November 30th, 2023
I’d been looking forward to this day before I even arrived
in Africa. This was one of the big
activities I would do in Eastern Africa, visiting the mountain gorillas. It would also be the most expensive one too,
at $700 USD for the privilege to spend one hour with the gorillas! Thankfully it is not just a cash grab by the
Ugandan government as a lot of the funds go towards protecting the habitat and
funding the rangers and guides who also do their part to ensure the safety of
the mountain gorillas and their habitat.
After an early breakfast, Paphra, the manager at the Nshongi
Camp where I was staying, escorted me on the short walk to the entrance to
Bwindi Impenetrable Forest…what a great name!
Seems so daunting…the “Impenetrable Forest”. And it looks like it from a distance, with
its dense cluster of trees and bushes completely covering the steep hills.
A group of about twenty local women were singing and dancing
while one of them pounded on a drum. I
had heard the drumming the morning before, while still in bed, and now I knew
what it was all about. They were
performing for the tourists who had already arrived and were sitting in a
sheltered building with rows of chairs like a theatre. The ladies were super energetic and fun. They really got you in the mood for the trek
you were about to do.
The Bwindi Dancers:
Meanwhile, Paphra took my permit that I had purchased 3
weeks earlier in Kampala, along with my passport, to a woman at a desk in the
front corner of the shelter. On the walk
there, Paphra had asked me if I was interested in a short or long hike to see
the gorillas and I opted for the latter.
After a briefing by a ranger about the dos and do nots on the trek, we
split up into our groups. My group
consisted of four Germans, an older gentleman named Andreas, a father and son
team Walter and Justus, and Petra, a woman in her late 50s. They were all from the same tour group but
did not know each other prior to coming to Uganda, well at least Petra didn’t
know the guys. Later I found out that
she was a policewoman who has been working in Mogadishu, Somalia, for almost a
year, training local policemen there. I
asked her what the safety of the city was like, and she said it was
dreadful. Anytime she left the safety of
her compound, she had to don a helmet and bulletproof vest and be escorted by
armed guards…yikes! She was almost finished
her stint there and I asked if the money was at least good…and it was.
We gathered around a sign that said “Kutu”, the name of the
gorilla group that we were going to visit.
Our guide, Lawrence, introduced himself and the two rangers who would
protect us in case of a wild elephant or some other issue. I forget the ranger who walked at the front
of our group but at the back was a short, stout woman named Sylvia. Both were carrying AK-47s.
The start of our hike was a slow uphill climb on a well-worn
trail. I chatted with Walter a bit, who
was a financial planner and a bit of a mountaineer. He and his son Justus had climbed Rwenzori
Mountain near Fort Portal, and he was headed to New Zealand in 2-3 weeks to
tour around and climb a few more peaks.
Our pace was nice and steady. I
asked Lawrence how he would contact the trackers who had set out earlier in the
morning to find the gorilla group. I
figured it would be by radio but believe it or not, it was just by
cellphone. I was shocked at times during
the morning when I still had 4G service, in the middle of a dense forest!
We reached the top of the range and then, due to an updated
message from the trackers, we veered off the main path onto more of an animal
trail that start to descend the other side of the hill. Now it felt more like an adventure. We reached the bottom of the ravine, crossed
a small creek and began to climb up again.
Lawrence let out a bird-like call and a response came back from the
trackers…we were getting close!
Off the beaten path:
Meeting up with the trackers, we were told to have a drink
or water, pee if we had to (known as “short call” in this country), and then
don our masks before going to see the gorillas.
I asked Lawrence whether they used to mask up before Covid-19, but they
didn’t. It wasn’t a bad idea to prevent
any diseases being transferred to the gorillas, or to us. We also left our hiking poles (I just had a
wooden one from Nshongi Camp) with one of the guides.
Using a machete, a tracker started to hack a trail back down
the hill. It was literally a slippery
slope, especially without our hiking poles.
Andreas lost his footing, slid a bit and almost took me out. We came around a corner of a think bush and
boom, there it was, our first mountain gorilla!
I wasn’t sure if it was a male or a female but it was a juvenile,
probably 8 or 9 years old. We were
around 20 feet away from the gorilla, super cool!
Hacking a trail:
It was feeding time and the gorillas were spread out,
munching on leaves from thistle bushes that they stripped off with their
teeth. Occasionally they’d look at us,
but then continue on with breakfast.
Their facial expressions were so human-like.
The guides coordinated our movements in sync with the
gorillas, so that we wouldn’t spook them.
As a gorilla decided to find a better bush to munch on, we could change
our viewing position.
After seeing 3-4 juveniles, we saw a momma and her
baby. Oh my, the baby gorilla was so
cute. He had just finished breast
feeding and was fumbling around close to his mother. Then stumbled in another gorilla who pretty
much walked right over the baby. It was
tough to say if it was on purpose or by accident. Quickly mom picked her child up and
disappeared into some bushes away from us.
The baby getting "run over":
For the next half hour or more, we slowly worked our way
down the slope, watching various members of the group eating and moving
about. There was one female sitting 5-6
feet up in a fork in the tree branches, eating some leaves while her baby was
playing around higher up above her. It
was cool to see the little acrobat playing and at one point he/she just dangled
by her hands while facing us, before continuing to climb around. Super cute.
A comfy way to travel:
It can be tough work some times:
We were nearing the end of our hour and the one member we
had yet to find was the boss, the male silverback who is in charge of the
safety and security of the group as well as being the only one to mate with the
females. He also determines when and to where
the group moves. Since it was dense
foliage on a steep slope, I just figured that we hadn’t found him yet as the
gorillas tend to spread out during feeding time. One of the rangers claimed that he might have
gone to visit another group…who knows.
There were a couple of big “blackback” gorillas, males who
are younger than the silverback but are sexually mature. For males, that happens around 14-15 years
old and the females can be ready to procreate around 10-12 years old. I had heard of the blackback term as I had
been reading “Gorillas in the Mist” by Dian Fossey, in preparation for this
day. Even though I’m only 3/4s the way
through at this point, I’m glad I did as I had a better insight into the
gorilla mountain group dynamics.
We reached the bottom of the ravine where a baby, her mom
and a blackback were hanging out. The
adults were eating while the baby was scooping his hand into a puddle of water
near a small creek and bringing the water up to her mouth to drink. It looked like she needed to work on her
technique a bit more as she was spilling a lot.
Getting to the bottom of the ravine:
Lawrence told us that our time was up. We had actually had 10 minutes of bonus time
and although we hadn’t found the silverback, it was time to leave the mountain
gorillas. We began our hike back up the
side of the hill, on the muddiest path of the morning when Petra mentioned to
me that we were lucky that it hadn’t rained on us. Well wouldn’t you know it, within 15 minutes
the skies opened up. All part of the
experience right?!?
Starting to head back:
We popped back out onto the main trail, had a short break and then began the descent back to the entrance to the park. Back at the shelter, we were each presented with a certificate stating that we had seen the mountain gorillas, and then we took a group photo and said our good-byes.
Our group:
What an amazing experience!!!
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