13th – Gorillas

Breakfast and packing lunch was planned for 0415 and despite the early start we all departed in three separate minibuses as planned at 0530. The drive of two hours to the reserve was quiet; people realized it was easy to fall asleep at this time of day despite the condition of the roads.

The view during a short break in the drive going to see the gorillas.

We arrived on time and around 0800 we were briefed on today’s activities. The 22 of us were split into three groups going to separate gorilla families. Our group returned to our minibus and drove another 30-40 minutes followed by another 10-ish minutes by pickup that brought us up a steep part of the road. From there we started the actual walk trying to locate our gorillas.

They have started making sure they know where the families are before taking the tourists out (as opposed to when I did it back in 2010 where it seemed as if we left and were updated on the location on the way) which potentially would make the walks easier. We followed established paths for maybe an hour before we switched to off track. Luckily we were (partially) in the open regularly so despite the temperature and humidity we got a comfortable breeze now and then which helped cool us down. After app. 2 hours of walking we were presented to our first gorilla, this one sitting in a tree eating.

Gorilla in tree.

A few minutes’ walk later we were in the middle of the rest of the 18-individual family. The vegetation was denser than last but the location of the gorillas and the fact that we kept moving around a lot meant more (potential) good shots and more flexibility with viewing points. Also, the silverback seemed to be posing for us in clear sight which just made things better.

The family had all age groups from very young to the old silverback.

The alpha male relaxing keeping an eye on some young ones playing around in the bush.

The alpha male.

Towards the end of our hour with the family another member of the group was standing with a tracker maybe 5-7 meters from the alpha silverback, me a few meters behind, when the silverback went from relaxing to standing up, slamming his fists into the ground with a massive whomp which could be easily felt through the ground before calmly walking off into the bush. Obviously just to let us know that we were only there because he allowed it. As it was so sudden and over so quickly I didn’t get a chance to photograph an otherwise fantastically photogenic situation.

The alpha keeping an eye with the youngest being carried by.

The view from the return walk.

On the way back we stopped by and were picked up at a souvenir and café place. While sitting and relaxing a dancing group showed us a few dances and sang a few songs. The main entertainment, though, turned out to be a 2-3-year-old girl with such frown on her face she was from then on referred to as the Devil Reincarnated.

The dance troupe.

The very memorable girl. This was her looking increasingly friendly.

The drive back to camp was 3-ish hours and on arrival at 1830 we realized we were the last group to return. Apparently we had had the longest walk but to be honest though I didn’t mind at all. It wasn’t bad and the forest was beautiful to walk in.

Dinner at 1930 and a quick visit to the bar later it was time to prepare for visiting Rwanda tomorrow.

Visiting the furry people

Searching for a job is depressing. Searching for a job for much longer time than expected is depressing, mind-numbing and taxing in every single way you can imagine. And I am fully aware I have not been unemployed nearly as long as many other people. Anyways, at some point you need some kind of distraction from all this and from the fact that the next planned trip isn’t until August. It’s hard to find anything that is able to distract you from the daily suckery but that is what trips are for!

I hereby present to you this year’s “I need to get away and be able to think about something else for a while”-trip.

9^th – 10^th of April

Fly out from Copenhagen, layover in Doha and continue to Kampala. The original plan was to fly with Emirates – they have the A380 going CPH-DXB with economy also on the top floor – but considering price, length of layovers, and the quite large difference in reviews on Skytrax I ended up going with Qatar instead.

11^th of April

A long day’s drive west to Kalinzu Forest Reserve. The tour is an overland camping tour so things will be similar to when I did my Southern Africa trip where we have a large bus/truck containing everything we need and the nights are spent in tents.

12^th of April

We will be getting up early in the morning to do a chimpanzee trek followed by a tea plantation visit afterwards. To be honest if the chimpanzee trek drags out I won’t be the one to complain if we are forced to skip the plantation. End the day by driving to Lake Bunyonyi.

13^th of April

Gorilla trek. Not much else to say, is there? Whatever time not spent on the trek is spent relaxing. Looking back to when I was there in 2010 that’s probably a good thing; the humidity and conditions you walk in doesn’t really encourage much running around after returning from the trek.

14^th of April

Free day to do (almost) whatever we want. Among the list of choices is also the chance to do a day trip to Rwanda. That sounds quite tempting, to be honest.

15^th – 16^th of April

Drive back to Kampala, spend a night there and continue east towards Jinja.

17^th of April

Spend the day in Jinja for relaxing and activities.

18^th – 19^th of April

Return to Kampala midday before getting on a flight home in the late afternoon.

28th - Gorilla photos

All photos are in random order.

28th - Only gorillas, no guerillas

The gorilla trek lasted three days; one day to get there from Kampala, one day to do the actual trek, and one day to get back. The drives back and forth lasted around 9-10 hours. Passing through a lot of nature and small towns and settlements, the drive was quite uneventful. We did stop a place where we had fresh pineapples. Fresh as in “harvested a couple of hours ago”. That experience has forever ruined any pineapple for me in the future. Very fresh, sweet and juicy as I have never had one before.

The hotel we stayed at had a 1st assistant manager by the name Friday Fred who serviced us (who looked a little like a small young version of Don Cheadle). I’m not kidding – we even asked him, and that is his real name. He was apparently born on Good Friday, hence the name.

The trek day started early, as we were supposed to show up at a briefing at the gates to Bwindi Inprenetable Forest National Park at 0800, and it required almost two hours of rough driving. After a short briefing we were away, and walking for less than an hour later our guide was contacted by the two trackers who had left earlier that they had made contact with the gorillas, and that they were just waiting for us to show up. An hour later walking though some rough terrain we finally arrived. We met a family of 19 individuals; 3 silverbacks, 1 blackback and otherwise covering all ages. It was a beautiful sight, but unfortunately we only had one hour with them before we had to leave. We were lucky that they were out in the open so they were easier to see, but the foliage was still so tall that the largest silverback could take a few steps and completely disappear from view.

Getting back to the gate was actually surprisingly tough; going upwards wasn’t much different from climbing Kili, but now it was hot and humid. And you had to wear long pants so that you wouldn’t get bitten by ants. But we got back and got our diplomas (!), got back to the hotel and had a much needed bath.

Travelling back to Kampala was just as uneventful, but that changed when we reached the city. It had been raining heavily for some time, and as the city doesn’t have much of a drainage system, water was literally flowing everywhere. We were completely stuck in one place almost half an hour due to the traffic getting jammed, and it took us 1½ hours to travel the same distance which took a couple of minutes going out. Fun.