Mountain gorillas are nearing extinction, with only about 700 left in the wild (they are currently classified as "critically endangered.") Approximately 350 of these gorillas are located in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest in Uganda, while the other half are found in three different National Forests in Rwanda and the DRC. So, naturally, the best place in the world to see mountain gorillas in the wild is in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. Given this fact (and after much debate and internal struggle), Mike and I decided that we would hike over the hefty fee to go gorilla tracking during our time here in Uganda. It was worth every single penny.
Bwindi is definitely called the Impenetrable Forest for a reason. First of all, it is located on the western-most and southern-most areas of Uganda, forming a triangular border with both the DRC and Rwanda. Secondly, the trip there is not for the weak-of-heart. The initial trip from Kampala to Kisoro was actually very uneventful when compared to the "short" trip from Kisoro to Bwindi. Thirdly, the start of Bwindi Impenetrable Forest is at the bottom of an enormous valley, requiring all visitors to hike along very rugged, steep terrain to even begin their journey...
Upon arrival at our hotel the night before departure, we were briefed by our guide and driver, Robert, about what to expect the following day. We were informed that the usual routes from Kisoro to Bwindi were currently impassable due to recent heavy rains (it is the rainy season, after all...). The first route was blocked by massive land slides. The second route was blocked by a flooded river. The third route? Well, there isn't a third route. Robert reassured us that he would figure something out and we would not miss our scheduled gorilla tracking the next day. While I appreciated his calmness, I was most definitely worried...
The following morning (gorilla tracking day!!) started at 4:30am, with a polite knocking on our door as our "wake up call" from the friendly staff at our hotel. While we were initially told that we would leave at 5:30 in the morning to begin our drive from Kisoro to Bwindi, we found out during our 5:00am breakfast that our departure would be moved back to 6:00. Robert had been able to arrange a car to pick us up on the other side of the flooded river; however, they could not pick us up until a bit later in the morning. Despite the later departure time, it was still pitch black when we set out from our hotel. We were only on paved road for about 100 meters before we turned on to a very bumpy, very rocky road. This road, which would remain very rocky and very bumpy, would take us the entire two hours from Kisoro to Bwindi (despite only being about 50 kilometers). The road was very muddy in some places, causing our car to slide around on extremely narrow roads, with steep cliffs on the side. Robert remained calm and level-headed and got us safely to the flooded river. That was when the adventure really started...
Despite the fact that Robert thought there would be a canoe or boat to take us across the river, there was no boat, canoe, or water vessel of any sort in sight. We also met up with another tour group, composed of a Ugandan guide and driver, as well as three Italian tourists. Somehow they had managed to get up the steep, windy, bumpy, muddy road in a two-wheel drive sedan; however, they were completely at a loss when it came to crossing the river. We watched a few people walk across the flooded "road" to get an idea of how deep the water was. It came up past a grown man's waist. After some deliberation with the locals and the other driver, Robert had all of us (including the Italian group) climb in to our beast of a car and attempt the crossing in our truck. I was terrified. Robert remained calm (what a surprise...).
The initial part of the crossing wasn't all that bad. The truck seemed to have a good grip on the road and the water wasn't too deep. I actually started to feel confident. Big mistake. All of a sudden the water got much, much deeper. At one point, the water was on top of the hood and almost coming in the front windows (which were down).
Somehow (though I'm still not really sure how...) we made it across the river without stalling out or killing the engine (because the car had this amazing chimney-like attachment as the engine intake valve). We all thanked our lucky star, gave Robert big pats on the back, and headed out to finish our trip. After that adventure, the rest of the trip to Bwindi seemed like a walk in the park...
Upon arrival in Bwindi, we met our rangers and guides at the ranger station (Modern was our primary guide).
It turns out that only the tree of us would be tracking gorillas from the Nkuringo site. They can usually accommodate eight visitors to each gorilla troupe per day; however, due to low season, we were the only visitors for that day. After a brief pre-departure discussion (and a picture introduction to our gorilla family!), as well as the hiring of local students to act as porters for us (carrying our bags laden with water bottles and providing a much-needed extra hand during our hike down the steep slope), we started out on our adventure to find the gorillas.
A few of the rangers had already headed out to track the gorillas for us, so we had an idea of where they might be located.
The hike started out relatively easy and then went downhill (both literally and figuratively) very quickly. The Nkuringo site is the most strenuous of the starting locations for tracking Gorillas, as it is not located directly on the border of Bwindi Impenetrable Forest.
Instead, it is located at the tall rim above the valley floor where the Forest starts, meaning that we had to hike down the steep slope even to initially get to Bwindi. The hike was a bit treacherous, made even more difficult by the altitude (over 2000 meters), but the views were beautiful.
We were quite lucky, as the weather was amazing (despite that it had been raining daily for at least the past five days in Bwindi), and our gorilla troupe was only located about 90 minutes from our starting location. The first 75ish minutes were on crude trails, whereas the last 15 minutes we were trail blazers, working our way through the forest to catch a glimpse of the endangered mountain gorillas.
It is difficult to really describe the awe and wonder of seeing mountain gorillas in the wild. They are used to the rangers being around, and people are only permitted to be around them for a limited period of time each day (visitor are permitted only 60 minutes with the animals), so they have become accustomed to humans being around and really did not seem to mind our presence in the least. Official rules state that we had to be at least 21 feet (7 meters) away from the gorillas at all times. I'm sure, at some points, that we were only 2-3 feet away. It was amazing. Of the 14 gorillas in our family, we were able to see 12 of them, including all four silverbacks (the male gorillas), some of the mothers, a few juveniles, and even a two-year-old baby. It really was an amazing experience. The animals spent most of their time eating (and the silverbacks rested most of the time), but sometimes the little ones would roll down the hill, swing from branches, or play around with each other. As the family moved down the hill, we would follow them and continue watching. When our 60 minutes were over, we were quite disappointed to leave...
Following our amazing gorilla encounter, we hiked part way back up the hill and the stopped for our packed lunch.
Meghana and I took a "bush break" during our stop. During this time, I managed to step in a large aunt pile and literally ended up with aunts in my pants. It was quite an unpleasant experience, to say the least... After a strenuous hike back up the mountain, we said goodbye to our guides and headed back to Kisoro. Once again, we had to cross the flooded river in our Land Cruiser. Again, the car made it across; however, the water was slightly higher on the trip back. (Our tour company sent an identical vehicle across the river approximately 2 hours later and the car stalled out in the middle of the river, requiring eight men to push it out on to dry land, and our driver had to return to tow the car down the treacherous road back to Kisoro. We really were very lucky!) The rest of the afternoon was spent reading, relaxing, and reliving our experience through the hundreds (if not thousands!) of pictures that we took of our new gorilla friends!
Bwindi is definitely called the Impenetrable Forest for a reason. First of all, it is located on the western-most and southern-most areas of Uganda, forming a triangular border with both the DRC and Rwanda. Secondly, the trip there is not for the weak-of-heart. The initial trip from Kampala to Kisoro was actually very uneventful when compared to the "short" trip from Kisoro to Bwindi. Thirdly, the start of Bwindi Impenetrable Forest is at the bottom of an enormous valley, requiring all visitors to hike along very rugged, steep terrain to even begin their journey...
Upon arrival at our hotel the night before departure, we were briefed by our guide and driver, Robert, about what to expect the following day. We were informed that the usual routes from Kisoro to Bwindi were currently impassable due to recent heavy rains (it is the rainy season, after all...). The first route was blocked by massive land slides. The second route was blocked by a flooded river. The third route? Well, there isn't a third route. Robert reassured us that he would figure something out and we would not miss our scheduled gorilla tracking the next day. While I appreciated his calmness, I was most definitely worried...
The following morning (gorilla tracking day!!) started at 4:30am, with a polite knocking on our door as our "wake up call" from the friendly staff at our hotel. While we were initially told that we would leave at 5:30 in the morning to begin our drive from Kisoro to Bwindi, we found out during our 5:00am breakfast that our departure would be moved back to 6:00. Robert had been able to arrange a car to pick us up on the other side of the flooded river; however, they could not pick us up until a bit later in the morning. Despite the later departure time, it was still pitch black when we set out from our hotel. We were only on paved road for about 100 meters before we turned on to a very bumpy, very rocky road. This road, which would remain very rocky and very bumpy, would take us the entire two hours from Kisoro to Bwindi (despite only being about 50 kilometers). The road was very muddy in some places, causing our car to slide around on extremely narrow roads, with steep cliffs on the side. Robert remained calm and level-headed and got us safely to the flooded river. That was when the adventure really started...
Despite the fact that Robert thought there would be a canoe or boat to take us across the river, there was no boat, canoe, or water vessel of any sort in sight. We also met up with another tour group, composed of a Ugandan guide and driver, as well as three Italian tourists. Somehow they had managed to get up the steep, windy, bumpy, muddy road in a two-wheel drive sedan; however, they were completely at a loss when it came to crossing the river. We watched a few people walk across the flooded "road" to get an idea of how deep the water was. It came up past a grown man's waist. After some deliberation with the locals and the other driver, Robert had all of us (including the Italian group) climb in to our beast of a car and attempt the crossing in our truck. I was terrified. Robert remained calm (what a surprise...).
The initial part of the crossing wasn't all that bad. The truck seemed to have a good grip on the road and the water wasn't too deep. I actually started to feel confident. Big mistake. All of a sudden the water got much, much deeper. At one point, the water was on top of the hood and almost coming in the front windows (which were down).
Somehow (though I'm still not really sure how...) we made it across the river without stalling out or killing the engine (because the car had this amazing chimney-like attachment as the engine intake valve). We all thanked our lucky star, gave Robert big pats on the back, and headed out to finish our trip. After that adventure, the rest of the trip to Bwindi seemed like a walk in the park...
Upon arrival in Bwindi, we met our rangers and guides at the ranger station (Modern was our primary guide).
It turns out that only the tree of us would be tracking gorillas from the Nkuringo site. They can usually accommodate eight visitors to each gorilla troupe per day; however, due to low season, we were the only visitors for that day. After a brief pre-departure discussion (and a picture introduction to our gorilla family!), as well as the hiring of local students to act as porters for us (carrying our bags laden with water bottles and providing a much-needed extra hand during our hike down the steep slope), we started out on our adventure to find the gorillas.
A few of the rangers had already headed out to track the gorillas for us, so we had an idea of where they might be located.
The hike started out relatively easy and then went downhill (both literally and figuratively) very quickly. The Nkuringo site is the most strenuous of the starting locations for tracking Gorillas, as it is not located directly on the border of Bwindi Impenetrable Forest.
Instead, it is located at the tall rim above the valley floor where the Forest starts, meaning that we had to hike down the steep slope even to initially get to Bwindi. The hike was a bit treacherous, made even more difficult by the altitude (over 2000 meters), but the views were beautiful.
We were quite lucky, as the weather was amazing (despite that it had been raining daily for at least the past five days in Bwindi), and our gorilla troupe was only located about 90 minutes from our starting location. The first 75ish minutes were on crude trails, whereas the last 15 minutes we were trail blazers, working our way through the forest to catch a glimpse of the endangered mountain gorillas.
It is difficult to really describe the awe and wonder of seeing mountain gorillas in the wild. They are used to the rangers being around, and people are only permitted to be around them for a limited period of time each day (visitor are permitted only 60 minutes with the animals), so they have become accustomed to humans being around and really did not seem to mind our presence in the least. Official rules state that we had to be at least 21 feet (7 meters) away from the gorillas at all times. I'm sure, at some points, that we were only 2-3 feet away. It was amazing. Of the 14 gorillas in our family, we were able to see 12 of them, including all four silverbacks (the male gorillas), some of the mothers, a few juveniles, and even a two-year-old baby. It really was an amazing experience. The animals spent most of their time eating (and the silverbacks rested most of the time), but sometimes the little ones would roll down the hill, swing from branches, or play around with each other. As the family moved down the hill, we would follow them and continue watching. When our 60 minutes were over, we were quite disappointed to leave...
Meghana and I took a "bush break" during our stop. During this time, I managed to step in a large aunt pile and literally ended up with aunts in my pants. It was quite an unpleasant experience, to say the least... After a strenuous hike back up the mountain, we said goodbye to our guides and headed back to Kisoro. Once again, we had to cross the flooded river in our Land Cruiser. Again, the car made it across; however, the water was slightly higher on the trip back. (Our tour company sent an identical vehicle across the river approximately 2 hours later and the car stalled out in the middle of the river, requiring eight men to push it out on to dry land, and our driver had to return to tow the car down the treacherous road back to Kisoro. We really were very lucky!) The rest of the afternoon was spent reading, relaxing, and reliving our experience through the hundreds (if not thousands!) of pictures that we took of our new gorilla friends!
sounds so amazing, you guys! wow!!
ReplyDeleteBeen waiting for this since we Facetimed with Mike the other night! Awesome!
ReplyDelete