One of the drivers of another trekker had a great t-shirt on and I had to explain to him 1. Who the NE Patriots were and 2. How awesome they are and 3. That they play American football.
Sunrise in the mountains is a beautiful thing. Today wasn't as misty as yesterday afternoon but that led way to some amazing views of terrace farms steeper than the Banaue rice terraces, and a very discernible border of the protected Bwindi Inpenetrable Forest.
The road I thought we would never make it up
We arrived on site and there were about 30 of us, to be grouped by our drivers into 3 groups for trekking. But I think you need a little background.
The instructions that the gorillas wouldn't follow
Gorillas are very close to us in evolution, but slightly less close than the chimpanzees. There are 2 types of gorillas, lowland gorillas found in many parts of the world (and many zoos), and mountain gorillas, found only in the Volcano Park of The Congo and Rwanda, and the Bwindi Inpenetrable Forest of Rwanda/Uganda. No mountain gorillas have survived captivity, and there are only 880 left in the world (this is up from a previous count). The trekking permits are outrageous ($600 in Uganda and $1500 in Rwanda) but a good way to control entry to the parks, as humans have to potential to bring disease to the gorillas. Gorillas live in families with up to 3 male silverbacks (the patriarch) and a number of women and younger gorillas. Families find a place to nest every night and usually wander the next day to a new location. Families are usually 2 to 20 members. Many families in Bwindi are "habitualized" which means that they have spent 2 years in training by the park rangers to be more comfortable around people. The rest of the families would run away from humans.
So I was put in the group that would be tracking the Oruzogo family. It is the largest in the park, but I found out later it was the group that was formed with the intention of being the most physically fit, because it was the farthes into the forest. So after a briefing and a quick ride to the "trail head" (I use the term loosely) we were off. I was the only one who elected NOT to hire a porter for $15. I backpack all the time. We aren't even at 10,000 feet above sea level. How can I need a porter? I judged those who hired one (humble pie opportunity #1). I told my driver I couldn't believe some of the pants and shoes I saw on my fellow trekkers. Cotton pants? Sneakers? Good luck with that (humble pie opportunity #2).
We first hiked up a steep dirt road and trapsed through a pea plantation to the trail. The trail was ridiculous. A slippery, muddy from recent rain, STEEP trail down into the valley floor. I fell on my butt at least 5 times on the way down. There was an intern training to be a guide that eventually decided to babysit me and carry my backpack (I declined his first offer but accepted his second) so I didn't slide down the whole mountain. So much for being porterless. The good news was everything I fell into was soft and fluffy and my waterproof pants (thanks high school era Abercrombie&Fitch for making quality trekking gear) were as hoped. We got down to the bottom of the valley and it seemed like we had been hiking for hours. Just to hike back up the next mountain. This is when it started to be REALLY hard. Interestingly enough, going up was technically easier, but I was sweating my ass off and down to a tank in about 10 mins. I wondered if anyone else on the trek was struggling because I'm pretty sure it was just me. Not even the old married couple from New Zealand needed a hand held by a porter the whole time. I think the 36 hour transit, questionable African food, sleepless night, jet lag, and altitude caught up with me. Or I am just THAT out of shape.
Finally I got the message. 30 more minutes. I persevered. Option B was to elect to hire an "African Helicopter": a stretcher that is carried by 4 porters for the low cost of $300 (that's starting cost but increases based on how heavy you are). Started on a slight descent, pulling up the rear, and there he was, alone. A silverback, took a quick look at us and walked away, clearly over it. I was like, um aren't we going to stop? Is this it? We walked just a few more yards down the hill where the trackers were. (Typically trackers follow the families until they nest for the evening so they have a starting point to try to find them the next day, and then they radio the trek leaders). And there was the huge Silverback just lounging around. He looked up at us but seemed to oscillate between not caring about us at all and putting on a show. One of the people in the group tried to move a branch so she could take an unobstructed photo and he grunted at her, warning her that she was too close. She backed up and then he mocked her, taking that particular branch, snapping it out of the way, and laying back down. It was pretty awesome to have real interaction with them.
So we watched them eat bamboo and leaves. We watched children swing from and climb trees. We watched a female grunt at us and charge a little bit before the trackers controlled her. Then a male on the other side of us decided to plop right down in front of me and give a little performance, after which he pushed 3 people in the group as he ran through our group to get to the other side. Finally, we saw the youngest member, a 3 month old, chew on leaves and follow around his protective mother. Overall we probably saw about 12 to 15 of the 20 gorillas in the family.
Picking his fingernails...
Once the hour was up, we had to go back the same way we came (I was secretly hoping there was some express route out from the valley floor... Nope). The way back was much easier, but they did have me go in the front because the group is only as fast as its slowest trekker... There's humble pie #3. Hiking up the slimy, muddy, vertical trail out of the park was much shorter than I thought it would be, but we did (finally) stop for lunch which helped me get through it. Overall, it was an hour and 45 minutes to get to the gorillas... Seems like it's not a lot, but the other two groups went half as far in. I can't imagine doing it in the rain.
We all got certificates for completing the trek (Our leader, Sara, called them diplomas), and then it was time for tipping. Instead of cash tips, I brought volleyball t-shirts, because I have about a thousand of them and Africans love American t-shirts.
On the way out of the forest we saw the coolest monkeys I have ever seen. They are black and white and their faces look like a Star Wars character (but I've never seen Star Wars so you'll have to choose for yourself). Gus the driver liked them too, because he kept stopping to take his own pics.
So now I have arrived safely at Bunyonyi Overland Camp, perched above Lake Bunyonyi. It's beautiful and relaxing, but the wifi sucks, there's no hot water, and the lights go out every few minutes. Apparently the electricity in the whole city is out but we are lucky enough to have a generator that controls everything except hot water. I'm holding out for my shower, they said it would be fixed by 7 or 8 (but in Africa time that could mean tomorrow)... But oh man a hot shower would be pure gold right now.
My neighbors are a very nice couple from Australia who I sat on the porch with and talked for a couple hours this afternoon about everything from African adventures to politics. They are on a 57 (!!!) day tour with people from all over the world that went from Capetown up to Uganda. The one American I met from the group I asked, how did you get the vacation time? She said she quit her job... Seems like a theme for lots of American travelers in East Africa. Tomorrow I will have a quick boat ride on the late and we will head back to Kigali, flight is tomorrow evening to Dar Es Salaam.
No comments:
Post a Comment