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Published: July 23rd 2006
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Today was a long and interesting day. Got up early and we headed as a group to the Uganda/Congo border. Our organizer for this trip, Daniel, had gotten us all stamped out of Uganda last night, but with todays date, so we could just get the Congo entry stamp and be on our way. Of course, we were on "African time", which is, special. So we waited around quite a while before leaving Uganda, then we waited around quite a while before and after being stamped into the Congo. We were waiting for the taxis to show up apparently, but we still waited once they were there. There was some last minute scrambling to see if anyone would switch to a slow group so some others could switch into the medium group, and some confusion then about which car was for who, but in the end we all got in our appropraiet taxis and set off. My group consisted of Gareth, who sat by the driver, Anita, Adam, and Louise who sat in the next row, and Petra, Linda and I were in the very back, with me squished in between these two very tall blond Dutch girls. There were only
Guides
These are the guys who help track the gorillas and then protect both you and them from each other. two seats and we even had to enter into them from behind, though the back door. It was really uncomfortable but we managed to do it.
Once we started driving, it became even more interesting. Turns out we had to drive for three hours in that car, mostly down the craziest bumpy roads you've ever seen. So we were going very slowly on mountainous roads and feeling every bump. I actually bruised my spine in that seat. Or half on two seats. We made a few quick stops on the way to rest our weary bones and find some appropriate bushes to call toilets, but mostly we were in the car. We saw so many people on that drive. I think there are more children in Congo than I have seen anywhere else. Women with chilfren on their backs, children with children. It was insane. And they were all super friendly. Everyone waved at us as we drive by. This is usually the case in Africa, I've noticed, when it's a car full of obviously while tourists. I even started waving to adults who didn't seem inclined to wave. The response was amazing - their faces would just light
up and they would smile and wave back. It was great. The Congolese people also wore the most beautiful colors - all of their clothes were beautiful, down to their shoes. In other countries, many people wore black sandals, but in the Congo, everyone had brightly colored shoes, bright pink, bright green, bright yellow - it was like perpetual Easter!
Once we arrived at the designated site with one of the other cars, we did some more of the classic standing around until it was deemed time to leave. I think the rangers were just waiting on confirmation as to the location of the gorilla families. They have trackers that find them everyday so that the groups can make their way a bit easier. At this point the two groups separated, and we began our hike.
The hike was a good deal uphill, which worried me as I am always slow and reasonably out of shape, regardless of how much preparation I do (as if 7 weeks sitting on a truck across Africa wasn't enough!). I started out slowly, and only felt acceptable because the Dutch girls were also having a hard time with it. Eventually I got
my rhythm and it was all better. We hiked almost two hours before we got to the place where we put our packs down and just carried on with our cameras. All of a sudden there was a gorilla - the silverback! The leading male of the group and he was lounging only a few meters from where we stood. And then the guides cut down the branches between us so we could see him even better! It was insane. He made a noise and the guides made the same noise back, to reassure him apparently.
There were 9 family members in this group, and I think we did see all of them. Several young, a few females, and some adolescents. Overall it was really amazing. You are supposed to stay 7 meters away but sometimes they just come closer. Like when the silverback got up and brushed Adam's knee as he strolled by. Crazy! As a zookeeper who worked briefly with the gorillas, I would never have considered going in with them. You just don't do that. And here I was in the jungle in the Congo right next to them!
We watched them playing and I
This is how close we got
Can you see the bit of black fur to the right? alternated taking pictures with watching in amazement. Some people got video clips which were amazing. We saw the baby climbing a tree and dangling down, two adolescents playing and rolling around. One of them was trying to play with us by pushing a sapling down several times so that the branches just touched near where we were sitting. It was great.
Some part of me felt bad being there at all - they are free and yet not free if they care constantly being watched. But at the same time, this affords them protection from poachers they wouldn't have otherwise. It is highly supervised and controlled. You can't view them at all if you are sick or have a cold that day. And the viewing does not come cheaply - $300 for one hour with the gorillas, and between the permits and the taxis, my overland truck spent about $9000 in the Congo that day. Not bad.
After about 47 minutes our family started to move away from us. We persued them for a few minutes and then gave up as they were clearly leaving us and we didn't want to push it. We made our way back
down the mountain, another two hours, and then did the drive back to the border. This time we switched seats so that I was in the middle rown, much nicer. The kids that were waving at us earlier we now a bit bolder and riding on the back spare tire on the car. The driver had to stop and get out several times. It was slow going, another three hours back. But more interested as it was getting dark and started to rain. We passes by several fires where people were burning things and one time, after it was dark and raining, we turned a corner and just as a fire came into view, three lightening bolts were visible behind it. It was quite beautiful.
Eventually we became concerned that the trip had taken too long and the border would be closed. Our driver, who only spoke French, told us that the border would close soon, but we were still far away. So now we were convinced that we would be sleeping in the Congo, with no food and no nothing else. But we made it to the border and Daniel was waiting for us. The other two cars - fast and slow - had both made it back several hours before and were back at camp. Meanwhile, our two cars had to wait for someone to come back to work to stamp us out of the Congo and then we walked across the border where we got in our truck to go back to camp. Daniel was taking care of stamping us back into Uganda the following morning after they opened up for business.
Had some dinner, got washed up, and headed straight to bed after a long and exciting day.
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Pete & Claudia
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We're green with envy!
Hi Jen! We've been avidly following your journey across Africa, and are SO jealous! Keep on travelling - it definitely makes us look forward to more travel whilst back in Blighty!