We find our selves back in Nairobi preparing for another pre departure meeting which will begin to take us down south but lets start from where I left…which I believe was Jinja…
Having gotten over my Caterpillar incident and spent a lovely 3 days relaxing next to the Nile in Jinja it was time to move onwards to Kampala Uganda’s Capital. We had a few hours exploring parts of the city then headed to our camp for the evening where we picked up 2 brand new passengers who joined us for the Gorilla Trek! It was a relaxing evening as the next morning was an early one in preparation for the long drive to Lake Bunyonyi. Although it’s only around 420km’s in total the roads are particularly bad. Around 60 km’s out of Kampala we crossed back into the Southern Hemisphere however due to the early start everyone was still snoozing in the truck so we decided to stop on the way back to Kampala in a few days time instead of facing the wrath of tired punters!
We arrived in Kabale (the small town just outside Lake Bunyonyi) and the heavens opened…this had the potential to cause us some problems….LakeBunyonyi overland camp is quite a trek up and down muddy narrow mountain passes and the rain was heavy enough to make this impossible, so everyone agreed to forgo their shop stop at “The Royal Supermarket” (no less) and to get up and down the mountain pass before the rain could have too much of a impact…..and with TJ’s skillful driving we managed it!!
As the guys weren’t trekking until Sunday 31st and it was only Friday we had a few days to chill out, relax, and partake in many of the activities on offer, such as canoeing, visiting local tribes and bird watching (Bunyonyi after all means place of many little birds). Surrounded by nothing but jungle and one of Africa’s deepens lakes (it reaches a depth of 900m) everyone spent the 3 days here gearing up for one of Uganda’s most special highlights. The Gorillas!
Sunday 31st was soon upon us….we were all awake at 4 am as they were being picked up at 5 am…..All the tables were covered in food to be packed for breakfast and lunch as who knew what time they wouid all be back, if you’ve trekked before, I guess you know too well that you could be walking/climbing/crawling or even wading through streams, rivers and swamps for anything between 1 and 8 hours just to spy for 1 hour these magnificent beasts!
Tj and I were expecting a full day hanging around waiting for their return but 3 o’clock came, as did the first mini van of pax. As it turns out….after the 2 ½ hour morning drive into Bwindi Impenetrable National Park they spent 5 minutes trekking through a vegetable patch to the edge of the jungle and there they were in all their glory!! The others arrived back about an hour later having trekked through thick jungle and swamp land for a massive 40 minutes before reaching their gold. Everyone had an amazing day and spent the rest of the afternoon comparing stories and photos!!!
I must say no matter the length of the trek the end result is like no other game experience. I have had almost all the big game well within stroking distance from the window whilst game driving, heard lions roaring into the night coupled with hyena’s whooping and giggling, had our camp infiltrated by a curious male lion, been reared at by a green mamba and have been mock charged by elephants too many times to tell my parents without terrifying them, but it doesn’t matter how much you think you know or how much you have seen nothing can prepare you for spending that precious hour with these incredible and unfortunately diminishing species. There is nothing between you and them, you have delicately made your way into the thick of their environment, you’re in their territory now and you best respect it, and if you don’t they sure as hell will let you know about it. So huge and yet so graceful and gentle you can’t help but be amazed by the many traits they share with us. On a serious note it’s hard to believe that such strength and power can be so endangered and vulnerable all because of the species that shares between 92-98% of its DNA with them….US! All to quickly your hour is up, but you leave having experienced probably the best game experience there is to have. If you’ve never done it you should ask your self that old question: when was the last time you did anything for the first time, and get your self out here quickly before it’s too late and the only thing that’s left of these magnificent creatures are pictures in museums and articles written in the past tense.
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