The Daily Pant-Hoot

Feathers from the birds of Semliki Uganda!

I stepped on a few snakes while I was in the forest in Uganda tracking chimps. Every time I did it, it was a complete accident. The first time I kicked/stepped on a snake it was an accident, and the snake slithered away into the bushes. I think it was in pain, and I felt pretty guilty. The second time I kicked a snake it was a small black snake. It was very long and after I stepped on it, it curled up in pain, and was writhing in discomfort. My friend Ben picked it up with a stick and was playing with it. He got a few pictures, and after he was done he threw it in the bushes. Anyway, when our professor showed up at the field site, we told him the story, and we showed him a picture of the snake. He did a face-palm. He then told us that I kicked a Black Forest cobra, and that I could have died.

Infant male chimpanzee at the Kanyawara field site in Uganda.

Infant male chimpanzee at the Kanyawara field site in Uganda.

Scenes from around camp at The Semliki Chimpanzee Project.

Chimpanzee males grooming.

Driving them the Toro-Semliki Wildlife reserve in Uganda.

Infant male chimpanzee exploring his world in Kanyawara in Uganda.

An infant in Kanyawara playing with her sibling and mother.

A male chimpanzee in Kanyawara eating pith.

In Uganda everyone is given a pet name when they are very young. They are also given a totem animal. The totem represents the person. As customary, individuals does not eat an animal that is their totem. For example, if someone has a baboon as their totem, then they do not eat the meat of baboon. I was given the pet name that translates as "humble" I can't remember how to say it in Toro. I was later given the totem of a cat, because my Ugandan Nokia phone had a cat meow as a ringtone. That being said I can never eat the meat of a cat. Not that I ever wanted to, because I prefer cats as pets. In the end my Ugandan friend Moses called me Princess Samantha. Princess Humble cat.

I'm one of the rare people that think spiders are cute. This little cutie was found on the trails of the Toro-Semliki Wildlife Reserve in Uganda while we were tracking chimps!

Chimpanzee knuckle prints!

Elephant skull at the Semliki Safari Lodge!

Elephant tooth that I found in the forest!