Page 20 - July - Sept 2023 Edition

Birding at dawn by Julia Lloyd Elephant footprint Sunbird Hill Kibale
by Charlotte Beauvoisin
LIFE ON THE EDGE

Charlotte Beauvoisin, author of Diary of a Muzungu is “blogger in residence” at
Sunbird Hill on the edge of Kibale Forest, western Uganda. She writes about what keeps
her up at night: ELEPHANTS!

It's dawn and the dogs are barking. If it were ostensibly to keep elephants inside the
the tail end of the day, I would hazard a forest and stop them raiding the villagers'
guess at elephants disturbing them. crops.
Elephants have been common visitors over
the past weeks. Lying under the thatch of Elephants can't resist jackfruit and maize.
my wooden cottage, I listen to the The scent of the crop carries and the
splintering of wood as an elephant fells a elephants will carve a route until their forage
tree. The boundary of Kibale National Park is is successful. What doesn't get eaten, gets
just a few hundred metres away. The sound trampled. Find an elephant's footprint and
of a single tree falling is amplified across the try it on for size. These fellows are even
dip in the ground that separates us from the bigger than you think: a grown woman can
forest. I recall some of my favourite easily place both feet in one elephant
experiences here: footprint, so can you!

One morning, we followed a tunnel of One night, heads buzzing with questions, we
crushed vegetation on the edge of the venture down to the forest edge. Julia
forest to find a large pile of moist elephant carries a big flashlight and scans the
dung. A round yellow object protruded vegetation ahead of us. This season is more
from it. Sebastian dug out the jackfruit seed interesting than usual as we contemplate
with the toe of his gum boot. "See, this is how the elephants will react to the trench.
what the farmers have been saying to the Seen from the tall viewing platform, the
Uganda Wildlife Authority. This jackfruit seed trench cuts a red scar across the
is proof that the elephants have crossed landscape, delineating the boundary of the
from the forest onto the farmer's land." ancient forest from farmland. Here the earth
is rich in minerals. Butterflies love the freshly
It was exactly this kind of evidence that was turned earth and flutter through the sunlit air
filmed and sent to the Parliament of above the trench.
Uganda to lobby for protection from the
elephants. After a decade of pressure from Activity is always at its most dramatic
the local villagers, the Uganda Wildlife around the time of the full moon. The night
Authority employed 64 men, plus another air around Sunbird Hill’s 40 acres of forest
10 from the community, to start digging a edge habitat is filled with the shouts of
protective trench along the park boundary, farmers and their children, warning the

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