. It was led by the Uganda Coffee Trade Federation, until the independent US-based non-profit Kibale Forest Foundation was created to take over the project. Sustainable annual yield was estimated at 680 kg. Reducing gender inequality was another objective of the project. Women at the time were the bulk of the agricultural workforce, responsible for 50% of cash crop production which includes Coffee. Part of enforcing quality standards of Coffee production chains in Uganda was to ensure that there were no more wage disparities between men and women. However, it was subsequently discovered that there was no demand for the product Robusta Coffee as the Robusta variety is perceived as inferior to Arabica Coffee typically demanded by the premium market. Various blending schemes were turned down by coffee distributors.
Robusta Coffee contains more caffeine – 2.7% compared to Arabica’s 1.5% – and less sugar – 3-7% compared to Arabica’s 6-9% – and is known for low acidity and high bitterness in relation to Coffee made from Coffea Arabica. Robusta beans tend to grow in lower altitudes than those of Arabica beans, ranging between 200-800 m above sea level. It is also a more robust crop in terms of production because it generates more obtainable product per area than Arabica does and the costs of harvesting its Coffee beans is substantially lower than Arabica. However because of its high bitterness, it is considered to be less popular on the global market in relation to Arabica. It is less susceptible to pests and disease, but particularly susceptible to climate change. Studies project that a 2 °C increase in temperature can severely reduce the amount of Coffea Canephora that can grow in Uganda.
Our next stop was a Coffee Lady who demonstrated us the way of the Coffee from the tree to the cup. Coffee is a vigorous evergreen bush or small tree usually growing to a height of 3-3.5 m with leaves opposite and simple elliptic-ovate to oblong – dark, glossy green – 6-12 cm long and 4-8 cm wide. The flowers are produced in axillary clusters, each flower is white, 1-1.5 cm in diameter and highly scented.
Eventually the small white blossoms drop and are replaced by green fruit. The tree will grow fruits after 3-5 years, producing for an average of 50 to 60 years. The green berries will become a deep red color as they ripen. It takes about 9 months for them to reach their deepest red color. The edible fruits are described either as epigynous berries or as indehiscent drupes – often referred to as a Coffee cherry, which contains 2 seeds called Coffee beans. Despite these terms, Coffee is neither a true cherry nor a true bean.
During the selective picking method only the ripe cherries are harvested – picked individually by hand. Pickers rotate among the trees every 8-10 days, choosing only the cherries which are at the peak of ripeness. Because this kind of harvest is labor-intensive and thus more costly, it is usually used primarily to harvest the finer Arabica beans. Harvests including unripe coffee fruit are often used to produce cheaper mass consumer coffee beans, which are characterized by a displeasingly bitter/astringent flavor and a sharp odor. Red berries, with their higher aromatic oil and lower organic acid content, are more fragrant, smooth and mellow. As such, coffee picking is one of the most important stages in coffee production.
The ladies here then use the dry process method to further process the Coffee. This is also known as unwashed or natural Coffee and is the oldest method of processing Coffee. The harvested entire cherries are first cleaned and sorted to separate the unripe, overripe and damaged cherries and to remove dirt, soil, twigs and leaves. The coffee cherries are spread out in the sun, either on large concrete or brick patios or on matting raised to waist height on trestles. As the cherries dry, they are raked or turned by hand to ensure even drying and prevent mildew. It may take up to 4 weeks before the cherries are dried to the optimum moisture content, depending on the weather conditions. On larger plantations, machine-drying is sometimes used to speed up the process after the Coffee has been pre-dried in the sun for a few days. The drying operation is the most important stage of the process, since it affects the final quality of the green Coffee. A Coffee that has been overdried will become brittle and produce too many broken beans during hulling. Coffee that has not been dried sufficiently will be too moist and prone to rapid deterioration caused by the attack of fungi and bacteria.
The final steps in Coffee processing involve removing the last layers of dry skin and remaining fruit residue from the now-dry Coffee and cleaning and sorting it. These steps are often called dry milling to distinguish them from the steps that take place before drying which collectively are called wet milling. The first step in dry milling is the removal of what is left of the entire dry, leathery fruit covering from the bean – this is called hulling. Hulling is done by using different hulling machines or – locally on a small-scale farm like here – wooden mortar and pestle to separate the Coffee beans from the dried fruit.
Finally, the green Coffee beans are ready to be cleaned and sorted according to colour, size and density. Hand sorting is most widely used and it requires intensive labour. The same-size and larger Coffee beans get a premium price in the market and a high percentage of defect may lead to a lower grade and lower price. Sorting is a crucial step because it affects the roasting condition. Uniform size Coffee beans should be roasted to achieve uniform roasted beans.
That was what the Coffee Lady did for us – home roasting! She roasted the Coffee from the green Coffee beans she had just prepared for our consumption. Home roasting of Coffee has been practiced for centuries, using simple methods such as roasting in cast iron skillets over a wood fire and hand-turning small steel drums on a kitchen stovetop. Our Coffee Lady just put all the Coffee beans in an aluminium pot over a wood fire – this is the classic method and the beans were constantly stirred to obtain an even degree of roasting. The roasting produced quite a bit chaff and smoke – good thing we sat outside in an open, well-ventilated hut. It took approx 10 min for our Coffee beans to be roasted to the Lady’s satisfaction.
Once the roasting was done, she put the roasted bean on a metal tray to cool down. In the meantime she cleaned the wooden mortar and pestel. Next she put the roasted Coffee beans in it and started pounding them. This was how grinding Coffee was done here.
The whole Coffee beans are ground to facilitate the brewing process. The fineness of the grind strongly affects brewing. Brewing methods that expose Coffee grounds to heated water for longer, require a coarser grind than faster brewing methods. Beans that are too finely ground for the brewing method in which they are used will expose too much surface area to the heated water and produce a bitter, harsh, over-extracted taste. At the other extreme, an overly coarse grind will produce weak coffee unless more is used. Due to the importance of a grind’s fineness, a uniform grind is highly desirable. Ground coffee deteriorates faster than roasted beans because of the greater surface area exposed to oxygen, therefore many coffee drinkers grind the beans themselves immediately before brewing.
There are four methods of grinding Coffee for brewing – burr-grinding with burr mills using 2 revolving abrasive grinding elements between which the Coffee beans are crushed – chopping where Coffee beans are chopped by using blades rotating at high speed in a blade grinder – roller grinding where they are ground between pairs of corrugated rollers – and pounding. Arabic Coffee and Turkish Coffee require that the grounds be almost powdery in fineness, finer than can be achieved by most burr grinders. Pounding the beans with a mortar and pestle can pulverise the coffee finely enough apparently.
That done our Coffee Lady sieved the ground Coffee to make sure it was evenly ground. The larger parts she put back into the mortar. She was going to prepare our Coffee in a style that was very much like Turkish coffee – which is prepared using very finely ground Coffee without filtering.
And finally it was time to brew the Coffee! Coffee can be brewed in several different ways – these methods fall into 4 main groups depending on how the water is introduced to the Coffee grounds – decoction through boiling, infusion through steeping, gravitational feed used with percolators and in drip brewing or pressurised percolation as with espresso. Our Coffee Lady did indeed a sort of Turkish Coffee style which is brewed by boiling. Boiling – or decoction – was the main method used for brewing coffee until the 1930s and is still used in some Nordic and Middle Eastern countries. The aromatic oils in Coffee are released at 96°C just below boiling, while the bitter acids are released when the water has reached boiling point.
Roasted Robusta beans produce a strong, full-bodied coffee with a distinctive earthy flavour, but usually with more bitterness than Arabica due to its pyrazine content. Since Arabica beans are believed to have smoother taste with more acidity and a richer flavour, they are often considered superior, while the harsher Robusta beans are mostly used as a filler in lower-grade coffee blends. However, the powerful flavour can be desirable in a blend to give it perceived strength and finish, noticeably in Italian coffee culture. Good-quality Robusta beans are used in traditional Italian espresso blends at about 10–15% to provide a full-bodied taste and a better foam head known as crema.
The history of Coffee dates back to 850 CE – and possibly earlier with a number of reports and legends surrounding its first use. It is more likely that it originated in the Kingdom of Sheba which was in Ethiopia and Yemen. The earliest source is a story about an Ethiopian farmer who noticed his goats becoming energized after eating the Coffee berries. Additionally, the Arabic word for Coffee is rooted in an Ethiopian kingdom – Koffee is a very common African name – I remember our guide on my Ethiopia Tour in 2014 was named that! There is also evidence of either Coffee drinking or knowledge of the Coffee tree from the early 15th century in the Sufi monasteries of Yemen spreading soon to Mecca and Medina. By the 16th century, it had reached the rest of the Middle East, South India, Persia, Turkey, India and northern Africa. Coffee then spread to the Balkans, Italy and to the rest of Europe as well as Southeast Asia despite the bans imposed during the 15th century by religious leaders in Mecca and Cairo – under the strictest interpretations of the Quran the strong Coffee was considered a drug and its consumption was forbidden. Coffee was first introduced to Europe on the island of Malta in the 16th century. The first Coffee house in Britain was opened by an Ottoman Jew in the mid 17th century. In Austria the first coffeehouse opened in Vienna in 1683 after the Battle of Vienna by using supplies from the spoils obtained after defeating the Turks.
The Coffee we tasted here was actually very good considering the very rustic preparation method! The lady poured it through a sieve into the plastic cup. So it was not a Mud Coffee. My fellow travellers bought packages of roasted Coffee beans from the lady to take home. I did not … We do not have a Coffee grinder at home …
Being energized by fresh Coffe, we walked through more plantations up the hill and we met many children. While they were used to foreigners visiting their village, there had not been many visitors during the last year. So we were somewhat of an attraction for them.
Peter showed us a field with Peanuts – Arachis Hypogaea. They had been planted amongst young Banana trees. I had seen how Peanuts grow several times when travelling India and Bangladesh, but for some of the others it was totally new. They grow under the earth? – Well, yeah, they are also called Groundnut, no?
Our next stop was at the hut of the local healer – in fact a herbalist, not an omufumu, who is paid to put curses on people. I am not a particular friend of such visits – The healer sat in his thatched hut, looked very grubby and I was rather suspicious. In the 2014 West African Ebola outbreak, the death of a prominent healer was a crucial super-spreader event. That healer, who lived in rural Sierra Leone, died after catching the virus from one of her patients. Hundreds of relatives and admirers came from many miles away for her funeral and helped wash her body, which was presumably teeming with virus. They then returned to their homes in Guinea and Liberia, helping ignite the worst Ebola epidemic in history. Doctors believe that many of their patients first get infected while visiting such healers. They may arrive at the home of a traditional healer with malaria or even just a cough or other minor problem, but then end up lying next to someone with undiagnosed Ebola … or COVID 19 ….
On a continent wracked with epidemics, millions turn to traditional healers who are the front lines of rural African medicine, after all. Across the African continent, according to the World Health Organization, there are about 80 times as many traditional healers as there are medical doctors. Millions of Africans consult healers but, studies suggest, usually do not admit it if they see doctors, too.
Traditional medicine in Uganda is a holistic conception that places the individual in relation to other men, to nature and to the universe. Sickness is seen as an imbalance caused by lack of harmony or offending universal laws and not as a result of physiological or biological malfunctioning. An imbalanced state opens the individual to vulnerable influences. Lacking harmony with the spiritual world gives rise to many disturbances. Ancestral spirits that are not connected – or integrated – can cause great harm. Therefore connecting with the spirits is important to help patients and families. The rituals to connect can consist of song, drumming, clapping, dancing and a variety of performances to bring the spirit strongly into the midst of people. When the spirits are recognized for what they are and are respected, they stop acting harmful and start to bring help and support.
Herbalists are also trusted because some of their teas, ointments and powders genuinely do alleviate common ills such as allergies, nosebleeds, arthritis pain or toothache. And they sell potions to ward off curses such as lightning strikes or jealous neighbors – disasters for which Western medicine offers no remedies.
At the top of Kaikusa hill we visited the Women’s Coorporative. This group of women was formed to help mostly widows – as Peter told us – in the community. Women seem to be responding to economic factors that drive the need for more household income as well as seeking the opportunity to increase their own income and social capital by turning a domestic activity in which they already engage into a commodity for tourist consumers. They have unique handicraft skills amongst other thing. When we arrived they first treated us to an energetic traditional dance performance.
After that very entertaining presentation, the women demonstrated making their handicrafts from raw materials they got from the Bigodi Swamps nearby. Weaving is one of the most highly developed crafts in Uganda. The major raw materials here are Papyrus and local grass, Banana fibre and Sisal to make baskets, mats and bags among others. One peripheral aspect of Uganda’s uniqueness lies in the traditional arts and crafts. And there is no better place to experience this, than in the remote country sides, were modern technologies have had little to no impact on this crude art and its numerous applications.
Basketry – like most secondary income generating activities – is part-time and is used as a supplemental income for families during low crop seasons. This skill is mostly introduced to girls at an early age so that they grow up to perfect it. Making a basket is long and tedious work for any basket maker. Collecting materials takes several hours. Traditional fibers used in basketry reflect the local habitat. They include Raffia Palm, Sisal leaves and fiber, fibrous tree and plant roots such as makenge, vines, leaves of Banana and Fan Palm, cane, bark wood and Papyrus.
After materials are prepared, a basket maker will set Papyrus as the frame of the basket and Raffia Palm or Millet stem to cover and hold the basket shape. A woman will start with a group of Papyrus stems dampened with water to keep them pliable and grouped together. Next, she will use naturally dyed Raffia Palm – African Bamboo – or Millet stem or both simultaneously to loop and cover the Papyrus and work in a coiled clockwise manner using a needle or a spear. To encourage a particular shape, a basket maker will push and encourage a basket coil to round up to create a bowl shape. When creating a pattern, she counts the loops to create a design. These types of baskets are considered to be the most complex because they are labor intensive and are intended to last for years.
Making a basket can take one day to 2 weeks depending on the size, shape and design pattern and because making is done in between other work such as caring for children or farming.
Basket design and shape seem to be more and more influenced by the tourist buyer. More often, craft makers are making smaller Coffee bean baskets and medium sized Millet baskets as well as small, medium and large plates for tourists. These shapes and sizes make them easy to pack and transport. Other shapes, such as oval baskets and trivets are new styles that were not previously made or used in the Ugandan home but are now made for tourists as well.
Of course, we supported the women by buying several of their wonderful basket … that is, Dr. D and Ms Ping bought 2 or 3 baskets each … very nice ones, I must say … I only bought one oval one to be used as a bread basket at home for UGX 20000 … € 5. It made the women happy in any case.
Now it was time to head back to the main road. On the way the Coffee Lady caught up with us – she had freshly roasted some more bags of Coffee beans for Ms Ping and Dr. D who had ordered them. And we met an entrepreneur souvenir seller who had set up a small display by the side of the path. To make him happy I bought a carved Hippo for US$ 10 from him. Reaching the main road, I had a look through the souvenir shops. I was on the look out for a colourful bag similar to what I had bought during my tour of Ghana in 2018, but they did not have the style I prefered. I found a pretty pot holder glove for UGX 10000, though.
Before heading back to the Lodge, we stopped at a tour office and Matovu opened a huge Jackfruit they had especially bought for us. The Jackfruit – Artocarpus Heterophyllus – is a tree in the fig, mulberry and breadfruit family which origins in the region between Southern India and the rainforests of Malaysia. The tree is well-suited to tropical lowlands and is widely cultivated throughout tropical regions of the world. It bears the largest fruit of all trees – reaching as much as 55 kg in weight, 90 cm in length and 50 cm in diameter. The Jackfruit is a multiple fruit composed of hundreds to thousands of individual fleshy petals. The ripe fruit is sweet and is more often used for desserts. Canned green Jackfruit has a mild taste and meat-like texture – an up and coming meat substitute. It packs some nutritional wallop and the fact that it can be cooked, chunked or shredded like chicken or pork makes it a go-to main ingredient in many vegetarian and vegan dishes. Ripe jackfruit is naturally sweet with subtle Pineapple- or Banana-like flavor. I personally think it tasts a bit like bubblegum. I know and like it since first tasting it decades ago in Thailand.
We were back at Kibale Forest Camp before 18:00 and I went straight to the bar to get an icecold Tonic for my sundowner V & T. As I rounded the corner to my tented hut I spotted monkeys hanging out in the trees behind it. I called Dr. D who lived next door and together we went on a monkey photo hunt once more.
The monkeys turned out to be a troupe of Ugandan Red Colobus – Piliocolobus Tephrosceles – also known as Ashy Red Colobus – an endangered species of Red Colobus monkey, recognised as a distinct species since 2001. It is an Old World monkey which is found in 5 different locations across Uganda and Tanzania.
The Ugandan Red Colobus has a rust-red cap with a dark grey to black face – although infants are born with completely black faces. There is more variation amongst the coat colours of the Ugandan Red Colobus with back colour ranging from black to dark grey through to a reddish brown. The sides of the body and the arms and legs are a light grey. They have very long dark to light brown tails which they rely on for balancing when climbing and leaping through the canopy. The Ugandan Red Colobus has dark grey to black hands and feet and their feet are very long which helps them leap large distances.
It has – like all Colobus monkeys – thumbs which are so reduced in size they are almost absent. It is thought this feature may help in brachiation when moving through the canopy. The males are much larger than the females. The average male weighs approx 10.5 kg and the females weigh approx 7 kg.
Found only in Africa, the Ugandan Red Colobus has a distribution spanning 1000 km of East Africa but populations are only found in 5 separate forested areas. These areas are in west Tanzania at the edge of Lake Victoria, in Gombe and Mahale Mountains at the edge of Lake Tanganyika, on the Ufipa Plateau and in west Uganda here in Kibale National Park. The Ugandan population is the largest and it has been suggested that this is the only viable population with around 17000 individuals. Their habitat varies by population from moist evergreen tropical forest to fragmented and severely degraded forest.
They are folivore – the main component of their diet are leaves. It is not limited to any tree species in particular and different groups in the same forest have shown preferences for different tree species. Although not particularly fussy about which species of tree it eats, the Ugandan Red Colobus does have a preference for eating young leaves or the petioles of more mature leaves.
Ugandan Red Colobus troupes are multi-male. Habitat quality and predation can affect group size which range in size from as few as 3 to as large as 85 individuals – although an average troupe size is around 40 individuals. Here we had maybe 6 individuals feeding in the canopy. The size of a troupe is often determined by how many males are present. Within a social group males are the stable component and rarely successfully move to another group. Females can disperse to other groups easily and are attracted to groups which contain a higher number of males.
In all social groups of Ugandan Red Colobus females out-number males. This natural imbalance is further exaggerated by the predatory action of Chimpanzees which single out females and juveniles as prey. Within groups there is a dominance hierarchy with adult males being dominant over adult females, most likely because of their larger size. Ugandan Red Colobus often form fission-fusion groups in which a main large groups splits into smaller groups to forage. This is beneficial if there is limited food availability.
The Ugandan Red Colobus has 2 main predators – the Chimpanzee and the Crowned Eagle. There are many primate species in Kibale National Park but Chimpanzees rarely hunt any species other than the Ugandan Red Colobus. Each year up to 12% of the Red Colobus population in the park is killed by Chimpanzees, who do not hunt them all year round, instead they tend to go through bouts of heavy hunting.
Sexual maturity in males is reached at 5 years and between 4 and 5 years for females. The gestation period is 5-6 months. There is no distinct breeding season with infants being born all year round, however during the rainier months a peak in births is seen to coincide with the flush of new leaves for food.
I took so many photos again … until it got too dark for photos … then I went to my porch and had my sundowner V&T after sundown. Ms Ping – who lived next door – said there was no water in the shower at the moment. So I had time before dinner to check the Chimp photos from this morning.
Dinner was at 19:00 and it was OK. We had Salad for starter, Pea Soup and then Fish with vegetable and rice, Banana caramel for dessert. Between the courses Ms Ping talked – on behalf of all of us – we had voted – to the Ugandan Tour Company’s boss on Matovu’s mobile. He wanted to know how the tour is going for all of us and of course, Ms Ping told the truth – it was sensational! I think he was as happy as we were that we were here at this difficult time.
At dinner Dr. D also gave me that big tube of salve for my bites. So I went to take a shower – the water was back. Then I tried to reach as far as I could spreading the ointment as much as possible. It was an instant relief to the itching.
I sat in bed writing the journal and posting some Chimp photos. Around 22:00 it started raining … that meant the jungle sounds died down somewhat, but the rain hit the metal roof. I fell asleep with the sound of it, though. What a fabulous day this had been!
It’s gonna take a lot to drag me away from you
There’s nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do
I bless the rains down in Africa …
Toto
13.02.2021
Kibale National Park – Bigodi Swamp Walk
Waking up early as usual, I noticed the rain had stopped a long time ago. I had ordered my Tea & wake-up call for 06:15 this morning and it came on the dot. Breakfast was at 06:45. We were leaving today, so I packed up already. But we would come back later to refresh after our morning excursion. At 07:40 we left for our Swamp walk.
After a few minutes drive we reached the Turaco Trailhead and met up with our guide Peter from yesterday. He was going to take us for our walk through the Bigodi Wetlands. Its name Bigodi was derived from a local Rutooro word – kugodya – that means “to walk tiredly / wearily”. It is supposed that when visitors reached the Bigodi Swamp on foot, they actually were always too tired to go on and visit the jungle – and for this reason they decided to rest there.
Starting out, Peter said he spotted some monkeys in the trees near the parking lot, but they had obviously already gone. But what caught my eye, were beautiful Amazon Lilys in the car park area. Eucharis × grandiflora are native to South America, but are cultivated as an ornamental in many countries. It is an evergreen bulbous perennial with deep green leaves and an cluster of sweetly scented white flowers on a stem 45-60 cm tall.
Only a little further down the trail we encountered a couple of Red-Tailed Monkeys – Cercopithecus Scanius – also known as the Black-Cheeked White-Nosed Monkey or Schmidt’s Guenon. It is found in in Central and Eastern Africa and although native to this region, it has spread north and south as well, as it can survive in different habitats and under different conditions. It is a distinct creature in its habitats and is gradually becoming endangered due to deforestation and over-exploitation through hunting and predation. The Red-Tailed Monkey is named for its red coloration of the tail’s underside as well as the bi-coloration of the tail as the reddish color increases from the base to the tip. And a red tail was the first thing we spotted in the canopy.
There are other features characteristic to this mammal as well – such as the white nose and cheeks in the midst of black or dark grey body fur. Red-Tailed Monkeys also have very large, elastic cheeks which are used in gathering food and storing it in their mouths for safety.
Sizes of their bodies range between individuals as well as between the sexes as males are larger than the females. Body length is approx 30-60 cm without the tail included, males being on the upper end of the scale and females being on the lower. The tail length can reach up to 90 cm length which can be twice the body length for some Red-Tailed Monkeys. The tail helps the monkeys achieve balance.
They are primarily fructivorous, but are considered omnivorous because they will eat leaves, flowers or insects in times where fruit is scarce. As they forage, these monkeys gather their findings in the expandable cheeks of their mouths. The pouches will hold a large amount of food where they can forage in one area and then carry their food away to another location where it is safe to consume without the threat of another stealing from them.
Red-Tailed Monkeys are active in the early morning and evening which is characterized as diurnal activity. They act as important seed dispersers as they collect fruit and other food items. They are primarily arboreal but will come to the ground at times. In the trees, they are very active and travel at greater speeds than being on the ground. Social primates, they form groups that can range in size of 7-30 individuals. The groups consist of one dominant male and females and their offspring, male or female juveniles. Groups generally stay together through all periods of the day and through life, except for males who reach maturity.
Soon the monkeys had moved off into the trees out of sight and we kept walking along the fringe of the jungle admiring beautiful pink flowering bushes.
And for the first time we saw a pair of Crested Crane – Balearica Regulorum Gibbericeps – also known as the East African Crested Crane or Golden Crested Crane – which occurs in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and in Uganda. It is the national bird of Uganda and featured in the country’s flag and coat of arms. Unfortunately, today we only caught a glimpse of them flying past us.
Turning onto a narrow trail through dense, swampy jungle, I spotted beautiful blooms on a huge tree. I am a sucker for beautiful flowers on trees and was totally intrigued. It was a Calabash Nutmeg tree – Monodora Myristica – a tropical tree of the custard apple family of flowering plants. It is native to sub-Saharan Africa.
In former times, its seeds were widely sold as an inexpensive Nutmeg substitute. This is now less common outside its region of production. Other names of Calabash Nutmeg include Jamaican Nutmeg, African Nutmeg and African Orchid Nutmeg – a fitting name, I thought, because the flowers looked a lot like Orchids to me. Ms Ping took excellent behind-the-scene shots here …
The flower appears at the base of new shoots and is singular, pendant, large and fragrant. The pedicel bears a leaf-like bract and can reach 20 cm in length. The flower’s sepals are red-spotted, crisped and 2.5 cm long. The corolla is formed of 6 petals of which the 3 outer reach a length of 10 cm and show curled margins and red, green and yellow spots. The 3 inner petals are almost triangular and form a white-yellowish cone which on the outside is red-spotted and green on the inside.
The fruit is a berry of 20 cm diameter and is smooth, green, spherical and becomes woody. It is attached to a long stalk which is up to 60 cm long. Inside the fruit the numerous oblongoid, pale brown, 1.5 cm long seeds are surrounded by a whitish fragrant pulp. The odour and taste of the Monodora Myristica seed is similar to Nutmeg and it is used as a popular spice in the West African cuisine. The fruits are collected from wild trees and the seeds are dried and sold whole or ground to be used in stews, soups, cakes and desserts. For medicinal purposes they are used as stimulants, stomachic, for headaches, sores and also as insect repellent. They are also made into necklaces.
The Monodora Myristica tree can reach a height of 35 m and has a clear trunk and branches horizontally. The leaves are alternately arranged and drooping with the leaf blade being elliptical, oblong or broadest towards the apex and tapering to the stalk. They are petiolate and can reach a size of up to 45 x 20 cm.
On some of the jungle trees huge Elephant Ear Staghorn Ferns – Platycerium Elephantotis – were growing. Ferns in this genus are widely known as Staghorn or Elkhorn ferns due to their uniquely shaped fronds. It is native to tropical and temperate regions. It has tufted roots growing from a short rhizome that bears 2 types of fronds – basal and fertile fronds. Basal fronds are sterile, shield or kidney shaped and laminate against the tree and protect the fern’s roots from damage and desiccation. Fertile fronds bear spores on their undersurface, are dichotomous, antler shaped – in this case similar to an Elephant Ear jutting out or hanging from the rhizome.
We were trudging through the jungle always on the look out for monkeys and special plants. I volontarily put my trouser legs in the socks today … there were many of those Safari Ants around … I found one crawling under my belt … I crushed it before it could bite me. We saw some large plants of the Ginger family – maybe it was Aframomum Angustifolium – known as Wild Cardamom, but I am not quite sure. The fruit looked kind of interesting …
We had already walked past it more or less ignoring it actually, when the call came from HD in the back of the group … He had spotted a tiny green Leptopelis Kivuensis – a Forest Tree Frog – sitting on one of the leaves and we had walked past it without noticing … It is commonly found in the highlands of western Burundi, Rwanda, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and western Uganda and known as Kisenyi Forest Tree Frog and Kivu Tree Frog.
Adult males measure 28-37 mm in length only. The fingers and toes have reduced webbing. Dorsal coloration is variable and adult males may be tan, reddish-brown or light green.
The Leptopelis Kivuensis is associated with forests at elevations of 1480-2600 m above sea level. It occurs in montane wetlands and forest ecotones. Breeding takes place in seasonally flooded swamp forests. The eggs are buried in nests in the ground. The onset of heavy rains causes the eggs to hatch and the flooding washes the tadpoles into water.
This species is probably affected by habitat loss caused by agriculture, wood extraction and human settlements. However, much of its range is within national parks – Kahuzi-Biega and Virunga National Parks in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwenzori Mountains, Kibale and Bwindi National Parks in Uganda and Nyungwe National Park in Rwanda.
It was quite hilarious to see all 6 of us were crowding around that plant pointing our camera lenses on that tiny frog on a leaf! It probably did not know what happened to him … It was for sure for a few minutes in the lime light … Ms Ping was the only one documenting that moment with photos …
The swampy jungle got more dense around us and the trail was often very muddy and slippery. Some sections were bridged by boardwalks – some of which were not easy to navigate … often it was only one wooden log or board … but we managed without problems … nobody landed in the mud as far as I know …
Along the way we came across a small group of Red Colobus monkeys. They were high up in the trees, but close to the path. Our guide Peter made us wait, because a protective male was amongst them and he was worried he might attack us if we came too close to the females. However, the monkeys moved off soon and we could keep going as well.
Walking through the dense jungle was enchanting this morning. The smell, the sounds, the vegetation. We found more beautiful butterflies – however, only the Neptis Saclava – the Spotted Sailer – sat long enough to take a decent photo.
And we watch 2 Millipedes … mating in the middle of the path … yes, that is what they did. Millipedes are a group of Arthropods that are characterised by having 2 pairs of jointed legs on most body segments. They are known scientifically as the class Diplopoda, the name being derived from this feature. Each double-legged segment is a result of 2 single segments fused together. Most Millipedes have very elongated cylindrical bodies with more than 20 segments. Although the name Millipede derives from the Latin for Thousand Feet, no known species actually has 1000 feet – the record of 750 legs belongs to Illacme Plenipes native to the US. Most Millipedes are slow-moving detritivores, eating decaying leaves and other dead plant matter. First appearing in the Silurian period, Millipedes are some of the oldest known land animals. Archispirostreptus Gigas – known as the Giant African Millipede – is the largest extant species of Millipede, growing up to 33 cm in length and 6 cm in circumference. It has approximately 256 legs – although the number of legs changes with each molting. It is a widespread species in lowland parts of East Africa and lives mostly in forests. I am not sure if we saw the Giant one, but for sure they were big.
And there was a beautiful Fireball Lily – Scadoxus Multiflorus – also known as Blood Lily, Ball Lily, Katherine Wheel, Poison Root or Powderpuff Lily – a bulbous plant in the Amaryllis family native to most of sub-Saharan Africa. The flowers are produced in an umbel at the top of a leafless stem and are more or less globe shaped with 10-200 individual flowers.
We came across a lot of my favourite swamp plants as well – Cyperus Papyrus – Papyrus Sedge, Paper Reed or Nile Grass – they just look so cool. Papyrus Sedge has a very long history of use by humans – notably by the Ancient Egyptians -it is the source of Papyrus paper, one of the first types of paper ever made. Parts of the plant can be eaten and the highly buoyant stems can be made into boats. Ree and Ms Ping assured me that it is also available as ornamental plant at home … I had never noticed and shall look out for it. In nature, it grows in full sun, in flooded swamps and on lake margins throughout Africa
We left the jungle swamp around 10:00. Matovu picked up by the side of the road after we waved Peter farewell. It had been an interesting swampy walk, for sure.
Taking a short break in the lodge, I packed the rest of my stuff. I asked Ms Ping – who had offered before – to put some of Dr. D’s salve on the bites I could not reach. They all had been much better since I treated them yesterday, though. They were not so itchy anymore and the blotches got smaller.
Then it was time to pack the car and get going. We were off to Queen Elizabeth National Park – leaving at 11:00.
Once you travelled to Africa, the journey has no end,
although its explored over and over again you can’t lose interest,
each and every day is a new adventure and it is unusual for the mind to break off.
Pat Conroy
