The Southern Block

Sunday, 22th August, Semliki Time: 3:59pm

The problem with the jungle is that it just doesn’t give that much to blog about. Okay, so its all very exciting and exotic and full of ants and snakes and elephants, but I if I did a daily journal entry about ants snakes and elephants, I’m sure you’d all stop reading at the first paragraph. Most of you probably do anyway, but that's not the point. Chimp watching, while good for the soul and very exciting, also leaves a little to be desired in the way of anecdotes. Yesterday a chimp ran very close and jumped over a stream right in front of my eyes, which was thrilling at the time, but the story stops there. Again, today we met two snakes and heard an elephant, which is a good story as far as it goes but, as we did not run into the elephant or get bitten by either of the snakes, has a rather disappointing payoff.

Camp life is a trifle more filled with human interest. Jeremiah, one of the staff, recently had an attack of malaria, Moses and Justuce, the two trail-makers, often play exciting games of ‘African Draughts’ (a game very similar to draughts in which the Kings act like Queens in chess) and Edson has some interesting stories to tell about his dreams of having his own restaurant. Still, again, they all tend to rub along nicely and leave something to be desired in the way of drama. I asked this before but I’ve forgotten the answers, is there any particular aspect of life in Africa upon which you’d like to be enlightened? I must confess that, with a whole three-and-a-bit weeks to go, I’m starting to run low on raw material.