We became a little more adventurous on our final days, exploring the villages and forest edges. It began on Wednesday when I trailed Vincent and his ten U.K. clients on a search for the brown twinspot and the gray-headed olive back, two birds Connie considers common. So later in the day Connie and I went back and all the way to the top of the hill where the cellular tower is. Not much for birds but a great overlook for the forest and several picturesque villages where muzungus are a rarity.
Yesterday we went along the forest edge and followed a trail to the spring that’s the source of our water. There may be a more direct route than ours but even so it was nearly a half mile and the old woman who carries water for us does so several times a week with 45 pounds on her head. And she charges us 250/=, about 14 cents.
Last night the full moon broke through the clouds and we had our first sunny morning in two weeks. We are all packed, everything is inventoried and we are about ready to turn over the keys and retire the colors. Dinner with Richard, Kara, Chris, and Rose, hot showers and the first of many, we hope, nights in a bed with linens.
We became a little more adventurous on our final days, exploring the villages and forest edges. It began on Wednesday when I trailed Vincent and his ten U.K. clients on a search for the brown twinspot and the gray-headed olive back, two birds Connie considers common. So later in the day Connie and I went back and all the way to the top of the hill where the cellular tower is. Not much for birds but a great overlook for the forest and several picturesque villages where muzungus are a rarity.
Yesterday we went along the forest edge and followed a trail to the spring that’s the source of our water. There may be a more direct route than ours but even so it was nearly a half mile and the old woman who carries water for us does so several times a week with 45 pounds on her head. And she charges us 250/=, about 14 cents.
Last night the full moon broke through the clouds and we had our first sunny morning in two weeks. We are all packed, everything is inventoried and we are about ready to turn over the keys and retire the colors. Dinner with Richard, Kara, Chris, and Rose, hot showers and the first of many, we hope, nights in a bed with linens.
We moved our gear to the center to make it easier on Richard or Kara and waited around reading and nodding off. We were visited by the blue monkeys, black and white colobus, and the baboons and also heard the chimps for the first time in a month, but the red-tailed monkeys usually so visible didn’t stop by to say good-bye.
Richard arrived about 3:30pm, we loaded up and said our farewells. The staff and even the little guy, Emile, lined up like in one of those movies about British colonials and their servants. BBB and his little buddy shook our hands and we were off. Richard said there were a lot of cane trucks on the road so he took us on the “scenic” route passed Rwempwisi Primary School and into a maze of cane fields. He needed a GPS at first to learn all the turns but did fine today.
Chris and Rose joined us for dinner. Good food, good drink, and good company made our last night here special. We didn’t get to bed until after ten, very late for me. But we got to see a night time cane fire, intentionally set prior to harvest. The flames rise high but move quickly and burn out.
