Uganda

Uganda Travelog part 1.

We're having a wonderful time in our first stop, Uganda. We've just returned from a 7 day trip into the wilds where, amongst other things, we trekked to find the Mountain Gorillas. The trek was extremely hard going, lasting around 8 hours there and back, mostly up steep tracks.

Rather than take the public transport option - 10 hours non-stop without a toilet on a bus from Kampala to Kabale, 2 hours on a bus to Bugoda, and 45 mins on the back of a scooter (very scary) to Bwindi, we opted for a private tour. We hooked up with a couple of girls called Jude and Helen who were on assignment to a missionary hospital from their medicine degree at Birmingham University and booked the tour.

Our tour loop took in a stop at the equator, Buhoma Lake, Bwindi (for the mountain gorillas), Queen Elizabeth National Park, and the Crater Lakes in southwestern Uganda.

Some of the places we stayed at didn't even have running water, never mind electricity. Fortunately we're now back in the Capital, and our hotel has both flushing toilets, and electricity in our room. We feel really privileged!

The Gorillas were really cool. We saw several juveniles and females and a baby who was showing off swinging between the branches until he fell off and crashed down into the bush on which he was sitting.

We saw the silverback (dominant male) only briefly, through the side of the nest he had built. He was in there with a female and another baby. He was absolutely massive, standing at around 5ft tall, and weighing well over 200kg. He let the rest of the family know where he was by grunting really loudly occasionally.

Apparently there are only 3 habituated groups of around 45 gorillas in total in Bwindi. Other groups of Gorilla will run away when they hear humans coming. There are only around 650 Mountain Gorillas left in the world, so we felt really privileged. We also got some really good photos.

After seeing the Gorillas, we went up to some of the other national parks. In Queen Elizabeth National Park we saw, amongst other things, Impala, Waterbuck, Lions with cubs, hippos, water buffalo, and monitor lizards.

We tuned up at the University research lodge where we were staying to find a family of warthogs living in the garden. It was very strange eating dinner whilst a troop of warthogs wandered around.

The following day we went out on a game drive, and on the way back, an elephant crashed out of the bushes and charged our vehicle. We reversed quickly. The elephant hid behind a tree. She was still blocking our passage, so our driver revved the engine. The elephant charged us again.

The driver explained that the elephant was probably from the neighboring Congo where they are still hunted and felt threatened. Just then a baby elephant crossed the road in front of us. The driver explained that that could also be the reason as we continued to reverse swiftly.

When the baby was about 10 or so feet clear of the track, we began to move forward cautiously. Some more elephant appeared to our left, and began to charge, and the adult female crashed out of the undergrowth to our right, charging us yet again. Ahmed, our driver, floored it, and we shot between the attacking elephant at breakneck speed. We made it back safely, but needed a change of underwear!

The next day we drove down to Kibale, and the densest concentration of primates in the world. We went trekking in search of Chimps in the wild. Our guide was extremely knowledgeable, explaining that chimps are mostly vegetarian with the exception of when they eat a specific fruit, which causes them to get drunk.

When chimps are drunk, they go in search of other monkeys, to kill and eat. Some surround the bottom of the tree, while the remainder swarm up the tree and kick their prey until they fall out of the tree. The prey, then stunned, it picked up by the Chimps waiting at the bottom, and repeatedly smashed against the tree until it died, and then everyone pitches in and eats it. Sort of a Monkey kebab.

Chimps call to each other by screaming which can be quite disconcerting when you're between two groups of them. They also find each other by beating on the hollow root formations of specific trees bongo style.

During our stay at the crater lakes, Tom was summoned into Helen and Jude's room to remove a spider. It was a real monster. Apparently when they went in, it was on the roof, and when they shut the door, it fell on the floor, and shot up the door, so they were trapped. Afterwards, our guide said that it probably wasn't poisonous, but Tom wasn't about to take any chances, the leg span was about 3 inches! Fortunately we'd have some Dutch courage in the form of the local beer.

Tomorrow we're going rafting at Jinja, the source of the Nile. It's supposed to be one of Uganda's highlights, with monster grade 5 ( the highest navigable grade ) rapids.

Katie has finally submitted, and we're allowed to stay in a luxury resort there afterwards. It should give us a chance to clean ourselves, and our clothes ( which are beginning to pong a bit due to the excessive amount of exercise we've been doing ).

Uganda Travel Log Part 2