LESSONS FROM MONKEYS; AND HOW MABIRA FOREST IS A MARVEL: POETRY AT MABIRA FOREST

LESSONS FROM MONKEYS; AND HOW MABIRA FOREST IS A MARVEL: POETRY AT MABIRA FOREST.

Written by Beverley Nambozo Nsengiyunva

A half-bitten mango, still wet, from the saliva of a monkey, lies on the ground. A half-eaten fig, with particles of dust and stones sticking to it, lies on the ground. Interdependence. Kindness. Lessons from monkeys. In 2017, The Babishai Niwe Poetry Foundation organized its second poetry-nature trip. This particular adventure, titled, ‘Poetry at Mabira Forest,’ opened an entirely new understanding of how social economies are built. The forest walk guide, Hussein emptied himself heaps of knowledge about medicinal trees, Musamya River, and the marvel of the 306 sq km, covered by Uganda’s largest tropical rain forest.

Safari ants, Hussein duly warned, were a constant menace, and he advised extra caution. There were about twenty poets, academics, journalists and well-wishers in total, who set off on Friday 4 August, from Kampala City, for the launch of the #Babishai2017 Poetry Festival at Mabira Forest. Situated in Najjembe in Buikwe District, Eastern Uganda, between Lugazi and Jinja, the forest boasts of 312 types of trees, and 315 bird species. Covered by such a green density, the forest, for some parts, blocked out the sky and was replaced by an eerie yet welcoming canopy of leaves. There are tropical trees standing at heights of 197 feet, with buttress roots, and one remarkably powerful tree was the Prunus Africana, known to have the medicinal ability to heal prostate cancer and malaria. How empowering to know of the healing nature of trees, and to be honoured with such vastness of miracles. Why then would we intentionally destroy it? Are we oblivious to nature’s healing influence? Mabira Forest’s unmistakable clout continues towards the Musamya River.

Musamya River flows earnestly in the Western and Northern part of the forest, joining Sezibwa Falls, and eventually flowing into the River Nile. Musamya Falls, also named Griffin Falls, is a major site, which unfortunately has been partly ruined by the continued burning of sugarcane and dumping of waste, in the surrounding areas. Apart from promoting poetry, and performing witty and unconventional verse, across Uganda’s breathtaking landscapes, the Babishai poetry-nature series is intent on promoting environmental conservation. This trip identified several areas that were disconcerting, and that hopefully would alert all Ugandans and stakeholders as gatekeepers and stewards of the environment that we have been lavished with. The environment includes both the flora and the fauna. These include the often misunderstood nature of the monkeys.

A half-bitten mango, still wet, from the saliva of a monkey, lies on the ground. A half-eaten fig, with particles of dust and stones sticking to it, lies on the ground. Interdependence. Kindness. Lessons from monkeys. These primates leave the forest bed littered with half eaten fruit; for the sole purpose of ensuring that there is food for other animals that mostly crawl or scamper on the ground. Amongst these that benefit from the fruit, are millipedes, snails, squirrels and porcupines.

Having first taken a tour of Mabira Forest myself, in 2005, during the heavy protests over the deforestation of large parts, for sugarcane planting, I was enamoured then just as I was enamoured eleven years later.

As a risk-taker, with a fascination for heights, Hussein who also managed my zip lining expedition, explained about the thrill of the one-hour adrenaline-pumping ride. Cruising over, while hanging on for dear life, is as daunting as it is exhilarating. There are six zip lining ‘flight’, in total, the last covering 87 metres across River Musamya, leading to the final descent. Some more avant-garde couples, decide to ride together, leaving onlookers in awe.

The Babishai 2017 Mabira Forest nature trip, was, all in all, a once-in-a-lifetime delight, with the promise of subsequent poetry excursions across Uganda.

 

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Email: babishainiwe@babishainiwe.com

LESSONS FROM BUTTERFLIES: BABISHAI’S ICONIC MOMENTS

BABISHAI AND BUTTERFLIES: ICONIC MOMENTS

They are diurnal; active during the day, like most humans have been trained to be. With large activity during the day time, they act as agents of pollination, laying a copious number of eggs, for their own life insurance. Their eggs are often eaten by all types of predators, from spiders, ants and a few birds, therefore reducing the risk of predation, by increasing the number of eggs that they lay. While butterflies come in about fifteen thousand types of species and vary in their lifestyle, after exploring for a while, not as an entomologist, but as someone who’s fascinated by their curious nature, I unearthed (pun intended), a few images of butterflies, taken in 2014.

The Babishai Niwe Poetry Foundation, which promotes African poetry coordinated an East Africa poetry exchange programme, with a Kenyan poet, Michael Onsando, who visited Kampala for a few days. During his visit, he led discussions on the politics and aesthetics of poetry, during an evening hosted by Femrite, where the discussion varied from the potency of East African poets, to the validation sought by African literary gatekeepers, to sustainable livelihoods in poetry. It was a vibrant evening, laced with intellectual and creative discourse.

Babishai and the butterflies. Getting to that. A friend of Babishai’s and a personal friend of mine too, Tom Forrest, a retired British Diplomat, who has lived in Uganda for decades of years, with a house on Buziga Hill, overlooking one of the most breathtaking views in Uganda, invited us to a brunch. Together with Jackee Batanda, a writer and entrepreneur, and Sophie Alal, writer and winner of the 2010 BN Poetry Award, we had a remarkable time. Tom is a nature enthusiast, whose garden boasts of such a wide variety of plants and flowers, that we were immersed in it for a while. My mother, who runs a successful landscaping business, introduced me to the magnanimity of plants and flowers, and I’m always enamoured by the experience. It was here while we chatted and walked in the garden, which a few butterflies kept flitting around us.

Like any human with fairly good eyesight, we were drawn to their essence. With Jackee’s camera, thanks to her photography skills, we were able to capture some iconic moments of this butterfly. One black and yellow species was by the window sill, stately and striking. How do you capture such beauty in just a photograph? How do you sip enough of it, to quench your insatiable need for nature’s grandeur! It’s impossible. We tried, though.

It was later that I discovered butterflies never fly in straight lines, to confuse their predators. They do not want to leave obvious flight paths, as that would make them easy prey. On reading Robert Greene’s ’48 Laws of Power,’ he too recommends that we should leave a little mystery to our habits and schedules. A change in routine, puts people off-guard and you not only brighten your vibe, but also heighten your security.

I’ve seen photos and videos of heavy set adults chasing butterflies down across miles, with butterfly nets. Their indirect flight confuses the butterfly catchers, and it’s quite a sight to watch.

Lessons from butterflies: We must lay a large number of eggs; because that raises the assurance of survival. Live in such a way that even with half of your ideas, plans, or activities failed, there is assurance that your legacy will remain intact. Not because you had a million ideas, but because the predators could not reach them, or destroy them.

Lessons from butterflies: Be unpredictable. Don’t live such a monotonous and regular life, which leaves no surprises. If you’re a dancer, change the music. If you write, change the characters, and if you’re a parent, change your style.

There are hundreds of iconic moments with Babishai, which were captured in photos. I’ll be sharing more. The various lifestyles of butterflies was information gathered from discussions with friends who love to travel around Uganda, and an article in The Eye Magazine.

Thanks for reading. Please leave a comment, if you’d like. Next week, we’ll discuss Lessons from Mabira Forest.

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Babishai edits poetry, and if you have a collection of fifty poems or more that you would like us to look at, email babishainiwe@babishainiwe.com, or call +256 751 703226.