Gorilla's in the Mists (for real!)

  Kampala, Uganda
Friday, November 10, 2006

GPS Coordinates:
N 00°18'42.5"
E 032°34'45.9"

Temperature: 24.4°C
Humidity: 67.1 %
Pressure: 88.2 kPa
Altitude: 1144 m

I left Nairobi to go to Kampala, Uganda through Entebbe Airport (25km from Kampala). Before driving to Kampala, I stopped at the Uganda Wildlife Education Centre (UWEC) which is on the shores of Lake Victoria (Source of the Nile!). This place is a kind of zoo that promotes big natural habitats for the animals

Rhino's at UWEC

The Lion from Madagascar (i.e. the movie!)

(See pics). I then strolled around the Entebbe Botanical Gardens observing all kinds of beautiful trees, flowers / plants, and birds. Sightseeing included a few shy "colobus" monkeys (black & white with puffy tail). Me and my taxi transport then drove to Kampala to go see the Kasubi Royal Tombs (See pic). This visit was really short but very interesting explaining the history of the royal king's of Uganda and at the same time the history of the whole country. The four (4) king's are actually buried there with some of their possessions. UNESCO declared it a World Heritage Site in 2001. It was built by one of the loyal Ugandan tribe and still being taken care of by them. It is made of wood, straw, and fig bark which is a rich red-brick colored felt-like type material.

The next morning I left with my driver Robert on a private transport to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park in Kabale (10 hours). Somehow just the name of this NP sounds daunting and an omen of possible things to come, I hope not! The landscape is very green and lush tropical jungle in nature with many palm-like trees and banana trees (See pics). The villages that come an go are all similar, built along the main road to cater to the passing travellers. I think that the Ugandan people are very proud. The women generally dress very nicely with colorful fancy dresses and the men normally wear dress shirts (pure white!), slacks, and dress shoes even in the middle of a dirty village. However, they don't like to have their picture taken.

Along the way we stopped at the real equator line that passes through Uganda and at the same time dividing the southern and northern hemisphere. Uganda is one of the handful of countries around the world that can state that claim (or rather profit from it...!). I bought a tourist trap certificate explaining the feat and took pictures of the landmark and the painted line (equator line) crossing the street. They were also giving demonstrations where spinning water would turn clockwise / anti-clockwise depending in which hemisphere you were, and that only a few meters on each side of the equator. MMHH!!! Crossing that line also meant that my trip was coming to an end soon...

The next morning was "Gorilla's in the Mists" tracking for real. A group of 7 of us tourists left (with AK-47 toting military escort in tow... they take poaching of endangered species very seriously here!) in the early morning for a treck in the tropical mountains to go see the gorilla's of the Mubare group. There are only 8 individuals in this group. At the start I was a little dissappointed because that would mean that it would be more difficult to get the chance of seeing one in the open and taking good pictures especially that you cannot use a flash in the darker canopied jungle. There are 3 groups (others (Habinyaza and Rushegura) contain more individuals) available for viewing and obtained permits are only for a specific one at a time. Trackers are normally sent ahead to find the group and direct the viewing group to them. Unfortunately, this is not an exact science and sometimes the viewing group has to walk in "impenetrable" (I knew this would come in before long...!), steep, and wet jungle for awhile (many hours) before finding the gorilla's. Here's the catch... once there you only have one (1)!! hour with them because they don't want them to become accustomed to humans. This seems a steep price to pay for such a short visit but while in Rome...! It was quite the experience nonetheless. We came upon them after only 2 hours of tracking, lucky considering that other groups came back 7 hours later in the pouring rain! (See pics) We saw all of them at different times except one of the females. Most impressive was the big alpha male silverback called Ruhondeza! He was truly a gentle giant. At one point he was hiding in the vegetation and the guides carefully cleared the branches around him so we could get a better view. He then got pissed and changed spots. By that time it started raining heavily and even the gorilla's were taking cover. That's where Ruhondeza took cover on the other side of the small bush I was sitting across at about 10 feet from me! Not recommended... even the park rules state to stay at a distance of at least 21 feet, OH Well! Not the first time I risk life and limbs on this trip...!
We were back at the village at lunchtime and got an official gorilla tracking certificate; another one for the "Been There - Done That" wall...!

The next day we drove back to Kampala and apart from the mudslide blocking the road, the gas transport truck on fire and the mechanical problems with the fuel pump (meaning 3 hours longer to the already long 9 hour trip), everything was pretty uneventful...!

Next morning I walked around Kampala (see pics) waiting for my flights out of Uganda. I was catching flights in the afternoon to Kampala / Entebbe - Nairobi, Nairobi - Cairo, Cairo - Aswan!

Next Chapter: The Marvels of Egypt (last visited country!) starting in Aswan!

Martin