Well Team!
Sorry for the long delay, I have been in the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park where there is… well, trees, mountains, rain rain rain, awesome people, gorillas and a lot of darkness coming in at night. Electricity and the internet are not around, and that is perfect. :)
Sooooooo much has happened since my last post, that I’m sure I won’t be able to tell you it all in this post. But here goes:
Some folks asked about a gorilla permit. Well, in order to see the mountain gorillas of Rwanda or Uganda you have to purchase a permit from the government. These go for a whopping $500 USD a piece. And there are only 32 a day in Uganda. And 40 a day in Rwanda. That’s it. It buys you a guide, trackers and the chance to see the mountain gorilla at close range in their natural habitat. a lot of times tour operators buy them all up. the fact that I got one was pretty lucky and the foundation of one crazy ass journey.
But first…
Lake Bunyonyi.
Awesome. Island studded lake. I rented a canoe and managed to make Mzungu Circles for an hour before I was given a tip by a local who was rocketing past me. Then I got it down well. Devin, I now know what was happening that last day of the canoe trip!
I hung out with a bunch of kids in a little village at dusk.
Okay,
This update is going to be short because my hands are hurting from this keyboard (what is it with the keyboards!). And I’ve been typing and responding to emails personally for an hour now.
Still…
2 Bodas? yep. On mountain roads. I mean MOUNTAIN roads. One lane wide with jungle cliffs on the side. And then, on both trips it started to rain. HARD. and yes… we crashed, ONCE. We were going about 10km/hour and WHOOSH, slid down in the mud. Only a little scraped up. The second ride was supposed to be a car, and the car wasn’t there, so a boda it was. Down THE WORST ROAD ON EARTH. Okay, it wasn’t really the worst, but it was a 4WD road for sure, muddy as hell, rocky, rutted and surrounded by beautiful mountainside. And cliffs galore. but Richard (the driver) was much safer than the first guy and better and we made it safely down the mountain. Though I did have to walk a little bit of it as well. :)
Everything in western Uganda is muddy. It’s a rain forest. It’s beautiful.
And speaking of rain. The rainy season (here) has begun. I was on a village walk in Buhoma (a tiny little town outside the National park). We were seeing tea plants, medicine men (who speak French), and these great kids at the school who did a fantastic dance and song for us. Then had us join in. While there the RAINS OF GOD came. I mean…Hurricane Ike, you have met your match. Perhaps not with wind, but the rain fell so hard that you couldn’t see anything beyond 25 feet. And with such a force as you wouldn’t believe. If we’d stepped into it we would’ve been soaked to the bone in 3.2 seconds, MAX.
After the rains we couldn’t get back to the lodge because of the swollen creek over the road. No one dared cross except this drunk pigmy guy who went back and forth like we were all a bunch of idiots. I have some cool video of it.
And yes… gorillas.
Two words:
Absolutely Amazing.
I was in the Mubare group, which has 8 individuals, 1 a silver back. 1 baby. etc. You meet at the park office at 8am, and head out with about 8 people. a 30 minute drive later we began trekking through a village and into the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. Thick and muddy. Steep slopes and exciting. The guide was in touch with the trackers via walkie talkie. They found our group, so we took shortcuts over the hills. 2 hours of hiking and we neared where they were. (Other groups had to hike for 4 hours in really thick vegetation and rain, so we “lucked out”).
So we leave our bags and get rid of our walking sticks so as not to scare them.
And head on…
Naturally I got up front near the guide cause hell, I came to see the mountain gorillas.
And see them, we did.
Came past a tree and there was a HUGE silverback sitting and eating. I mean, he was 15 feet away. Then you see the others. One on a tree branch 12 feet away. Then a baby climbs up on the branch and they wrestled. A black-back (adult male about 13 years old), pounds his chest and tears through the trees. We move to a different location above them on the slope.
Then we’re nearly surrounded. The gorillas playing, eating, and looking at US. Staring right at us. You could take all the pics and video you wanted, but no flash, no eating (yep I had to do it before I got there), and stay 5-7 meters away. Well, we can try, but gorillas don’t really follow the rules. So this 5 year old decided to challenge us… and when I say us, I mean me. He stared at us, and then came forward and rolled down the hill a few feet. Everyone watched or took pics as he inched forward and then slapped his hand on my knee and left it there. Then he hurried off. Pretty fricking awesome.
But it’s not over. We watched two others wrestle, and then the baby joined in. The mother nursed the baby and some of them fell out of a tree. Then the Silverback got up, grunted and they all moved out.
And naturally we followed them.
And then they got to a clearing under some trees. The baby on the mom’s back. And then Mr. 5 year old decides he’ll have another go at us. He charges forward and then comes up and hits my knee again. And turns back…looks me in the eye… and comes up and slaps my shoulder before running a bit away and pounding his chest.
Pretty fricking awesome.
And very unusual. Apparently they rarely do that. And it happened three times.
And writing this doesn’t capture what it was like. It was amazing. This isn’t a petting zoo. This isn’t a domestic animal. This was like touching Mother Nature herself. It was such a surreal experience that it actually brought tears to my eyes.
Incredible.
My tip to you is: Wear Red. Apparently one lady one time had bright red hair and the gorilla came up and played with her hair. :)
Worth every penny.
Come to Uganda.
Gotta go, gotta sleep and rest. The 3 hour muddy boda boda ride on the edge of Mount Doom was exhausting (after the 3 1/2 hour hike through the forest).
It’s been good. I leave Uganda tomorrow and love it. “Hello, how are you?” ask almost everyone you pass. And they want to know. And you can chat to anyone like they are your friends. It’s safe and friendly and pretty much just RULES.
Get your ass to Uganda.
Talk to you in a couple days.
Craigo
Craig Ouellette is a world traveling, independent filmmaker, and karaoke fiend. He has been to dozens of countries, made dozens of films, and sung more karaoke songs than he can count. He hopes the tales of adventure will entertain.
