Day 16

Moved camp today. We are in search for the Zanzibar galago and it does not seem to live in this forest. Packed up all stuff and the porters arrived around 9:30am. Not so much hassle with their payments today since Abeid already had taken care of a set fee whilst in the village earlier that morning. We plan to go to a nearby forest in the Kambai Forest Reserve where Andy went 20 years back and recorded the presence of the Zanzibar galago.

Me and Said (on the roof of the car) packing the car at
Musi village.

Stopping at the village, Kwambili, nearest to the forest to meet their village council to alert them of our presence, Andy bumps into a guy that helped when he was here, 20 years ago! His name is Salim and he recognizes Andy immediately. Andy had helped him treat his elephantiasis and, according to Andy, has recovered very well. Salim accompany us and we set off for the forest.

From left: Patrick, friend of Patrick, Andy and Salim. the name
of the kids I don't know at our new camp in Kambai
 Forest Reserve (Photo by Simon Bearder).

Raining all afternoon and it keeps on doing that for the better part of the evening. Not good for galago research (they don’t call and don’t move much) and makes everything wet or damp (obviously). In the middle of the forest road we run into another of Andy’s friends – Patrick. Patrick runs a farm just nearby and he and his friends helps us locate a good camping spot. We find one near the road, near the creek and without ground cover. Perfect! It is also quite impressive to see how swift and efficient Patrick uses his panga (machete) to clear a path from the road to the camp.

I have accomplished the magnificent feet of folding my tent so that the wet and damp from Mtai FR have been introduced to the inside of the tent. Have to dry it out, the best I can, with toilet paper.  Well, a new temporary home is up and a fire is going. A great morale boost! We start the evening surveys and hear, almost immediately, an alarm call from a small galago! Is it a Zanzibar galago? We need more to go on before we can make that call (…) but it’s a great sign that a small galago species us here! The evening survey is otherwise very calm and quiet. We see a couple of Garnett’s galago but nothing more. Return for supper and then it’s bedtime.