Kibale National Park

I was in no rush to get to Kibale N.P. early. I ate the breakfast that came with my room price, tea, banana, eggs and toast. I watched the news last night in the courtyard of the hotel on Aljareeza TV. The same network that shows the Al Queda/Taliban videos, that we sometimes get a glimpse of when they film something really nasty that the west considers newsworthy. I just thought it was interesting I was actually watching it, but it just seemed like any other channel, I left after the sports news came on. I walked 5 minutes from my hotel to the share taxi stand. There was a car leaving but after seeing them put 9 people into a sedan built for 4, I decided to take a boda boda. I just didn't feel like being all cramped in today, even though it was only for 35km. The boda boda was only twice the price and much more comfortable. After 25km, the dirt road entered the forest and I already felt at home.
Unfortunately the restaurant and accomodation have been privatized and are now operated by Kibale Primate Lodge, an upmarket posh resort. For me this meant camping was 15,000Ush ($7.50), the most I've ever paid and food was twice the price it should be. There wasn't much I could do to cut costs except eat the least expensive items on the menu. I ate a lot of omelettes and french fries. I should have brought some food from Fort Portal with me. I asked one of the rangers, Paul, about getting some bread from Fort Portal. I brought some local peanut butter with me and bread would be perfect. The bread never materialized but Paul did give me about 10 small buns for free, so they helped me skip buying some food. I set up my tent in the treeless camp ground and got ready for a 'nature walk' at 2pm. The camping ground is surrounded by trees but they didn't leave any in the site itself. The mandatory guided walks leave at 8am and 2pm. Kibale is famous for its chimp tracking but since I just saw them for less than half the price here, I was only here to do 'nature walks'. About 1.30 it started to rain and it rained heavy. 2pm came and went and it was still raining. Some people left on their walks but I was staying for a while and didn't feel the need to pay $10 to walk in the rain for a few hours. It finally stopped raining at 3.30. I had heard there was a small village called Bigodi about 6km south of the park. I thought they would have cheap local food because I didn't want to spend $10 for a skimpy main meal at the park. It took me an hour to reach Bigodi but I'm glad I went. I found rice and beans at the Bigodi hotel for $1 including a soda. I walked back to the park and arrived with enough time to shower before it got dark. I was the only one camping until some people in a landcrusier pulled up as it was getting dark.
Guided night walks were available but I thought I would try the main road before I spent the money on a walk through the forest. There is very little traffic on the road and it goes right through the park. A road with little traffic in a rainforest is basically just a wide trail that vehicles can drive on and has plenty of potential for animals. I've discovered this many times and don't think of a road as something animals avoid. I walked out of the campsite and took a left. The night was misty and I could see my breath. I was scanning the road, the low brush and the treetops for anything I could. After 15 minutes, eyeshine low on the ground caught my eye. The eyes were behind some very dense bush but appeared to be something quite large and not moving much. I thought I would stick with this until I knew for sure what I was looking at. As I was trying to get a better view, I looked down the road in the direction I was heading and was surprised to see eyes coming right towards me! They were very low on the ground and kind of moving at a brisk pace. I stood still and got my camera ready. Even though I knew there was no danger from whatevery was coming my way, my heart starting racing as I realized this animal isn't changing course. In a minute the animal was right in front of me about 2m away. I could see then that it was a South African large genet. I took a photo of it and this caused it to stop its movement. It stood still and looked around, not really knowing or caring I was right there. I took a bunch more photos and a few of them are really good. I saw a large spotted genet twice before on the same nightdrive in Kruger national park in South Africa. Except then I was holding the spotlight because I found them and couldn't take a photo.
The large spotted genet is a small and sleek animal distantly related to mongooses and civets. Its coat was spotted like a cheetah and its tail was ringed black and brown, very attractive. It finally left me and continued down the road. Super happy with my experience, I shifted my attention back to the unknown eyes in the bush. They had moved little but I was able to find them again. The animal finally revealed a little more of himself and I could tell from his white snout and stripy body that it was an African civet. I stayed with him for an hour hoping he would come out of the bushes but he never did but I was happy enough to identify him 100%. African civets wiegh about 15Kg and are the size of medium dog with a long white pointed snout, stripy gray and black body and pattered tail. This was the first African civet I had seen. They are well distributed throughout the tropics and I have seen other civets in India and Borneo. It was almost 9.30pm when I got back to my tent and I went to bed. I planned on doing a morning nature walk.