14th – Rwanda

For those of us wanting to go to Rwanda (17 out of the total of 22) we were to get ready for breakfast at 0530 and leave soon after which in this case, due to a minor delay, resulted in a departure of 0620.

The theme of the day might have been depressing but Rwanda is stunningly beautiful. 

We went south, crossed the border to Rwanda without any issues and continued onward to Kigali and started the tour at Nyamata Church, a church that during the genocide in 1994 had seen the killing of up to 10000, with 5 times that number been buried here, mostly in mass graves. The remains are still being recovered and set aside and cleaned before given proper burials. That meant when touring through the church we were faced with piles of skulls, bones and clothes, none of it cleaned. The light mood from yesterday’s gorillas was pretty much instantly killed and set the mood for next few hours.

An hour at the church later we continued to the Genocide Memorial Museum which had a thorough walk through of the genocide and what happened, both domestically but also the international reaction on the lead up to and after. If was very informative but also soul crushing, especially when reading survivors’ statements. Overall, though, the museum as a whole was very good and highly recommended if you’d ever find yourself in the area.

From there we had a late lunch at the hotel known from the movie Hotel Rwanda. When arriving in our daily tour clothes it made me feel horrible underdressed considering the standard of the place, but that was quickly forgotten due to the delicious buffet. The plate dispenser did give us a bit of entertainment; the spring under one of the piles of app. 10 plates backfired so suddenly the plates flew out and high enough to hit the ceiling before coming crashing down. Luckily no one were near enough to get hit but the noise was absolutely fantastic.

The memorial outside the hotel.

From there we went back north back into Uganda and our camp. As the museum visit seemed to have taken a bit longer than planned we weren’t back until around 2100.

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.

12th – Chimping

We started with breakfast at 0600 before we got picked up by 3 guides who took us out for the day’s chimp walk. As the camp was located where it was we just stepped out of the camp into the surrounding forest and started looking for animals.

We didn’t have to walk far before we spotted some red-tailed monkeys, and while we couldn’t see them we could easily hear the chimpanzees. It didn’t take long and much walking, though, before the first was located, high up in the trees, eating. And not long after that we saw two more, grooming each other, not far from there.

Red-tailed monkey.

Chimpanzee.

The alpha male being groomed.

Having been enjoying the view we continued and around 1030 we exited the forest and entered a tea plantation. We didn’t get to see the actual buildings and processing plants but the guides explained the process and brought us through the fields while returning to camp. We were lucky enough to also see a few baboons roaming the area.

Having had lunch at camp, packed and taken down the tents we departed at 1230. We had a 5-ish hour drive to our next camp at lake Bunyonyi. The drive was without issues and the landscape we went though was beautifully green, hilly and with plenty of small villages spread throughout.

Tomorrow is an early start at 0530 when going to the reserve to (hopefully) see gorillas. Looking forward to it!

Our camp site at lake Bunyonyi.

11th – Go west!

Before breakfast at 0600 the tents were more or less taken down and bags were packed. After eating and packing the truck we left around 0730 to go west for the Kalinzu Forest Reserve. The drive was 10-ish hours including a few breaks here and there. Today’s schedule was just to get us to the new camp site with no plan during the way so we tried wasting as little time as possible during our breaks.

Crossing the equator.

We are 22 in the group and with 24 seats in the truck there is little spare room. It works as intended, though, and it has AC and WiFi (which was not expected at all). All in all more modern than the one we used on the Southern Africa tour in 2013. This one doesn’t have a built-in kitchen, though, which is a bit of a surprise, but as long as all campsites have some kind of cooking equipment that won’t really be an issue.

The camp is basically located in the middle of the national park which means that we might be able to hear the chimps during the night. Also, when doing the walk tomorrow it means the guides and trackers will arrive and we just start the walk directly from the camp – makes things easier than having to drive somewhere first.

9th – 10th of April – Departure

There was nothing special or remarkable about the trip south; everything went as planned – departure from Copenhagen at 2230, layover in Doha for 2½ hours and arrival in Kampala around 1330.

On the second flight a girl was sitting a few seats away (she was A, I was C) I couldn’t help think it would be quite a coincidence if she was also part of the tour – she looked like one that would fit with the general person I have gotten used to meeting on the tours I have been doing throughout the years. But arriving I was the only one that was brought out to the car. Leaving the airport, though, my driver told me that 4-5 people were on the flight for the tour.

It felt a bit weird they wouldn’t take multiple people in the car (it wouldn’t be impossible to fit 2 + luggage) but that was up to them. 40km and 2 hours later we arrived at the hotel. As the truck and therefore tents hadn’t arrived yet I camped out in the reception.

Less than 15 minutes later the girl from the plane arrived also having had a private pickup – in her case she got a full minibus all by herself. And yes – she was also part of the tour. We sat talking for an hour or so until the truck arrived and she mentioned in passing that she also had had the feeling that I might have been part of the tour when seeing me on the flight.

The truck arrived, we found tents and tent mates and we were soon settled and relaxed. Dinner was had, and we introduced ourselves to each other. This trip is just a small part of a greater tour that for some in the group started in Cape Town which meant that they have been on the road for almost 40 days. The rest of the evening was spent on talking, trying to remember names and getting (mentally) ready for the breakfast at 0600 tomorrow.

Sunset the first night in Uganda.

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.

Back into the skies!

The last few trips I have been on have had a severe lack of summits. The last few trips have been focused on wildlife/nature and treks but the last two climbs were back in 2015 when I did Aconcagua and Mont Blanc (and failed both) so I haven’t had a successful climb since 2014 when I went to India to climb Stok Kangri.

So something has to be done.

So… something is being done. The company I usually go on climbs with has a new trip on offer in a location you would not normally consider a vacation destination. The summit is Damavand, the tallest volcano in Asia, located just outside Tehran in Iran.

3^rd – 4^th of August

Flying out from Copenhagen and arriving in Tehran just after midnight. Getting checked in at the hotel and have the first day off with a chance to see Tehran.

5^th of August

Tehran is close to the mountains – including Damavand – which means that it’s used as base for all climbs in the area. We’ll drive north to Darband and follow it with a 4 hour walk up to the villages Pas Ghale and Shirpala. Here we will spend the night at 2800m.

6^th of August

Today we will attempt reaching the summit of Tochal, a 3965m tall peak which will give us a view of Tehran and Damavand with snow all year round. From there we will return down to Shirpala and continue to Tochal Telecabin which we will take to the bottom form where we’ll drive to the Polur Federation refuge at the base of Damavand.

7^th of August

We will start off driving and continue by foot for 4-5 hours up to Bagarh at 4180m. Depending on availability we will either be in a hut or tents. This is the tallest camp on the mountain.

8^th of August

Today we will simply acclimatize up to app. 5000m to where there is a frozen waterfall. We will return to Bagarh for the night.

9^th of August

Summit day starts like all summit days; before the sun rises. It’s a technically easy summit but the mountain is massive and it’s easy to get lost in bad weather. There are some relatively steep passages on the way up until you reach the ridgeline at around 5400m from where it eases up and becomes an almost endless ascent to the summit at 5671m. Estimated 6-8 hours up and half that returning to Bagarh.

10^th – 11^th of August

Return down to Polur where we’ll drive back to Tehran, spend the night at the hotel and fly home the following day.

It’ll feel good to get back onto a mountain. I hope I’ll be able to do so more in the future but in the end it all comes down to prioritization.