Uganda & Mountain Gorillas

The staff at Tunza Beach in Mwanza was sad to see us leave. We were also sad to leave this beautiful place and friendly people, and it took a while to say our good-byes. We had driven the road down the coastline of Lake Victoria the previous day to find out more about the location and cost of the ferry. We hit the morning traffic as there is only one road into and out of Mwanza. Together with police road blocks and numerous people on motorbikes, bicycles as well as pedestrians, the going was slow.  At Usagara we turned towards the lake. Two ferries were working at the same time. As one ferry loaded its 'cargo', the other one is docking on the opposite side of the lake. We did not wait too long for our turn. Smaller cars were loaded first, then larger vehicles and trailers, and then buses and trucks, all squashed in like sardines in a tin. Passengers are asked to leave the vehicle before its parked, as the passenger door sometimes cannot be opened because the cars are so close together! After the vehicles, motorbikes and bicycles are driven aboard and passengers are let on by foot. " 'n Hele gedoente", as Rosalind would say. The ferry had an upper deck where passengers could  sit for the short 20 minute ride to Busisi. By the time we left the ferry at Busisi, we realized that Bukoba would be too far to reach in one day. We found accommodation (camping) at The Old German Fort in Biharamulo. Ros and Theo discovered a 'milk spill' in their trailer and started a big clean-up. Although black clouds were forming above, promising us a thunderstorm and downpour, we quickly set up camp and started a fire. While we were braaiing, we were visited by two owls: a mommy and her baby. It was wonderful to watch the interaction between them. The little one was crying for food, and the mother looked like she was trying to coach it into flying and becoming independent. The next morning we left early and had a beautiful drive on tarred road through the Biharamulo Game Reserve. The last mountain pass before Bukoba was under construction, and we had a steep climb over the pass. The road took us all the way up the western side of Lake Victoria. The camping accommodation, facilities and security  at Bukoba was totally unacceptable, as were many other so-called 'hotels'. We made a decision to go to the 'most expensive' hotel in Bukoba. It seems that hotels award themselves a star rating and hotel descriptions are thumb sucked and beautifully embellished. We had driven about 500 km (10 hours of driving!) and we were tired. The Victorious Perch Hotel ticked all the right boxes. Both accommodation and food was affordable. Jacob, the manager did his utmost to make us comfortable. Tilapia (freshly fished from Lake Victoria) was on the menu and everyone was happy. The next morning we left after breakfast and drove for a while on a tarred road. It looked like Tracks-for-Africa clients had never driven this road. We were aiming for the Tanzanian border at Kikagati. At one stage the maps just showed us that there was no road to said border post. We persevered and basically 'made our own tracks' towards the border. The last pass we crossed before the border was spectacular, despite being 'littered' with small villages. The going was slow, to say the least. At the Tanzanian border we were helped quickly and efficiently, but the gentleman on the Ugandan side was ill equipped to process the information and after 3 hours our nerves were frazzled. Eventually we entered Uganda. We still had about 150 km to drive, but the roads were horrendous. When we hit the tar road towards Kabale it was already dark. Steve and I decided to book into a hotel in Kabale as we had to refuel, draw money and buy food in town the next day. Ros and Theo pushed on in the dark to Lake Bunyonyi.  Lake Bunyonyi is definitely one of the most beautiful places we had visited on our trip. It was lush and green and the resort  was well laid out and maintained. It had a restaurant, bar, catered for boat trips and food was well priced. I mentioned earlier that we had now entered Uganda's rainy season. We ate most evenings in the restauran at Bunyonyi, as we were drenched in thunder storms almost every evening. We could also organize our Gorilla trekking into Bwindi Impenitrable Rain Forest from Bunyonyi's office.  Thursday morning at 05h00 the four of us drove with Theo's Cruiser to Bwindi for the start of out Trek. Conditions were misty with poor visibility, but we made good time and arrived at the starting point with an hour to spare. Bwindi is high up in the rainforests and incredibly beautiful. More 'Gorilla Trekkers' arrived. At our briefing we were advised to rent a porter. After being briefed we were divided into 3 groups. Each group would visit a different family of gorillas in different parts of the forest. Our group of 7 'Trekkers' were chosen to find the Oruzogo Group - a family of 17 members, with three silverbacks, many females and plenty babies! Our terrain was the steep rainforests of Bwindi. We drove higher up into the mountains and then had to walk up the rest of the way. At a certain point we had to start trekking down the steep hills of the rainforest. The ground was slippery, mushy and wet. After about an hour we were told that the trackers that went out at 07h00 that morning, had found the gorillas - they were very close.  Our first sightings of the Mountain Gorillas were astounding! They were so high up into the trees that they looked like small Chimpanzees. Slowly and graciously they climbed down the trees - they were magnificent! I did not expect them to be so close! They sat down as close as 3 m from us, foraging, eating, burping (and farting loudly!) There were 3 Silverbacks in the Oruzogo group, each with their own ranking. Each of them had a different personality. No 1 Silverback had this Enormous Personality, large, overpowering, and rather grumpy looking. I found myself mesmerized by him, and forgot that I was not suppose to look him straight in the eyes. He started leaning towards me with a fierce look and I had to humble myself before him if I did not want to be chastised by an attack. The no 3 Silverback (actually still a Blackback!) was a real performer! If we moved away from him, he would get up, pull down a tree and break it to show off his strength, then casually strip the leaves from the bark, eating and looking at us askance. One of the visitors became too enthusiastic and came too close to a mother and her baby. The next moment the mommy gorillas exploded into a ferocious 'attack', coming to a halt 1 m from the frightened lady. Everyone were holding their breaths and Steve held his ground (he was standing next to this lady!) (Some people had to change their underpants after this incident!)

Mountain Gorillas of Bwindi

  There are only 880 Mountain Gorillas left in the world. They are critically endangered and can be found in 2 small populations: in the Virunga Volcanos of Rwanda, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda, houses 400 of these gorillas. In Bwindi, gorillas move about 1 km per day, depending on the availability of food.  Gorillas are vegetarians. Their diet consists of leaves, stems and fruits. They climb as high as 20 m to get to fruit! They eat for several hours, then go to sleep. Gorillas are exposed to humans for only one hour per day.  Our one hour went past far too quickly! Being with gorillas are like swimming with dolphins - you are adrenalin charged and euphoric for hours afterwards. It was well worth the time and money visiting the Mountain Gorilas of Bwindi.