5/30/19
A well before sunrise departure that encapsulated a gorgeous sunrise as we were driving and nice view of Mount Stanley, Africa's 3rd highest peak. We drove past nice hilly view of tea plantations and banana farms on the way to Kabale. In Kabale we switched to a minivan to take a windy dirt raod through the mountains to Rubuguli at the entrance of Bwindi Impenetrable Rainforest National Park. The mountains were steep, yet terraced. There were very nice view of the many hues of green. There were also views of the tall volcanoes on the Rwanda and Congo Border, part of the Virungu Mountains, which happen to feature in Michael Crighton's book (and movie) "Congo".
We arrived and checked into our nice ecolodge. Elisha and I have our own little hut. They welcomed us with juice and hot towels. We took a walk up above the village for awhile, and the locals seemed quite curious about us, like most of the tourists that come must not walk far from the lodge. We had a nice dinner by the fireplace that evening.
5/31/19
We drove to the briefing area of Bwindi Impenetrable Rainforest where we had an introduction and met our guide Flo and 2 security guides, carrying automatic rifles. We were also given the gorilla group that we would be tracking: The Nshongi group with 4 females, 4 babies, 1 juvenile, and 1 silverback male. We loaded back in the van and drove steeply up to another entrance.
We tracked for a bit on a trail, which elephants had recently used, until we came upon 3 trackers (local rangers who stay with the gorillas during the day). From there we bushwhacked steeply up on a ridge where we came upon the very adorable family. We were allowed to hang out with them for 1 hour and 5 minutes. They moved around a bit so we also moved with them through the dense thicket, the guards and trackers often leading with machetes to clear the way on the steep hillside. The babies were cute, rolling around together on the ground or trying to climb trees, often with the branches breaking and them falling. The adults were pretty chill, mainly sitting and eating. We got as close as 8ish feet from them, including the big silverback male. They have habituated to human presence for many years now. At one point, a golden duiker (small antelope) was walking in the stream far below. This somehow scared/interested the silverback. He kept watching it, making sounds, and he started leading the family down the mountain to the creek, until the duiker disappeared. The male aslo put out a pungent odor while this happened.
After our time was up, we hiked back to the van where we were given certificates of "graduation" haha. It poured rain while we were at our nice ecolodge enjoying post-lunch tea and popcorn. After the rain ended, Elisha and I went out looking for chameleons, and in the end 1/2 the village seemed to be looking because they new they'd probably get a $1 tip if they found one. We did find a cute, small green one, and it was fun to have it crawl all over us. We then visited the little artisan shop in the village where they were carving gorilla figurines and sticks (some of which we had bought). After that we walked through the Friday market. It was full of women in super colorful attire. The women in Uganda wear such bright and colorful clothes. They also tend to carry most things on their heads. In the afternoon we read outside our "honeymoon" cabana, and then after a nice dinner, we read by the fire.
During the last in-depth census in early 2000, the world population of mountain gorillas was 700. They are currently in the process of conducting the next census. They have finished Rwanda and the Congo, but not Uganda, but they believe the population is now about 1000. So a success story!
6/1/19
It was a beautiful drive back to Kabale. It was much more misty this time, which added to the aura of the rainforest. We drove to Lake Mburu National Park and camped at a cool ecocamp, but didn't really go much into the park. We took a walk on the ecocamp's property and adjoining property up to the top of a little hill. On the way, we walked amongst Zebras, elands, impala, and warthogs. We sat by the fire at night.
6/2/19
Today was a long drive to Jinja via Kampala. We stopped at the equator for photos. We also stopped at the outskirts of Kampala to pick up custom designed shirts for the trip. We stayed at the adrift campsite along the Nile River (near to Jinja) I took a walk around a bit to check out the Nile and one of the famous "falls": Kalagala Falls.
A well before sunrise departure that encapsulated a gorgeous sunrise as we were driving and nice view of Mount Stanley, Africa's 3rd highest peak. We drove past nice hilly view of tea plantations and banana farms on the way to Kabale. In Kabale we switched to a minivan to take a windy dirt raod through the mountains to Rubuguli at the entrance of Bwindi Impenetrable Rainforest National Park. The mountains were steep, yet terraced. There were very nice view of the many hues of green. There were also views of the tall volcanoes on the Rwanda and Congo Border, part of the Virungu Mountains, which happen to feature in Michael Crighton's book (and movie) "Congo".
We arrived and checked into our nice ecolodge. Elisha and I have our own little hut. They welcomed us with juice and hot towels. We took a walk up above the village for awhile, and the locals seemed quite curious about us, like most of the tourists that come must not walk far from the lodge. We had a nice dinner by the fireplace that evening.
5/31/19
We drove to the briefing area of Bwindi Impenetrable Rainforest where we had an introduction and met our guide Flo and 2 security guides, carrying automatic rifles. We were also given the gorilla group that we would be tracking: The Nshongi group with 4 females, 4 babies, 1 juvenile, and 1 silverback male. We loaded back in the van and drove steeply up to another entrance.
We tracked for a bit on a trail, which elephants had recently used, until we came upon 3 trackers (local rangers who stay with the gorillas during the day). From there we bushwhacked steeply up on a ridge where we came upon the very adorable family. We were allowed to hang out with them for 1 hour and 5 minutes. They moved around a bit so we also moved with them through the dense thicket, the guards and trackers often leading with machetes to clear the way on the steep hillside. The babies were cute, rolling around together on the ground or trying to climb trees, often with the branches breaking and them falling. The adults were pretty chill, mainly sitting and eating. We got as close as 8ish feet from them, including the big silverback male. They have habituated to human presence for many years now. At one point, a golden duiker (small antelope) was walking in the stream far below. This somehow scared/interested the silverback. He kept watching it, making sounds, and he started leading the family down the mountain to the creek, until the duiker disappeared. The male aslo put out a pungent odor while this happened.
After our time was up, we hiked back to the van where we were given certificates of "graduation" haha. It poured rain while we were at our nice ecolodge enjoying post-lunch tea and popcorn. After the rain ended, Elisha and I went out looking for chameleons, and in the end 1/2 the village seemed to be looking because they new they'd probably get a $1 tip if they found one. We did find a cute, small green one, and it was fun to have it crawl all over us. We then visited the little artisan shop in the village where they were carving gorilla figurines and sticks (some of which we had bought). After that we walked through the Friday market. It was full of women in super colorful attire. The women in Uganda wear such bright and colorful clothes. They also tend to carry most things on their heads. In the afternoon we read outside our "honeymoon" cabana, and then after a nice dinner, we read by the fire.
During the last in-depth census in early 2000, the world population of mountain gorillas was 700. They are currently in the process of conducting the next census. They have finished Rwanda and the Congo, but not Uganda, but they believe the population is now about 1000. So a success story!
6/1/19
It was a beautiful drive back to Kabale. It was much more misty this time, which added to the aura of the rainforest. We drove to Lake Mburu National Park and camped at a cool ecocamp, but didn't really go much into the park. We took a walk on the ecocamp's property and adjoining property up to the top of a little hill. On the way, we walked amongst Zebras, elands, impala, and warthogs. We sat by the fire at night.
6/2/19
Today was a long drive to Jinja via Kampala. We stopped at the equator for photos. We also stopped at the outskirts of Kampala to pick up custom designed shirts for the trip. We stayed at the adrift campsite along the Nile River (near to Jinja) I took a walk around a bit to check out the Nile and one of the famous "falls": Kalagala Falls.
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