Don’t Pinch Me, I Don’t Want To Wake Up!
My week in photos — Week 3 — March 31-April 6, 2022
We are still here at the Entebbe Zoo, and every day we are more grateful than the day before for the experience that we are having here.
We truly feel as though we are living in a dream!
We are nearing the completion of our mural project. For those that don’t know, we paint murals in exchange for accommodation as we travel. This time we found ourselves at the Entebbe Zoo, which really isn’t a zoo, but is actually a wildlife conservation education center. The name zoo came along to promote it to tourists, as it is a term that they can relate with.
But I find that calling it a zoo does a disservice. This facility is not here for the entertainment of people in the way that most zoos are. This conservation centre was created to house rescued animals from the wilds of Uganda and to educate Ugandans, primarily, on animal conservation and anti-poaching. They do many education projects and their outreach goes way back into remote communities where poaching is still taking place, unfortunately.
Last week I made a comment in my post that the zoo (I digress, as it’s the easiest word to use) doesn’t have the most fantastic foliage. I later realized that that was a lie. What I meant was that they don’t have a bunch of interesting plants and a huge variety planted, as they let it be mostly wild. But to say that the foliage is not fantastic is ridiculous! It is basically a lush, tropical jungle, and we are fascinated by it every day.
The first photo above shows one of the main roads in the zoo. We travel back and forth on this road every day to get to and from our painting job, and it is an honor and a privilege to walk among these HUGE and beautiful trees! Often times we are blessed to see monkeys playing overhead!
The Elders Tree (scientific name: Pseudopondias Microcapa)is also known as the African Grape Tree, is actually medicinal. The bark contains reddish resin that can be used to treat jaundice and diseases of the eye. The bark powder can treat cough, back pain, stomach ache, toothache, urinary tract infections, and sexual dysfunction. The fruits are small and purple and are eaten by humans, monkeys, and birds.
We love this tree and give it a good going over each time we pass by it.
Saturday was our market day and we wandered into town to do some shopping. Markets are absolutely our favorite thing to experience as we travel! We will never tire of the variety of things that there is to buy, and the produce is usually top-notch and delicious!
These markets are a feast for the eyes and we love to just wander the aisles while taking it all in. Every town we go to has a different setup, and they are always interesting.
We are making good progress on our mural. It has taken longer than we anticipated mostly because the management of the zoo keeps thinking of new animals to add to it! But we don’t mind because staying here has been one of our top traveling experiences for sure.
Our supervisor said yesterday “I don’t know how we will ever repay you guys for this.” I told him, “Oh, staying here has been enough.” And it’s true.
These past couple of weeks of hanging out with the animals have been just so amazing. These experiences are far more valuable to us than getting paid would be.
I mean how many people can honestly say that they have lived in a zoo?
The vervet monkeys are plentiful around the zoo. They get treated better here than anywhere else, as nobody is throwing things at them or chasing them away. Of course, as monkeys do, they do get into mischief, but they are treated kinder here than they are in other parts of the country.
This week we have noticed so many more babies! They are so small and cute and our friend tells us that there has been a baby boom.
Maybe it is a seasonal thing? We don’t mind at all:)
From the beginning, the bamboo has been very incomplete (see the previous photo when it was just sticks) and the management kept asking;
Will you paint the knuckles on the bamboo?
Will the bamboo get leaves?
It seemed that they were quite concerned about it.
The reason that it was left for so long is that the background needed to be done before I went ahead and painted all the leaves in. Trying to paint between them after would have been torturous. It’s pretty funny though because the background got pretty covered anyways!
Today we had the utmost pleasure of arriving back at our banda to find TWO troops of monkeys playing in the trees around our place. There were a ton of vervet monkeys, including more adorable babies, which we watched for a while. Then we noticed a colobus run from one tree to the next. We knew that there had to be more as they are not solitary creatures.
Sure enough, after a while, more emerged from the dense foliage. We stood and watched them for a while, then I decided to go and get the chairs from our cottage so we could relax for our evening show.
While the vervet monkeys moved on eventually, these guys were in no rush to go anywhere. They were laying on the branches, and just chilling out. We sat and watched them for almost an hour.
And we were fascinated!
I didn’t include one pretty BIG thing that has been happening to us this past week! We have been inundated by lake flies! Thankfully the rains came yesterday and quashed most of them, but it was certainly a crazy experience. If you are interested in reading about that, check out my post in Weeds and Wildflowers from a couple of days ago.
We are nearing the end of this project, and we are sad that our time here is almost up. It has been such a pleasure to be surrounded by these magnificent creatures, and the management of the zoo has treated us very well.
Not only have we had a cabin to stay in, but we get to join the staff in the cafeteria for a locally cooked lunch each day. This has been an experience like no others!
I can honestly say, with authority, that this life we have created for ourselves is one dream that I am glad that I never have to wake up from!
Thank you so much for reading my week in review. Dennett hosts this challenge in her publication Weeds and Wildflowers. If you would like to partake, head to the publication link below.
I am also joined by others who do this challenge and who have been doing it for a while! They are Anne | Jane| Dennett | Erika | Eileen | Juan | David| Mia | Susan | LensAfield | Kim | Barbara | Diana | Barb | Sandra | Shruthi | Ellie | Pene | Olive | Gustavo | Penny.
It is an honor to be amongst such experienced Medium writers and I look forward to many more years of reading your stories and getting to know about you all! Thank you for bringing me into your fold!
I have placed all of my weekly wrap-up posts in their own list. Read them all if you are interested in our traveling life:)
Hi there, we are 2 Canadians, Jill and Chris from Artistic Voyages. We have been nomadic since 2017 living in numerous different countries, and experiencing the life and diversity of our planet on the ground and firsthand. We have now been on the African continent for over 2 years! Join our adventure by hitting the links below! Subscribe to Medium to get full access to my writing plus thousands of others’!
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