Uganda and Rwanda

In a spur of the moment decision I booked a flight to Uganda. Leaving the Greenhouse behind, I took a shuttle to the airport and boarded a plane for Entebbe (Kampala), Uganda. The pilot made a slight detour in route so that we could all see Kilimanjaro from the sky.

The only impetus for this excursion was to experience the mountain gorillas. This was the only area in the world (the jungles near the Uganda/Rwanda/DRC border) that these beasts existed and I couldn't pass it up.

The thing about gorilla trekking is it all depends on luck. First, there is a limit to how many people can hike through the jungle each day in search of the gorillas. That number is usually 8 people per gorilla family and permits are issued in advance by reservation. Most people secure their permits a good six months in advance. Not me. I took my already small chance and made it minuscule by attempting to secure a permit within days. I had spent my entire last day in Arusha emailing gorilla trekking companies in Uganda to see if I could get a permit. Then, I flew all the way to Uganda for the sole purpose of gorilla trekking before I even heard back from any of them. I was playing my luck. There was no guarantee I would get a permit and even with a permit (which by the way costs $600 for one hour with the gorillas), there was no guarantee we would find them in the wild.

I arrived in Entebbe after a long layover in Nairobi, headed to the nearest backpackers hostel, paid for a bed for the night, and immediately checked my email. I had only one response regarding gorilla trekking, from Absolute Africa. We exchanged about 50 emails back and forth that night (writing with their office in the UK and in Arusha). They told me they would know by morning if they could get the gorilla permit. I went to bed anxious for a response.

In the morning around 10am I received an email saying that a permit was available, but I had to move quickly because the Ugandan National Parks office would not hold it for me. I'm a terrible decision maker and this one was difficult for me. I had very limited information about the company and the trip. I had not been able to speak to anyone in person and because I had waited 'til the last second was not afforded the time to do so. If I were to book I would need to do it immediately. The truck was to arrive in the afternoon and leave the following morning. From what I could tell, Absolute Africa was not my ideal situation by a long shot. They do a grand overland tour on a large truck from Nairobi to Cape Town. (I would only be on the truck for a week through the Uganda section.) With me, the truck would be at capacity with 28 total travellers. There was an itinerary with little opportunity for deviation or personalization. We would be camping (which I really loved), but we would be experiencing all that camping entails as well. ex. pitching and taking down tents, cooking meals for the group, washing dishes, cleaning the camp and the truck, cold showers and squat toilets (if the campground had facilities at all), etc. Essentially, the truck was merely a means of transport of persons and supplies from place to place. Little more. I'm not a high maintenance person, but for the price you would think there would have been more included. In the end, Absolute Africa had worked so hard to meet my needs in such a short period of time and I was going to get the permit I desperately desired. I would have to make a major sacrifice is time and money, but I sucked it up and booked the 8-day trip.

I spent midday and the early afternoon exploring Entebbe. I walked into town and down along the shores of Lake Victoria. It was a lovely town in my estimation.

In the evening the Absolute Africa truck arrived. I was greeted by Kenyans Joe (guide) and Patrick (driver). They gave me a rundown of what to expect and how things worked (as I described above). It was too late to back out now. I had dinner with the group that evening; 27 new names and faces to learn. There was quite a mixture of nationalities including Brits, Aussies, Kiwis, Dutch, Germans, Italians, and a few other Americans. I enjoyed my last night in a bed before setting off on my southern Ugandan journey.

Day 1 - We had an early morning start and a full day's drive from Entebbe, through severe traffic in Kampala to Kalinzu forest camp. Along the way we passed the Equator.

We drove through beautiful, lush green hills and tea plantations.

We arrived at a very basic camp in Kalinzu forest just before the sun went down.


After doing our daily chores, we were treated to a traditional African dance show by the local kids. Boy, can they move. And they have so much energy! Fell asleep to the sound of thunder and pouring rain.

Day 2 - I chose to wake up early for the optional chimpanzee trek. Though not included I couldn't pass it up.

We needn't walk for very long before finding them. We were lucky enough to see five chimps in total, but really only got a good view of two of them. They stayed high up in the trees so the limbs obstructed our view quite a bit. Still, it was very cool! We spent an hour with Sola, a female in heat. It was mating season and she was passing the time eating and relaxing while waiting for her mate Yoji to arrive. When he did, they swung off, out of view, to find a more private setting. Our time was up and we returned to camp.

We met up again with the rest of the group and with everyone back together, we drove to Queen Elizabeth National Park. There was more lush scenery in the hills and then down we went into the savannah. We passed elephants, antelope, warthogs, bush buck, and waterbuck on the way to a picnic lunch at the visitor center.

The views here were overlooking Lake Edward and the Kazinga channel (which connects Lake Edward and Lake George).

In my opinion, the highlight of Queen Elizabeth National Park was the Kazinga channel cruise. We boarded a small double-decker boat and set off to see hippos, crocodiles, and anything else we could see.

We weren't disappointed. There were hippos everywhere. They are enormous animals!

The crocodiles are sly, blending in with the water and the land.

The birdlife was incredible.

The end of the cruise brought us to a small fishing village right at the time they were going out for their evening catch.

Sadly, we said goodbye to the boat and hopped back on the bus. Just after leaving the cruise, we saw a large male lion walking through the bush. He disappeared quickly though, probably on his way to the lake for some water. We stayed the night at Hippo Camp just outside the national park. For a few campers who needed to go to the bathroom in the night, they opened their tent only to see some hippos grazing a few meters away. Completely frightened, they yelled for the guards who got them to go away. The adventurer in me wishes I would have seen them. I guess that's why they call it Hippo Camp.

Day 3 - The morning required another rise before sun up. We had a morning game drive in Queen Elizabeth National Park scheduled. Unfortunately, someone forgot to tell the animals to add it to their calendars so we didn't see much as far as wildlife. We saw parade of hippos making their way to the lake for the day. We also saw a few antelope, buffalo, baboons, and elephants. Mainly, it was a morning scenic drive.

We made a quick pit stop and on to the town of Kisoro. The drive was LONG on curvy, mountain roads. That combined with the fact that I have a seat that faces backwards meant that I had symptoms of motion sickness most of the way.

The views were nice and 30km before Kisoro we made a stop overlooking Lake Bunyoni. According to the literature, Lake Bunyoni is the most beautiful lake in Uganda. The clouds/mist didn't allow for the purest view, but it was still lovely.

Day 4 - Absolute Africa allows for three days in Kisoro to let everyone who wants to go gorilla tracking to do so. My trek was on the last day, so I had a free day in town. I chose to walk to Lake Matunda. It's just a leisurely hour walk from town. All the kids along the way waved and wanted to say hi. Then, when I acknowledged them they would follow me and beg for money, food, water, clothes, school supplies. It was disheartening that the parents/adults would watch this and not do anything about it.

The lake was beautiful. It's one of the only lakes that is safe to swim in. I hadn't planned on swimming but it was warm and sunny and the lake looked very refreshing. I walked out on the dock and dove in. I had a great swim! It was peaceful and serene. There was a makeshift lounge chair on the dock that I jumped off of, so I sunbathed for a while. What a treat!

I wanted to make it back into town before the weekly local market closed, so I took one last dip. I took a shortcut up and over the hills and air-dried on my way back to town.

I went for a walk through the market and saw the local goods. I bought some mandazi and chapati to snack on from the street vendor. After I had had enough, I walked back to camp and relaxed for the rest of the evening. The sound of thunderstorms once again put me to sleep.

Day 5 - I had yet another free day in Kisoro. Having done everything interesting the day before, I took the day to go through my photos and catch up on my blogging. You're welcome.

Day 6 - Today is the day I went gorilla trekking in Mgahinga National Park. At 9am, I met the rest of my tracking group and the guides and armed park ranger to go over some rules and etiquette before we began. The basics are what you would expect... stay with the guides at all times, no loud noises, no flash photography, no eating or drinking in the presence of the gorillas, don't feed the gorillas, don't try to touch the gorillas, no eye contact with the gorillas, maintain a distance of 7 meters from the gorillas but if a gorilla comes towards you just stay still or slowly move out of its way, etc. Following the briefing we were on our way.

Now, there is a group of rangers for each gorilla family known as "the trackers". These men have left the gorilla family late the previous evening and then set out early in the morning to relocate the gorillas. When they find them, they communicate with the guides regarding their new whereabouts. Hence, making it easier for guides and their clients to find the gorillas each day. That being said, I had heard from others that their trekking was long and difficult. Some had to walk for 3-4 hours through the muddy slopes of the jungle with the guide using a machete to cut the way through the dense forest. Well, that was not my experience at all.

We walked for only an hour and most of that was on previously trodden trails. We had very little elevation change and very little hacking our way through the jungle. The trackers did an outstanding job. Some would say I was lucky. I know I was, but I was also a little sad it was so easy. I would have liked to have spent more time in the beautiful national park. Anyway, when we were about one minute from the gorillas we met up with the trackers. We thanked them all, then prepped ourselves for the encounter.

Our first view of the Nyakagezi family group was of the alpha male silverback. First thoughts, "Holy crap, it's enormous!" The guides said it probably weighed over 600 pounds and sitting it was over 5 feet tall. The guides kept moving closer and ushering us in. We all kept our distance, but slowly moved towards him.

 Just as we were moving into good photo-taking position he started down the mountain. First walking and then running. We raced to keep up; the guides shouting for us to move faster, faster.

We ran down the hill as quickly as possible. We caught up for a brief moment. Here we saw him meet up with a mama gorilla and her baby on her back.

They walked together farther down the mountain and we followed. Every so often he would turn around, look at us, and screech saying, "stay back!"

Finally, we got to a place where the gorilla family was comfortable feeding on the trees. This is where we spent most of our allotted hour. Supposedly, the family was 10 in total. We were able to see 7 of those ten; 3 silverbacks, 1 female, 1 baby, and 2 juvenile males. Once settled, they didn't do much except eat.

Unfortunately, the female and her baby disappeared during this time. The adult males would eat everything in reach, then climb the tree to try to get more. This would conclude with the branch/tree crashing down in the forest due to the weight of the gorilla. It was very fun to watch.

 

The juvenile males played in the trees, swinging around like the apes that they are. They made strange noises and pounded their chests in a playful manner. Maybe even more entertaining was that the guides did the same in return. For 50 minutes we just hung out and enjoyed watching them.

I got more comfortable around them as time went on. They seemed rather docile. I walked around with ease and got as close to them as I was allowed. They weren't so scary (except that if they got a hold of me they could crush my skull in an instant with the strength in their massive hands). It was an incredible experience! When the guide said that time was up I couldn't believe it. Surely it hadn't been an hour. But it had and we had to leave them be. I said goodbye and we walked a short 20 minutes down to the farms at the base of the mountains.

Then another 10 minutes back to the national park office. Like I said before, it was almost too easy. And most definitely too short.

Day 7 - We left Kisoro, Uganda and drove the 9km to the Rwanda border.

We all waited in line at emigration and then again at immigration and then continued through the beautiful country of Rwanda. It was very green, seemed to have an abundance of water, and was very mountainous.

I was lucky enough to experience this drive in the cab of the truck. We picked up a new person in Kisoro and since I was the last to book I sat in the front. It was great for avoiding motion sickness, but a little more difficult to enjoy the scenery. Still, it was a very pleasant and appealing drive to Kigali, the capitol city of Rwanda.

We arrived in the early afternoon to the Genocide Memorial and Museum. We had four hours to spend here so first I rested and ate lunch in the gardens. After eating, I took the audio tour of the museum. I learned a great deal about the genocide in Rwanda that reached its peak in the 90's. I've never been much into history, but it's pretty sad that I had such little knowledge of this catastrophic event. I was unaware of many of the details for sure, but more shocking to me is that I was so unaware of the magnitude. Millions of innocent men, women, and children were murdered. And this all occurred during my lifetime! The museum did well to help you feel the information not just read it. There were many videos displayed as part of the exhibit; live video footage from the village streets and also video interviews and first hand accounts. Additionally, there is an entire section dedicated to the children who were killed, with photos of thousands of children displayed. The tour ended outside where there is a mass grave for some of the victims. Over 250,000 are buried here at the memorial in Kigali. A very powerful afternoon indeed.

Day 8 - In the morning I opened my tent to a gorgeous Rwandan sunrise. After a little over a week away, I returned to Tanzania today. Once again the drive through Rwanda to the border was scenic. The formalities at the border were a little strange and extremely time consuming, but we made it into Tanzania and on to the town of Nyakanazi.

It was late afternoon by the time we arrived to our hotel for the night. A quick unwind and change into more comfortable clothes and then about half of us went on a walk through town which ended at the local football (soccer) pitch. Lots of kid were already playing, but we brought our own ball and started a new game. It was a little difficult to organize seeing as none of us spoke Swahili and there were at least fifty kids that wanted to play with us. After some time (and breaking a few hearts), we began an intense game (15 mwafricans vs. 8 mzungus). Some of the older kids were definitely going all out. We played for only 20 minutes and then it was too dark to continue. With no one scoring (and us not even getting a shot on goal) we ended in a 0-0 tie. Better luck next time kids.

Day 9 - This was my last day on the Absolute Africa truck. The ending point for me was Mwanza, Tanzania. And what a place to end. We took the ferry across Lake Victoria (truck included) and then drove to our campsite.

We were told that we would be right on the lake, but we had no idea we were getting a beach and a sunset included. Such a beautiful setting!

I had my final dinner with the group and then said my goodbyes. While there were many advantages to traveling this way, I was ready to leave and use my last two weeks to explore on my own.

Click here to see more photos of Uganda.
Click here to see more photos of Rwanda.
Click here to see more photos of Lake Victoria and Mwanza, Tanzania.