Ep. 29 Raging buffalo - run or roll over? With Silver, the poacher turned ranger

The air resonates with the sound of tree frogs as I chat with a Ugandan legend. In this special, longer episode, we celebrate the life of the late Mzee Silver Kyamukama - and the life-saving survival tricks of our beloved poacher turned ranger! In Episode 29 of the award-winning East Africa Travel Podcast, Mzee traces his extraordinary transformation from being a prolific poacher to a lead ranger with the Uganda Wildlife Authority and the Jane Goodall Institute, from hunting with nets and dogs to tracking chimpanzees and mastering the study of butterflies. Join us outside the Forest House at Sunbird Hill on the boundary of Kibale National Park, as Mzee recalls:  The honour of hunting for the King of Toro. The heart-wrenching story of the baby baboon that followed him home one day (and how this moment completely changed his life). How saving a single tree from being chopped down sparked an entire 43-acre rewilding project.  The gruelling daily 12-hour routine for habituating chimpanzees - the background story on which the success of chimp tracking tourism depends. Do you run? Or do you play dead? How to outsmart an angry buffalo. Join me, Charlotte Beauvoisin, author of Diary of a Muzungu, as we discuss tricks for finding your way out of a dense forest if you get lost - and how you can learn the forest's secrets with the young team that Mzee shared his knowledge with.   Welcome to my world! Tune in to the award-winning East Africa Travel Podcast for the dawn chorus of a tropical rainforest, gorilla tracking adventures and the sound of waves lapping on an Indian Ocean beach. Join me on my morning nature walks (mind we don't slip in an elephant pothole!) and listen in to illuminating chats with conservationists and intrepid travellers in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda. Sign up to my occasional newsletter. Visit www.eastafricatravelpodcast.com for detailed transcripts. Follow Charlotte Beauvoisin, Diary of a Muzungu on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn.