Red River Detour

With little over a week before I head to Uganda, of course I have to stress myself out by agreeing to help with work weekend at my townhouse in Red River.  The dogs and I are loving the respite from Dallas heat--below freezing at night!  I'm burrowing under the blankets and refuse to turn up the wall thermostat.  As the day progresses, I peel off my 5 layers of clothing till about 4:30 p.m. at which point I begin putting them all back on again.

Last night a bear showed up at the dumpster not 50 feet from my front door--in broad daylight!  My dogs went crazy.  Apparently, the bear or his buddy showed up again about 2:30 a.m., and once again the dogs went crazy.  After yelling at them to be quiet, I rolled over to go back to sleep, but they came bounding up the stairs to jump in bed with me (a BIG no no) as if to say "Mom, this is really, really important."  So we all crept onto the porch to investigate.  Every dog in the neighborhood was either howling or shrieking like he was being mauled by a mountain lion.  Even the 50 or so ducks in the nearby pond were all in a dither--such a quacking racket!  Something was out there!  My dogs growled and paced until I finally made them come inside.

Several people today told me of other recent bear stories.  Those brazen bruins are grabbing as many last minute calories as they can before they go into hibernation next month.  They'd better not grab my dogs, or I will act just like the navy seal who was guarding the goats as Rayado--Kit Carson's old historic trading post.  Last summer he awoke to the sound of a goat screaming in pain, saw it was being attacked by a bear, and promptly punched the offender in the nose!  I interviewed him the next day to find out what possessed the man to attack a bear with his bare hands, and he told me he just didn't think about it at all.  I suspect if any old bear (or person for that matter) decided to attack my babies, I just might react the same way!

After more than a year of planning, I soon head for Uganda (and Tanzania) to cross a "biggie" off my bucket list:  gorilla trekking through the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, a UNESCO World Heritage site.  Inspired by Dian Fossey's Gorillas in the Mist and being a huge lover of animals, I decided to sign up for a private safari with a small number of friends--a very small number.  Quality over quantity--as long as I can afford it!

In less than a month, I'll be winging my way to Entebbe-- a major town (so says Wikipedia--only 80,000+ people, but I guess that qualifies in Uganda) on a peninsula of Lake Victoria, Africa's largest lake.  The President of Uganda resides there, even though Kampala, the capital, is some 23 miles to the northeast.  The Entebbe airport was the scene of one of the most daring counter-terrorism operations in history when soldiers from an elite unit of the Israeli army freed over 100 hostages following an Air France hijacking by a group of Palestinian and German militia in 1976.  I'd just as soon skip that experience!

Wikipedia says many tourist attractions will compete for my attention.  Among the most promising are the National Botanical Garden (located a short distance from our hotel), the Uganda Virus Research Institute (which began as a research center for Yellow Fever and has done work on the West Nile virus, HIV, and the Ebola virus), and the Uganda Wildlife Education Center--which is also the national zoo.  

My second main objective, The Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary, allows me the opportunity to stay at an eco-friendly 4 tent camp where I will take a baby chimp on a forest walk.  This expensive experience has come with MULTIPLE visits to a travel clinic for a long list of injections (to protect the chimps or me?) and the signing of a comprehensive release that says if the chimp hurts or kills me, no one but myself is to blame.  Am I crazy or what?  This place is supported by the Jane Goodall Institute, the Born Free Foundation and several other reputable organizations, so what can possibly go wrong?  Well, wait for the next installment to find out.  This is our very first adventure once we arrive!