Golden Monkey Guest House Kisoro

... Gorillas do not stick to pathways as I had innocently imagined. The lead guide had a gun and a machete and forged ahead wearing only gum boots&#8230; we trailed behind sweating profusely.. stumbling, tripping and falling as quietly as we could.. absolutely exhausted pondering on the 2 adjectives mentioned above.<br><br>When we finally got to the Gorillas the guide said.. you can get your cameras out now ...

... go into rooms with photos of children and how they were so horrifically killed, and another room with photo after photo after photo of those who were killed and videos of those who survived.<br><br>And you finish off in a series of rooms identifying cases of genocide elsewhere in the world and here is where the gurgle of wrath boiled over the top as my ignorance as to the repeated and truly cross global &#8220;let&#8217;s turn a blind eye and apologise with big words of regret ...

... sunsets above the clouds at the top of the mountain every night, literally feeling on top of the world. seeing the amber of the volcano in the distance.<br><br>4) Tracking gorillas on the border of Rwanda and the DRC with AK-47 armed Ugandan trackers that cleared our paths only with machetes. Brian got charged by a female that we think liked him for his ...

... on the trip and the reason most people were on this trip because of the Endangered Mountain Gorillas. There are only 700 left in the world according to our guide due to poaching, disease, and man claiming more and more of their land for personal use. B-fast was at the crack of 5:30 and we made it to the ranger station after about 30 minutes. We were driven by a guy who called himself "DJ Kevin." He was my age and was a singer. He played a few of his ...

... downhill. The going is slow and treacherous, and one of our members has an asthma attack. We forge on without him, and the porters create a litter out of fresh-hewn poles and a woven basket. Eight strong men carry him to catch up with us at the point where we meet the gorillas.<br><br>When we first arrive a large silverback and several others are up in a tree. They are completely habituated to the presence of humans for one hour per day, so they go on about their ...

... for orientation and lunch.<br><br> We spend some time after lunch wandering through the village near our lodge, then meet for an orientation by our guide about the gorilla tracking we do tomorrow. Nine of us have a two hour drive to see the family to which we have been assigned, so there is a very early wake-up. We have amazing internet service at this lodge, so I will try to get more photos posted tomorrow after we return. I hope gorillas will be among them!

... of the 1994 genocide in which over 1 million people lost their lives during 100 days. It is unbeliavable, going through this beautiful country, to imagine what happened here in the recent past. However, it seems that people have moved forward. I have not seen so many smiles and such warm welcome anywhere else in Africa so far! And because tourists are still novelty here, we are all meeted like Holiwood stars. Everywhere we go all people - men, women, children are ...

... inventive burritos, curries, masalas and all sorts else. Its all so freshly cooked and tastes great. They even have real cheese!!!<br><br>I spent what was left of Thursday crashed in the social area, eating tasty food and chatting with two Dutch boys staying at the camp. They were leaving on the Friday but we planned to meet in Kampala for a night out on Saturday to say goodbye to Uganda in style. <br><br>I spent today ...

... a call from reception letting us know that we had visitors.... And it was a lovely lady, Maryanne and the Ney's sponsor child Mutesi. We decided to drive them just down the road to where Mutesi lives with her Mother to visit with them. Mutesi was all dressed up to meet us, it was so cute....all clean and probably wearing her only nice set of clothes. Where she lives is very sad...I think it would easily be called a slum area in Kisoro. Her house is a ...

... family. We would be meeting up with trackers who would guide us to where our gorilla family was. Trackers and guides working with the gorillas often used to be poachers so it is a great opportunity for them to do something better with their lives. You can't go into the jungle if you are ill to help protect the gorillas, you also can't go in if you are under 15 years as kids have a higher risk of infecting the gorillas with childhood diseases. (Did I ...