In Uganda

Happy Thanksgiving!

We have so much to be thankful for, not the least of which are our friends and patient followers of this blog.

After promising to blog along as we traveled through Uganda and Rwanda, I found that was impossible on several levels.  Most of you know the story of what happened in our travels to impact my writing, and you know the saga of our return to Colorado after an historic 500 year flood devastated our Little Valley, our town, and the surrounding canyons and towns.  The next few blogs are an attempt to fulfill my promise of an account of our travels.  Rather than the usual interest most travelers generate from family and friends, what we experienced were questions:  WHERE are you going?  Why there?  Do you have to go now?  Are you afraid?  To which we answered:  Uganda and Rwanda.  Mostly to see Mountain Gorillas.  We're not getting any younger and the hiking is strenuous. No, we are not afraid.  We've waited for three years and this seems like an OK time to go.  So we went.

Let me begin by comparing this trip with our other two trips to Africa (South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe the first trip; Zambia on the second trip).  Uganda and Rwanda are relatively new to wild life tourism.  The infrastructure is not as developed or sophisticated as we experienced on our other two trips.  Camps are not as luxurious; animals are not as habituated to human visitors (after a few minutes of nervous gawking, they often run out onto the savanna…gorillas would be an exception), nor are they as plentiful; transportation from camp to camp is by safari vehicle, not by bush planes or helicopters.  However, this last fact gave us an intimate view of village and town life as we traveled from camp to camp with drives often lasting 4-5 hours.  From the start we had two guide/drivers--Sula (head guide) and Deo.  We got to know both men fairly well and learned that their expertise was more as drivers than as safari guides.  Our best guides were those native to the national parks and forests.  The guides and trackers in Parc des Volcans, Rwanda (our gorilla guides) were some of the best we've ever experienced.

There are three sets of pictures to accompany the next three blogs:  In Uganda, which contains images from our experiences outside of gorilla trekking, Mzungu in the Mist--images of gorillas and trekking to find them, and Kigali Memorial Centre…a look at the memorial to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.  Here, I will start with "In Uganda."

That first night in Entebbe, I set the alarm on my iPhone to leave us plenty of time to show up for breakfast and our 8 o'clock a.m. meeting.  Unfortunately Amsterdam is one hour later than Entebbe, and my phone didn't change times until noon.  Needless to say, we were late for our meeting.  That said (not a great way to begin), after leaving Entebbe we traveled cross country for several hours, stopping on the way for a picnic lunch where we got to know fellow travelers and spend some time trading backgrounds.  We really enjoyed our group.  This was not the first African trip for any of us.  In all we were:  Ed and Ceci from Minnesota, Cindy and Tom from Denver, Paul and Linda--Atlanta, Holly--Connecticut, Laura, Washington, D.C., and Kathy from Barrington, IL.  One could not have asked for easier more congenial people to be with.  

Our first destination was Kibale Forest National Park.  We stayed at Primate Lodge, and our two days here were spent viewing chimpanzees and other forest primates.  Our first night we did a night walk looking for elusive bushbabies.  We found 11 and our guide said that was the most he'd found in one walk.  It's weird to be walking in the jungle at night following a flashlight beam, surrounded by jungle sounds (hoots, hollers, grunts, and frogs croaking).  Mostly what we saw of the bush babies were their huge eyes glowing back at us in the beam of a flashlight.  I was able to shoot some video, but none of our digital cameras could capture pictures.  The next morning we walked for about 4-5 hours in Kibale Forest with a guide.  In the morning, chimpanzees screech and scream to one another (an unnerving racket) as a way of bringing troop members together after sleeping.  We did indeed see chimpanzees, but except for one large male, they stayed in the tree tops.  In addition to the chimpanzees, we saw many colobus monkeys, both black and red, baboons, and gray cheeked mangabeys.  

As we walked out of the jungle into swampland, we encountered two young boys.  Alfred was a very serious businessman about 10 years of age.  Taking clay from the swamp banks, he sculpted chimpanzee figures.  These he offered for sale to hikers.  We, of course, bought one of these and because it was still damp, carried it very carefully from camp to camp until it dried.  The other boy was just full of smiles.  As Alfred carefully explained about his wares, smiley boy waved a small catfish he had just caught barehanded from the swamp.  We did not buy the fish!  From Primate Lodge we drove to our next camp in Queen Elizabeth National Park--Jacana Lodge.

On the way we were silent witnesses to life in the villages, towns, and farms we passed.  People going about their daily lives (of course)--carrying water and firewood, going to the store, tending fields and cattle, cooking, washing clothes, visiting, and coming and going from all manner of businesses. Children were going to and from school, playing together, doing family chores, or being carried on their mother's backs.  This part of life was something we had never experienced and we found it everlastingly interesting.  

Once we crossed into Queen Elizabeth National Park we had our first game drive, after which we arrived at Jacana Lodge.  This lodge was set on the edge of Uganda's largest crater lake--Lake Nyamusingire.  Our living quarters were individual chalets overlooking the lake.  That first night Pam and I were serenaded by a hippo mom and her baby who stayed half submerged just off our living room window.  Under the circumstances, I found their songs comforting.  The travel description of our time in QE National Park said:  

      With 2,000 square miles of deep jungle, volcanoes, crater lakes, and open savannas, this diverse 
       landscape is home to a similarly broad array of wildlife, including nearly 100 mammal species and 
       606 species of birds spotted (so far).  We will delve into the varied landscape and waterways of the 
       park in search of elephants, leopards, waterbucks, topis, and horned kobs, to name a few of the 
       regularly sighted species. In addition to game drives, we’ll take an exciting launch trip on the Kazinga  
       Channel that connects Lake Edward with smaller Lake George.

Part of the problem with the game drives is that we left our lodgings around 9 or 9:30 and stayed out until 3, 4, or 5 in the afternoon.  Neither of our guides were the best informants about animals and animal behavior.  The biggest issue however, is that animals are normally active from about 6 or 7 am until 10:30 or 11:00.  They sleep or find shade from noon until about 4 when the sun begins to cool down.  At that time, they come out again to prowl about or graze.  We were driving around during the heat of the day and consequently did not see all that many animals.  We were able to spot several species of birds, a few elephants, waterbucks, topis, and kobs.  The latter three being the ubiquitous antelopes of Uganda.

Arriving at Jacana Lodge after a disappointing afternoon of game viewing, we were assigned to our chalets and had to hurry to shower to get to dinner on time.  The shower felt fine after a day in the heat, but as I stepped out onto a shellacked shower board my foot whipped out from under me and I landed on my butt and right hand with a splat.  As a result, I broke my wrist.  Pam and I wrapped it in an ace bandage and we went to dinner and then to bed.  In the morning I asked Holly, an EMT in "real life," and Cindy, a former occupational therapist, to look at my wrist.  "Almost surely broken," they said, "but not displaced."  So we raided the first aid kit in our vehicle.  We found a masonite board to use as a splint, another ace bandage, and a triangular bandage made from some gossamer material with which Holly created a sling.  She picked up a napkin off the breakfast table to pad the splint, wrapped me, and I was good to go.  One couldn't have asked for better assistance than I got!

The broken wrist posed only this problem:  I am the family photographer and Pam generally doesn't use my digital camera, but she stepped in like a trooper, learned quickly, and got some great shots of the rest of our travels.  The video camera was easier for me to operate, so that was my sole job.

Our launch trip on the Kazinga Channel was truly spectacular.  The river guide was outstanding and we got to see a huge variety of birds, hippos (in and out of the water), elephants, crocs, cape buffalo, and assorted antelope.  When we finished our trip, all of us were complimenting the guide and saying how much we had enjoyed our time with him.  He smiled and said, "Tomorrow, on this water I shall guide the president of our country…Yoweri Museveni."  We knew the president was in the area because we had been forced to pull to the side of the road on our way down to Kazinga Channel while a long line of troop carriers, anti-aircraft guns, soldiers in trucks and jeeps, and long black limos drove past raising clouds of dust.  "Our president is traveling to see his people," explained our driver, Deo.

From Jacana we traveled to the far end of QE Park to our favorite lodge:  Ishasha.  Built on the curve of a river, our suite of airy rooms looked out into the rising sun.  Ishasha is famous for its tree climbing lions.  Lions are not natural tree climbers, but these felines seek out fig and acacia trees in the heat of the day.  They climb out onto stout, bare limbs and drape and wedge themselves in for an afternoon nap.  "I have seen such lions," said Deo, "sleeping like this.  One day, a large male who was sound asleep,  fell right off onto the ground.  He was surprised."  On one of our lengthy (in the heat of the day) game drives, we stopped at the home of some local people and were treated to a traditional meal.  The eldest son first explained about a greeting custom that involved chewing coffee beans.  After the greeting ceremony, the boy served our food (cooked in a distant kitchen by his mother and sisters) and explained the significance of each dish.  It was a great experience after which we struck out again into the heat of the day looking for game.  

Our afternoon was cooled by a quick thunder shower followed by a beautiful rainbow stretching across the horizon.  The rainbow must have been a good omen because we found lions in a tree shortly thereafter. One of the things we appreciated as we went from place to place was that in QE Park, twenty percent of our entrance fees helped support the local communities surrounding the park, including funding schools and medical clinics.  This would be true also of the fee we paid for two days of gorilla trekking.  One can see the differences in villages close to these two parks.  Water pumps and holding towers are obvious.  Children are in school uniforms, school buildings and homes are generally of better quality than elsewhere, and most roads are paved with stones (this is NOT, as we were to experience, necessarily a good thing for vehicles).

From Ishasha we drove through the region known as “the Switzerland of East Africa” for its awe-inspiring mountains. Our vehicles climbed the mountains on rough dirt roads made slick and boggy by rain.  We passed through Kanaba Gap, one of East Africa’s most scenic areas, before arriving in Kisoro, surrounded by volcanoes—Sabinyo (11,923'), Mgahinga (11,397'), and Muhabura (13,540'). Our border crossing into Rwanda was memorable for several reasons.  First, it was raining sheets and the government building was so small supplicants had to stand outside.  Next, presenting papers and having our passports stamped took at least an hour because computers were down.  The government officials were…well, government officials.  Last, as I came finally to the window to speak to the heretofore crabby and cantankerous official he looked out at me with great concern.  "Oh.  You are broken.  Did you do that in my country?"  "Yes," I replied.  "Oh.  I am so sorry."  He stamped my passport and returned it with a smile.  


From the border crossing we continued through volcanic uplands to Kinigi, headquarters of Parc National des Volcans (Volcanoes National Park). There we moved into the simple comforts of Gorilla Mountain View Lodge, our base for gorilla trekking in the Parc National des Volcans.  That evening we enjoyed red wine with our feet propped on the lip of a warm fire.  Tomorrow we would see the gorillas.

Here is a link to pictures of our time in Uganda:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/mtnpostpics/sets/ 

When you land on the Flickr page, you will see the first three sets which correspond to the trip blogs:  In Uganda, Mzungu in the Mist, and Kigali memorial Centre.