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mammoths to retreat from their land. The hang like tumours on the side of tall trees.
dogs are quick to alert us to visitors of all They have a hard spiky exterior and their
species. Nobody got much sleep the night inners ooze a heavy sap. They reveal the
the moon shone its brightest. The elephants sweetest of fruits – just ask a baboon.
were so close, we could hear the swish
swish swish as they pushed through the tall The impact of elephants visiting the
aptly-named elephant grass. community can be devastating. Local lad
Sebastian tells me how he almost dropped
How do the elephants know of the trench out of school after elephants invaded their
and the danger it represents to them? Were land and destroyed his farmer's maize field.
they aware of the men who dug barefoot
along the forest edge? At 2 km long, two Without it, there is no money for school fees.
Sebastian started school two weeks late that
metres wide and two metres deep, might year as his dad looked for a loan to
an elephant come crashing out of the continue his son's education. How will his
forest straight into the hole? (What if Julia father be able to repay the loan if the
and I get to the edge of the trench and elephants return this year?
there’s an elephant stuck in there!)
Sebastian's story is very common around
With these thoughts in mind, we exit the here. Elephants are responsible for many
sanctuary of the family compound and children dropping out of school, consigned
head for the Birder's Lounge, a free-standing to a life without education and fewer
thatch construction a hundred metres from opportunities. There are few paid jobs in
the forest. I half picture an elephant seated rural areas and families survive on what they
on the sofa! Out of the blue, chimpanzee can grow: Irish (potatoes), yam, sweet
potatoes, cassava, maize, beans, bananas
‘pant hoot’ cries make me jump and I and pineapples. You can understand why
laugh at my overactive imagination. I recall the elephants are tempted out of the forest
how elephants trashed the wooden fence for they won't eat chilli, coffee or tobacco -
one time. The family compound has a 9 but neither will the farmers' children, hence
feet high wooden fence on all sides, the edible crops continue to be planted,
erected to keep the dogs in. It's been despite the high risks.
propped back up again but looks like
someone (something?) has sat on it. On a happy note, Sebastian did complete
his schooling and is now employed as part
Julia stands still in the full moonlight and of the Snare Removal Patrol in Kibale Forest.
scans every corner of the gardens ahead
of us. Nested chimpanzees pant hoot in the If you’d like to learn more about Life on the
distance. Julia knows chimpanzees but she Edge and walk along the Butterfly Transect
also knows elephants. For many years, her that runs alongside the elephant trench,
home was a treehouse in the middle of visit sunbirdhill.com
Kibale Forest from where she led the team
that habituated Kibale's chimpanzees for The East Africa Travel Podcast by
tourism. Diary of a Muzungu is inspired by life at
Sunbird Hill and launches soon
"Hang on Charlotte," she says. "Don't go
racing down to the trench. Elephants may
be big but they can appear silently out of
nowhere.” She recounts a story of being in
the forest one night. The elephants were
ahead of her - or so she thought - until she
realised she was standing right next to one.
She couldn’t sprint to safety fast enough!
The morning after our search for elephants, I
notice the heady smell of rotten quasi
alcoholic fruit. At my feet is the scattered Forest elephants are notoriously shy, so this
peel of a ripe jackfruit. These large ugly fruits is quite a sighting! by Julia Lloyd

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