Gorillas In The Mist

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Geo: -1.25418, 29.9928

The Mountain Gorilla!!
It's an incredible feeling when you see a species that is considered critically endangered. It's an incredible feeling to stand within 5 meters of a 220kg Silver-back who feels comfortable with our close presence. It's an incredible feeling to even have the opportunity to visit these amazing creatures.
It's a surreal feeling, especially afterwards, the time goes too quick and you're left thinking if it was a dream and wishing you could have spent a whole day with them, if not more. Pictures don't do the experience justice but they will always remind you of the experience.

It took a full day to get to our secluded accommodation on the outskirts of Bwindi National Park.
We managed in the late day to get a car from Kabale to Rushaga which felt like we were the president with the dark tint on the car windows which also spoiled the amazing drive of windy roads that hugged the steep terraced hills.
The following day was the day we had been waiting for and it delivered!! We met for a pre tracking talk and then split in to our groups and luck seemed to be on our side as we only had three in our group, Anna, myself and Richard from the UK. We were also lucky when we only had to walk about an hour and only minutes in to the boundary of the national park we had reached the gorillas.
As I said the experience was incredible and it's hard to put it in to words.

We first found them sunbathing but they soon headed in to the appropriately named Bwindi impenetrable national park as we chopped and and crawled our way through the bush after them.
We found our way back on to the main path and there, straight in front of us, roughly 7 meters away was an massive silver-back standing on the path as he watched over the rest of his group. We spent the rest of the time watching them climb trees and eat. We managed to spend a little more than an hour with them. Unforgettable!!

We hitched a ride back in the tray of a pick-up through the small villages and managed to contact our presidential driver for a ride back to Kabale and continue to Lake Bunyoni.
Lake Bunyoni which is located in the most south western part of Uganda is a sight for sore eyes. Yet another example of how amazing this country is.
The lake has 29 islands and is very picturesque and a great place to relax and enjoy the culture.
We stayed in a very nice accommodation on the lakes edge where we spent 4 nights in the tent.
We relaxed for the first time in one week and it felt good. We walked to a lookout which gives incredible views, we took a paddle to an island which has a zebra and other animals, we enjoyed daily swims and gorgeous sunsets with beers in one hand and and happiness in the other.

After a few days we finally got to catchup with the rest of our crew. Lucie, Ombeline and Christophe who were waiting for us on Byoona Amagara. The island offered a fresh view of the lake, Matooke (Plantain) chips and the chance to see the national bird of Uganda, the Grey Crowned Crane.
The next day we all made our way to another country and another adventure..
Rwanda..

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