Elephant attack on hippos

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During our recent trip to Uganda one of the veterinary students, Leighton Coma, took this movie of an attack by a big bull elephant on a hippo pod in the Kasinga Channel in Queen Elizabeth National Park. Watch carefully near the end of the clip as a small calf gets isolated to the elephants left. He turns and tries to spear it, but it escapes, to appear very briefly between the giant's legs before scooting off to join the group.

Solar TV show in Uganda

Linkhttp://www.uwa.or.ug/about.html

Back in February I described the official opening of the new solar unit that we had donated to the little primary school at Kasenyi in Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda. Like a daft idiot I got so tied up in the show & the reaction of the children that I failed to take pictures of the event, other that the ribbon cutting by Dr. Jo Haigh & Dr. Margaret Driciru, who is in charge of research and monitoring in the park,. and was acting chief warden that day.
Here are some shots that i missed that day (taken by Jo). First, the gifts that we gave the children, an exercise book, pencil and teddy bear or other toy for the older children, then the speeches by various officials, first Margaret and then Wilson, the Community Conservation warden, then drinks and lunch for everyone who could be fitted into the classroom, and finally, the actual TV working.
All the staff, including Kiiza George, the headmaster, were delighted with the show, and if you take a close look at the last picture you will see that Jo pressed the shutter at exactly the right moment to show the head of a hippo. I had chosen to show a DVD about fisheries conservation and the importance of not killing hippos as they are the keystone species in the lakes of Africa's heartland. Wilson and Margaret are keen to get copies of the video, as it is a great example of the sort of thing that gives a powerful message for all.

Uganda students in Kibale National Park

Finally back into the connected world of the Internet, after six days in the tropical rainforest environment of Kibale National Park, famous for its diversity of both plants and primates, not to mention a wonderful array of birds.

The ten final year veterinary students who have accompanied me have been subjected to an array of new sounds and sights from both the human and animal world, and are beginning to gel as a team. We have been fortunate to work with dedicated Ugandan faculty and much enjoyed the quite humour of Dr. JB Nizeyi, who is a faculty member at the veterinary school in Kampala and also the local head of the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Program. Our instructors in Kibale, where we worked out of the Makerere University Field Station at Kanyawara, were Dr. John Kasenene, director of the station, and Dr. Gil Basuta. John is a forest ecologist with a vast knowledge of the plants in the forest, and a special interest in medicinal plants. Gils’s strengths lie with mammals, and he has an uncanny ability to excite entertain and educate students all that the same time. . This portrait of Gil shows him at his entertaining best. His discussion of chimpanzee politics is worth the wait, and something I would not miss, although I have heard it every year that I have been bringing students.

Yesterday we moved from Kibale to Queen Elizabeth National Park and here I am in the Mweya Safari Lodge using the rather slow dial-up that is the bets we can get. Pictures to accompany this blog are going to be hard to add. The students have already had close(not dangerous) encounters of the elephant kind, watching tiny infants rush under the bellies of their mothers, and we visited Kasenyi Primary school where the solar system that we purchased in Kampala will be installed in the next couple of days so that educational videos can be run. The official opening of the set-up is scheduled for Saturday, so I do hope that at least one picture will make it.

Solar technology & TV/Video in QEP

Cannot find a high-speed dialup service here, so no chance of photos.
However we have had a productive two days.

It started with a visit to a solar tech company called Ultratech, where Abhay Shah is the director. We discussed the pros and cons of several solar set-ups and agreed that his team would build a system for us at Kasenyi Primary School in Queen Elizabeth National Park, on the shores of Lake George. We plan to install a system that will run four low energy light bulbs, a 32" LCD television, and a DVD/Tape deck that can play either PAL of Europe or VHS of North America. As Abhay pointed out we also need to tell the headmaster, Kiiza George, that the system will charge up to 3, but only 3, cell phones at one time.

All the funds for this endeavour have come from three sources. These are team members of the Uganda Wildife Rotation at the Western College of Veterianry Medicine, alumni of our program, Veterinarians Without Borders / Veterinaires Sans Frontieres (Canada) and generous corporate donors, of which more in future posts.

The best thing is that the installation will take place while we are in the park in mid-February. We will make sure that the community local council will be represented, as well as the park authorities and of course the children and staff.

Of course the solar stuff will not be of any use without the TV & deck, and today Jo & I did some sleuthing and found the ideal set. We had taken pre-emptive action and have some conservation videos to take and give to the school.

Hopefully we may have found a decent Internet connection by then and will post a picture two

Uganda trip & silent auction

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Gearing up now for our Uganda trip with ten vet students from the Western College of Veterinary Medicine.

They are holding a silent auction throughout the college in 2 weeks time, so here are three items that will be entered. One is a tray that I made from several different hard woods. Then there are two photos that generous business people in Saskatoon have agreed to mount in large format for the events.
The first one is of vulturine guinea fowl and was taken in Samburu Park in Kenya’s northeast. Brad Hoffman of Early Mailing and Printing is enlarging a high-resolution version of this one for us. Brad has supported the program for a long time, by producing calendars for us at cost. They have all been calendars depicting birds of Africa, photos that I have taken over the years. Some of these can be seen on my web site. I have shown Trudy Janssens of Photography one-2-one four photos, and I am not sure which one she will choose to run. These are a speckled mouse bird one of two alternatives of Klaas's cuckoo, and one taken at the oasis at Sussusvlei in Namibia where we saw two pied crows and I managed to catch them in what I have labeled yin and yang crows

All the proceeds go to two small schools in Uganda’s Queen Elizabeth National Park that we have been supporting in a variety of way for several years. The last six chapters of The Trouble With Lions cover many of our activities in that country, and you can also get some different perspectives by having a look at the student blogs from 2007 & 2008.

If you want to bid on any of the items you can do so by emailing me at jerry.haigh@usask.ca but you had better do so soon. If you want a particular photo either one of these, or one from the small gallery that you find on the web, let me know and we can get it printed up, but I will have to get cost estimates, including shipping, to you before we close a deal. All profits will go to the schools.

Uganda trip and Gorilla babies

Preparations for our trip to Uganda in February next year are going ahead. The student group have finished their big veterinary licensing exams and can now concentrate on the trip. They have to prepare their talks, and also start the fund-raising for the support of the two schools that we have linked with over the last few years. One concern has been the terrible news coming out of the eastern DRC, and whether that conflict would spill over into Uganda. I have been in touch with the consulate in Kampala, and they assure me that things are quiet (I almost wrote All Quiet on the Western Front but that phrase has already been used by Erich Maria Remarque in his important book.)

Meanwhile this interesting and encouraging report about the birth of gorilla twins in Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable Forest appeared today on the Wildlife Disease News Digest
The picture on the blog is credited to Getty Images.

Lillian Nsubuga, a spokeswoman for the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) was plainly delighted with the news as you can see if you go to the blogShe obviously hopes that the news will further boost the tourism industry in Uganda, because gorillas are the poster children for that entire sector.