Nearly at the end of the road

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So a little disappointed that we failed to see the Tree Climbing Lions in Queen Elizabeth National Park. It seems they haven’t been seen for a few weeks and eerily we were around 10km from the Congolese border in this park. Apparently animals that wander over the border, especially elephants but lions too meet a sinister fate never to return. On the way out of the park we saw the sign post to the border post with just 7km separating us from Congo. Our driver Stanley even got the “welcome to the democractic republic of Congo” notice on his cell phone. Weird.

Anyway as you know from the previous post we had made it along more effing rough roads high high up into the mountainous Bwindi Forest and the next day saw us ready to go searching for the critically endangered Mountain Gorillas. We arrived at the briefing area where we got the run down on how it worked, reminded if we were ill we couldn’t go in as diseases can be passed easily between us and the Gorillas. They were of course more worried about us giving the Gorillas something than the other way round! They told us if we collapsed and couldn’t make it due to exhaustion we couldn’t get a refund but could pay extra depending on where we were in the forest to have special porters come in with a stretcher type thing to get us in and/or take us out..YAY.

We helped out the local community by hiring a porter each which everyone does for USD 15 plus a tip. They are small people but carry our heavy packs as well as lending a hand hauling their assigned person up and down hill if required. (I appreciated this help very much!)

The hike began with 3 trackers having gone in early in the morning to start looking for the family we were assigned and relaying back to our guides. The going was surprisingly easy at first and after about half an hour we were stopped to be told the Gorillas were very close. Yay… much easier than anticipated.surprisingly easy at first and after about half an hour we were stopped to be told the Gorillas were very close. Yay… much easier than anticipated. However Gorillas keep moving and was about another hour of down, down, down with machete wielding guides clearing the way through…well…impenetrable forest! We stopped again and there were our three advance trackers meaning the gorillas were just around the corner about 10 metres away. We left our packs and walking sticks with the porters, just carrying our cameras and there they were.. Mr alpha silverback was caught in the act! Two other females were overcome with jealousy and wanted a piece of the action too. Silverback was smacking them around and they were chasing each other through the bush arguing! This meant we were also chasing them through the bush. We got some good pics of a few of the quieter members. An older silverback no longer super active and a mum and her little one. The hour passed very quickly and it was time to go.. you guessed it up, up, up. My lovely porter Jocenta held her hand out and gently tugged me up the hill. Tony only needed his porter Crispin to carry his pack so Crispin took it upon himself to push from behind.. How easy can that be! It was pretty exhausting but we had a dear old 77 year old American lady who I’m glad to say was less fit than me and we had to keep pace with the weakest link which made me feel like a hiking hero!

So happy to have experienced these amazing creatures. Worth the lack of services, especially decent running water and flushing loos but that’s how it is up here.

We moved on the next day to our last stop off before coming home and I am sitting here at the beautiful Lake Rwakobo Lodge in Lake Mburo Nat Park overlooking a savannah which has baboons, monkey, impala, lots of birds and zebra running around. A large baboon has recently been chased off the tables and we had to have separate swims in the pool as they knick your stuff. There are also farmers in the area as this is where the amazing long horned cattle are farmed and so there is conflict with the wild animals. I heard the farmers yelling and shouting earlier – probably at those really annoying baboons and then a gun shot (they only fire into the air to scare). Things went quiet for a while then.

Last night when we got here we had a game drive..got to see the zebra at last and a lone hippo in a very small pond on it’s own, far from the Lake it probably came from in the wet season. It will probably stay in the small pond until it rains again and it can make it’s way back to the lake.

This morning we went for a walk with a guide which you are allowed to do here and saw lots more impala and zebra, heaps of birds including one incredibly rare one the Red Faced Barbet which the guide as very excited about. Apparently birders from everywhere come to see them but rarely do. We also saw two jackals which is also extremely rare apparently. There are leopard and hyenas here but they are nocturnal and we didn’t see any.

We are bound for Entebbe tomorrow then home. Looking forward to a hot shower, reliable power (hopefully there have been no power cuts there!) and good internet connection. Of course we’re looking forward to coming back to work too! (Just joking).

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