On Safari Again, Pt. 3: Gorillas in Tim’s Mist
We started our trip in Kenya, spending two nights in Nairobi before beginning our safari in Amboseli National Park where we saw a lot of African wildlife and checked out a traditional village of the Masai tribe. This was followed by two more stops, Lewa Conservancy and Masai Mara, encountering endangered rhinos and zebras, as well as lion cubs at the first stop and then the crossing of the wildebeests while lions, cheetahs, and vultures feasted on anything and everything in sight. Now it was time for the final and most exciting leg of our safari; Gorilla trekking in Uganda and here’s what our itinerary told us to expect while in the country:
Uganda, or the ‘Pearl of Africa’, as it was famously dubbed by Winston Churchill, is characterised by relatively dry and flat savanna in the north, with verdant mountains in the West, and vast dense and remarkably lush forests in the central region. The nation is home to an astonishingly diverse range of African wildlife including the highly endangered mountain gorilla which can be found in the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. A popular spot for wildlife watching is Queen Elizabeth National Park, which hosts four of the Big Five, a flock of flamboyant flamingos and the rare tree-climbing lions of Ishasha. Outdoor enthusiasts can get their adrenaline fix with plenty of whitewater rafting, kayaking, hiking, quad biking and horse riding facilities on offer. Add to this some friendly locals, a burgeoning cultural scene, and a capital city full of lively bars, clubs and restaurants, and it is easy to see why Uganda has gained itself a reputation as ‘Africa’s friendliest country’.
Clearly there wouldn’t be time for everything listed there, but we would definitely be taking part in the main attraction.
Monday, August 12, 2024
Our stay in Kenya was done and now it was time to move on to Uganda. This was going to be a relatively quiet day, one where we said goodbye to Benjamin, our guide from Masai Mara, before heading to the local airstrip, catching a flight back to Wilson Airport, and then another one to Entebbe, a city in central Uganda, with our mandatory yellow fever vaccination certificates in hand. From there we were driven to the resort where we would be spending the night on the Lake Victoria peninsula:
Day 11: Protea Hotel by Marriott Entebbe, Entebbe (Mon, 12 August)
Situated on a peninsula in Lake Victoria, the former seat of Uganda’s government, Entebbe is just a short drive from the current capital and offers plenty to keep visitors amused. This charming town features tree-lined streets and serves as an excellent base from which to explore the surrounding area. Tourists can look forward to spending days on beautiful beaches along the banks of Lake Victoria, stroll through the fields and forests of the magnificent Botanical Gardens, or pay a visit to Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary, a haven for country’s orphaned chimps.Overnight: Protea Hotel by Marriott Entebbe
This 73-roomed hotel is ideally located on the glistening shores of Lake Victoria and a convenient 1km from the airport. Protea Hotel by Marriott Entebbe has a restaurant that offers an exciting and truly inviting a la carte menu seven days of the week. Specialties include Tilapia and Nile Perch, while guests can also relax on the terrace and bar. It’s a hotel that complements your travel style. With elegant furnishings and a warm, inviting feel, the hotel’s decor and rooms create a luxurious atmosphere. The outside terrace, with its own special ambience and superb lake views is the perfect place to take it all in.
As soon as we arrived at the hotel one thing became abundantly clear; if all of Uganda is this beautiful, it will be an added bonus to potentially finding gorillas in the wild.
We were there at a decent hour so we took in the sunset at the outdoor bar in the perfect, balmy weather before having some enormous portions of fantastic local soup, fish, and vegetable dishes, but we had yet another incredibly early start the next morning so it wasn’t long before we had to call it a night.
Saying farewell to Benjamin in Kenya and hello to Uganda:
Tuesday, August 13, 2024
The reason we had such an exceptionally early morning was because our flight was to depart at 7:00am, but we still had to be driven to Entebbe International Airport. We somehow made it on time and once again we were in our painfully small, six-seater aircraft, one so old that the seal was detaching from the doorframe where one of the pilots was sitting, but it touched down on the dirt Kihihi Airstrip an hour later without too many issues, one of our pilots reading through a checklist of what to do while we were taxiing, and this time Anna purposely got some photos of me with our microscopic aeroplane.
It was a 45-minute drive from the airstrip, beginning in a small town and then onto dirt roads through the countryside, past small shops and houses surrounded by farmland and tea plantations, and just after midday we arrived and settled in for the final days of our safari:
Day 12-14: Buhoma Lodge, Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park (Tue, 13 August to Thu, 15 August)
Located in southwestern Uganda, the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest is said to be Africa’s oldest rainforest. It is world- renowned for its excellent gorilla-sighting opportunities – the forest is home to half of the remaining mountain gorillas on earth. This gorilla experience takes place among a rugged landscape of dense jungle, cascading waterfalls, sparkling mountain streams, deep valleys, and steep ridges. The untouched forest has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its breathtaking natural beauty and unique ecological significance, and aside from the amazing gorilla interactions, there are other drawcards such as a network of forest walks, over 340 species of bird to spot, and a variety of brightly-coloured butterflies to identify. Don’t miss the opportunity to explore the spectacular Virunga Volcanoes, three of which are still active
Overnight: Buhoma Lodge
Nestled at the gateway to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, Buhoma Lodge is one of only two lodges set within the national park, and is the perfect lodge of choice when embarking on your bucket-list Gorilla trekking adventure.
Renowned for its warm welcome and attentive service, guests love the homely ambience of this Africa inspired lodge. Constructed using sustainable materials, the elevated central lounge, bar and dining area (serving delicious multi-course meals) offers a cosy spot for guests to unwind, and offers amazing uninterrupted views over the forest. The crackling fireplace adds a mystical atmosphere to cooler evenings.
Tranquil and cosy, the ten spacious eco friendly wooden chalets offer a private escape. Fall asleep to the sounds of the forest and awaken to chattering birds and monkeys as day breaks. Enjoy morning tea/coffee on your private verandah with sweeping views over the primal forest– what better way to start the day.
With Buhoma set just steps away from the trek start point, gorillas have been spotted popping in for an occasional visit, while our resident L’Hoest’s monkey troup visit the gardens in front of the lodge almost daily, much to the delight of our guests.
Once we had checked in we realised that there were several flights of stairs to get to our cabin so let’s hope both of those treks aren’t too brutal, but it was going to be a great spot to stay nonetheless. Now because we had all of the afternoon and evening to relax without getting into another plane or Jeep we spent it in the lounge area kicking back with a drink or two in the bar and then dinner, all the while chatting with the staff.
Our flight, our camp, and some scenes to and from the airport:
And if you’re wondering what it’s like to land in a plane that small on a dirt runway, here you go:
Wednesday, August 14, 2024
The first of two gorilla treks in back to back days was upon us so what could we actually expect? Well, this is what our itinerary said we had in store:
Mount Gorilla Trekking
Mountain gorillas are wild animals and, as such, sightings cannot be guaranteed. However viewing success rates are over 90%. Once sighted, visitors are allowed an hour with the gorillas. Overnighting in Bwindi is required the night before tracking due to your early morning start. As tracking can sometimes take a full day, a second nights accommodation is also highly recommended. Ideally 2 to 3 nights are suggested to enjoy this region.
Gorilla tracking timings and conditions vary tremendously as the gorillas move continuously through the rain forest. It is good to be prepared and remember the weather can change with very little warning. The terrain is often steep and through areas where there are no marked paths. It can be VERY strenuous – it may be just a couple of hours but it can also be for a full day of up to 8 hours or more of hiking in hot, high altitude conditions – please be prepared for this by being as fit as possible!
Because we were going up into a rainforest we were encouraged to cover up completely and wear muted tones so I donned a pair of hiking pants, a black long-sleeved t-shirt, a windbreaker, and my hiking boots, Anna opting for something similar, plus we both had legs sleeves so roots and vines wouldn’t destroy our lower body. Another tip was that although the two of us don’t usually eat breakfast, it was highly recommended that we did the mornings of the treks, because not only would we need a lot of energy, but we also had no idea when our next meal would be coming so we would need to be in the restaurant area at 6:00am each morning for coffee and the breakfast spread so we could get to the main centre at Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park by 6:30. There was also the option to pay for porters to carry our bags, experienced hikers who do this trail multiple times per week and know it like the back of their hand so Anna’s initial plan was to get one between us, but they were only US$20.00 plus a tip for the entire day so it was best to make our hike as easy as possible and get one each.
It was a short walk to the main building and once there we were all welcomed with two traditional tribal dances where members of the audience were invited up to take part as well, followed by a safety briefing and a Q&A session, all the while an artist painted gorillas on a canvas off to the side. When it was time we were separated into separate groups doing different hikes, ours deemed intermediate level, so we were given a wooden hiking pole each and we were on our way with several armed guides up ahead.
Let’s get this show on the road!:
It was just our luck that we had been grouped with a bunch of Germans, who are notoriously good hikers and one of whom was wearing a t-shirt from competing in the New York Marathon so this was going to be no easy trek. Early each morning a group of trackers are deployed to try to find families of gorillas in advance, but we still didn’t have a definite location yet, all we could do was continue up the steep, slippery path to the summit. As we suspected, the Germans, regardless of age and with all of their professional hiking equipment were advancing rapidly without any issues, as were our porters, them just strolling along with their hands in their pockets and our bags on their backs. Anna and myself on the other hand were slipping and sliding, grabbing onto trees and vines for leverage, sometimes requiring a hand from our porters, and falling over more than once. The only silver lining was that we hadn’t tumbled down a deadly ravine.
We had been tackling this hill for over an hour, but not a lot of news was coming to us from the front and before long we had reached the summit and were now going down over the other side when finally we received word that there was a big family of gorillas called the Rushegura Group a little way off the track. After almost an hour and a half of us dragging ourselves up and over a mountain we had finally found what we were looking for! Everyone was required to wear masks when we were in the vicinity of the gorillas, because they share 98.3% of our DNA, making them susceptible to contracting Covid. We watched as they just lazed around, some eating while the mothers nursed their young. Others just slept on the ground, a baby played in the trees, swinging from branch to branch, and at one point I had a silverback brush past my leg as it ran across to another area. Surprisingly, those guys aren’t as tall as I expected.
It was incredible how close we were able to get to this family of gorillas and we were shown the ID sheets back at the camp later in the day, see if you can pick who’s who:
We spent an hour with the gorillas and then we moved to another area for a small lunch. It was extremely humid in that jungle and I was sweating profusely from the hike, so much so that a thick mist was radiating off me, made even more evident by my plain black t-shirt. Anna initially thought that someone was smoking or smuggled in a vape, but she couldn’t contain her laughter when she realised that it was I who was responsible for the dense fog surrounding us, so much so that she missed the opportunity for a photo to humiliate me once more.
Now an even more difficult task was upon us, we had to make our way back down this soggy, crumbly slope on our tired and aching legs. As soon as we began going down I thought I must have been stabbed in the arm by a thorn or something, but as it got itchier and more swollen our porter told me that I had probably been stung by a wasp. Not a particularly auspicious beginning to our descent. Going down didn’t take quite as long as coming up, but it was far more difficult to get our footing, our feet sometimes just sliding out from under us, even when the porters calmly pulled their hands out of their pockets to assist us. Obviously this wasn’t an issue for the experienced German hikers and a little over an hour later we were back at the base. We returned our poles and paid and tipped our porters and took the ten-minute walk back to the camp, one that felt like eternity. It was even worse when we remembered we had to climb the steps up to our cabin again on our burning, gelatinous-feeling legs and when we finally got off our feet I looked at my phone and it said we had climbed the equivalent of 105 flights of stairs, but even that seemed a little low. It then sunk in that we were going to do this again the following day.
Thursday, August 15, 2024
We started out the exact same way as the day before by getting up at 5:30am for our strongly suggested breakfast before returning back to the centre for the ceremonial dances and safety briefing and then we set off once more to penetrate the so-called Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. There were going to be pros and cons to today’s trek:
Pros:
- We were taking the same path as the previous day so we were somewhat familiar with it and knew what to expect.
- There were no professional European hikers in our group, rather a bunch of older Americans and one particularly unfit younger woman who had trouble keeping up with us, her glasses constantly fogging up in the damp environment.
Cons:
- We could barely move our legs from yesterday’s trek so we had a bit of trouble keeping up too. The lactic acid burn was real!
As is the routine, a group of trackers had set out before us to try to locate a family of gorillas and fortunately for us we were only hiking for around 45 minutes before our guides heard on the radio that some had been found, this time the Mubare Group, however, they were in an area quite far off the track where the forest became slightly more “impenetrable”, but after a quarter of an hour the gorillas were before us once more.
On our second trek we weren’t able to get quite as close as we had the day before, but that didn’t mean anybody missed out on anything, we had just been spoilt yesterday. This sighting was still incredible as these photos show, as well as a video of three of them passing us while crossing a track and another of one eating without a care in the world. Again, the ID sheets came later back at the camp:
Again we stayed for an hour before having our small lunch, although this time I wasn’t emanating anywhere near as much steam and was getting stung by fewer wasps compared to the day before, however, we did have more slips and slides descending the mountain on the way back. For Anna it may have been due to her wanting to be more independent and not relying on too much help from our porters, but I think for both of us it was more because we had drained every last ounce of strength from our legs over two days on these hikes, but we finally made it to the bottom once more, earning a relaxing drink or two in the lounge to wrap up our trip.
We departed very early again the following morning for our trip back to Singapore that would consist of four separate flights and multiple hours-long layovers, sometimes sitting for five hours at the only cafe in a tiny airport, others for extended lengths in spectacular lounges. It was a total of 48 hours from when we departed Buhoma Lodge in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest until we were back in our living room in Singapore, us exhausted from all of the early starts, the game drives and treks, and then all of the connecting flights to get home, plus the ongoing jet lag that followed, but we would do it all again in a heartbeat, especially if it meant we would get to see a crocodile take down a wildebeest next time. Yet again, another big shoutout to Jess Miller at Redfoot Safaris, none of this would’ve been possible without all of your help and organisation, and we wouldn’t have these, either!:
Any Questions or Comments? Leave Them Here!