Creature of the Week

By Stephanie Fox -

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Donna, game driver and total badass

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In early May, my mom, sister and I went on a safari in Murchison National Park. My mom had booked the trip through a local safari company. When I got word that our safari guide Donna would be picking us up, my ears perked up. Donna. Perhaps a woman safari driver? Huh. That would be cool. Were we that lucky? Yes. Yes we were. It's rare to see women driving in Uganda, let alone driving a standard transmission vehicle, let alone driving tourists around, let alone while simultaneously spotting leopards and lions in a four-wheel drive safari van. Indeed, Donna Katesi is one of four female game drivers currently working in Uganda. People did stare a lot – construction workers literally stopped working and stared, mouths gaping, as we drove by.   Donna is a skilled game driver and total badass. She joked that she makes her way among her male colleagues by being a bully. Case in point – when she sent us off on a boat tour one day, I heard her tell the guide t...
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riding the learning curve

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This past month has mostly been a matter of steadily hauling myself up a learning curve. I’ve had a lot to learn – remembering how to recognize the individual chimps, how to get around the forest, how to tactfully avoid running into elephants, where to by my groceries, what cell phone company now has the best reception… you name it. I have also had a lot to set up in terms of my own data collection protocols. It’s coming along – slowly by slowly, as they say in Uganda. I’m happy to report I haven’t been chased by an elephant yet, have only had to be pulled (I mean that literally) out of the swamp once, and have only been caught in the forest during a few major storms – not too bad considering it's the rainy season. The weather is wonderfully cool now – think June in Muskoka or Canmore – nice and warm during the day but you can bundle up in sweaters and under blankets at night. It stays even cooler in the forest, so I’m happy wearing pants and long sleeves, even though I...
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and we're live

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I've spent the last few days setting up shop in Uganda. I unpacked my three pieces of luggage (each weighing in at a full 50 lbs), hired a cook, helped the cook sweep a nest of army ants out of my kitchen, harangued some cooking equipment and bought more groceries than my cook and I could carry. I had five people working on the house today fixing lightbulbs, sweeping off the roof, setting up the kitchen, and literally banging various things back into shape. Then I convinced someone to give me a table, a bookcase and some chairs, and pushed the few pieces of furniture around in circles until finding a satisfying arrangement. Hazah - feels like home. The humidity, the smell of the forest, the rain pounding on the tin roof, the incessant chirping from birds and bugs, the small plumes of smoke rising from village homes, hearing colobus roar in the morning and the rich color of the red dirt roads all bring back fond memories. 
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