Today ended up being a whole day of traveling from Uganda to Tanzania. We left Sanctuary Gorilla Forrest Camp @ 7:30AM for a 1 1/2 hour drive to Kihihi airport to catch a flight back to Entebbe. We had lunch at the VIP lounge during our transit at the airport prior to our flight out to Nairobi International Airport* in Kenya. We then flew out of Nairobi down to Kilimanjaro airport in Tanzania. From there we were met by the Sanctuary reps to drive us 2 hours to Arusha. By the time we got to the Arusha Coffee Lodge, we were done. Skipped dinner and went straight to bed after a quick shower.
*Silly incident at the Nairobi airport. As we were going through security, the guards said, “Jambo!” The two of us looked around confused thinking that the lane was only for Jambojet passengers. Then the guard said, “Nihao!”. It took us a while to realize that ‘Jambo’ meant ‘hello’ in Swahili. We looked like clueless tourists.
After a disappointing first trek, I knew it would only get better because they wouldn’t possibly assign us to the same group would they? Luckily, our driver accompanied us this time instead of the camp manager, and he heeded my preference. He gave us 2 options: one group has baby gorillas, the other has a huge silverback but no baby gorillas and is a longer trek. Of course I picked the huge silverback and longer trek.
We were assigned to the Mubare family with some fit looking hikers (couples from germany, czech republic, and another from CA). Before setting off, the guide asked who would be the slower hikers, but no one raised their hands. So he said, “we’ll find out.”
Off we went. We followed the same path as we did yesterday, but we quickly branched off the main path and started climbing uphill. The uphill continued for the next 2+ hours through clear path and then through dense shrub, and amazingly everyone kept up with the guide, and he admitted he was impress with our group. He said usually he’d have a huge gap between him and the rest of the group, and would have to stop to wait for everyone. Our group just stayed on his tail.
At one point, we had to back track as the trekkers who had set off 2 hours before we hadn’t locate the gorilla family, but we were soon on the right path when we spotted gorilla dung – I’ve never been so happy in my life to see poop.
Shortly after we were following 2 females.
And then we saw the giant silverback.
Then we just all forgot about all the other members of the family, and kept following the silverback.
Members of our group
and our guide hacking away at the brush so that we could get a good view of the silverback.
Looks almost human
The silverback was just busy eating and not paying us any mind. The whole time he would be grunting to let his members know that everything is fine. He also made a noise that sounded like something from Jurassic Park. It was quite eerie.
Finally our time was up and it was a 2 hour hike back down to the headquarters. As we got closer to the headquarters someone pointed out a gorilla in the trees. Then we saw baby gorillas on the ground and realized we had unexpectedly run into the Rushegura family (the family we saw yesterday)!
One of the silverbacks of the Rushegura family blocking our way.
By the time we got back to the camp, it was a little after 2PM, and we were soaking wet, but what an exciting day. This totally made up for shorter hike we did the day before. This time I made sure I didn’t touch the boxed lunch so that I could have a proper meal back at the lodge.
We took advantage of the free laundry service at the camp. Had our dirty hiking clothes cleaned so that we could pack up for our departure the next morning. Not only did they clean our clothes, they cleaned our hiking boots to the point where it looked like brand new pairs of boots!
So why fly all the way to Africa to see mountain gorillas? Apparently, there are no mountain gorillas in captivity, as they don’t survive in captivity. So what are all the gorillas we see in the zoos? Well, they are the Western lowland gorillas, not mountain gorillas. The only way to see mountain gorillas is to go to 3 countries in Africa – Uganda, Rwanda, and Congo (which isn’t safe to go to right now thanks to the continued fighting). We picked Uganda, because the trekking permits were cheaper ($600 per person per trek) vs. Rwanda’s $1500. Subsequently, we decided to do 2 treks – one per day.
There are 3-4 habituated gorilla families in the Buhome area. Habituated means that the gorillas have been slowly “exposed” to humans over the course of 2 years to the point where they are used to seeing humans, and yet still act as they normally would in nature. Obviously, there are wild gorillas whom, we were told, you don’t want to come into contact with, as they may be unpredictable.
These are the 3 families…
The way gorilla trekking works is as follows. The team of 3 trekkers will hike out @ 7AM to where they last left the gorilla family the evening before (gorillas are just like humans where they will ‘set up camp’ at night fall for bedtime, and then wake up in the AM to start foraging and traveling), the trekkers will then radio the guides to inform them of their location. Gorilla families obviously have their territories and will stay within bounds. Some are located closer to the headquarters than others.
Prior to our trek, I had made it quite clear I preferred going on the longer hike, but for some reason, we ended up trekking to the gorilla family closest to the headquarter – the Rushegura Family. It took less than 30 minutes before we came upon the family of gorillas.
Sanctuary Gorilla Forrest Camp had provided us with a boxed lunch for our hike, which we really didn’t need for such a short hike.
Once we arrived to the spot where the gorillas are, we got to spend a maximum of 1 hour with the gorillas. It was exciting to see the gorillas milling around in their natural habitat not minding us at all. One of them got within 5 ft of me (we were advised to keep a distance from the gorillas, to prevent transmission of disease to them). The same one had climbed onto a branch which broke right on top of me. It was craziness in the beginning. I finally got my bearings, and managed to stay out of the way.
People were taking selfies with the gorillas, and we just couldn’t pass up that chance.
Baby gorilla with the silver back in the background
Silly tourist with the silver back in the background
The silver back of this group wasn’t quite so impressive, but we were immensely entertained by the baby gorilla frolicking around us in the forest.
This one was all over the place…This silver back was just preoccupied by the flowers…
too busy eating.
Before we knew it our time was up, and it was back to camp. We got back before noon (so much for the boxed lunch) and had nothing else to do for the rest of the day. I’ll admit, I was disappointed by the short hike. However, this family of gorillas is perfect for old folks who are not as fit and can’t hike as long. This makes the gorillas accessible to them.
I spent the rest of the day praying that the next day’s adventure would be more exciting, and less a walk in the park.
The next morning, we met up with the Sanctuary rep for our 7:45AM flight to Kihihi. With our priority pass, we got to check out the VIP lounge at the airport for a quick bite – yummy beef samosa!
The Karibuni Lounge
We didn’t get to stay long, as someone came to fetch us for our flight.
This was our boarding pass for the puddle jumper.
The flight itself took an hour and a half after making 2 other stops in between. The first stop had us landing on a grassy airstrip!
And at the second stop in Kisoro, we landed on gravel!
Here are some birds eye view of Uganda’s terrain. Everything is so green and lush!
This is the Congo side of the border
This is the bird’s eye view of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park
We finally landed at Kihihi on a clay gravel airstrip.
Pavement must be a luxury in Uganda.
We were met by Rogers, our driver who would bring us to the Sanctuary Gorilla Forrest Camp. Along the way, I was struck by how poor the area is, yet, everyone was going about their business, either going to work or to school. We were told that some kids would walk 10K (6 miles) each way daily just to go to school. Puts western kids to shame, with their private vehicle drop offs and all.
The road on the way wasn’t paved, and after a bumpy hour and a half ride to the camp I was happy to see the entrance to the park.
The Gorilla Forrest Camp is located within the park and only minutes from the park headquarters. After ascending a long flight of stair, we were greeted by this view of the camp.
We were given mango juice upon check-in, and given a briefing in the reception/dining area before heading to our room.
The view from the dining area.
The path leading up to our lodge for the next 3 days.
The beds with the entry to the washroom in the center.
Soaking tub
The beds at night with the netting down.
Had lunch and the rest of the day at leisure. The camp was perfect except for the fact that wifi is only available in the main area, and it was painfully slow. I know we should not be on our devices while on vacation, but there wasn’t much else to do around camp. Well, we could have ventured out, but chose not to. We wanted to rest up for the next day – our first gorilla trek.
Our flight out of Dubai got us into Entebbe at 1:30PM. We were met by the Sanctuary representative who drove us to the Protea Hotel to spend the night before catching an early AM flight to Kihihi the next morning.
The hotel is only about 10 minutes from the airport and not walk-able to city center, which meant it was inconvenient for us to check out town. However, that was fine since we were still tired from the first leg of the travel (LAX to Dubai), and decided to chill lake side and grab lunch/dinner before retiring for the evening. Joe said his curry was the best he’s ever had.
Goat meat kebab – yummy!View of Lake Victoria from the hotel.
Africa 2018 