A quick word about the roads here in Uganda. I have been on similar quality roads in the U.S., in the backwoods and isolated mountain passes of the Colorado Rocky Mountains. There are very few paved roads and most of my traveling to various villages and farms has been on dirt roads that are littered with pot holes and gouges left by rain runoff. One day returning from Fort Portal we came across a large ditch that had been dug across the road by the local farmer in order to lay some drainage pipe. There are also quite a few speed bumps. These are put in by the people living on the road after they lose a chicken or goat to someone driving too fast. Along all the roads, every few feet, you see a tethered goat. I asked my field assistant if the people used them for cheese and milk and she looked at me like I was crazy, then said “No, for meat.” I was surprised they don’t take advantage of goat milk because there are soooooo many goats. Sometimes calling what we are driving on a ‘road’ is too generous. One of the villages we visited in the Isunga region required us to drive down a track that was just a foot path in places and was extremely steep. Not a road that would be passable if at all wet! In fact, I can see now why there is not much tourism or research conducted in the wet season. Many of the roads I have been on would be extremely slick, because of the high clay content in the soils, or impassable if wet. Whenever we are out in these remote areas we are always keeping one eye on the weather.  

I finally visited the east side of Kibale National Park on Friday. We drove through the park to Bigodi. On our way we had trouble getting baboons to move off the road and let us pass. I guess there are a lot of tourists that pay no attention to the signs and feed them, so they like to hang out along the road. I’ve heard many are killed by traffic on the road because of this and I can believe this after seeing them not move for our vehicle. We also passed through a large herd of local cattle being moved to market. The animals are herded on 2-4 day continuous walks, before they are sold. While we were in the area I visited a village called Kyabakwere. When I interviewed several of the farmers and the chairman, I ended by asking what their main problems or concerns are with regards to their farms. I always ask this and have usually received a wide range of answers like, too much rain, too little rain, poor roads, poor market, lack of education and crop raiding by park animals. In this village however, everyone said crop raiding by monkeys (particularly baboons) and elephants was their only concern, even when pressed. The chairman also complained about a lack of education for the children, but this is also tied to crop raiding because the children must spend their time guarding fields against park animals instead of in school. In many areas I visited the tension between Uganda Wildlife Association and the farmers was high because of conflicts with the park, whether it is an issue of crop raiding or wanting more land for cultivation. As the population continues to grow and resources become more scarce, I can see that it will be a battle to continue to conserve the forests of Kibale National Park.