We didn't know we were going to spend any time in Queen Elizabeth, but we met a Dutch couple, and they recommended we track chimps there. We realized that tracking chimps, although touristy and a bit expensive, was an experience we did not want to miss. Camping was limited in the area as there are mostly expensive tourists lodges. However, with a little luck on our side we found a spot to camp right outside the park and the view into the park was spectacular. Within the first few minutes we spotted an elephant grazing in the distance. The man there, Meddie, helped us set up the tracking as well as the rest of our day touring around the park on a boda-boda (motorcycle) seeing many elephants, buffalo, and hippos. In the morning we went to the southeast corner of the park where the chimps are primarily in a gorge. We set out to do our tracking in a group and spotted the chimps after about one hour. In total we saw about 5 individuals out of the twenty that live in the area. We were lucky to see them at very close range, the detail of their hands and feet were amazingly similar to our own. They allowed us only about 25 minutes but it was a spectacular experience. The second half of our day we explored the northwest part of the park. Riding around the park, three of us on one boda-boda, with the wind in our hair and breezing past countless elephants, warthogs, buffalo, and more was a great way to explore the other parts of the park. At one of the lakes there were hundreds of elephants and buffalo. It was an amazing day! Here is a shot of B.J. the chimp, who we saw at close range...enjoy! We tried to get up a video, but it took way too long to upload. We put in this shot to help protect the chimp's identity.
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