Gorilla tracking adventure in Uganda

Gorilla tracking adventure in Uganda

Day 3: 30th November 2018

Below is the map of the trek and the altitude

We got up at 6am again so we could get ourselves organised for the days Gorilla trek. Breakfast at 6:45am then about a 1Km drive to the National Park.

Whilst we were waiting for the briefing, we met a brother & sister from America (he was from California & she was from Vermont) first thing they also said to us was that they didn’t vote for Trump. The guy has setup a program to help young people in Zimbabwe appreciate the wildlife, so every year they come to Africa and run a program for school kids to interact with the wildlife, especially the Painted Wild Dogs. 

Before the briefing I saw a lady who’s t-shirt said “Eat, Sleep, Safari, Repeat”, I have to say I thought it was a great t-shirt.

The briefing was done by one of the rangers, it’s a great story lots of local employment, a portion of the money from the Gorilla permits goes directly to the local communities. But some of the other benefits are that the infrastructure that goes in, mainly roads, Wi-Fi, electricity and lots of local employment. 

He told us a story of the 3 great apes that used to live in the area, Gorillas, chimpanzees and humans, however there doesn’t appear to be any chimps around and the humans have been relocated. There are still forest elephants here though, and we saw the evidence they left on the trail (giant poo). An armed ranger walks with each group, to protect us from an unexpected elephant encounter.

We were assigned Florence as our guide, a local lady who studied Tourism Management and Wildlife, Florence really does love her job leading the treks and it turns out she’s the boss she also told me she is married with 2 kids who both want to be doctors.

The family we were going to see was called Mucunguzi Group, which is a family of 10 has a Silverback, a couple of females and a couple of babies. There were some very happy people in our trekking group, including Lisa and me.

We jumped back in the van with Ronald (Florence joined us) and drove on some more crazy dirt roads, Florence told me that there was a landslide this morning so people were clearing it and the Gorilla trackers had to find an alternative route to the gorillas.

At about halfway on the drive (20minutes) to the drop off point, we picked up the rest of our trekking companions. A German lady now living in Switzerland, 2 New Zealanders (living in Australia but still supporting the All Blacks), and some old dude and a German lady with a bung knee (blonde hair with a knee brace).

We got to the drop off point where Lisa and I met our porters, Lisa’s porter was Hillary and mine was Valentine, we then began the slow climb to find the Mucunguzi family.

We walked along a road that was under construction, it was just a dirt road but it was all being done by hand and let me say credit has to go the guys working on the road as we were at 2000m above sea level, just breathing at 2000m above sea level is hard enough. But as far as offices go this office had spectacular views.

It was interesting talking to the folks who we were trekking with as they were doing a Nomad overlanding trip, but more importantly the guy from NZ was a doctor and I like to have a doctor around just in case.

Once we entered the forest it became abundantly clear why it’s called the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, it was just incredibly dense vegetation and hard work getting through. It is also very steep, and the “path” is almost invisible.  Given my knee injury it made it somewhat more difficult, but I had Valentine to hold my hand and help me through.

After about an hour of walking through the impenetrable jungle we met our Gorilla rangers, these guys follow the gorilla families from dawn to dusk just to ensure their safety. From here the real adventure begins, actually watching the gorillas.

First we saw the Silverback (we were so excited) he looked like a young Silverback but he was still big.

Then a female with a baby came and sat by them, from that moment on we just watched these amazing animals, they are unbelievably peaceful. Personally I think that as humans we could learn a lot from them.

The only thing that happened on the trek that really annoyed me was the woman with the bung leg, she clearly didn’t understand group etiquette which is take your photo then move back and allow someone else to do the same. She constantly pushed her way as close as possible and then moved in front of other people’s view, the whole situation came to a head let’s say.

So here is a tip for free, listen to the guides and then do exactly as they say. The gorillas are wild animals even if they have been habituated.

The guides had told us we could move into a position directly in front of the Silverback, but we had to observe the stay 7 meters away rule. The lady with the bung leg moved further around to the side than she should have (in an effort to get closer than anyone else) the guides told her to go back and move to her left. Instead she moved forward toward the Silverback, she startled a female and her baby of the Mucunguzi family, which made the Silverback spring into action, he charged her and gave her a big don’t argue, she flew backwards and landed flat on her back. 

But let me be clear the Silverback was just protecting his family and she was really luck that’s all he did.

The rangers all rushed to her and tried to get between her and the Silverback but it was all over in the blink of an eye. She wasn’t hurt and thought it was fantastic that she had been “touched” by a Silverback.

So here is the reality, aside from not listening the rangers, she put her own life at risk and jeopardised the entire trek for the rest of us, it’s also incredibly bad for the gorillas to physically touch people because of the risk of spreading of diseases. Lastly Florence is responsible for all the trekkers with her, if someone gets injured on her watch, it’s her job…and you can see that they are trying really hard to not only ensure everybody’s safety (including the gorillas), but also that the tourists enjoy the experience.

From there we watched the gorillas for a little longer, you only get an hour with the gorillas but its worth every cent. The Silverback rolled onto his back and showed us his crown jewels. Apparently they don’t do that very often so we were very luck indeed.

We left the gorillas there and headed out of the National Park and off to collect our certificates. The hike out was very much like my Kokoda trek, up and down hills in the tropics where its just hot and humid.

Lisa’s with her porter, Hillary and me with Valentine

Once back at the Rushaga Gorilla Camp, we settled in for some well earned G&T (a local brew made from bananas) and a Vodka for Lisa.

One of the staff brought over a 3 Horned Chameleon to show us, he was an impressive little dude.

Then it started to rain, how “I’ve missed the rains down in Africa, gonna take some time to do the things we never have….” So I played the song, you know the one.