Trip to Masindi and Murchison Falls National Park

Ok, Ok – I know it has been a while since I wrote a blog entry.  Spending the winter in Edmonton has been keeping me busy – with teaching, taking classes, and organizing and processing data.  It has also been a little less than blog worthy – although I am sure some people would love to see screenshots of statistics programs and hear about rundowns of data protocols, I have a feeling that I would lose some readers overall.  I hope the wait was worth it, as I think I can write a few posts to get everyone excited about the second season of data collection coming up!

This and the next blog entries are going to focus on some side trips I took while in Uganda last year.  I was not completely confined to Kampala and the Mayanja!  I was able to take a short trip to Masindi, and a longer trip to Murchison Falls National Park.  These two destinations are more examples of the treasures that you can find, if you are willing to explore a little!

Masindi is a town in Western Uganda, in the Bunyoro Kitara Kingdom – and it has a very interesting history.  It is home to Uganda’s first hotel, built in 1923.

Masindi was a major transit point for goods moving through the Great Lakes region.  The hotel is best known for its famous guests – and its interesting role in the history of American literature.

Ernest Hemingway came to Uganda in 1954 for a safari after publication of The Old Man and the Sea.  It was an ill-fated trip, as Hemingway was involved in not one, but two plane crashes near to Masindi.

The first crash was a charter flight for sightseeing in nearby Murchison Falls National Park.  The next day, a plane scheduled to take him to Entebbe for medical care exploded at take-off.  To recover from his injuries, Ernest Hemingway became a guest at Masindi Hotel – where he reportedly read the erroneous reports of his death and corresponding obituaries while he convalesced.

Scenes for the movie The African Queen were filmed nearby as well, meaning that Hollywood stars Katherine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart had to have somewhere to stay during filming.

They chose the Masindi Hotel – adding to the hotel’s international legacy.

The grounds of the hotel include a massive tree as the centre point of the outdoor restaurant.

This tree plus vines, mango trees, and tropical palms reinforce the lush landscape found nearby.  Naturally, the hotel also features the Hemmingway Bar!

Other aspects of Masindi include an open-air market, where one may purchase all manner of goods.  It is common for a family group to set up their wares and monitor the sales as they socialize with relatives and friends.

It is a noisy, colorful, and boisterous atmosphere.  After being in the solitude and greenness of the bush for a month or two, the Masindi market was a bit of sensory overload at first – the neon colors, lots of voices, and the smells of fresh fruit and street food left me speechless for a while.

But, I enjoyed the experience and relished an opportunity to go to another market after a few more quiet weeks in the Mayanja!

One more strange thing I would like to mention – there are a number of pine plantations along the route to Masindi.

Unless you are a botany nerd, you may not know why that is strange, but pines are native mostly to the Northern Hemisphere and the New World.  At first, I thought I was mistaken, but after a Bachelor’s degree in Forestry and many years in the southern U.S., trust me that I know pine plantations when I see ‘em.  I asked my guide and trackers, and they did not know why there were pine trees, nor why that would be odd.  I found out from a Uganda Wildlife Authority Ranger that in the 90’s and early 2000’s that foreign environmental groups planted the trees as a carbon sequestration project, and that they had been mostly forgotten in the ensuing years.  While it has given me a few ideas for future research, it is also a reminder that you never know when or how your skills learned in previous jobs can benefit you down the line!

And there you have it – a new blog post, and another one with hardly any animals in it!  But the next post I have planned will change that.  Stay tuned for an entry on Murchison Falls National Park – where the buffalo and elephant roam!

CONFERENCES

Source: CONFERENCES

CONFERENCES

 

Conferences – what we do in the off-season

 

As I hope is evident from my blog, I am passionate about sharing my research, stories, and scientific facts with a broad audience.  I hope I can use my platform to share ideas with other people, and to spark an interest in science for people that may not “do” science as their job.  I also like to talk with professionals in the wildlife management field, since they are the ones incorporating scientific knowledge into real life management of populations and habitats.  Since I am now back at the university, I have the opportunity to travel to professional conferences and share the progress of my research, and to network with other scientists.

This year, The Wildlife Society held its annual conference in Winnipeg, Manitoba – and an abstract about my research was accepted as a poster presentation for the event.  Posters are meant to be a capsule of the project – detailed-yet-concise descriptions of the methods, analyses, results, and interpretation.  It should also convey the background of the scientific question, and put the research into a broader context for what it means to wildlife management.  As I only have one field season of data, and since I have not completed any analyses yet, I had to fill the 3 foot by 4 foot poster with pictures of sitatunga and (unfortunately) a lot of text about what we propose to do and what we hope to use to analyze the data.  Still, due in no small part to the skill of my graphic designer husband, I had an awesome poster to share with wildlife professionals around the world.

Another part of the conference was a photo contest!  I took over 10,000 pictures while I was in Uganda (sure, most of those were of sitatunga, but there were other things in there too!), and James and I had built up quite a catalog of images during our hikes and travels.  Naturally, I was inspired to share some of these pictures with the TWS attendees.  Here are some of the pictures I entered:

A picture of a spider won best-in-show, but I have plenty for next year’s competition as well!

Since my career has taken me across the continent, the conference was also an opportunity to network with some of my former colleagues, and to make new professional connections.  There were a few opportunities to meet and mingle with other scientists and wildlife students, and I took full advantage.  There was also a smartphone app designed specifically for the event, and I used it to share pictures, thoughts, and comments as the conference progressed.

This year’s conference was an opportunity to bond with some of the other graduate students here at the University of Alberta.  Since the U of A is in Edmonton, and the conference was in Winnipeg, some graduate students opted to drive instead of fly – a 14-hour road trip across Canada’s Great Plains.  It was long, but we tried to make the best of it!  I also ended up sharing a hotel room with 3 other students.  I accidentally scared my roommates with a horror movie on the first night (a movie I had seen and did not find scary at all – two of the others disagree wholeheartedly!), but other than that I think it went pretty well.

Overall, it was a great break from the monotony of lab work, even though I have tons of work to do before I head back for my second field season in Uganda.  I hope to have an opportunity to attend more conferences, and to share my research with new audiences!

Life After Uganda

Reflections of 2015

As my first field season draws to a close, I can’t help but reflect on the events of this year, and what I hope to do in the future.

I have big plans for this project, not least of which is to expand and improve engagement in multiple ways.  I had hoped to post blogs much more often, as well as include podcasts and webisodes of project progress. www.wildlifediscoveries.com

Unfortunately, I was not able to keep up with those plans, as the logistics of setting up this research program were quite a lot to handle.  I also had some internet connectivity problems to sort out, which prevented me from transmitting pictures, audio, and other files for most of the time I was in Uganda.  Now I know what to expect, and how to work through some of the problems, so next season should operate more smoothly.  I know not to promise too much, but I can promise to improve on all facets.

I also have been thinking of the people I have met and worked with during the past four months.  People in Uganda have been overwhelmingly helpful, optimistic, and kind to me.

www.uganda-wildlife-safaris.com

I could not have accomplished anything this year if it weren’t for the staff at Uganda Wildlife Safaris Mayanja River Camp.  I have had the good fortune to work with some amazing people, who have some of the most heart wrenching stories.

It is no secret that the history of Uganda has been full of violence, turmoil, and suffering – but Ugandans I met are caring, friendly, and inspirational to be around.  I know it sounds trite, but I can only hope that the future for Uganda includes more peace and prosperity.  Hopefully my research can contribute to that end. I am thankful to have had this opportunity, and to be heading home to see my husband, James.  He has been so supportive of me and my aspirations, and I will never be able to put into words what that truly means to me.  He has worked almost constantly behind the scenes, keeping the website operational, keeping me sane, and our household in order.  I think that we both deserve a vacation.

Now, my focus changes.  Compared to the workload in the field, I may have more work to do in Edmonton.  I have thousands of images to classify, preparations for my candidacy exam, and a class to teach in the fall semester.

As Alberta creeps towards winter, it will become more difficult to look at pictures of the Mayanja River .  But that will just keep me looking forward to 2016, when I can return to Uganda.

Noctural Animals – Benefits of Trail Cameras

Benefits of Trail Cameras: Nocturnal Animals

In a previous post, I mentioned that I was using trail cameras to monitor some areas that were difficult to get to on a regular basis.  Although installed for sitatunga, these cameras were instrumental in obtaining pictures of very shy and nocturnal animals.  In the last few weeks of the field season, the cameras were able to capture images of more animals – species that I would be unlikely to see and photograph any other way.  So here is part 2 of lucky trail camera pictures!

I should apologize in advance for the quality of these pictures.  Some of them are difficult to make out, unless you increase the size to full screen.  Even then, it may seem like more lines and blurs than an animal.  I assure you that I have taken every opportunity to get expert advice on identification!

AARDVARK

I have wanted to get a picture of an aardvark since I arrived in Uganda.  Notoriously shy and strictly nocturnal (being most active between midnight and 5 AM), the camera trap was the most likely way to photograph one alive.  Aardvarks eat beetle larvae, ants, and termites, using their front claws to dig into mounds for their meals, which they capture using their long sticky tongues.  In these pictures, the aardvark is best identified by its low, rounded profile, and its long, rabbit-like ears.  No other mammal looks like that.

PORCUPINE

I am not sure which species this is, but it is either a crested or cape porcupine.  Both species usually live in family groups, so this loner may be a dispersing “teen-age” porcupine looking for a mate and territory.  Just like their North American cousins, African porcupines rely on their quills to deter predation.  The quills detach easily, and if it feels threatened, the porcupine will raise their quills and back up rapidly towards the threat.  In this picture, you can see that the quills are striped, making sure that they can be easily seen by a potential predator.

LARGE-SPOTTED GENET

This small cat-like species is one of fourteen or so genet species in Africa.  The large-spotted genet is distinguished by its bi-colored spots, as is evident on this individual.  It is omnivorous, eating fruits as well as insects and small prey.  It is also able to thrive in a wide variety of habitats – including papyrus marshes, such as in this picture.  Generally solitary and strictly nocturnal, this was a very fortunate “capture” for this camera trap!

MARSH MONGOOSE

Just in case you have had enough squinting at the black-and-white images, I will include this picture of marsh mongoose taken during the daylight hours.  This species is usually nocturnal, or at least crepuscular, so photographing one in midday is uncommon.  Marsh mongoose are common near water sources, feeding on a wide variety of prey.  They are very dark brown or black, are good swimmers, and generally solitary.  They can be quite fun to watch, as they move through the papyrus gracefully.

Identifying Predators

Identifying the Predator

I am a science fiction nerd, and I don’t care who knows it.

Being a lover of science as well as science fiction has its quirks.  Sometimes, this obsession interest overlap of mine leads to conversations about the feasibility of bringing dinosaurs back to live amongst us, or similar topics brought up by pop culture.

In the story I am about to relay, however, it triggers a small dose of paranoia, before leading to my determination to reassure myself solve the mystery.

What mystery?  Follow along for the tale of Quest for the Predator ™

This is the characteristic noise made by the Predator ™

, arguably the protagonist in such films as Predator, Predator 2, Predators, Alien Versus Predator, or Alien Vs. Predator: Requiem.  If you are not familiar with this franchise, I highly recommend the first one – simply for the one-liners typical of the 1980’s action movie genre, delivered by such acting greats as Jesse “The Body” Ventura.

Anyway, the Predator is an alien baddie that hunts humans (and other extra-terrestrial species), and is terribly efficient.

One day, while sitting in a machan in Uganda, I hear a noise that sounds exactly like the Predator.  I consider myself to be a very reasonable and rational person, but the noise has been ingrained in my head enough that I start to look around for the source of the noise.  That first time, I was unable to pinpoint the source, and the noise was not repeated, so I mentally write it off and go about my work.

A few days later, while in a different machan, I hear it again.  After a minute or so, I hear it again, closer this time.    I ask the staff member working with me what that noise could be.  His response – “which noise?”  At the time, there were dozens of frogs and insects calling as well, that it was quite difficult to identify the particular noise that I wanted to identify.  I tried to describe the noise, and he assured me that it was one of the frogs, which were active at sunset.

A week or so later, I was walking through the bush by myself at about 3 pm, and I hear it again.  From head level.  Only a few feet away from me.  I stopped in my tracks.  While scanning the shrubs and trees near where the noise came from, I was reassuring myself that I was becoming anxious about a movie character – and then I hear it again directly behind me.

After standing completely still for a ridiculous amount of time, I worked up enough common sense to turn around – and obviously I saw nothing there (which proves nothing, by the way.  If you have seen the movies, you know that Predator has advanced camouflage capabilities).  But I continued on my way, resolving to find out what was making me unreasonable made that noise.

It took a long time to figure it out.  But, obviously, as I was mere feet away from it and lived to tell the tale, I was not encountering the Predator.  The truth is not really that exotic, nor is how I discovered the creature in the act.  As it happens, I was in another machan for a sitatunga survey on my second-to-last-day in Uganda when the culprit was identified.  The noise occurred behind me again.  And again.  By the third time, I turned around so fast that I smashed my elbow into a tree.  I was able to pinpoint the direction from which the noise came, and so I stared at a woodpile left behind by the charcoal burners for the next few minutes.

Then, I saw it.

A Brown-Crowned Tchagra – a smallish bird – taking off from the woodpile, was the apparent source of the noise.  Another tchagra from the far side of the woodpile also took flight, making the noise along the first few wingbeats.

Actually it looks like this-

And so the mystery was solved, a weird paranoia was vanquished, and I will always wonder if the tchagra were the inspiration for that simple, yet creepy, noise of the Predator.

Trail Cameras on the Mayanja River

Trail Cameras

The Mayanja river is teeming with wildlife – but not all of these species are active during the day, some have been persecuted by humans enough to keep their distance, and some are just shy and like to hide in the shadows.  Part of my research here is to determine activity patterns of sitatunga, meaning to see what time during the 24-hour day they are moving.  To this end (since I can’t be in a machan for 24 hours!), I brought some remote-triggered trail cameras to deploy in areas where we think sitatunga are moving.  These cameras have an infrared sensor to take pictures at night, and they are set so that anything that moves in front of the sensor will trigger the camera to take a series of three pictures.  This set of pictures will hopefully allow us to see when sitatunga are travelling, feeding, and perhaps even track their movements around the study area.

These cameras do not only take pictures of sitatunga.  ANYTHING that moves in front of the sensor triggers it – when the grass or papyrus gets very tall, that can mean a memory card full of 30,000 pictures of papyrus blowing in the wind.  This can also mean that other visitors to the trail camera area are documented.  There is a large-scale project going on in Tanzania that is based on determining what species of animal are pictured in a series of “camera traps” across the Serengeti ecosystem.  Here, it means that some of the more elusive animals can be featured on my blog!

Say hello to some of the more secretive residents of the Mayanja river!

Bushpig

Bushpig are primarily nocturnal animals, and when the trail cameras take a picture at night it is in black and white.  I was lucky enough to have a mother bushpig and her piglets move during the day, so that you can see the coloration of this species.  Of all the pig species I have seen, bushpig may be the prettiest (certainly a lot more photogenic than the wild hogs found in the Southeastern U.S.)  On adult pigs, the white face is set off by the reddish-brown coat – but those chestnut-brown piglets are just too cute.

Warthog

I stated that the bushpig is pretty; with the warthog, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  I was also lucky enough to get a few pictures of a warthog family complete with piglets, confirming my opinion that all baby animals are cute in their own way.  Warthogs have curved tusks, which they use to deter predators.  When they enter a burrow, they enter them backwards, so that their tusks are presented to any intruder.

Olive Baboon

Baboons travel in large groups called troops, which include many males, females and young.  Males are much larger than females, and have an impressive fluffy mane.    Young baboons hitch a ride on their mothers, either hanging on their stomachs or riding on their backs.  Baboons are omnivorous, eating a wide variety of things – which keeps them in conflict with humans. They are notorious for raiding crops, and are heavily persecuted for this reason.  Thus, they tend to try and keep their distance from humans – but they seem to like the areas where I put up some camera traps!

Colobus Monkey

Being black-and-white, you would think that colobus monkeys would be very conspicuous against the trees.  What really catches your eye, though, is how fast they move and how agile they are.  Even very young colobus monkeys move so quickly and climb trees so easily that it seems they are showing off.  There is one machan that colobus monkeys have basically claimed as a nighttime lair.  If we get to this machan early in the day, there is a chaotic, raucous, exciting evacuation of colobus monkeys from their resting spot.  SO far, they have left it pretty clean, and they vacate pretty quickly when we arrive, but I definitely get a feeling that we are infringing on their space.  Nevertheless, the best pictures I have of them may be from camera traps due to their quickness – by the time I get my handheld camera focused on one, they are leaping to the next tree limb.  They are fun to watch!

Hippopotamus

In the case of hippos, camera traps may be the safest way to get close up pictures.  Hippos are some of the most dangerous animals in Africa – responsible for more human injuries and fatalities than lions.  In the wild, hippos are territorial, aggressive, and notoriously ill-tempered towards humans and their boats.  At night, they leave the river to travel on land, grazing along the way.  They will travel many kilometers at night (some estimate up to 20), but will find their way back to the river by sunrise.  Hippos usually are found in groups, a large mature male accompanied by a few females, their offspring, and immature males not quite ready to go their own way.  When I see trail camera pictures of hippos, I am struck by how large they are, and am glad I haven’t run into one that close in person.

MYSTERY ANIMAL: Serval?

Sometimes, the images you get on the camera trap are ambiguous, blurry, underexposed, etc.  In this image, the animal was moving through the detection zone pretty quickly, and originating from behind the camera, thus the camera didn’t get good pictures.  From what I can tell (and I have gotten a couple of second opinions), this is a picture of a serval, a lesser cat species.  Serval are known to be in this area, but they are very secretive and stealthy.  In this case, I had recovered a camera from its regular location because it was not taking pictures at night.  So I set up the (supposedly) malfunctioning camera at camp, in an effort to test its ability (the camp donkeys move through on a regular basis during the day, so I intended just to check the daytime functionality before determining the night glitch).  The first set of pictures it took were of this animal – so not only did I get pictures of a serval, but it was moving through camp!

More trail camera pix to come-

-Camille

Wildlife in the Mayanja

Mayanja River- Uganda

Yes, there are elephants in Uganda.

No, there aren’t any elephants near my study area.  (Historically they were here, but that is another topic for another day)

Yes, there are lions in Uganda.  No, there aren’t any lions here either.

Yes, Uganda is home to giraffes, gorillas, zebra, chimpanzees, buffalo, rhinoceros, and cheetah – just far away from here.  (See above parenthetical note)

There is still plenty of wildlife in the Mayanja river basin – just animals that you may not have heard of.  After all, it is tough to compete for attention with any of the animals that I mentioned above.  But the species here are amazing, fascinating, and unique, just like the previous list.  And in case you have never heard of them (as I know that not everyone is a wildlife nerd like me), I am honored to introduce them to you!

Since there are so many species here, I have decided to split blog posts about the wildlife into a few parts (final number TBD).  I will start this series with the group near and dear to my heart – the Amazing Antelopes!

Some of the information below was taken from the book A field guide to the Larger Mammals of Tanzania by Charles Foley, Lara Foley, Alex Lobora, Daniela De Luca, Maurus Msuha, Tim R.B. Davenport, and Sarah Durant.  This book has been indispensable, and if anyone is planning a trip to East Africa, I highly recommend it!

Waterbuck (Kobus ellipsiprymnus)

Waterbuck have an odor – I have not detected it, but it was described to me as very similar to turpentine.  They are found in floodplains and always near water – hence their common name.  They are rather social, forming large herds in part of their range.  Here, I have seen groups up to 6 individuals.  The males have long, ridged horns that curve forward.  Some individuals have long hair on their necks, kind of like a mane, and they have a white rump patch that distinguishes them at a distance.

I have to admit something: waterbuck are becoming my favorite.   There is something very endearing about them – I think it is the heart-shaped black nose set off by a ring of white, which gives them a permanent expression of mild surprise and confusion.  I have not seen one in a flat-out run, but I did see a mother/lamb pair in a startled state, and their upright trotting gait made me laugh out loud.  They are larger than sitatunga – even the females – so their size also adds to their awkwardness and appealing qualities.  I once saw a newborn calf, and I am serious when I say that I could have watched him or her for hours.  The tracker accompanying me that day actually had to say, “stop looking at the waterbuck, you are here for sitatunga, and there is a sitatunga over here.”  There is just something about them that cheers me up whenever I see one.  Sitatunga would have to become a lot more charming to compete with waterbuck.

Bushbuck (Tragelaphus scriptus)

Male bushbuck have spiral horns, although they do not get as long as sitatunga horns.

This is the antelope that reminds me the most of white-tailed deer.  It is very common along roadsides and shrubby areas, but it seems to be a true habitat generalist, as I have seen it in the forests and swamps as well.  Most bushbuck are not easily spooked by vehicles, but simply watch as the truck drives past.  I have yet to see one freak out and run towards trucks or other traffic (like white-tailed deer are known to do), but I have also not been on a nighttime game drive or patrol to see how they respond to headlights.  When bushbuck do flush, they run with their tails up, showing the white underside – another thing that reminds me of white-tailed deer.  They also have a raspy bark that they use when startled to warn other bushbuck of the perceived danger.  Females seem to be more likely to bark and run away than males – you can draw your own conclusions about that!

There are a couple of different color variations of bushbuck in this area.  One version has white markings on the inside of their front legs set off by a black band at the top – it reminds me of 1980’s style tube socks.  Another, much rarer color variation is white – not albino, but a bluish-grey color instead of the reddish-brown.  I have been fortunate enough to see a female white bushbuck, but I did not manage to get a very good picture before she ran.

Sitatunga (Tragelaphus spekii)

The reason I am in Uganda, my default favorite antelope.  I am going to keep this description brief, as I am sure to talk about sitatunga quite a bit in other posts, podcasts, and webisodes!  This is a true swamp specialist species.  They are not confined to papyrus marshes – the forest sitatunga, a subspecies in central and western Africa, uses bais, or marshy openings in forests.  There are also the Sessee Island sitatunga, which is a subspecies confined to islands in Lake Victoria that use dry land most of the time.

It is easy to tell the difference between male bushbuck and sitatunga.  Sitatunga bulls are larger, darker in color, shaggier, and have larger horns than bushbuck males.  Telling the females of the two species apart is much more difficult.  Most female sitatunga here do not have spots on their coat, while most bushbuck here do have spots.  If deep in the papyrus, it is a good bet that female bushbuck would not venture that deep into the swamp, so it is most likely a sitatunga.  When in doubt, try to see the feet – sitatunga have much longer toes than bushbuck, but if they are standing in water, it may not be easy to see!

Reedbuck (Redunca redunca)

Reedbuck are a straw-yellow in color here, and the males have horns that curve forward.  They also have an endearing look about them (similar to waterbuck), with their dark eyes appearing to be very large on their light brown faces.  Some of them have an expression that I call “permanently startled.”  I have been able to watch reedbuck grazing near some of the machans I work in, and this is another species where the females seem much more jumpy and ready to run off than the males.  They are rather common around floodplains and river edges (hence the common name), and seem to enjoy being around other antelopes – I have seen them grazing close to bushbuck, and following them in and out of openings.  Perhaps they are using bushbuck as shields, or they know that bushbuck send out an alert when there is something amiss.  Reedbuck might be smarter than they get credit for.

Oribi (Ourebia ourebi)

The oribi is easily mistaken for reedbuck at a distance.  The major difference is that male reedbuck horns are curved forwards, while oribi horns are straight.  The females have a black spot below the ear, and this is usually larger than the similar spot found on reedbuck females.  Reedbuck have a tail that hangs below the haunches, while oribi’s tails are shorter.

Oribi prefer open areas like grasslands or pastures, so I have often seen them near grazing cattle.  They are extremely fast, so I had to be quick with the camera – and lucky – to get the few pictures of them that I have.  They are not that common near the river machans where I work, so I had to travel away from the river to see any with regularity.  They are often in small groups, so if you see one, there are likely a few more close by.

Uganda Kob (Kobus kob)

The Uganda kob is a subspecies of kob antelope found across sub-Saharan Africa.  The Uganda kob is depicted on the coat of arms of Uganda, along with the crested crane.  Kob are usually found in grassy floodplains, and are generally found in herds.  They are actually uncommon in this part of Uganda, but I have managed to spot one.  The males have horns, and kind of resemble the impala.

Since I have only seen one of these (a male, and at a distance), I don’t really have any first-hand information about them.  According to what I have read, kob herds can number in the thousands, some migrate long distances to stay near water in the dry season, and their social structure is complicated.  To truly do it justice, I should devote an entire blog post to the Uganda kob in the future.

East African Bush Duiker (Sylvicapra grimmia)

There are 22 species of duiker (pronounced DIE-ker) in Africa, but the bush duiker is the only one found here.  Bush duiker are very small compared to the other antelopes found in this area (about 50 cm / 20 inches tall, and weighing about 12-25 kg / 26-55 lbs), and they are very shy and love dense cover.  Because of these habits, I have not managed to get many good photographs of duiker, but I have seen plenty – as they were running away.

Bush duiker, also called common duiker, are unusual in a way – females tend to be larger than the males.  Males do have horns, but the horns are short (less than 5 inches / 11 cm), so it seems to emphasize how small they are.  They vary in color a bit here, ranging from chestnut brown to a golden brown.  They can be grey in other parts of their range, hence a third common name for them, grey duiker.

The iconic wildlife of Africa may not be close to my study site, but that doesn’t mean there is nothing to see here.  Stay tuned for the next installment about wildlife of the Mayanja river basin. -University of Alberta PhD. Student Camille Warbington.

Also James is Launching Wildlife Discoveries Kids website- all for kids to learn about different wildlife and see various photos and play games.

Check Out- http://www.wildlifediscoveries-kids.com

and http://www.wildlifediscoveries.com

A day in the Life of Wildlife Sitatunga Research in Uganda

Blog post # 2
A day in the life…. Wildlife research in Uganda
If someone had told me 10 years ago that I would be collecting data for a PhD research project in Uganda, on a swamp-dwelling antelope species, I would have thought he or she was insane. You see, I had graduated from the University of Georgia with a Bachelor’s degree in forestry, but for some reason every job I had landed since finishing my degree was animal related – from wildlife rehabilitation, to working in a zoological park, to the investigative job into companion-animal related businesses. 10 years ago I was working for the Georgia Department of Agriculture as an Animal Protection Inspector. It was a tough job, but everyone I worked with – from other inspectors to the bosses – was fantastic, supportive, and helpful whenever and whatever the issue. Even though I enjoyed working with animals, it had just not occurred to me at that time that wildlife could – and should – be the focus of my career. Through the random oscillations of the ‘Verse, my husband would get a fantastic job offer in his line of work, which would require moving across the state, and me leaving my job. Shortly after the move, I randomly applied for – and received – a job on a white-tailed deer research project for the U.S. Forest Service. And the rest, as they say, is history! I realized that research was thrilling – collecting data could be an adventure in itself, but then analyzing the data to see the trends and patterns was like solving a puzzle, or opening a mysterious box. The answers could confirm what you had suspected all along, or they could completely surprise you, requiring a change in perspective, or a new way to look at a system. So here I am, working in a swamp, far away from everything familiar, and I couldn’t be more enthusiastic to share this experience with the world.

For this entry on the blog, I thought it would be interesting to share what a typical day of work for me is like. I caution that the word “typical” should be taken with a grain of salt – more on this later. Here is what a typical schedule would be:
0530 – Wake-up time. Not because I love mornings, but because it takes a while for my brain to be fully functional.
0600 – Tea in the mess hall. If you and I have met before, you would know that usually a diet soda is my drink of choice, especially in hot weather. But, sugar-free caffeinated beverages are few and far between here, so I have changed to hot tea in the morning. It is either that or instant coffee.
Sometime shortly after I have finished my tea, it is time to go for the morning mark-recapture session. A driver from the camp takes me and an assistant to the specified place, where we climb to the top of the elevated platform (called a machan)

Machan with Michael (research assistant atop of it)

to see if we can spot sitatunga in the papyrus

Sitatunga Calf standing in the Papyrus

. We wait and watch until about 0930. There are not always sitatunga to watch, but there is always something going on!
 

Atop the Machan 2

0945 – Breakfast in the mess hall.
1130 – Canoe to river machan to check camera traps.

Canoeing to Machans

There are currently 4 machans in the river where we are testing camera traps. It is usually a bad idea to do any type of physical work in the heat of the day, but when you go on the river, you enter hippopotamus territory, and they are notoriously ill-tempered with boats and humans. They also don’t like the heat of the day- they prefer to hide in the shade at this time. So, to avoid the hippos, we paddle when it is very hot.
1300 – Lunch in the mess hall. The camp’s cook is keeping me very well fed!

Mess Hall/Cafe

Camp – UWS

Uganda Wildlife Safaris Camp 1

Uganda Wildlife Safaris 2

Uganda Wildlife Safaris 3

Bit of free time here to check email, work on papers, etc. 1600 – Depart camp for the evening’s mark-recapture session. We choose a different machan than the one from the morning. Machans are randomly chosen, and we ensure that we visit each one in the morning as well as the afternoon.

1900 – Sunset , and time to head back to camp.

Machan at Sunset

2000 – Dinner at the mess.
And that is the end of the schedule. As I stated at the beginning, this would be a typical day. If you have worked in field research before, you may know that typical is not something that really exists. There are always extenuating circumstances beyond your control – vehicle problems, equipment failures, weather events, the list goes on – that keep you from implementing your plans. I used to live on a barrier island off the coast of South Carolina, and there was a phrase there that went something like, “it will happen on island time.”

This phrase, “island time,” refers to the slower pace and unhurried attitude that the inhabitants of the island possess. It makes no difference if you are in a hurry, for things on the island happen in their own time. There is a similar saying here – “this is Africa” – to imply much the same sentiment. Things happen at their own pace, on their own schedule, and no matter how much of a hurry you may be in, that will not change the pace. So, you may as well roll with it, and let things develop in their own time. And this sentiment also applies to equipment – some things are going to work out, and some things are not. Each situation is unpredictable – “This is Africa.” The equipment that you thought would be perfect for the job turns out to be terrible, and the problem that you had that you thought would be the end of the story can be fixed very simply – “this is Africa”. There is another saying I have come to appreciate, this one is Pennsylvania Dutch (I think) – “Things that don’t bend to change will surely break.” I am learning to be flexible, and accept changes here more than I have ever had to in other research projects! So I don’t get to a machan twice a day, every day – rain happens, “this is Africa”. Sometimes the camera traps are taken over by ants,

Movie “Them” about Radioactive Ants taking over the World!

Trail Camera Post

or they fall in the water (apparently only hours after you put them up). Time to come up with a new pole design – “this is Africa”. Sometimes, the sitatunga don’t show themselves for a few days – frustrating, but they are there, we just have to be in the right place at the right time – “this is Africa”.

The Crew, The Boat, The Truck, the Whole Kit and Kaboodle!

And I couldn’t be more excited to be here!

-PhD Student Camille Holbrook Warbington

First Days in Uganda – Camille Warbington/Wildlife Discoveries

FIRST DAYS IN UGANDA

Greetings from Uganda!

After almost a year of preparation, I made the trip from Edmonton to Entebbe.  That is 18 hours of flying, and a jump of 9 time zones into the future.  A long travel day means little sleep, airport food, and deteriorating personal condition.  Luckily, the planes had free entertainment in the form of headrest video, and British Airways had a decent selection of movies and shows for the longest legs of the journey.  (By the way, British Airways also offers free wine with dinner, and the food was surprisingly good for plane service!)  I watched part of three movies (I won’t say which ones, because I fell asleep in the middle of each one, which is not a vote of confidence), but the highlight of the in-flight entertainment was BBC television shows, “The Wrong Mans” being the clear favorite for me.

My field season was scheduled for April through August, because I am a teaching assistant at the University of Alberta during the fall and winter semesters.  In equatorial Africa, there are not the four seasons we are used to in North America.  Instead, there are wet seasons and dry seasons.  April through June are the height of the wet season, and this was apparent upon arrival – a heavy rain was falling in Entebbe when we touched down and collected baggage.  The plane landed at about 10pm local time, and there was a similarly large plane preparing for departure – this meant chaos as arriving and departing passengers competed over the covered walkways between the airport and the parking lot.  Luckily, we were met by a truck from Uganda Wildlife Safaris (UWS) to take us to the Cassia Lodge in Kampala for the night.

I may not have gotten a good view of the city when we first arrived, but I more than made up for it the next day.  I needed to get a SIM card for my phone, so that I could have a local number to communicate with the crew.  This meant a trip to the mall in Kampala, and an introduction into real traffic.

 

(sunrise in Kampala)

Traffic and road congestion was redefined for me on this rip through Kampala.  There are few sidewalks, so pedestrians walk in the road.  Roads are not repaired often, meaning there are large potholes to swerve around.  Ugandans drive on the left – the “wrong side” for North Americans.  I was also warned that there are really no traffic laws, and that included stop signs.  So I went to the mall in Kampala as a passenger in a Toyota Land Cruiser, and it was an experience to remember.  Trucks – large cargo trucks – are swerving around potholes and then back into their own lanes (or what looked like their lanes, as there were no lines on the road either), and lots of horns blaring and engines racing.  Add to the large vehicle chaos the presence of boda bodas – motorcycle taxis that weave in and out of traffic like a penguin evading a seal – and you have real traffic problems.  Boda bodas are dangerous – some estimates are that three boda boda drivers are killed per day in traffic accidents – but they seem to make good time through snarled traffic, so they remain a popular and effective way to get around.  Car and truck drivers almost ignore boda bodas, and it is accepted that it is the boda boda driver’s responsibility to get out of the way and yield to larger vehicles.  If a truck driver treated a boda boda like another vehicle on the road, then traffic would never move in Kampala, where I estimate boda bodas outnumber other vehicles at least five to one.  This many vehicles on the road means that traffic jams are common, which leads to more honking, more boda boda weaving, and more commotion.

There also appears to be no zoning in Kampala – industrial complexes are next to houses and schools.  Markets, shops, kiosks, and (for lack of a better word) shacks are selling all sorts of things in every open place.  Advertising is ubiquitous – huge logos are painted on buildings that probably don’t sell the product depicted, but it doesn’t seem to matter.  It is an amazing disorder, but it seems to work for Kampala.

After a white-knuckle ride to the mall, I bought a SIM card for my phone for less than a dollar.  Consider that for a moment, and multiply that by how many people in Uganda have cell phones (over 80% in my estimation!), then think about how much your mobile phone provider charged you for the same thing.  Conveniently, you can buy airtime at most stores in Uganda (even here close to the field camp), and with a few keystrokes on your phone you turn the airtime into data.  I cannot tell you how convenient this is, and I hope that mobile phone providers in the US and Canada start going for this system!

After sorting my phone, I went on a short trip to the supermarket to collect some supplies for camp.  I think this store sold everything except clothes.  Appliances, hardware, food – a true one-stop shop.  Uganda is a small country in central Africa, and its small size and remote location means that it can’t manufacture everything it needs, thus products and supplies come from all over the planet.  I bought a toothbrush from the UK, cookies from India, a hairbrush from China, and a Coke Zero (which a 500 mL bottle also cost less than a dollar – do you hear that, Canada?).  There were also products from Kenya, South Africa, UAE, and even some from Thailand.  Uganda does make some of its own products – I hope to cover the diversity of these in a future blog post.

I will be spending very little of my time in Entebbe, Kampala, or other cities.  Most of my time here will be spent in the UWS Mayanja Camp.  There are a special set of safety considerations for my field work in Uganda, and I met with the staff of UWS to cover some of these topics.  Most safety briefings I have attended or led consist of things to look out for, personal protective equipment that may be necessary, or special issues that come up as field work progresses.  I am used to statements like, “If you see a hazard, here is what to do.”  These safety talks I am used to offer some uncertainty.  The safety talk at UWS was not so passive.  This safety briefing included statements beginning with “when you fall through the papyrus,” or “when you get a cut,” Or (my personal favorite) “When you get malaria…”  We covered topics of wound care, what water was safe to drink, they symptoms of malaria, and the types of wildlife to look out for.  When I arrived, there had been sightings of a lion near the camp, hippos in the river, leopards in the papyrus, and pythons attacking sitatunga.  There also was mention of crocodiles, but not as much as these other four.  Armed with this new set of information, instead of feeling overwhelmed, I was feeling pretty excited to get to the field site and see my first sitatunga!

(first sitatunga)

Be sure to tune in to the first Wildlife Discoveries podcast, where I will talk about the details of my research project and what we hope to learn.  The first webisodes will feature a tour of the Mayanja River Camp, as well as my first forays into the papyrus to set up some camera traps.  The next blog post will feature some of the wildlife I encounter during the field surveys – there is a lot to see and experience in the Mayanja river ecosystem!