I just got back from a weekend of Gorilla Trekking on the border of Uganda, Rwanda, and the Congo. It was a solid 10+ hour drive from Entebbe, without any flat tires, so I opted to take a bush plane instead. The plane left at 7:30am on Friday and it was just a short 1.25 hour flight. The landscape is very different here and much cooler. We were about 2000 meters above sea level in the mountains which is also why it is cooler. My first day was a bit of confusing as my tour guide was sick and he sent his brother who did not know much English or what the plan for the day was. We had about a 1.5 hour drive down to Lake Bunyonyi where I took a boat ride to several islands including Akampene Island (Punishment Island). The Bakiga tribe would send their girls who were pregnant before marriage there to die by themselves without water, food, or shelter. Girls were viewed as live stock (as that is what the family would receive as the dowery) so a girl pregnant before marriage was deemed to have no value because the family would not receive a dowery.
I also hiked to the top of one of the islands to get a view of the area. I had lunch at a lunch BBQ place and then made the 1.5 hour drive into Bwindi Impenetrable Forest to my lodge. The lodge had a beautiful view of the mountains, even from the shower! I had an early night as trekking began early the next day.
I left early Saturday morning to meet my guide for the Mountain Gorilla trekking. Bwindi National Park spans between Uganda, Rwanda, and Congo as do the Gorillas and the conservation efforts. When they last counted in 2018 there were just over 1000 silverback mountain gorillas which is the total population that is left in the world. These gorillas can only live in the wild, if they are put in a zoo or sanctuary they will refuse to eat and then die. So if you see a gorilla at the zoo it is not a mountain gorilla. There will be another count in 2024 and the hope is the count will be up as many have had babies in the last few years.
with me, so just the 3 of us for the trekking. We each had a porter that carried our stuff and then also gave us a hand at steep points. As expected we were treaking through the mountains so a lot of uphill and downhill hiking. It took us about 2 hours to get to the family we were there to see. We were able to get very close to the gorillas as they do not fear humans. They are used to the trackers that protect them as well as researchers. At one point a teenager ran up to me and tried to take my scarf, but he was not successful. There was also a mom with a 2 week old baby that we watched for awhile. Each family has only one adult male that has the silver steak on their back. We watched him eat for awhile and listen to him yell at the teenagers that were goofing around. We were with them for about an hour and then had the long walk back to base camp.
are an endangered group of people around that lived peacefully in the Bwindi Forest along side the gorillas for thousands of years. The Batwa are believed to be some of the first inhabitants of the earth, and the original inhabitants of East Africa. When Bwindi became a National Park in 1991, primarily to protect the endangered mountain gorillas the people were forcibly removed from their forest home. When the Batwa were removed from the forest they werent given for land or crops. They could live near the forest, but could not continue to hunt and gather. continues to struggle to adapt to their new lifestyle. They mostly work as day laborers, or other unskilled professions.
In the evening I joined a local women I met to watch a soccer match and listen to music at a local bar. They quickly had me take over as DJ and requested I pay the same Lady Gaga song over and over.
I left early Sunday morning to drive about 2 hours to get to the airport. The airport is not far away, but it is all dirt roads that you have to drive
very slowly.
