gorillas in uganda

Gorilla Trekking in Uganda Our motivation to come to Africa for a second time started with our desire to see some of the remaining 700 Silver Back Mountain Gorillas in their natural environment. After researching our options, we decided to go to Bwindi National Park in Uganda. This park is currently occupied by 300+ gorillas or 50% of the gorillas in the world today. These mountain gorillas move in families sometimes as large as 30 – 40 members. Before we begin to tell about our trek, I would first like to tell you about why it is possible that the gorillas, once on the verge of extinction, are still alive today. Not long ago gorillas were hunted for their hands and heads to be sold as decorative items and ashtrays. Baby gorillas were also taken by trackers to sell to zoo. One woman, named Diane Fossey, put up a fierce fight to save the gorillas from extinction. She worked fearlessly in third world countries to stop poaching of these beautiful creatures. Many of you may have seen the movie Gorilla’s in the Mist that documented her life work. I myself, remember reading about her for the first time in National Geographic when I was a young woman. It is believed that Diane Fossey died a brutal death at the hands of poachers in 1985 after living and working with the gorillas for over twenty years. So now let us begin our search for the beautiful Uganda Silverback Gorillas. I had investigated the gorillas trekking for two years before we decided the where, when and how too's. The gorilla trekking cost almost $800 per person and for that you are given one hour to spend amongst the gorillas. The only concern I had is that we would be tracking the gorillas in some of the most unforgiving terrain in the world that also contains some of the most dangerous animals on the globe. I had read that the process was grueling consisting of steep climbs, soaring heat and rain all suffered within extreme high altitude. The line in the travel material “not for the faint of heart or out of shape” summed it up. I was pretty sure if I was being honest that I was at least one out of the two. But I had pushed myself to defy my age before whether it was bungee jumping, waterskiing or hiking and somehow everything always came out okay. So how bad could this be???? The day started out with preparation for our venture which included our hiking clothes, rain gear and gloves and of course lots of water …one liter each in our back pack. I cannot describe the excitement we felt as we started our three hour drive up the mountain to the base camp of our trek. When we arrived we were put in a group with eight other people there also to see the gorillas. With one quick glance it was clear we were twice maybe even three times older than the others. I had heard that the trackers put the slowest person up front to set the pace for the group so we all stay together…at last my worst fears would be realized. Through my research I also learnt that one should hire a porter or two when trekking. They are local boys who need the money and will carry your back pack, water and help you when you get tired. Roy and I decided to hire two one for each of us. We started out trek with an armed tracker in front of our group and one behind our group. I inquired their purpose and was told that there were rouge illas and elephants that were extremely dangerous. I was also told that the guns were more to scare them off then shoot them. Roy and I began in the middle of the pack and after the first mile found our self at the back. During our first rest stop the tracker said that I would be the lead and pacer. It is hard to explain what that felt like. I was crushed to see hard evidence of my body aging and defining me. With determination and a tear in my eye I started following the lead tracker deep into the jungle. My porter a young boy stepped in front of me to lead the way. In minutes we were climbing the steepest terrain I have ever climbed. Within moments the young boy grabbed my hand and guided me up the mountain. The tracker was just a few feet in front of us using a large machete to cut a path through thick jungle brush. We brushed by branches filled with thorns, vines and God only knows what snakes and other animals hidden on the jungle floor. At times we hiked through mud that covered my favorite pair of hiking boots. The mud even went past the socks that I had my pants tucked into so the stinging red ants wouldn’t find their way up my leg. Other times we were cutting our way through sharp grass that was so tall it blocked vision from every angle. After about an hour, my legs shaking from exhaustion would hardly even move. This is when Roy’s porter also a nice young man put his hands on my butt and started to push me from behind as I climbed. This then left Roy pretty much on his own to navigate the rough terrain. I knew he was hurting, but his concern for me was also obvious and emotionally overwhelming. I will tell you that I have never in my life experienced such body pain and total lack of any strength. My body was covered with sweat and I was thirsty beyond belief. When we stopped again for a brief rest and a swig of our water the tracker said that we must keep moving because the gorillas are moving fast and we want to catch up to them. As we started again on our assent into the mountain jungle, I looked back at the others and said that I was sorry but I was moving as fast as I could. One cute young girl from Australia said “Cindy you are doing an amazing job and the pace is perfect …we are tired too”. I had to literally look away in fear that I would breakdown right there in the jungle in tears. We continued to move forward in our search for the gorillas. However now I began to wonder how the hell I would ever get out of this jungle when we headed back. Almost three hours into our trek we found the first gorilla sitting eating some thistles next to a small tree. Since I was covered with sweat and mud, I was sure he looked far better from his journey than I did. My heart still pounding from the climb was now doing double time when I saw the gorilla. For the next hour or so we stood in ankle deep water and moved with the gorillas sharing the same tropical space. When they came close enough to touch us, the trackers asked us to step back. However, often the gorillas came right next to us almost seeming to defy the trackers orders. We were covered with small flies and bugs as were the gorillas. The temperature had to be at least 95* as we all moved slowly watching the gorillas eat and play. At one point we were just feet away from a mom and her new baby gorilla. The baby was nursing and then seeing us decided to act up a bit. We all laughed at how cute the little guy was. I knew the time was passing quickly and towards the end of our hour we all decided to put down our camera’s and just take in the amazing opportunity we had to see these beautiful animals. There is not much more to say about the climb out of the jungle except to tell you that it was as I imagined HELL! Especially since all of us ran out of water and were exhausted. Roy fared better than I did but said it was the hardest thing he had also ever done. In all we hiked about 15 K or 12 miles in a period of 5 pain filled hours. But it was SO worth it. The gorilla trek was the most exciting and moving animal experience we had ever had. The last thing I will add is our thanks to Diane Fossey for without her work and sacrifice our gorilla experience would have not been possible. We hope you enjoy our gorilla in the mist pictures. gor

Uganda Photo's

UGANDA

Uganda What comes to mind when you think of Uganda? Well, if you are like Roy and I, you immediately think of Idi Amin, “The Big Man” or “The Butcher of Uganda” which he’s called by Ugandians. This evil dictator became the President of Uganda and almost immediately created almost eight years of terror within his country. He also created images that were seen around the world of thousands of slaughtered men, women and children lying in shallow graves. Many predict his humanitarian offenses took the lives of more than 300,000 innocent Ugandians. Unfortunately for the citizens of Uganda, this period in their countries history, also stopped all forms of tourism. For decades now and even today one see’s few outsiders. So, with these awful images still sketched in our minds, you can imagine how sureal it was to be traveling the backroads, mountains and cities throughout Uganda with nothing but a guide, tent and sleeping bag, The pearl of Africa is the slogan of this beautiful mountainess country mainly because it land locked surrounded by other African countries. Uganda is a country of around 36 million people each belonging to one of the more than 56 tribes. Since each tribe has it’s own language, Uganda has chosen english as their main language to make communication possible for all tribes. The country is extremely poor in fact more than 50% of Uganians make less then one dollar a day. As we traveled for days throughout the country we were taken back by seeing hungry children in ragged clothes living with their families in small dirt huts. Vendors on the streets have wood holding up a sun torn cloth to cover their produce or meats that hang in the open air covered by the dust from the streets and flies. Although most people that live in Uganda never leave their village, travel is very difficult because the roads are mostly dirt covered and filled with ruts and rocks. The countries mainly agricultural and harvest sugar cane, coffee and tea. As we drove through town after town we were greeted enthusiastically by children running to wave to us even sometimes following our auto for blocks shouting with excitement. Since we were some of the few tourist in the country, we created a sense of excitement and curiousity for the locals. Old and young met our presence with a smile or a hello. Uganda people are by far some of the friendliest people we have met in Africa thus far. We spoke with many people here and each expressed hope for the future. So for now things are stable throughout this beautiful country. However, tribal wars can arise with the slightest turmoil. I have included a few images we captured of Uganda on the road. Our tour throughout the country was to travel high into the mountains in search of the ellusive mountain gorillas. More on that to come…