Nkuringo Safari Lodge Kisoro

... brochure also says… Bwindi is 327 square km of tangled vegetation draped over a deeply fissured landscape of steep slippery valleys and high draughty ridges… I cannot think of a more apt description. Sadly, there are only 760 Mountain Gorillas left in the world, so this also does not make them easy to find.

Spike you would have been impressed, this is the hardest climbing I have ever ...

... a holiday home overlooking this lake and the green hills around it. We took countless photos, visited the eco friendly (photos will explain what I’m not going to detail) Virunga Lodge. The sky was blue, it was hot. Locals took up the role of photographers to get shots of Jimmy, Echalotte and I and I have to say that their ability to not cut off feet or head tops and actually capture us and our surroundings left me much impressed. And a couple of hours later were en route to ...

... visiting the school in Nkuringo area that had no electricity, 400 kids, 4 teachers (one for each 100), 25% orphans and a kid named Timos who was an orphan who has never missed a day and hikes 2 hours each way, every day, to his class. We made a donation to the school in his honor and the headmaster called the school together and pointed him out.

3 ...

... told you all this and also had a lot of videos of personal accounts of people who were almost killed or who had friends or family members killed. There was even one room that was just filled with glass cases of probably about 100 skulls and lots of piles of bones. A lot of skulls had pieces missing which meant they were hit over the head with something. In all, we learned a lot about what had happened in their country and that is the way the Rwandi ...

... hike to a small family group living quite close to the grave of Dian Fosse. We have organized a litter to carry one of us up the mountain due to severe asthma and the altitude (about 10,000 feet).

The walk today is delightful except for the pesky stinging nettles that somehow manage to zap us even through clothing. We are told by our gorilla tracking guide that we must suffer in silence if we get hit by anything ...

... la jungle. J ai vu 16 gorilles dont un tout petit bebe ainsi que les males au dos argente. Mais je trouve le prix exagere, meme si je sais qu il s agit un des derniers endroits au monde ou peut voir les gorilles de montagnes qui ne sont plus que quelques centaines. Ce qui m a beaucoup etonne c etait que les gorilles avaient tres peur de nous et au debut ils nous fuyaient.

... br>The noises they make are beyond anything you have ever experienced. Just imagine the rumbling dinosaur sounds from Jurassic Park amplified through a fabulous Dolby sound system, and you might begin to get the idea. The growls and grumblings are like no other thing you have ever heard! And then there is the smell. The silverback has a pungent body odor worse than any human who hasn't bathed in a month.

During the briefing we are told that one gorilla is very ...

... For the next 5 hours we hiked up to some tourist attraction, so called 'Pigmey Village' , then back to the park headquarters. I chatted with the boys all the time. They told me about their life and challenges. Some of them had lost their parents during the genocide. Some of them did have parents, but didn't have money to pay for their school and books. Some had to walk for hours to go to school. They were all members of the football team, and they had a problem ...

... Once we arrived in Bwindi we went on a walk around the village and were invited to watch orphanages dance at their local school. This was a uplifting experience as they put so much energy into al of their dances. After this we headed back to the place we were staying and has some dinner. Kristelle was lucky enough to get a worm as an added extra in her meal, and surprisingly continued to eat it afterwards. We had a relatively early night as there wasn't ...

... refugees. Once we arrived in Kisoro we headed to our accommodation for the night (The Kisoro tourist hotel). Too bad the hot water wasn't working when we got there as I imagine we didn't smell great! HM called around to see if we would be able to meet the Ney's sponsor child that day instead of the next morning so we could get an early start back to Kampala (an 11 hour drive). We didn't get any real answers, but then not too long after we ...