We drove all the way from Budongo to Entebbe, leaving demolished gas stations and craft stores in our wake. Nana and Denise fly home tomorrow, hopefully with a better opinion of Uganda than when they arrived. Nana has learned about red birds, blue birds, and mixed birds, and how to pick the best seat to avoid falling geckos. Denise has learned to love the Red-Eyed Dove and African tea, and that one should go to bed early because the morning is full of strange bird/hippo/monkey sounds.
We consider it a success!
This Fall, Jess (Abwooli) and Andrew (Araali) are living and working in Kibale National Park, in western Uganda. The hilly landscape is overlaid with a patchwork of communities, wild and wonderful, human and otherwise. To help understand how the park affects local livelihoods, we are working in four communities bordering the park to measure how land-use by farmers and crop-raiding by wildlife has changed over the past 20 years since Jess's advisor did her PhD here. This blog is meant as a way to help us document our thoughts and experiences, and hopefully will allow our friends, relatives, and colleagues to share our glimpses of this part of the world. Thanks for reading and let us know your thoughts!