The silverback gorillas of Uganda
Uganda might be my favourite, and I can officially say that now that we’ve officially been in all 11 countries on my list for this trip. Uganda doesn’t quite have the national parks and animals I’ve been loving, at least we haven’t visited them, but it’s scenery, the people and the time spent here some of the absolute best.
Our week here was eventful, me having not read the itinerary since February I had no idea what we were in for, other than that we would trek the gorillas. 2 nights of the week were at a conference centre in between transits, Uganda a large country that we would mean a good few drive days, not that we would mind since the reward at the end was so exciting. Uganda is clean and well kept, safe and people don’t fence their land, what’s mine is yours. Uganda had kingdoms before the Europeans colonised, something they had difficulty doing due to the strength of the system in place here. The arabs failing at enslaving Ugandan’s, instead having to settle for Congo instead where the kingdom was weaker:
When European’s first came into Uganda, the leader was held hostage by the king of Uganda, the way he saw it, because he was white he thought he was more superior, this wasn’t going to fly. John smith, the first European to discover the Nile obeyed the rules and respected the culture, in return Ugandans trusted him and the Europeans who followed. Uganda is home to the tessa fly, the sickness caused by bites caused everyone from certain regions in Uganda to mitigate, since, only 50% of residents came back. Whilst only 19% of Uganda’s economy depends on agriculture, the country growing cassava, millets, traditional corn and bananas. A Ugandan can’t live without banana, and here everyone can live freely with an abundance of food. The difference in body stature from Kenya to here was clear, evident of the food availability, if you don’t grow it, your neighbours will. They say it’s better to be a poor man in Uganda than Kenya, you’re guaranteed food here, at least.
Our journey to our first stop was wet and slow, the road flooding after only a few millimetres, infrastructure unable to keep up, the thunderstorms wrecking havoc for roadside vendors and locals commuting home after their first day back from holiday break. For once, rain, gloomy grey skies and a briskness in the air I’ve not had in over a year. I now live in my one jumper I brought, oblivious to African winters, clearly. Passing stadium Uganda I was proud of this country I’ve just stepped foot in, their cricket team we were told has qualified for the T20 World Cup. Go Uganda!
Our first day in lake Mutanda, our home base for the gorillas I spent heading to Rwanda for a day trip, whilst others trekked the golden monkeys, a specie only found here Uganda. For me, the history of Rwanda was calling me more, after all the next day I would be seeing enough monkeys…. Although don’t tell the gorillas I told them so!
(To read about my visit to the Rwandan Genoicde Museum: https://www.darceymae.com/blog )
Our Gorilla trek the following day was an early start, the 2 hour drive over bumpy roads in a non-4wd mini bus not the most thrilling way to wake up before a long hike, I was drugged up before we even got there, anyone for some codeine?
When arriving at the gorilla centre, your safety brief and introduction takes precedence, before you choose your length of trek: short, medium or long. Being 99% sure I’ve torn my ACL or meniscus in my knee after many subluxations this trip I opted for the short, knowing the least amount of scrambling up and down muddy mountains would mean I would be less likely to be helicoptered out, and actually get to see what I came to see, this gorilla trek afterall was the initial purpose of my visit here. As a kid, I was addicted to monkeys, and whilst I now know gorillas are not in fact monkeys, I still love them, and the past 9 weeks of venturing up and around the continent has been leading to this moment right here, to trek the mountain gorillas of the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, why someone would call it that I do not know. Nonetheless, we in fact did penetrate the forest this day and it was Fricking magical. Mum will be glad to hear I didn’t put that on my jumper : I penetrated the impenetrable forest.
From the start, the views of the mountains stunning, the cool air transformative and noises of the forest blissful. Listening for birds, forest elephants, smaller in size so they can navigate the tough terrain, dickbies, a new type of antelope, and the joyful flies and ants! The lush greenery insane, I felt we were quite literally walking through some magical forest out of a fairytale, eager to find our family of 13 gorillas, the Bwini family.
Only 15 families of gorillas in this forest are used to humans, and even those we would visit are unpredictable and sometimes exercise caution, fear, aggressiveness, intrigue and placidness, we wouldn’t know which we would be getting this day. The uphill climb towards the calls of the trackers who had searched for our family that morning was easy enough, down would be harder, the dewy muddy ground a slip and slide situation. Once we got to the base of where the gorillas were we waited for the go ahead, the trackers trying to hold off whilst they waited for the gorillas to move out of a wasp nest!! Thanks guys!!
Next minute we were creating a path in the very abundant and lush jungle, the thick vines, branches, leaves and bush, the moisture of the air creating a kind of mud slide down the mountain. Once Imo was uncovered by the fire ants after she peed on their nest,,, the scramble began. In the intrepid packing list for this trip you’ll see: gardening gloves, I for one didn’t read said packing list, or anything since booking this trip, so did not bring gardening gloves. It became quickly apparent that that those gloves would come in handy when having to grab hold of branches, and climb through the thousands of stinging nettles. Oh well.
Stinging nettles fortunately only hurt, albeit quite a lot, for a short time. The thorns and other sticks and branches, not so much. My $10 long pants I grabbed from Kmart the day before I left, lifesaving but also not protecting my ass from the stings of the nettles or bites from ants. By the end of the day I would be giving these pants away, my slip and slides down the mountain meaning I had a butt sized patch of mud engraved in said pants. Counting our blessings that it wasn’t actively raining, or hadn’t rained in a while, as we slipped and slid down the mountain I couldn’t quite imagine having to do it when it was even more wet.
Without even realising, after scrambling up the mountain for all of 5 minutes we came face to face with the silverback gorilla, Bwindi, taking a snack on a tree whilst 2 babies came tumbling down past him before climbing a vine and having a sibling fight… cute! The tears began to flow as we took in our first encounter with these guys… the chaos of the climb raising our heart rates and not really allowing us to take in the moment. Next minute the silverback trudged past us and down the mountain, where we had only just moments before come from.
Back down we go. Eyes on the silverback, you don’t want to end up too close to him, we made our way back down to the clearing where our walking sticks we stupidly left down there were. Next minute, my feet both slid out from underneath me and I went tumbling down the last few metres of the climb landing at the feet of the ranger, who thankfully was ahead of me in the line. Then he starts whispering, in a serious and rushed tone, to take out my camera… NOW!! Confused I stood up and soon realised why, the silverback stood no more than 4 metres from me, standing his ground, eyes on the body that he just watched fall down the mountain…silly humans. The ranger kept rushing me “hurry…this never happens…take photos… quick”. Trust me mate, I’m trying… my fingers fumbling so much I couldn’t get my camera on. When I eventually did, I began to take in the moment I was witnessing, just me and one other girl were down there at this stage, watching this silverback in a large opening of the jungle.
A week later, I still struggle to comprehend the sheer size of the beast before us. He is huge, taller than me, even when leaning down on his 4 limbs, I couldn’t imagine if he stood up to prove how big he really is. Posing for our pictures, allowing the rest of our group to come down and enjoy the moment too, he stood their taking in his surroundings, his family on the right hand side having their lunch, these intruders on the left hand side taking in their surroundings, him. Before any of us could quite appreciate the moment, he started walking towards us. A scenario I had preempted from the get go, so strategically positioned myself next to the armed ranger to hide behind should I have too. The moment the silverback began striding toward me, I did exactly that and took refuge behind said gun and its operator, these silverbacks can hurt, and kill, if they wanted too. Someone’s instinct to flight in the flight or fight situation of being walked at by a silverback startled him, and following some grunting noise and speed walking he needed to establish his authority against his guests. Beyond thankful for the ranger with the gun, who took the brunt of the gesture, the silverback tugging hard at his pants pocket. Kudos to the ranger who remained very calm, the video I took which shows not a lot (I was scared, recording was not high on the priority list), he states “why did he punch me though”. lol. I would have probably screamed and run, the repercussions of that, not too fun.
Once the silverback was down the mountain moreso, we were able to take in the other members of his family of 13. Babies, mums with tiny babies clinging onto their backs, teenagers and juveniles, the whole brood was swinging, climbing, eating and chilling, the babies being ridiculously cute, my eyes always scanning for any sign of dad, fear definitely prominent right now.
We continued to follow them down, the funniest thing was watching the troop go down the steep descents, they would literally just tumble and fall and slide, just as we did… clearly, even for those that call this place their home, there’s no easier way to tackle it. Juveniles still learning the ropes were falling and rolling everywhere, hilarious. Being the first down the steep hill once again, this time starting on my ass to prevent the fall like last time meaning that this time my slip and slide, couldn’t be stopped. No matter what I held onto slipped out of my hand, my feet unable to establish themself in the mud, my eyes darting up to see the ranger, and then the silverback directly ahead of me. Fortunately he was too engrossed in his lunch to care, because I came to an abrupt stop only a few metres from him, thanks to the ranger who grabbed my shirt collar to prevent me from literally using the silverback as my stopping post. Life. Saver!
No idea how anyone walks this trail (it’s not really a trail) without just using their butt to inch their way along, no matter what shoes you wear it is impossible, although the guides and rangers make it seem easy, although it was clear when we returned to the starting point that no one had gotten muddier than myself. Classic.
The remainder of our hour with the family, the time restraint implemented strictly to prevent too much interruption to their natural movements, was blissful. Still on a high from getting as close as we did, and after seeing babies, anything we saw from that point onwards was an added bonus. The 800+ gorillas in this park are protected and constantly monitored by armed guards. They are still sought out by poachers and as all conservation efforts to put silverbacks into captivity to begin breeding programs and help the struggling species fail, the beasts going on hunger strike and ultimately dying within weeks, it’s imperative we protect them. Only 15 families of the 50 are used to tourists watching, but all are watched and protected from afar by guards.
The walk back to the vans, we were rejuvenated, alive and buzzing, none of us quite believing the experience we all just shared. The 8km loop flew, and soon we were being presented with our gorilla trek graduation certificates and sharing experiences with the other group who went to a different family, only 8 people at a time allowed to visit a particular troop.
Words can’t quite describe this day, it was everything this trip has been leading too and everything I could have wished for and more. Babies were high on my agenda, and I never could quite imagine how big the silverbacks would be, still not comprehending what I came face to face with, the fact he brushed past my leg insane. The 10m radius the program implements, just like the whales, are there for both our and their safety, but like with anything in nature, if they decide to enter the boundary, there’s not a whole lot you can do, so I felt very grateful for that experience, that as the guard kept telling me, one that doesn’t come around very often.
Stoked that the final animal on my long list of hope-to-sees had been ticked, in the most incredible way possible. My knees pained on the journey home, sure I’ve done some damage after stacking it for the 3rd time at the Rwanda border the day prior, but not so much caring knowing we’ve just had a once in a lifetime experience, hoping that one day I get to re-live.
Our campsite, Lake Mutanda camp was the perfect place for base camp whilst we ventured into the jungle, the heavens absolutely opening by the time we got home at 4pm that afternoon, once again thanking the earth for not making us trek in that weather, although everyone agreeing we would have made it our life missions to make it no matter what. Knee sore, back hating the bumpy drives, but views beautiful as the fog rolled through, the views over the lake stunning, on otter watch as they are known to hang out here, playing cards in the darkness after another black out, adrenaline still too high for bed.
In the morning a coffee tour woke up the team whilst Imo and I jumped in a mokoro to go find some otters, having already done a coffee tour and wanting to see these beauties before we headed off. The $5 ride was blissful, the morning fog resting on the glass off, beautiful, making me excited to get back to the Indian Ocean in a weeks time, despite how short my time on it will be. Not quite wanting to believe in a week the trip will be over but soaking up the moment at the same time, once again gobsmacked that the day before I had such an incredible time with a silverback gorilla, and took myself for a celebratory jog into the village, my knees not thanking me but brain is, we continued our journey into Uganda, there was still more to see here.
Our next stop was Jinja, the most modern bridge I’ve seen since arriving in Cape Town, our camp just outside of the city rests on the Nile river overlooking one of its many grade 6 rapids. Built for overlanders the camp was a perfect place to rest and reflect on the time spent with the gorillas, the wifi fast a treat, FaceTimes home to mum whose road tripping in her first van through QLD, exchanging each of our river views, mine personally better… I mean it’s the Fricking Nile!
Some spent our free day rafting along the rapids, others jumping from the campsites bungee jump… brave! Having done both, and being very low on funds I opted for a chill day, life admin already stressing me out, starting a job and moving house whilst away not ideal. My walk along the river after long blissful and alone, I had to have a dip in the warm waters of the Nile despite the warnings from staff, it’s not that unsafe surely! Nonetheless I wasn’t letting go of the vines, them snapping might have sent me down said grade 6 rapids feeling quite sorry for myself. Finding the campsites neighbouring resort pool I made myself scarce from socialising and enjoyed the afternoon relaxing with a little bit of sun popping through, before I even put on a dress for our river cruise.
The river Nile, 6650km long, at its widest point, 2.8km. It flows through Burundi, Tanzania, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Uganda, Sudan, Ethiopia, and South Sudan and its source, a controversial topic around these parts. Thus, we visit one of them, Lake Victoria, before colonisation known as Lake Ukerewe. The first actual stream of water is actually in Rwanda, but despite efforts to trek the whole river it still can’t be determined, where the first source of the Nile is. The birdlife on the lake magnificent, even me (couldn’t care less about birds) was impressed, the blue king fisher beautiful, the other king fishers cousins of Australia’s Kookaburra, although they look like little brothers compared. Cute.
Where the lake forms into the Nile of course a photo opportunity, but the main attraction, the sun set, stunning. After a day of heavy rain and gloomy skies we were blessed with blue skies and the most African sunset one can ask for. In a classic lion king moment we of course had to play Toto’s Africa and enjoy our included drink, my alcohol tolerance clearly reduced since my 21st. Eventually home I crawled into bed for an early night before a 5am breakfast call in the morning, unapologetically over eggs and beans by this point, never a breakfast person anyways but especially not after 9 weeks of more or less the same.
We leave Uganda for the Kenya border today, it’s crossing once again an indication of how corrupt the country is, even a drivers licence is attainable despite ever having stepped foot in a car. You can do anything with money, even avoid visa rules it seems, but after a small bribe we were in and you’ll be happy to hear if you ever make it to Kenya they are now Visa Free, although don’t forget the online form.
My final land border crossing, after 14 throughout the last 10 weeks I’ll be happy to see the end of immigration authorities, rarely seeing smiles from any of them. Thus I survived and don’t get thrown into African prison, also sad that it means the end of the trip is near. In a weeks time I’ll be in Perth, a bittersweet and short homecoming.
Uganda has surprised me, and it’s a country I’d once again love to come and travel for longer, a solo traveller I met at lake makumi inspiring me with her 15 month road trip through africa, more or less doing the same route as me, just taking her time. The 43 year old is on instagram at @joelle.and.james_overlanding and continues to document her journey before she will ship her red ford transit back to Europe in the new year. What an experience, what a legend.
