Ngamba Island: Winding away the wild with chimpanzees

Meal hours are perhaps some of the most awaited and exciting activities at Ngamba Island.  

By Eronie Kamukama

The captain cast off, heading out into the noon.
The boat glides over the waves as Godfrey Okwayimungu severs a path through the blue waters of
Lake Victoria, the world’s second largest freshwater lake.

A sudden sense of scare sits within me. But it was not for long. At least the lime green life jacket can offer me an unexplainable sense of security.

Our journey depends on how calm the waters would decide to be. If the waters are calm, you only need about 45 minutes before docking but in case of any form roughness, you will never know when you can dock.

In a distance, locals canoe under the glittering waters kissed by the mid-morning sun rays.
Okwayimungu is good company as he labours to calmly describe the different species of birds. They are mainly sea birds that include pelicans, kingfishers and egrets.

Fish too, floats by especially tilapia, silver fish and the Nile Perch.
Our destination, 23 kilometres away from Water Front Beach-Entebbe in Wakiso district lies beyond the equator.
“It is found south of the equator meaning we are going to cross the equator,” Okwayimungu softly says in the mix of sounds coming of the mid-morning water waves.

Once on the other side, Kimi Island, a fishing village that hosts about 5,000 people, emerges giving us a perfect opportunity to not only learn how to fish but to troll tilapia.

Into Ngamba Island
Beyond Kimi is an island sitting still with its green, a row of grass thatched cottages facing the lake and brown sand at the water’s edge.
The deck leads into Ngamba Island, labelled as the chimpanzee sanctuary, another sign that an enchanting story lies behind the staff houses. We are in time for the next feeding.

At the sight of humans, chimpanzees fill the air with pant-grunts as they take strategic positions to grab slices of paw paws and watermelons.
There is Sally, Kidogo, Becky, Tumbo, Africa, Kalema, Eddie, Sande and many others.

These are not names of caretakers but of chimpanzees, given depending on guardianship, rescuers or situation in which the chimpanzee is found at rescue time.

It is intriguing that each of the chimpanzees kept here responds on call.

“They look different. Tumbo has a grey face, Eddie has a dark face while Sunday has a long face. Kalema is the heaviest in the community,” a chimpanzee caretaker, Joseph Kale says, before the chimpanzees turn to clapping and raising hands in what seemed like pleading for food.
Pant-hoots soon reign as a scramble for food ensues.

Kale helps us make sense of the different chimpanzee sounds; the four-day meal plan, the histories, the fights, the friendships, the relationships, the controlled breeding, the hierarchies and politics which were all very human.

“There are a lot of political issues happening. Mutama has been a boss for four years and right now, he is faced with a challenge. Kisembo who is eating a sweet potato is competing for leadership so anytime we shall announce a new alpha male. Strength does not determine a leader, it is about who is smart, cooperative and trustworthy,” Kale says.

With 19 chimpanzees, this sanctuary opened in 1998 to offer a home to orphans and pets.
“The chimpanzees are usually denied their natural behaviour and environment. We quarantine them at Uganda Wildlife Education Centre for three months to ensure they do not carry disease. We then integrate them into the community,” Kale explains.

The island is now as much as a home to 50 chimpanzees that roam the 95 acre forestland during day and return to their cages at 6pm to share the evening millet porridge, before receiving dry elephant grass for their nesting.

“We bring them back in the evening to save the forest otherwise the island can only accommodate two chimpanzees naturally,” Kale says, adding: “The whole island is 100 acres. We are only using five acres for tourist and staff accommodation, the chimpanzee cages and the vet clinic where we treat them.”

The sanctuary allows a maximum of 25 visitors at a time. It attracts both international and Ugandan tourists, the former accounting for about 80 per cent of all visitors.

“We resolved to do more marketing within the country and we are picking up on local tourism because many of them are not aware of Ngamba Island. The challenge is accessibility, fear for water and expensiveness but we give them options to come in a group at a low cost,” Kale says.

An interesting finding is that tourists love to see chimpanzees in a semi-captive environment like Ngamba even after tracking them in Budongo, Kibale and Bugoma forests.

Soon, the sky silvers; the sun set behind the lake with more information saved for another day just so we could sip a glass of wine and snack away on the blend of popcorn and roasted groundnuts at the shore.
“We do this for guests who spend a night. This is when they can see the birds going to feed and the sun setting,” a housekeeper, Evelyn Amono, says.

When we can think of nothing else to neutralise the cold that evening, a plate of hot star fried chicken is served. A fire crackles at the far left side of the cottages inviting us to the warmth.

As the fire licks at the wood, the caretakers charm us with chimpanzee escape stories, the Ngamba Island theme song and pant-hoots.
“We would be very happy if we saw them back in their natural environments. They are here because this is the only option for them to be back home,” Kale says.

The dark came with such a stillness that the sounds of the birds and insects is all we could hear.
The light came and we returned to fill the bellies of these great apes with sweet bananas.
Like they usually do after a meal, their black-haired bodies disappeared in the forest in search for aframomums and Indian black olives.

Up close with the chimpanzees

We catch up with the chimpanzees on the morning boat cruise. Here we get a more up close experience without them caged.
“Look, they are emerging from the forest. We are going to feed them, some of them are already communicating. Peace is raspberrying to beg for food. Sophie likes cooling her body in water. Tumbo fears water. Sande is the tallest at 1.4metres and likes teasing and chasing away fishermen when they come to the island,” Mr Kale says.

At last glance at the chimpanzees, it looked like a family, profoundly reflecting the happenings in any human community.
The resulting feeling was that it is true what they say, they are 98.4 per cent human.

“When you throw food and they are close to each other, a low ranking chimpanzee is chased by the higher ranking. Katie tried to get the food next to Kidogo, the alpha female and that is insubordination. When Kidogo reacted, her supporters including Megan, Sophie attacked Katie.

Tumbo who is a peacemaker came in to rescue the situation,” Mr Kale concludes just in time for the nature walk so we can admire the Nile monitor lizard and the shy otters swimming in search of fish.