Monkeying Around Ladies Who Lunch!

While the horrible drive home was a bit of a downer yesterday, the first half of the day was amazing! We started by finding a Chimpanzee Tracking outfit in the remote Budongo Forest. There are no guarantees you'll see the chimps, but we were fortunate. Ally, our two guides and I had three separate sightings - each time a lone male, high in a fig tree enjoying a morning snack. It's fascinating to watch the chimps -- their heads (faces & ears) and hands are so human-like. Too bad I didn't plan in advance to secure permits to do the gorilla tracking in Uganda too. Ally has done it and says it's fantastic. Oh, and a primate fun fact I'd never noticed -- monkeys have tails, apes don't. So chimps are apes, not monkeys!

After our Jane Goodall morning, we hit Masindi, the nearest town to refuel The Beast. We had a packed lunch with us, and I noticed a sign on the gas station stating that there's a restaurant in the back, so we decided to head back there with our lunches to see if the tables were sanitary, and if we could buy drinks and have our picnic there. Boy were we ever impressed when we turned the corner. Behind this little Shell gas station was a gorgeous event space. There were wooden tables, benches with pillows, a tented area, a very friendly bar staff, the shade of several large trees, and the cutest little girl in a flowery dress running around playing. Ally and I had the space all to ourselves, and couldn't get over what a picturesque oasis it was...and then the music started playing. The staff, seeing two mazungas (white girls), popped in a Back Street Boys cd, and we swayed our way through the rest of our lunch - with Ally even getting up to spin our new little friend in the flowered dress around the dance floor! Such a random, lovely lunch! And also such a great commentary on the realities of Africa -- you just never can tell when you might stumble on a total gem. It can literally be behind the Shell station - why not, right?!

Mere