Herp Quest

At the end of our Uganda trip, Steve and I hired a guide through Uganda Reptile Village. It cost us a pretty penny, disproportionately financed by Steve (thank you Steve) who was determined to see his dreams come to life no matter what the cost - literally! Steve was on full rage mode (8/10) and I had to convince him to keep it down to 3 days as we would become broke otherwise (we were also paying Emmy as driver and had lost Ramata as a third financier...). 

First we met our guide at the office in Entebbe to pay and get our equipment. The snakes we were out for: Forest Cobra, Jameson's Mamba, Green Mamba, Gaboon Viper, Green Bush Viper, Rhinoceros Viper...not easy to find. We hoped luck was on our side! 

Our weapon of choice (photo: Steve Pike)

Day 1: Mpanga Forest

Mpanga forest is a fragment tended by the lovely Prossy Nanyombi who helped me get my lifer Weyn's Weaver and showed us many Red-headed Malimbes (but couldn't quite get us on White-spotted Flufftail - we gave up!).

Finding any snake in here is a difficult task requiring the efforts of all

Mpanga is actually really close to the well-known Mabamba Swamp Shoebill site, but we had no time for Shoebills. Steve's last 3 days were 100% dedicated to snakes. For a day's effort, we found a grand total of 1 snake and for Steve and Wilson, it was a lifer and a good one: Rhinoceros Viper.

Searching every nook and cranny

What do we have here? (found by Wilson)

Rhinoceros Viper (Bitis nasicornis)

Into the third week of non-stop birding and herping

Relaxing after a day's hard work

Mfalme wa ugali

We said bye to our new friend Prossy and went to our second woodlot called Mityana Rainforest, tended by resident guide Kaloli Kusekwa. Again, a day of painstaking searching of the understory with headlamps yielded a single snake but this time, it was a lifer: Green Bush Viper found by Kaloli.

A strange assemblage

Green Bush Viper (Atheris hispida)

"Steve, your hand is kinda close there...
- I know what I'm doing!"

Day 3

Our third and final morning, we'd reserved supposedly the best forest for last: Zika Forest. Indeed, this is the forest where the famous Zika virus was described and first studied. They even have a huge research tower for monitoring the mosquitoes at different strata of the forest. 

Now, at this point in the expedition I was starting to question whether it was all worth it. With park entrance fees, guiding fee, local guide fee, camping fee on top of that and of course our driver split between Steve and I, it was averaging out to about $550 US per snake species, and only one was a lifer for me. Pessimistic thoughts were creeping in as I saw my trip budget shrink for little reward. 

My negative attitude evaporated when I heard Steve yelling like a maniac from across the forest. I sprinted about 200m to behold my wildest dream, a 4 foot long Gaboon Viper in full glory, discovered by our guide Michael Kiwanuka. This is a MASSIVE find! All hell broke loose with celebrations as this was likely, aside from Gorillas, the wildlife highlight of our entire trip. This snake has the longest fang of any snake and is notoriously difficult to find in the field. But we did it, thanks to Michael. It was all worth it and of course it is ideal when the climax comes at the end! 

Gaboon Vipers are very gentle and easy to handle, which surprises laypeople

My wildest dream, become a reality

Gaboon Viper (Bitis gabonica)

Jubilant Michael does a celebratory vine swing!

At last it was time to drive Steve to the airport and say goodbye. Emmy took me to a local food spot of his where we talked about life and ate ludicrously cheap food, then we parted ways in the morning. An opportunity to visit his son at boarding school and to give the Land Cruiser a much needed once-over at the shop were well in order. For me, I had other plans. 

As we ate our local stew, 650 km away, a certain Jackson Kariuki was boarding a night bus. The next stage of my adventure was about to begin...